Online Marketing Funnels For Church Growth: A Guide for Beginners

Almost all churches understand the increasing need for well-informed online marketing strategies to reach and engage new people in their communities. One powerful method and approach is to build an online marketing funnel. For some pastors and church leaders, hearing about the concept of “marketing funnels” might immediately be a turnoff. But if you can consider this simply as the online version of helping people get into a spiritual journey, it opens up new perspectives for why you should embrace online marketing funnels.

So, What Is A Marketing Funnel?

A marketing funnel simply is a plan that visualizes the journey of potential church members from their first awareness of your church to interacting with resources or events, to attending and becoming active, engaged participants.

The funnel metaphor is used because, like a physical funnel, many people enter at the top, but only a portion progress through each stage, and few make it to the bottom.

To illustrate this concept, let’s consider some “back of napkin” funnel math. Imagine 1,000 people enter at the top of your funnel. If 10% move to the next middle of the funnel stage, you’re left with 100 people. If 10% of those move to the final bottom of the funnel stage, you can end up with 10 potential new church attendees. That means you need to be exposed to 1,000 people before you can tangibly see 10 people walk through the doors of your church.

MOST CHURCHES, rely disproportionally on the single bottom of funnel tactic: get their people to invite their friends to church services or events. And the reason why it feels imposing and hard to do is because naturally, at any given time, your friends and family are not ready at the bottom of the funnel. So you’re trying to force people to jump through stages before their are ready. The result is that it feels imposing and obligatory to comply with a personal invite at that time. The problem is that those friends and family and neighbors who might get an invite have not been properly nurtured through top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel experiences and messaging. In many cases, those activities, campaigns, and opportunities for top of the funnel and middle of the funnel are lacking or completely missing.

Going through a simple back of napkin funnel math calculation demonstrates the critical importance of having a large number of prospects at the beginning of your funnel. And continuity in relationship development to get them into middle of funnel stages and then bottom of funnel environments.

Planning Your Funnel: Start at the Bottom

To create an effective marketing funnel for your church, it’s crucial to start planning from the bottom and work your way up. This approach ensures that all your marketing activities are aligned and working together towards your ultimate goal. Let’s explore each stage of the funnel, starting from the bottom.

Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU): The Commitment Stage

The BOFU stage is where people make the decision to visit your church for Sunday worship or attend another church event. This is your ultimate goal – turning online interactions into physical church attendance.

Key Activities at BOFU:

• Personal invitations to Sunday service or church events
• Follow-up systems for first-time visitors
• Clear, compelling calls-to-action on your website and social media

Church BOFU Example:
Sarah has been engaging with your church’s online content for a few weeks. At this stage, you might send her a personal email invitation to your upcoming Sunday service, highlighting what she can expect and how to find you. After she attends, a church leader follows up with a phone call, thanking her for coming and inviting her to an upcoming community event.

Church Metrics to Track:

• Number of first-time visitors
• Event attendance rates
• Return visitor rates

By defining these end goals, you can work backwards to ensure that your earlier funnel stages are effectively guiding people towards these outcomes.

Middle of the Funnel (MOFU): The Consideration Stage

At the MOFU stage, people are actively considering your church. They’re familiar with you but haven’t yet made a commitment to attend. Your goal here is to deepen their engagement and move them towards making a decision to visit.

Key Activities at MOFU:

• Email newsletters with valuable content
• Online Bible study groups or webinars
• Virtual tours of your church
• Testimonial videos from church members

Church MOFU Example:
John signed up for your church’s email list after reading a blog post on your website. In the MOFU stage, you might invite John to join a weekly online Bible study group. You could also send him a video tour of your church facilities, along with testimonials from members sharing how the church has impacted their lives.

Church Marketing Metrics to Track:

• Email open and click-through rates
• Online group participation rates
• Video view counts
• Website engagement metrics (time on site, pages per session)

By tracking these metrics, you can gauge how effectively you’re moving people from initial interest to serious consideration of visiting your church.

Top of the Funnel (TOFU): The Awareness Stage

The TOFU stage is where you first capture people’s attention. They may not be actively seeking a church, but something about your message resonates with them. Your goal here is to make people aware of your church and spark their interest.

Key Activities at TOFU:

• Social media campaigns highlighting church values and community impact
• SEO-optimized blog posts on topics relevant to faith and life
• Community outreach events
• Lead magnets addressing felt needs (e.g., eBooks, guides, checklists)
• Paid online advertising targeting your local community

TOFU Church Marketing Example:
Maria is scrolling through Instagram when she sees a post from your church about a free parenting resource or workshop. She’s not religious, but as a new parent, she’s interested in the topic. This is a TOFU interaction – Maria is now aware of your church and might be interested in learning more.

One of the most effective tactics is to create a “lead magnet,” which is simply a resource or event like a webinar that attracts a targeted audience segment. By specifying a niche topic in a problem/solution framing, you allow people to self-select and “opt-in” to a permission-based relationship so that you can deliver and follow-up with more targeting communications on that topic to demonstrate relevance and build trust with that person.

Lead Magnet Ideas:

• FOMO and Self-Worth: An eBook on overcoming the fear of missing out and finding true self-worth.
• Self-Esteem Issues for Pre-Teens: A guide for parents on helping their pre-teens navigate social media and build self-esteem infused with Biblical worldview-based approaches.
• Lack of Meaningful Friendships: A checklist on how to cultivate meaningful friendships in a digital age.
• Marriage Issues: A downloadable guide on strengthening marriage through effective communication and shared faith.
• Personal Finances: An online course on managing personal finances from a biblical perspective.
• How to Read the Bible: A beginner’s guide to reading and understanding the Bible for someone that has never picked up a Bible before.

Metrics to Track:

• Social media engagement (likes, shares, comments)
• Website traffic from various sources
• Blog post views and shares
• Lead magnet downloads
• Ad click-through rates

These metrics help you understand how effectively you’re reaching new people and generating initial interest.

The Importance of Alignment

By planning your funnel from bottom to top, you ensure that each stage is purposefully designed to move people towards your ultimate goal of church attendance. For instance, if your BOFU goal is to increase Sunday service attendance, your MOFU activities might include content that aligns with topics that are typically preached on Sundays, and your TOFU activities could focus on reaching people who are seeking community or spiritual guidance.

Here’s a quick example of how one church is using a funnel: TOFU – Host webinars on how to start home schooling

Implementing Your Funnel

1. Define Your End Goal (BOFU): Start by clearly defining what you want people to do when they reach the bottom of your funnel. In this case, it’s to attend a Sunday service or church event.
2. Plan Your Engagment Pinst (MOFU) Activities: Based on your BOFU goals, what activities will help move people from initial interest to serious consideration of visiting your church?
3. Design Your Awareness and Exposure (TOFU) Strategy: How can you reach new people in a way that will ultimately lead them towards your MOFU goals?
4. Create Content and Campaigns: Develop content and marketing campaigns for each stage of the funnel, ensuring they all work together towards moving people towards your ultimate goal.
5. Implement and Monitor: Put your plan into action and closely monitor the metrics at each stage of the funnel. This is critical. You must see how many people are advancing to the next stage, and adjust your original funnel math assumptions.
6. Adjust and Optimize: Based on your results, continually refine your approach to improve the effectiveness of your funnel. At some point the rate at which people move to from one stage to the next will stabilize so you get a sense of what the norms are for expectations on just how many you must reach at TOFU in order to meet your BOFU goals ultimately.

Establishing Authority, Relevance, and Trust

Throughout your funnel, it’s essential to establish authority, demonstrate relevance, and build trust with your audience. Here’s how:

• Authority: Share Biblical worldview-infused content on faith and life topics, showcase how your ministry makes a different in the community – the real impact outcomes of your church, and highlight core Biblical values and principles taught at your church.
• Relevance: Address the specific needs and interests of your target audience. This could include topics like parenting, relationships, personal growth, or community involvement.
• Trust: Be consistent, transparent, and authentic in all your communications. Share real stories from church members and be responsive to questions and comments on your digital platforms.

Adopt StoryBrand Principles

The StoryBrand framework can be a powerful tool in crafting your church’s message. This approach positions your church as a guide helping people solve their problems and achieve their goals.

Here’s how to quick overview of the 7-part messaging framework that helps clarify your message:

1. Identify the Hero: In your church’s story, the potential member is the hero, not the church.
2. Define the Problem: What spiritual or life challenges is your audience facing?
3. Position as the Guide: Show how your church can help address these challenges.
4. Provide a Plan: Offer clear steps for engaging with your church, from online content lead magnets to attending a service.
5. Call to Action: Encourage specific actions at each stage of the funnel.
6. Show Success: Paint a picture of how life can be better through involvement with your church.
7. Avoid Failure: Gently highlight the potential negative outcomes of not addressing spiritual needs.

Final Thoughts

Creating an effective marketing funnel for your church takes time and effort, but it’s a powerful tool for growth. By starting with your end goals and working backwards, you can create a cohesive strategy that guides people from their first interaction with your church to attending a service or event.

Remember, the goal isn’t just to attract people, but to guide them on a meaningful journey of faith and community. With a well-planned marketing funnel, you can reach more people with your message and help them find a spiritual home in your church.

Next Steps

Start by defining your church’s ultimate goal for the type of new visitors. Don’t fall in the trap and say “our church is for all people.” That might be true, but what’s one or two segments of your community for which your specific ministry programs and community are ideal for? Start there. Then, work backwards to create a funnel strategy that aligns all your digital marketing efforts towards this goal. Implement the steps outlined in this article, and within 90 days, you should start seeing the impact on your church’s growth.

Take this first planning step today to start growing your church community through effective online marketing. What questions do you have?