What Holy Week Teaches Us About Catholic Marketing

Ready or not, Holy Week is here. (Anyone else here in the "not" camp with me?)

As you know by now, I can't look at anything Biblical without seeing some Catholic marketing connection, and so I wanted to share how Catholic marketing is actually helping me enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery this year in case it does the same for you.

Palm Sunday - Don't chase after applause.

Think about the triumphal entry Jesus has into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The crowds cheering and shouting Hosanna, the palm branches being laid at His feet.

How many of them were supporting Him just five days later on Good Friday?

In marketing, it's easy to chase the vanity metrics - social media post likes and even email open rates.

But what really matters is who will respond when we bring out the tough ask - volunteering, donating, purchasing, taking up the cross. Use your marketing time to chase after those metrics (the conversions...in both the marketing and spiritual sense).

Holy Thursday - It's all about service.

On Holy Thursday, Jesus does the unthinkable - He gets down on His hands and knees and washes the disciples' feet, the job of a servant. It's a visual reminder to love one another in a way that truly serves the other person.

Our marketing has to do the same.

You've heard me talk before about the importance of knowing your audience's pain point, the problems they have that you can uniquely solve. They can be anything from annoyances to life's biggest questions, but knowing that pain point means you market that solution, NOT the event, volunteer opportunity, service, or product you're trying to sell.