This is going to sound basic, but I can assure you that most churches never stop long enough to ask themselves these two questions:

#1 – Who are we best equipped to reach?

#2 – Who are we currently reaching?

This is one of the reasons direct mail efforts fall flat. When a church hasn't pinpointed the people they are most likely to reach, they can't write the kind of copy that speaks the language of the intended audience, nor can they eliminate everyone else and go after those most likely to connect with their church.

Before you do anything related to design or copy, a church must understand who they are and who God has best shaped them to reach.

I am going to expound on this idea and many others in my "7 Deadly Sins of Direct Mail' tele-seminar on Thursday (December 3rd) from 1PM-3PM.  

If you are planning on doing direct mail for Christmas or at anytime in 2010, I can assure you that tele-seminar will increase your results AND help you spend less on direct mail at the same time. 

If you're interested in participating, the info for the tele-seminar is here.