Nonprofit & Public Sector / Faith & Community Organizations
Church marketing that invites the neighborhood to a service
Church marketing from MBI is a neighborhood postcard invitation to a service or a special event and a Plan-Your-Visit lead campaign on Facebook and Instagram, planned, produced and delivered by one team.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamThe invitation
How does a church invite the neighborhood around it?
The short answer
Two campaigns carry the invitation. A neighborhood postcard invitation goes to households on a targeted local resident list, inviting them to a service or a special event. A Plan-Your-Visit campaign on Facebook and Instagram promotes a Plan-Your-Visit action and captures a neighbor's details. MBI plans, produces and delivers both.
MBI plans, produces and delivers direct mail, print and digital campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
The neighborhood around it
Postcard · Direct Mail
Direct mail
How do church direct mail postcards reach the right households?
The short answer
The list decides it. A church postcard invitation is addressed from a targeted local resident list, so the households it reaches are the neighborhood's. Invitations to a local service and to Easter carry a QR code a neighbor can scan. MBI builds the list, prints the card and mails it.
The occasions. Local-service and Easter postcard invitations, and invitations for services or special events.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5 provides that each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format, in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard, and that each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with one of the USPS-approved methods, which include Address Change Service and the National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOALink).
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
direct mail marketing services direct mail mailing lists targeted direct mail postcard mailing services
Postcard · Direct Mail
Facebook and Instagram
What do church Facebook ads promote?
The short answer
A Plan-Your-Visit action. A church campaign on Facebook and Instagram promotes that action and captures visitor details through a landing page or an instant form. Both halves matter: the ad names the visit, and the form is where the neighbor's details are captured. MBI builds the creative and runs the campaign.
Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.
Meta advertising standards
In two halves
Meta ad · Facebook
Meta carousel · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
One action
Plan Your Visit
Where does a Plan Your Visit campaign send a curious neighbor?
The short answer
To a landing page or an instant form. That is where a Plan-Your-Visit lead campaign on Facebook and Instagram captures visitor details, after the ad has promoted the Plan-Your-Visit action itself. A church campaign can use either one. MBI builds the creative and runs the campaign.
The two halves. Facebook and Instagram campaigns capture visitor details through a landing page or instant form and promote a Plan-Your-Visit action.
Landing page · Web
Printing
Which printed pieces carry a church invitation, from postcards to church invitation cards?
The short answer
Postcards, flyers, door hangers, banners, invitation cards and event handouts. Those are the print formats a church invitation campaign can use, and commercial and variable-data printing is in-house at MBI, so the card, the hanger and the handout come from the one team that mails them.
Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing produced in house.
Guide
Kit
One-sheet
Questions
Questions a church asks before it mails
Searched for church marketing agency, church advertising or marketing for churches? Same work, same answers.
What does a church campaign from MBI include?
A neighborhood postcard invitation for services or special events, and a Facebook and Instagram Plan-Your-Visit lead campaign. The postcard is addressed from a targeted local resident list; the lead campaign captures visitor details through a landing page or an instant form. MBI plans, produces and delivers both.
Who receives a church's postcard invitation?
Households on a targeted local resident list. That is how a local-service or Easter postcard invitation is addressed, and those invitations carry a QR code a neighbor can scan. MBI builds the list, prints the invitation and mails it.
Can a church mail its invitations at nonprofit prices?
Not automatically. USPS lists Religious among the organization types that typically are eligible for Postal Service nonprofit privileges, and says that not every organization is eligible even though you may think it qualifies. It also states there are restrictions on the amount and kind of advertising you can do.
Does a church postcard have to be a certain size to mail?
Within limits. A church invitation postcard at commercial card prices must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch. A card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long must be at least 0.009 inch thick.
What moves the cost of a church invitation mailing?
A church invitation postcard has no list price: producing the piece and mailing it are the two costs, and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper and weight, and postage, mail class, and sortation. All seven sit behind a church invitation drop at /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost.
How does a church invitation list stay current when neighbors move?
The church's list is updated before the invitation drops. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices, or USPS Marketing Mail prices, to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date using an approved method such as NCOALink or Address Change Service; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted.
What can a church say in a Facebook or Instagram ad?
What it can stand behind. Meta states that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.
Get started
Start a church invitation campaign.
Say which service or special event the invitation is for, and the neighborhood it should reach. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.