Word of Mouth: Why Real Relationships Beat Religious Marketing

In today’s marketing and public relations landscape, companies increasingly rely on everyday consumers to get the word out. When people have met their needs and genuinely feel good about a product, they become fiercely passionate about sharing their discoveries. Without realizing it, they become the most effective salespeople on earth.

How does this word-of-mouth phenomenon translate to the Christian church today?

Author Tim Sinclair tackled this subject in his excellent book, Branded: Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture.

Sinclair compares witnessing for Christ to painting a portrait. In today’s culture, big, broad strokes tend to turn people off. Whether it’s an outdoor church sign with a catchy slogan or a bumper sticker plastered with a Christian phrase, people are increasingly more repelled than intrigued by mass appeals. They may be well-intentioned, but they often end up doing more harm than good.

Instead, non-Christians are far more receptive to the work of a fine-tipped brush—one that carefully and intimately outlines the details of who Jesus really is. This method takes time and effort because it involves the painstaking, often scary proposition of building genuine relationships.

In our spiritually competitive environment, Christians are challenged more than ever to articulate the true benefits of their faith. We must be prepared to answer the question: “Why is Jesus Christ not only relevant, but absolutely necessary?” People are naturally drawn to passionate consumers. Unfortunately, we live in an age where the “brand” of Jesus Christ is fading in the public square because too many Christians have lost that underlying passion.

According to Sinclair, evangelism today means re-energizing our base and rebuilding our personal outreach strategies from the ground up. People are fed up with institutional religion; they are looking for honest, sincere individuals who possess a living, active faith. They want real answers, not tired clichés. To an increasingly secular world, evangelical Christians are sometimes perceived as weak-minded folks leaning on a crutch, following a fad, or talking to an imaginary friend. Who would be interested in that?

Yet, despite an outward appearance of total disinterest, I truly believe people are desperately searching for meaning in this fast-paced world. They are looking for truth, but they aren’t sure who to trust.

Instead of mass-marketing appeals, they are hungry for authentic people who are willing to be real. They want to connect with someone whose faith is firmly grounded in God’s promises, but who isn’t afraid to honestly share their own struggles, disappointments, and pain. If word-of-mouth advertising is still effective and digital platforms are building communities of passionate consumers of a brand, then Christian churches ought to take note and apply the same concepts to their outreach strategies.