THE OPPORTUNITY

When COVID-19 struck with unpredictable devastation, it caught the world completely unprepared. Anderson SDA Church was no exception. When church leadership made the decision to pause in-person services to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, everything had to change ... and quickly.

The challenge of not meeting in person quickly surfaced a number of obstacles for staying connected to Anderson SDA Church’s congregation and the community.

THE ANSWER

“As we began to try to put all the pieces together, providentially the Anderson SDA Church Board began to work with Chris Dellen, a member who leads Delmar®,” said Brent Schalk.

Delmar^® quickly began mapping out a strategy to modernize the way Anderson SDA Church stays connected to its congregation and community in completely new and different ways.

The Journey

The first step was setting up the right foundational technologies where needed. When it was impossible for Anderson SDA Church to meet in person or use printed weekly bulletins to stay connected with the congregation, the church had to switch from “analog” communications to “digital” communications. “I am not an expert on this type of technology, but the Delmar^® team is,'' said Brent Schalk.

Implement HubSpot CRM

This first step was to implement a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. This is a powerful, cloud-based database that organizes and segments all the individuals that Anderson SDA Church desires to communicate with. Delmar^® worked closely with church leadership to collect members' contact information and organize it in HubSpot. In addition, Delmar^® worked to collect all known contacts who had previously responded to Evangelism and outreach efforts and organized them in HubSpot CRM. Over time, HubSpot CRM has become Anderson SDA Church’s Modern Evangelism Engine.

Develop and Maintain a Consistent Identity (brand)

Implement Integrated Digital Communication Channels with CRM

Modern Marketing Email Platform: Delmar^® developed a responsive, branded email marketing template that is being used twice a week as a personalized invitation to Prayer Meeting, Friday Vespers and Church Service for both members and every individual who has responded to previous Evangelism efforts.

Text Messaging (SMS)

Text messages are a personal and immediate form of communication. Delmar^® implemented a text messaging platform for Anderson SDA Church, which is used to invite individuals to weekly Church Service. In addition, Delmar^® integrated the text messaging platform with the CRM to store all past text messages within an individual’s database record.

Integrated Social Campaigns

With the guidance of Delmar^®, Anderson SDA Church launched a number of targeted Social Media advertising campaigns in the community. Every time an individual responds to a campaign, they are automatically added to Anderson SDA Church's CRM and enrolled in a number of continuous weekly outreach efforts.

Website

Delmar^® integrated Anderson SDA Church’s website with HubSpot CRM. This helps provide insight on the topics, sermons and content that individuals are interacting with, which can be used to proactively reach out to interested individuals in the future.

Online Forms

Delmar^® helped Anderson SDA Church launch a number of forms on their website for individuals, including submitting prayer requests, contacting church leadership or even requesting specific information on an individual sermon. This information is automatically added to Anderson SDA Church’s database. Furthermore, if the contact is new, the individual is immediately added to future weekly communications and outreach initiatives.

Automated Bible Study Scheduling

In a virtual world, making it easy for individuals to schedule a Bible study was very important to Anderson SDA Church and their Bible Worker. Delmar^® helped integrate HubSpot CRM, Zoom and the Bible Worker’s calendar to allow individuals to easily schedule a one-on-one Bible study.

New Website

With the increased focus on “virtual engagement” and a desire to create an engaging experience online, Delmar^® created a new website that is optimized for both desktop computers and the mobile experience. It was created in order to host Anderson SDA Church’s online content in a way that is more engaging, immersive and optimized for search engines.

Follow-Up Tasks / Processes

It is challenging for any organization to keep track of hundreds of individuals and follow up in a way that is personal, timely and measured. This is especially true for church leadership who are constantly balancing a multitude of priorities. Delmar^® implemented a series of automated follow-up plans and communications for individuals who respond to different outreach efforts, making it easy for Anderson’s Evangelism team to efficiently and personally contact each interested individual.

Orchestrating the Weekly Cycle of Outreach

It’s never been easier to stay in touch with a large group of individuals in a personal way. Delmar^® has helped Anderson SDA Church implement a repeatable weekly cycle of outreach communications to its ever-growing database of contacts. This cycle includes specific emails and text messages, inviting literally hundreds of people to tune in to its livestream or even attend church–every single week.

Analytics

A familiar adage reminds us, “You can’t improve what you can’t measure.” This is even more important in a time when you can’t “see” if someone that you invited to church actually comes or not. Delmar^® has implemented a number of metrics that are reported to the Church Board on a monthly basis, detailing what is working and what isn’t. This helps improve and refine the overall impact of their modern evangelism efforts.