Church Printing: How Ministries Use Print to Boost Attendance

Send intriguing Direct Mail Postcards to invite locals within a specific distance of your place of worship. In fact, a world-class online printer like Smartpress can save you tons of time by effortlessly pulling that list for you and sending it out. (Can you view your church services online? Consider sending direct mailers to assisted living facilities or retirement communities. We can pull those, too!)

When asked about how postcard printing has impacted his church, Lead Pastor Jim Funari of Journey Church in Hampden, ME, says, “They have helped us increase attendance for our Easter events and created interest and excitement for our church. Our members love that we have made inviting others easy and attractive, and visitors love that the pieces are clear and well made, which adds a sense of professionalism.”

Custom Postcards can be used for more than just mailers. Dustin Keele, Worship and Production Director at Elevation Church in Fenton, MO, asserts that personal invitation is still the most effective way of getting people to show up. He says, “We’ve adapted the way we approach postcards. We place one card on each chair, take time to pray over these cards during announcements, and encourage people to invite one friend with that card.” In doing so, he’s seen a significant increase in attendance!

Give your guests something to take home and contemplate. Brochures can provide an overview of your church, your statement of faith and descriptions of various ministries, programs and classes. With multiple folding options and sizes, paper stocks, weights and coatings, they’re a great way to beautifully provide lots of information amidst captivating artwork.

Marilyn Payne, Graphic Designer for Life Center in Spokane, WA, says print is still viable in today’s digital age. She asserts, “Strategically using a printed communication piece is a great tool. For us, when you walk through our doors, you have two things in your hand: a phone containing an overwhelming stream of information, and a single thing that has one message on it. [Print] creates a ‘focus-on-this-now’ that you don’t get with the noise of digital content.”

Keele agrees that print is key. He says, “The quality of our print, to a degree, communicates the quality/standard of our church. Coupling good design and great printing with strong relationships is an effective way to communicate. Also, branding is everything. For a season, we met in a movie theater where there was a lot visually going on. We had to lock our branding down just so people could find us on a Sunday morning! Print helped us to reinforce our branding.”

Don’t have a designer on staff? Capitalize on our Layout Services team to help design your media. Do you have print questions? We also have a team of highly-skilled, super friendly print experts that will walk you through your entire process. Hansen says, “On custom projects or those with higher volume printing, we have had excellent service with our [Smartpress] account representative, who also has the printing experience to give us recommendations to guide us to outstanding conclusions.”