Selling Your Soul
January 4, 2007
AWAI has been developing a program that will teach people how to write advertising and editorial copy for the Christian market. When the head honchos at AWAI talked to me about launching this program more than a year ago, I told them that I had once sold some Christian-related books and had also provided marketing advice to that industry. Although I didn't have exact numbers in my head, I said that I knew the market was very large, very dynamic, and very quirky. I told them that some of the biggest publishing companies in the world have interests in Christian publishing - and for some of them, that is where the majority of their profits come from.
After talking to me, AWAI conducted an informal survey with people enrolled in their other programs and received positive feedback on their interest in a writing program for this market. So they added it to their 2007 agenda.
This morning, Katie Yeakle, AWAI's Executive Director, sent me a sheet of facts and figures about the Christian market. Here are the most interesting ones, along with some of my comments about them:
* Christian-related products comprise a $4.5 billion industry in the U.S.
* Nearly 12 percent of Americans spend more than $50 a month on religious products and another 11 percent spend $25 to $29, according to a national survey of 1,721 adults by Baylor University.
* One in three Americans surveyed by Baylor made at least one purchase in a Christian bookstore in 2005. They bought mainly books and CDs, but also toys, gifts, home decor items, clothing, jewelry, and other personal accessories.
- Unlike some other religious groups, Christian buyers like to demonstrate their faith by buying objects that say, "Hey, look! I'm a Christian!" In the business, they call this "witness wear."
- With 304 stores nationwide, Family Christian is the world's largest Christian retail chain. It currently sells more than 25,000 items.
- Family Christian's original parent company, Zondervan, is the world's largest publisher of Bibles. It holds the copyright for the New International Bible, the most popular Bible translation in the U.S., and for The Bible Experience, a best-selling audio version voiced by African-American celebrities.
- Zondervan launched the California mega-church pastor Rev. Rick Warren to publishing superstardom. 19 percent of Americans, including 25 percent of women, say they've read Rick Warren's Christian-living handbook The Purpose-Driven Life, according to the Baylor survey.
- The market for Internet-based information and entertainment publishers seems especially strong, because they can convert hard products to digital and take advantage of long-tail, back-end marketing.
- Popular areas for Christian marketers include all the Hallmark moments: births, baptisms, birthdays, marriages, sickness, and death. Child-oriented literature and products are especially strong.
- Maintaining the core Christian theme is essential for success: "We don't want anything in the store that fails to point to Scripture," one successful retailer says.
Two more things that I remember about my own personal foray into this market (although I can't say for sure that they are universally true): Most of the buying is done by women - and although they are willing to spend $50 a month, they will seldom spend much more than that.
posted by M. Masterson @ 10:59 AM,
3 Comments:
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At 7:47 PM,
Kandy said...
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As a Christian in Australia, I found this article quite interesting. Just a few weeks before Christmas I entered a Christian bookshop with the intention of getting one specific CD I could have found at any CD store, and left with almost $200 worth of goods.
I was thrilled, as I ticked a number of people off my list and felt like I'd purchased something they'd appreciate. And they did - from my father who has about 20 health books lying around to read, yet read the one I gave him within a week, to my friend to whom I gave a green mug with the word trust on it, some of them were a lot more grateful than I expected. Perhaps it's the feel that the quality of a Christian product is better, or the simple confidence that any CD or book purchased from that store is safe from profanities, lewdness and negative themes. Whatever it is, consumers are often unconsciously more willing to spend more money on the same product if it's in a Christian store (myself included).
Perhaps the guilty pleasure of spending money on yourself and others is reduced by the conviction that whatever you're purchasing is a good product that's influencing yourself or others for the better.
As for the CD I bought, ironically enough I have to take it back because my best friend didn't like it. I bought him a pair of shoes instead. -
At 12:54 AM,
said...
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Wow, this tells me that Christians are cheap, when you consider we, the American public, spend 86 BILLION dollars a year on our pets! I think AWAI should consider that if money is the idea, no?
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At 11:05 AM,
said...
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Hello! I read this article! Big thanks to author, very interesting. Write more.
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