Understanding the Served Market: A Study on Rural Residents' Awareness of Services Provided by the Local Church

Due to the decline in church membership over the last five decades, more and more churches have considered using a marketing approach to better understand church members as customers and thereby provide services and facilities that are appropriate for their church members (target audience). This study was conducted in the City of Big Rapids, a rural area of Michigan. Its purpose is to understand rural community members' awareness of the services and facilities their local church offers in order to identify appropriate marketing strategies for this church to approach and serve their target audiences in the near future. Although 839 local residents completed the questionnaire survey, only about 36% of the respondents reported having heard of the church. While some respondents were unaware of many of the services made available by the church, those who believed that the church had had a strong impact on the community were more likely to recommend its services to others. Furthermore, senior respondents (age 55 and above) tended to believe that the church had affected the community. In addition to that, most of the younger respondents (age 18 to 54) also identified themselves as non-churchgoers. This study not only provides guidance to the local church administrators in identifying marketing approaches to serve their target audiences, but can also be treated as a model for other rural churches, as building a strong relationship with local residents that can lead to gaining more church members in the long term.