Selling products or services is a meaningful way to fund and fuel your ministry’s mission without relying solely on donations. This could take the form of a faith-based organization with a publishing arm that sells books. Or maybe a missionary team that accepts paid public speaking engagements to subsidize its outreach work.
It’s relatively common for ministries to engage in sustaining activities such as these—even if they aren’t directly tied to their missions. And yet you might be apprehensive about selling to your own constituents.
Fear not: The apostle Paul relied on the trade of tentmaking to support his second missionary journey. So too can you balance your own ministry’s “tentmaking” (or business) and its higher missional calling.
Why There’s Reluctance to Add Sales to Service
There are a few reasons non-profit sales might feel untoward or even sound like an oxymoron to you.
For one, you’ve likely experienced ministries selling goods and services with little taste or tact. They take advantage of their loyal following, misusing email lists to aggressively sell what the industry has deemed “Jesus junk” (products with no real value to the purchaser). You certainly don’t want to be seen this way—as a business with a side of ministry instead of the other way around.
What’s more, ministry leaders like you are often (admirably) idealistic. You’d prefer to deal exclusively with the holy work of your mission and keep your hands clean of making money. You might even find it unsavory to ask for donations, which are, in a sense, one rung above sales on the secular to sacred ladder.
All to say, you’re in good company if you worry business will detract from the important work you do. And maybe even drive members away.
How Business Can Complement Your Mission
Any misgivings about folding sales into the mix at your ministry are completely understandable. But you might miss out on key benefits of conducting business, such as:
- Financial stability to sustain your ministry
- A wider net to reach new constituents thanks to products or services that appeal to prospects with a specific need as opposed to donors
- Increasingly satisfied existing members who find real value in your products or services and connect more deeply with your mission
Benefits aside, it’s important to look at the idea of business and sales with clear eyes. Because business is at worst neutral. In fact, it’s only bad when it’s exploited. Conducting business in a way that honors God is therefore entirely possible. You just need the right strategy.
Here are four tips to successfully incorporate sales into your ministry:
1. Plan Your Website Navigation to Tastefully Feature Your Sales Offering
There’s a fine line between burying the navigation link to your ministry’s store and elevating it above content- and mission-related links. Burying the link makes it look like you’re surreptitiously sneaking it in because you have something to hide. But promoting your store front-and-center on your site makes it seem like you care more about sales than service.
So where should you put the link to your store? The recommended positioning is within the top-level navigation on the far right hand side of the homepage. That way, it’s out of a visitor’s initial view when they’re scanning your site from the top down. But it’s in their peripheral as well as where they’d naturally scan if they were looking for a “My Account” button.
You should also make sure the link is an organic part of your menu. Design it so it’s the same colors and font weight of the rest of the buttons in the top-level navigation. This will help it blend into the natural look-and-feel of your site without being either elevated above or buried under your ministry content.
2. Produce Content-Driven Thought Leadership, Not Product-Driven Sales Pitches
As discussed, one of the concerns about selling something when you’re running a faith-based organization is it’ll come across like you’re hawking products instead of driving an important mission forward.
To avoid giving members the wrong impression, you must create articles that are content-driven—not product- or service-driven.
How? It starts with your mindset. Never ask yourself, “What do I want readers to buy?” when you’re brainstorming topic ideas. Instead, have it in your head that you’re going to craft content that serves your readers and comes from a place of passion. Content that solves your reader’s problems or answers their questions. When that’s your goal, mission-serving content flows more easily.
Besides, if your products or services were developed with your mission in mind, they’ll dovetail from your content naturally. You won’t have to force a link just to add a sales opportunity to an article.
3. Employ Deep Linking to Share Relevant Resources with Readers
It’s absolutely okay to promote your products or services at the end of your content when you’ve done the work to create content-driven, authentic pieces. In fact, you’ll be helping readers further educate themselves on a topic they’ve proven they care about by reaching the end of your article in the first place.
Just be sure the links or CTAs are both relevant and deep. A relevant link is evidence you’ve thought through the topic thoroughly. It also shows the intentionality of your strategy—your content matches your products or services.
Deep linking is the practice of linking to a specific, topical resource—not just the homepage of your virtual storefront. It’s important because it saves the reader the work of figuring out the next step on their journey through your site. This reinforces the idea that the reader is in a partnership with you. You’re not just hawking products: you’re out to educate and aid your constituents.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine you wrote an article about domestic violence awareness. At the bottom of the article (after offering ample “free” information to the reader) you add a CTA to purchase the book you wrote on the same subject. This is a relevant and deep link. It’s relevant because, again, the book features the same subject matter as the article. And it’s deep because it links directly to a landing page to purchase the topically appropriate book instead of a sales page with all of your book options your reader has to filter through.
4. Avoid Pushing Sales Content on Trusting Ministry Members
Your most devoted ministry members have given you their trust along with their email addresses. The worst thing you can do is abuse this trust by pedaling content only meant to sell your products or services. That’s a good way to lose your following.
That said, it’s occasionally acceptable to email your subscribers with a sales offer. For instance, an email rounding up your most popular gift items makes sense right around Christmas. Your readers will be looking for gift inspiration, so it’s helpful and timely. But use sales emails extremely sparingly.
Effective software can assist you in sending sales content to the right people. Be sure your tech allows you to segment your contact lists so only the most engaged people (those who have previously purchased something or interacted with lots of webpages) receive your business-focused messages.
Let Sales Support Your Ministry So You Can Meet Your Mission
When it comes to selling something to support your ministry, be an “Etsy” over an “Amazon.” Etsy sells highly targeted, hand-crafted, high-quality goods created by passionate individual artisans. And Amazon, well, need we say more?
You too can create highly targeted offerings that meet your users’ needs because they seamlessly stem from your ministry’s mission. These valuable products or services will enhance your customers’ understanding of your ministry and the mission you hold dear. They’ll also allow you to keep the proverbial lights on—spreading your message for years to come.