There is the joke about Lutherans. They like to sit in back of the church and the pews where they sit are not really exchangeable.
Some families, in fact, hardly know what to do if they come to church later than normal and find someone sitting in their unofficial spot. And when these Lutherans do find their seats for their Sunday morning services, they will stand, kneel or sit as directed by the red or green hymnal, but no one should try to get them to participate beyond those scripted motions.
Perhaps it is not just Lutherans that act so routinely when they come to worship services. It is actually quiet possible that the unofficial pew assignments and limited participation during a service are the norm for many denominations of church services. And perhaps that is why these sort of rather stiff worshipers still like the traditional church marquee sign that has marked the front of their buildings forever. The reality of declining church enrollment across America, however, may be an indicator that to stay relevant with today’s population, churches need to update some of what they expect to use to attract new members.
What Is Your Church or Business Doing to Attract New Visitors
The cake walk around the parking lot flag pole featuring some loudly played walking tunes, brought a few non members to the Sunday picnic this year. And while the Lutherans in attendance were not exactly accustomed to face to face mission work, the church council members had made it their goal to try to meet the neighbors during the fifth annual event.
Advertising the picnic times on the church marquee signs in the front and back parking lot helped get the word out, and several of the neighbors with small children made their way into the event. In visiting with the church council members indicated that they had never even stopped over before, even though they lived across the street. The standard church marquee sign that had been changed to announce the picnic, the neighbors indicated, had never had anything on it other than the times of service for as long as they could remember.
Churches, like businesses, need to get the attention of the public. And while it is true that many people look to the internet for much of the information that they need about a product or a service, business, school, and church marquee signs can still be used to relay important information. The trick, of course, is in using the sign to help keep potential visitors and customers informed. A sign that never changes can eventually lose its power. And while a sign that does nothing more than indicate a name of a company or location serves a basic purpose, many owners are discovering that upgrading to digital signs that can display a variety of messages is often a wise decision.
Scrolling marquee signs, for example, allow foot and car traffic to receive necessary information about upcoming events. The obvious changing nature of the display means that the sign will not go unnoticed. And while the constants like the date and time and time of the monthly parent teacher organization can be listed on a school marquee, so can unusual and one time events.
Research indicates that as many as one in three people would not have even noticed a business had it not been for their sign. Likewise, research indicates that simply adding a new sign or changing a current sign directly improves sales revenue. Going a step further and replacing a store front wall sign with a larger sign cab go so far as to increase revenue by 7.7%
To put things into perspective of another advertising medium, marketing research indicates that the value of an on-site sign is the same as the impact of 24 full-page newspaper ads every year. Signs work to help searching customers find your location, but the also plant permanent images in the minds of drivers and pedestrians who pass your site on a daily basis.
Whether you have a small business or a church you want to promote, investing in a new sign is an important step in the right direction.
