The three words that will strike fear and scrambling in the heart of every bulletin editor: Early Transmission Deadline Tis the season for a slew of early bulletin deadlines, and I know you're tempted to slash pages, cut everything that isn't vital, and deeply regret your Lenten observance of fasting from coffee. Here's the problem: The Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday bulletins are likely the two most important bulletins you'll create all year. Why? Because they'll also likely be the ones seen...
6 days ago • 4 min read
Likely, Lent and Easter have brought a whole bunch of new people into your marketing world. New customers buying Easter products. First-time donors for Lenten almsgiving. New email sign-ups to follow along on your Lenten series. First-time event attendees. But just like I tell my churches: Easter is just the beginning. Now that they're in your world...do you know what you want them to do next? In marketing, there's something called a customer journey. It's a series of steps we want people to...
13 days ago • 3 min read
We're quickly approaching the busiest weeks of the Church year: the marathon of Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter, with a packed spring of First Communions and weddings right on its heels (with maybe some Confirmations sprinkled in too for good measure). What can get lost in the prep for all of that? Promoting confession. Specifically any diocesan-coordinated Days of Reconciliation, often held during Holy Week. There's so much going on in these days that they can be easy to overlook in our...
13 days ago • 4 min read
A disclaimer to start off this newsletter: I prayed a lot about whether or not to send this. I don't want it to come across as a "plank in my own eye, taking out the splinter in others" kind of thing. I know that I do not and have not always done this perfectly for myself or my clients. But I had another newsletter halfway written for this week, and it felt off. I prayed about it and asked Jesus what He wanted me to tell you, and He said, "the truth." And I knew He meant this newsletter, the...
20 days ago • 5 min read
Read part 1 from last week here! The big day is finally here. You've spent months, even years, investing in these people. They don their white outfits. The church smells of chrism. You all smile and hug and cry and take pictures. Retreat high x10 as new Catholics are received into the Church. Now for the uncomfortable question: How many of those people will you still be seeing at Mass six months from now? Both by research and anecdotally, OCIA numbers are trending up around the country, even...
20 days ago • 5 min read
We've all heard the stat: 8% of your parishioners are doing the vast majority of the giving and volunteering. So we're probably tempted to think that from a marketing perspective, they are the most valuable group of parishioners we have. They're not. (Again, from a marketing perspective only. Obviously, every single person is valuable as a beloved child of God.) The most valuable group for marketing purposes? Your converts and reverts. If you want to grow your parish (and win more souls for...
27 days ago • 3 min read
In my first run of the Market Like Jesus course + community last year, my favorite section was somehow NOT the target audience section. (IYKYK...but let's be real, target audience was my second favorite, followed closely by Rule of Seven.) No, my favorite section was something I'd never taught on before: What the Catholic Church teaches about marketing. Specifically, what it teaches about the ethics of marketing. Because yes, there are actual Church documents that address marketing and...
27 days ago • 4 min read
The past few weeks, we've been talking about how to market when it's not a "busy season" so you don't have huge breaks in your marketing consistency. (Find part 1, part 2, and part 3 here.) Is it best to be consistent and keep up marketing? Yes. But, life happens. What do you do if you've already taken a significant break from marketing? Instead of tell you, I thought I'd show you. In October of 2025, I had our third child. I am stereotypically horrible at actually taking a maternity leave,...
about 1 month ago • 8 min read
Stretch those thumbs: It's time for the biggest evangelization day of the year. In less than 48 hours, people will start to stream through your church doors like you're giving away free iPhones instead of blessed dirt. For many, this is the only interaction they'll have with your church all year. They're hanging on by a literal thread of dirt — but they're still there. Which means we have a huge opportunity we don't get any other day of the year — bringing them one step closer to Jesus. And...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read