The number one concern I hear from pastors and youth minsters is “The youth don’t come.” Program planning plays an important role, but if the youth never know when something is going on they will never get the chance to come.

If you never ask, you have already said no.

Emailing effectively is an inexpensive way to reach your target audience.

• It’s faster then phone calls,
• fast to create,
• and cheap.

Many businesses rent or buy customer email list for over $1 a name and they pay $1 per name every time they send an email. Let’s say you have 200 names on your list (It’s easy to do). 200 names sent once a week for a year would cost a business $10,400! That’s how much your list is worth. So use it well, often, and update your customer data often.

If You Say it, Maybe they will Come

• Start with Good Data. Continue to collect and update your email list constantly.
• Use an Email Program. I use icontact.com. It allows you to track emails, create fancy emails, keep a history of emails, and access from any computer.
• Quality Content and Design. In the email make sure they are creative, have some meat to them, and are informative. I usually add videos, photos, colorful design (there are templates you can use), and a paragraph of how much fun we had the week before.
• Gimmick. Make sure the subject line gets them to open up the email. “iPod Gift Certificate on Sunday.”
• Keep on Schedule. I like to send the emails on Tuesdays and sometimes have one sent on Saturdays. Make them early and your email program can atomically send them when you want.

Quick Tips

• When writing the date always include the day of the week. Saturday February 23, 2008
• Never use pictures of youth unless you have their parent written permission.
• Try sending the same message multiple weeks in a row just change up the way you send it.
• Include your email address and phone at the bottom of every email so they can contact you.
• Include a link to send to a friend.
• Collect parents emails, too.
• Keep the emails short.

Popularity: 2% [?]