A friend of mine serves as the treasurer for
the local synagogue that we both belong to. He recently told me the temple
can’t afford to pay what it pays the head rabbi and that we should downsize
from two full-time rabbis to one, and maybe an assistant.
I
wasn’t expecting to hear that. It was a shock.
But I did know we were running small deficits over the past few years,
borrowing from an endowment to make annual budgets even out. The day of reckoning came to us this past
fall.
It was like hearing your favorite band is breaking up.
For the past decade, I have been a member of the temple, I’ve only known it to
have these two rabbis. They’re young, different, and progressive. They’ll be
gone by June.
The
reality is the temple is not merely running a deficit or possibly mismanaged.
It’s shrinking.
Like
many religious institutions across the country, worship service attendance and
participation is down. A few generations ago the temple had 1600 families. It
now has fewer than 500. It’s bleeding red ink and people. Something needs to be done.
I
recently led an effort to find a way to retain – and grow – membership for a
dying institution. It’s still in its infancy, but the process of marketing the
temple appears to be an obvious task. It’s just that it hasn’t been done much -
or well – in recent years, if ever.
The task is tall, the need is great, and the chance of success is unknown to
unlikely. But we must try.
The
key ways we’ll grow is with:
·
Strategic
marketing efforts.
·
Constant
and consistent outreach.
·
Great
follow-up.
·
A
division of labor by many people.
We’ll
need some marketing materials, a limited budget, and for some luck to come our
way. But it is a numbers game. If we
expose a positive message to a targeted group of people we’ll likely win over
someone. Maybe a few someones. Over the year, if we grow by 5%, and again the
next year, we’ll be in far better shape than we are now. More members bring new ideas, passion, and
the reward of expanded community. And more money to the temple.
The
principles to marketing a temple, to a degree, are similar to those for
promoting a book. For example, you need
a good message sent to a targeted group of people. Word-of-mouth works best. You need referrals and to have loud mouths
act as feeders for you. Authors need
someone to send readers their way; temples may need local realtors,
pediatricians or PTAs to share information about them to prospective adults and
families.
Maybe
the biggest similarity to marketing a book or temple is praying. Why not?
Praying to get more members can’t hurt – nor can praying for book buyers.
You need to feel inspired and optimistic to market anything.
At
some point, if people are to join the temple, they’ll need to decide:
Do I
want to belong to a temple?
If
so, why this one?
Readers,
too, need to decide:
·
Do
I want to buy a book?
·
If
so, why this one?
Each
temple – and each book – offers something specific. People need to feel a need or desire is being
met. They need to trust in you.
Even
though the book industry stopped declining and experienced a bit of a
resurgence this past decade, it feels like books are still in danger. A smaller percentage of adults read books
than previous generations. They buy fewer books, per capita. The art of reading a book has become
fractured. We’re not all reading the
same books, not even in the same format.
Religion
is the same. Church and temple closings
happen on a regular basis. Membership has slipped and people simply are not as
tied to their house of worship or faith to the same degree that society used to
be. It’s still a strong, relevant demographic, but like books, temples and
churches are not guaranteed super longevity.
But
many people value either or both. They see
religious organizations as a central part to society’s growth and personal functioning
of many. They also see the book as the
backbone to an informed, educated, and enlightened society.
I
don’t know what will become of my temple, or even books, but I will keep
fighting for the things I value highly. Marketing is vital to keeping the
temple – and books – alive. Say a prayer
for either or both.
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