From the Home Office . . .

The Council of Elders met at the home office this week, from Monday until noon today (Thursday). The Council agenda was quite full and included much discussion. Within the next few days, the Council Report that summarizes the Council meetings will be sent to all elders, who are welcome to distribute that report via email to all members.

Results of Broadcast Television and YouTube 30-second Commercials

A major portion of results are now tabulated for the Beyond Today TV 30-second spots promoting our three video series: 1) Joseph’s Birthright, 2) Satan Unmasked and 3) The Unknown Jesus.

The comprehensive advertising campaign launched April 23 and ran through July 30. Each series was advertised on YouTube, Google, Roku, The WORD Network and 18 broadcast TV stations.

As of July 31, we had a combined total of 20.4 million digital impressions of our 30-second ads on YouTube, Google and Roku. This resulted in more than 2 million views of the ads and the related episodes. More than 5,200 “likes” were logged on YouTube.

In addition, the 18 TV stations are now reporting their Nielsen GRPs (Gross Rating Points) to help us determine how many people have seen our ads running. The first 10 weeks of our 15-week TV campaign saw 5,446 spots run. (Of these, 105 spots ran per week on The WORD Network.) We had an average of 3.9 million viewers per week see our 30-second ad approximately three times (excludes WORD).

The results for weeks 11 and 12, which just came in, had a huge 9 million and 8.8 million viewers see the spots approximately three times.

BT TV YouTube channel views spike

In addition, the Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel at youtube.com/BeyondTodayTV had 883,400 views in the past 28 days. This large increase in traffic is mostly attributed to our Google and YouTube advertising of our three TV series for the 15 weeks.

Over the past 365 days there was an obvious peak in traffic during the past three months when our campaigns were active—and a 157% increase over the previous 12 months!

Our BT YouTube channel has had a grand total of 17.24 million views (a 15% increase over a year ago) since it was started. And it has 77,100 subscribers (a 14% increase over a year ago), and hosts more than 2,500 videos.

We encourage everyone to become a subscriber and help add to our rankings on YouTube at youtube.com/BeyondTodayTV.

—Peter Eddington, Operation Manager, Media and Communications Services

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U.S. Print Advertising: Sept.-Nov. 2023

The United Church of God launched its 2023-2024 fiscal year in July 2023 using a variety of video, digital and print advertising methods designed to help people learn about the true gospel of the Kingdom of God.

While digital media has grown exponentially in recent decades, print advertising, although shrinking in size, continues to reach multiple-millions of people. To contact this audience, the Church takes advantage of what is known as “remnant” print advertising—which is ad “space” that had not been sold long in advance. Since this “surplus” space is often available in weekly coupon circulars at a fraction of the cost of normal ads, it aids us significantly in obtaining a very reasonable cost-per-response—which is the measure of the cost to obtain a single response. Our ads appear in the same weekly publications alongside ads from businesses and organizations that had paid higher prices.

In September we will test ads for our study guides (booklets), “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” and “Is There Really a Devil?” through Valassis Communications, a company that we have often worked with in recent years.

Also in September we will test our top responding ads, “Angels: God’s Messengers” and “Jesus Christ the Real Story” in two other weekly circulars: Vericast “Save Wrap” and Mailsouth “M-Spark.”

In October 2023 we will rollout 25 million of our “Angels” ad and in November 2023 our “Jesus Christ” ad will reach an additional 25 million households via Valassis weekly circulars.

As always, your prayers for God’s guidance, direction and blessings will be greatly appreciated for this ad campaign and other advertising efforts that will take place this fiscal year.

—Peter Eddington, Operation Manager, Media and Communications Services

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Job Opening—Client Relationship Specialist

The United Church of God has announced an opening for a client relationship specialist. The incumbent to this position will manage relationships with current and potential subscribers, donors and website visitors through Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and technology. This position is responsible for managing the flow of online marketing information they receive from the United Church of God.

The incumbent will identify new opportunities to build strong relationships with online visitors and viewers, and use a variety of software applications, including CiviCRM, to do this effectively—including email messaging, social media, customer service databases, etc. Duties assigned may include:

• Use CiviCRM system to collect and analyze information that will be needed for the management of client relationships.
• Create reports on client activity to help improve marketing campaigns and outreach methods.
• Manage the information about clients and prospects in a database (CiviCRM).
• Develop online campaign strategies and plans for marketing activities such as email campaigns, social media campaigns, etc.
• Create proposals for new advertising initiatives that will align with potential clients’ needs and preferences.
• Determine which biblical topics and subjects will meet clients’ needs based on their website usage, interests and preferences.
• Provide training to employees on how to use CRM applications and manage their client data.
• Collaborate with home office website and information technology personnel to improve the website experience and solve customer service issues.

A Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or institution; or 4 years related experience or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience is required. A master’s degree in business administration (MBA) is advantageous.

This position requires a good familiarity with CRM software, in particular CiviCRM if possible, and a knowledge of customer acquisition and retention strategies.

Potential employees must be baptized members (in good standing) of the United Church of God. Applicants must be biblically literate and possess a thorough working knowledge of the doctrines, beliefs and practices of the United Church of God.

To request a job application or for questions about the position, please contact human_resources@ucg.org.