As Christian marketers, we are increasingly having to deal with the fragmentation of how to reach our target audiences within the faith-based market, and for some of us, even in the “real world.”

It used to be so easy. All you had was radio, print and a little bit of television. A solid advertising and PR strategy was relatively simple.  Now we need to have strategies in place for online partnerships, social media, texting, apps, pay per click, events… and the list goes on. Of course, FrontGate Media is all about delivering audience, and we do a fair portion of those things for clients across the faith-based market including advertising and partnerships through our media group, social media, public relations, pay per click, and marketing through our events.

In a March 2012 online survey of U.S. marketing professionals, the industry trade publication “Chief Marketer” reported that the most popular tool in digital campaigns was still the high touch value of Direct Email marketing, with 78% of respondents utilizing direct email. I agree!  With open rates as high as 15-25% through key, targeted FrontGate Media group members, it’s my first recommendation.

Email newsletters were the No. 2 tactic, with 59% of respondents on board.  That’s interesting stat for me. In my experience, Christian advertisers have stayed away from email newsletters, though I see them as #2 in effectiveness, as evidently most marketers do.  When there’s not enough budget to effectively do direct email, email newsletters are a great alternative.

A very close third place went to Social Media with 58%. That stat also makes sense to me. At FrontGate Media, we are very involved in creating and implementing social media strategy for various clients.

At this point, these are the core mainstream marketing tactics.

For the very first time, “Chief Marketer” asked if respondents hosted original video content on their sites or on other aggregator sites such as YouTube.  Only one-third of respondents said they did. I would have expected that number to be higher. The Christian market is way behind in utilizing the full power of video ads and video content to create impact for their brands and products.  I hope we’ll see a change in that through our new Videobar technology.

The survey asked a separate question of the marketing respondents to identify which “niche” or “secondary” interactive marketing tools they are using.

Almost 30% are now incorporating webinars, which was the most popular niche feature used. Social apps came in at 20% making that category the fastest-adopted niche tool. Branded games also saw very solid growth with 13% of respondents indicating they are using this tactic. That’s up from 7% the previous year.

What about you?  How would you rank the marketing you are doing via email, web ads, social media, pr, contests, etc?