10 Ideas for Small, Manageable Communications Goals for Your Parish

 Is “become better at communication” on your parish’s short list of new year’s resolutions? If so, here are 10 ideas for small, manageable communication goals you can strive for to make your parish a more vibrant community in 2023.

1. Tidy up your email lists. It’s  a good idea to check in with your members once a year to make sure the information you have on file for them is still correct. You can take this goal one step further by making sure that you have notes on the kinds of communications each member likes to receive. For example, you might send one kind of email to parents of school children and another to empty nesters. Our blog about targeted email messaging may be helpful. 
   
   
2. Use the same branding across all communication channels to make it easier for parishioners and visitors to recognize your communications. Not quite sure what to make of this tip? Learn more about church branding here.  
   
   
3.  Is the signage at your parish easy to read and in the right locations? For example, do visitors know the best place to park or where to find the office vs. the sanctuary?
   
   
4. Post your Mass times everywhere. Make sure Mass times are posted on your website, in your bulletin, on your social media profiles, on lawn signs in front of your buildings — everywhere!
   
   
5.  Advertise parish happenings through multiple platforms. Flyers, Facebook, Instagram, bulletin inserts, everywhere you can think of to reach more people.
   
   
6. Don’t forget the pulpit announcement. Events and happenings will get the most attention if they are announced at Mass! Even better if a parishioner who has a personal experience with whatever is being announced does the announcing.
   
   
7. Brag about your ministries in the bulletin frequently. Commit to making a Good News section in every weekly bulletin where you celebrate all sorts of things — from youth group service projects to new ministries starting and old ministries still doing great work! How else will people know about all the great things going on? 
   
   
8. Commit to sending out 4 mailers via the USPS Every Door Direct Mail program to your neighborhood this year inviting everyone to different parish events. 
   
   
9. Post more on social media. We have you covered every single month with our parish social media calendar full of content inside of WeCreate — ready for you to simply copy and paste into your parish's social media feeds for a jump-start on the best liturgical content!
   
   
10. Lastly, make sure you are letting the world know about all of the great things your community is doing! Commit to writing a press release for at least three of your community events or happenings this year.