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. Keywords: aging church participants, church advertising and promotion, church marketing research, rural churches, residents’ awareness of church services _____________________________________ Comprendre le marche desservi : une etude sur la sensibilisation des residents ruraux aux services fournis par l'eglise locale En raison du declin du nombre de membres d'eglise au cours des cinq dernieres decennies, de plus en plus d'eglises ont envisage d'utiliser une approche marketing pour mieux comprendre les membres d'eglise en tant que clients et ainsi fournir des services et des installations adaptes a leurs membres d'eglise (public cible). Cette etude a ete menee dans la ville de Big Rapids, une zone rurale du Michigan. Son objectif est de comprendre la sensibilisation des membres de la communaute rurale aux services et aux installations offerts par leur eglise locale afin d'identifier les strategies de marketing appropriees pour que cette eglise approche et serve ses publics cibles dans un proche avenir. Bien que 839 residents locaux aient repondu au questionnaire d'enquete, seulement environ 36% des repondants ont declare avoir entendu parler de l'eglise. Alors que certains repondants n'etaient pas au courant de la plupart des services offerts par l'eglise, ceux qui pensaient que l'eglise avait eu un impact important sur la communaute etaient plus susceptibles de recommander ses services a d'autres. De plus, les repondants âges (55 ans et plus) avaient tendance a croire que l'eglise avait affecte la communaute. En plus de cela, la plupart des repondants plus jeunes (âges de 18 a 54 ans) se sont egalement identifies comme n'allant pas a l'eglise. Cette etude fournit non seulement des conseils aux administrateurs d'eglises locales pour identifier des approches marketing pour servir leurs publics cibles, mais peut egalement etre consideree comme un modele pour d'autres eglises rurales, en etablissant une relation solide avec les residents locaux qui peut conduire a gagner plus de membres d'eglise a long terme. Mots-cles : participants de l’eglise vieillissants, publicite et promotion de l'eglise, recherche sur le marketing de l'eglise, eglises rurales, sensibilisation des residents aux services religieux