Year-End Marketing Checklist for Churches and Ministries

As a marketing specialist for a statewide ministry, our end-of-year marketing tasks can seem daunting. To ensure all of our major tasks are completed by the end of the year, I created this simple marketing checklist for ministry leaders, churches, and nonprofits.

Social Media

• Create a “what a year” content series for social media to share ministry highlights and accomplishments from the current year. Create a unique hashtag to categorize the series. Schedule posts in advance using the platform’s internal scheduler (ex: Meta Business Suite) or a third-party application (ex: Buffer).

• Create a series of thank you messages to those who have supported your ministry through volunteering, financial gifts, etc. (share at least one thank you message a week).

• Review and update outdated cover photos and profile images. Review profile bio for outdated contact details or information.

• Create online event pages (ex: Facebook Events, Eventbrite, Internal Website Calendar) for upcoming events.

• In your Facebook Group or other group platform, engage your audience in year-end conversations. Here’s a list of conversation starters to get you started.

Reporting

• Request year-end reports from each department or ministry for the church’s annual report. For a step-by-step guide on how to create a simple annual report, visit HERE.

• Download analytics (insights) from each of your communication channels. Create a year-end analytics report to highlight reach and engagement growth for leadership.

Email & Print

• Schedule at least (2) email blasts in December encouraging year-end giving. Constant Contact and Mailchimp are two great email marketing platforms.

• Schedule and publish a Christmas/New Year video message from leadership.

  • Upload the video to your public video channel.

  • Embed the video in your email newsletter and/or post the video to social media.

  • You could also send the video via text message using platforms like Text In Church.

• Create and mail a printed Christmas/New Year card (or postcard) to members and mail subscribers. Create a special thank you card/message for donors.

Internal Marketing Tasks

• Inventory branded giveaways. Restock inventory for the new year.

• Review each page of our website(s) for outdated information and broken links. Update the public calendar with next year’s event dates.

• Share next year’s project timelines with freelancers for design, video, and photography. Request quotes and availability.

• Make room for next year’s digital files by archiving completed digital files and folders on the cloud server.

• Share next year’s marketing project deadlines with the team. Update the internal calendar with next year’s deadlines.

• Review next year’s budget with leadership to ensure the marketing area has all the necessary resources.

• Clean out the marketing office and/or storage space. Throw away old vendor magazines and project drafts. Give away unusable branded items and vendor gifts.

• Share ideas for next year’s marketing and giving campaigns with leadership for approval.

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