I teach Catholic churches, businesses, and ministries how to market like Jesus. Every Monday, I send out the latest musings on Catholic marketing from my position as a Catholic marketing professional, former parish employee, and regular old Catholic mom trying not to lose my mind while raising saints. Subscribe if you want to learn how to apply the strategies Jesus and the apostles used to grow the Early Church to your own marketing work today!
Your "about" page shouldn't be about you.
|
Apparently people are very nosy about me, because a while back, I checked my stats and the About page on my website was in the top 5 most visited pages on my website. I'm just going to come out and say it: Most about pages on websites are TERRIBLE. And seeing how they are often the most visited pages on your site, they're really important to get right. How are they terrible? Because we fall into the trap of thinking our about page is supposed to be about us. It's not. That's not to say it's not supposed to be about you at all. Of course it should include your story (and your qualifications, especially if you're doing something in a consulting/teaching space). But it should be shared in a way that's relatable. In a way that makes the person reading it go, "Oh, they're just like me!" In other words, your about page should be a reflection of THEIR story, not just yours. And your origin story? It should really reveal WHY you're doing what you do. What was the problem in your life or that you saw in the world that you set out to solve by creating this business or ministry? Not history, but relatability. Jesus of course was a master at this. All of those "I am" statements? Yes, they're about Him, but they're not chronological statements of His likes and dislikes. They're windows into Who He is and how He can help. Even when He's talking about where He gets His authority from, He's not doing so in a bragging way or resume-style. He's helping to establish trust. We want to do the same. People should move on from that page feeling like they know themselves a bit better and that they can trust that you have their best interest at heart. It should make someone think "Oh my goodness, that person is me!" or "I want to be friends with them!" So this week, go take a look at your about page and see where you can inject some personality, relatability, and reflecting their own story back to them, showing that you know the problems they have and how you want to help (not just that you want them to do something). And of course, don't just leave them there. Each page of your website should be leading them through a journey. What page should they go to next? Following you on social media to get to know you better? Signing up for your newsletter? Reading your most read blog post? Be sure you have a clear "next step" action for them to take after that page so they keep searching and getting to know your mission better! Oh and of course, this is a great place to share fun personal things to help people get to know you and your business or ministry better. Patron saints, favorite Bible verse or song, and fun takes like favorite liturgical season or funniest prayer anecdote make the connections stronger and are easy to share even if you don't want to reveal too much of your personal life online. This newsletter made me realize I haven't updated my own patron saints in a while, so I'm giving myself this challenge too! Will you join me this week in taking 10 minutes to give a look over your about page and updating it? We can check back in next week on our progress together! For His greater glory, Emily |
Market Like Jesus: The Catholic Marketing Newsletter
I teach Catholic churches, businesses, and ministries how to market like Jesus. Every Monday, I send out the latest musings on Catholic marketing from my position as a Catholic marketing professional, former parish employee, and regular old Catholic mom trying not to lose my mind while raising saints. Subscribe if you want to learn how to apply the strategies Jesus and the apostles used to grow the Early Church to your own marketing work today!
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...
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...
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...