Who Is This For Anyways?

It's one thing to get content in front of an audience. It's another thing entirely to make sure your message is resonating with the people who need it most. We each have a community God has placed us within to reach. So how do we define who that is?

The church's communications strategy is ultimately about reaching people with the gospel and inviting them into the life of the church. But without clear targeting and audience understanding, communications can become scattershot, throwing content out and hoping it sticks. That lack of focus creates disengagement and frustration, not just for the audience but for the communications team and church leadership as well.

Who is your church actually trying to reach?

It's easy to assume that everyone is the audience for your communications. That assumption leaves gaps in your messaging. Your church is not a homogenous group. It's a diverse mix of individuals, each with different needs, challenges, and places in their faith journey. To reach people effectively, you need to understand them. What motivates them. What challenges they face. Where they are spiritually.

Are you speaking primarily to long-time members who are deeply involved in ministry? Or reaching new visitors who may be unfamiliar with church culture and language? Do you need to reach both at the same time? Are you communicating with families, singles, young adults, or older generations? Each group has different needs, preferences, and ways of engaging with content. The same message rarely lands the same way across all of them.

If you serve at a large, multigenerational church, you may be running multiple campaigns simultaneously, inside and outside the church walls, through channels that resonate differently with younger and older audiences. It gets complex quickly. But it's worth the work for their sake.

Can you tailor your message without dividing your audience?

Once you understand your audience, craft content that speaks directly to them. A generic one-size-fits-all message won't resonate with anyone in particular. Think about the language you use, the images you choose, and the stories you tell. Are they relevant to the group you're trying to reach without alienating everyone else?

You don't always have to create multiple versions of every piece of content. But you do need to be thoughtful about how each group will receive it. Tailoring messages around how your church adds value and meets real needs across your audience segments is a strategy that scales for larger communications arcs.

Segmentation helps. By grouping your audience by behaviors or psychographic characteristics, not just demographics, you can create more targeted communications built around meeting real needs. Segmentation also makes it possible to measure engagement more effectively. When you track how different groups interact with your communications, you can make informed decisions about what's working and what isn't. Are new visitors engaging with your welcome emails? Are young adults taking the next step after seeing your social media content? If not, that's a signal to reassess.

Who is your church’s communications missing?

Are you reaching people in the community who have never attended church but are searching for answers? Are your communications inclusive of people at different stages of life, faith, and understanding? People on the fringes. People who may be encountering the gospel for the first time. Identifying who isn't being reached is just as important as serving who already is.

This could mean engaging with the local community through service projects, creating resources for people who aren't yet believers, or addressing real-life questions about faith in a way that's accessible and welcoming. The goal is to broaden your scope without losing clarity.

Track it. Ask for feedback. Have conversations with your congregation and community about how they perceive your church's messaging. What's missing? What connects? Surveys, polls, and informal one-on-one conversations can reveal critical information about how your messages are actually landing. The ultimate goal isn't to fill seats or grow a social following. It's to connect people with the gospel and invite them into the life of the church. That requires knowing who you're trying to reach and whether you're actually reaching them.