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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

April 25, 2009 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update 

April 25, 2009 

Facebook’s Greatest Growth has come from 35-49 year-olds, and it has added twice as many 50-64 year-olds as those under 18. (Center for Media Research Brief 3/18/09) 

Trade Shows 60.9% of marketers consider face-to-face exhibiting as the best means to effectively build brand image, finds Forrester Consulting Services. 62.9% consider in-person events the best tactic to generate qualified leads. 46% of marketers say attendee audience quality in terms of purchase influence/buying power is the #1 factor when deciding to exhibit at a given event, followed by a show’s past success (44%) and topic/theme/content focus (41%). Smaller companies with annual revenues of less than $1 million see tradeshows as a way to generate leads (56%), but larger companies view them as a means to leverage relationships they already have. (Center for Media Research Brief 4/15/09) 

Retail At Risk Consumer researcher Britt Beemer recently told USA Today that about 25% to 30% of retailer chains are likely to be forced into bankruptcy re-organization and will have to “shed 30-40% of their stores” by year’s end. (Christian E-tailing 4/16/09) 

Health, Not Income “Family income is a strong and consistent predictor,” of test scores, school grades and education, says a Cornell Univ. study in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. “The longer the childhood exposure to poverty, the worse the achievement levels become.” But when the researchers went back and looked at the men’s health records, the relationship between poverty and memory dissolved, revealing their health is the real factor. What looks like an income effect is actually a public health problem. Stress hormones over time are widely known to interfere with memory. (USA Today 4/4/09) 

Special Markets Are you looking for a new marketing channel for your Christian products? Let me help you put together a workable plan to penetrate non-traditional channels. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Coupons are In An ICOM Information Communications study finds 43% of coupon-shoppers have increased their use of coupons in the past 6 months. 57% of shoppers ages 35 and under made this claim. So did 40% of 35-54s, 36% of 55-65s, and 25% of those 65-plus. (AdWeek Media 3/2/09) 

Do What I Say, Not What I Do While 83% U.S. adults believe parents should be most responsible for a child’s spiritual development, only 35% say their religious faith is one of the most important influences on their parenting, according to LifeWay Research. 48% who acknowledge their role in their child’s spiritual development, but fail to consider their own religious faith among the most important influences on their parenting. Among born-again Christians, 29% say faith is not among the most important influences on their parenting. (LifeWay News 3/16/09) 

Kids @ Home In ’08, 46% of U.S. family households had 1 or more children of their own under age 18 living at home. Among such households, 21% had 3 or more children at home. (AdweekMedia  3/9/09) 

Fresh Thoughts Do you have relationships with people outside the company who can bring in fresh ideas and offer third opinions? Every organization should have someone like this on retainer, someone not bound by company politics or the tyranny of the urgent. Call me; I can fill this role for your organization. 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  

NavPress has split book publishing into trade and direct publishing groups and has eliminated 9 positions. It will also discontinue publication of its two magazines, Discipleship Journal and Pray!, while enhancing the magazines’ Web presence. (Publisher’s Lunch 4/9/09) 

Active Christians 84% of Active Christians participate in 1 or more church activities other than weekly worship. These activities include children’s ministry (20%), choir or worship team (24%), church governance (21%) and serving as an usher or greeter (27%). 61% of Active Christians who participate in church activities attend a weekly Bible study, 41% Sunday School, 30% small or home group and 36% mid-week worship. (Multiple answers were allowed.) (The National Study of Christian Attitudes and Behavior, Christianity Today 4/09) 

Executive Coaching Fortune magazine reports Fortune 1000 companies utilizing executive coaching saw a 53% increase in productivity, a 32% increase in the retention of senior personnel a 23% reduction in costs and a 22% increase in bottom line profitability. (Leadership Wired 3/17/09) 

E-mail Marketing An Epsilon study finds 57% of consumers feel they have a more positive impression of companies when they receive email from them, and 50% said they’re more likely to buy products from companies who send them email, whether their purchases are online or at a place of business. (Center for Research Media Brief 2/25/09) 

20-Somethings Spiritual According to a recent LifeWay Research study, 73% of unchurched 20- to 29-year-old Americans consider themselves “spiritual” because they want to know more about “God or a higher supreme being.” This is 11% higher than among unchurched individuals age 30 and older. 89% of unchurched young adults say they would listen to what someone believes about Christianity, 14% higher than the 30-plus crowd. 61% would be willing to study the Bible if a friend asked them to—20% higher than their older peers. Also among 20-somethings: 63% said they would attend church if it presented truth to them in an understandable way “that relates to my life now." Only 47% of those 30 and over agreed. 58% would be more likely to attend if people at the church “cared for them as a person.” 46% of unchurched young adults— compared to 27% of older adults—would attend a small group. (Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes, B&H Publishing Group, 2009) 

Howard Books (Simon & Schuster) offices will relocate from West Monroe, LA to Nashville 5/1/09. EVP and Publisher John Howard will be leaving the company at that time. Ed Note: His leadership and passion for excellence will be missed. (Foster Network 4/14/09) 

Are You Innovating Everywhere? When talk of innovation relates solely to products, it misses some of the most important elements of this critical business quality. The most effective strategies foster the discipline of innovation everywhere, including every component of a healthy brand: positioning, product, service or mission, pricing, marketing mix, sales channel strategy, supply chain, finance and management processes. Innovation across the board will do more than just spark top-line growth; it will serve as a catalyst to generate growth in many other critical areas, including finance, strategy and distribution. A comprehensive approach reduces risk to an acceptable level while providing the investment funds to support an aggressive overall business strategy. I can help you craft a comprehensive innovation strategy for your organization. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (AdAge.com 6/20/07) 

The Number of Canadians who believe in God dropped 13% (from 84% to 73%) between ’00 and ’09, according to an Ipsos Reid survey. Among males, 63% believe in God (down from 86%); among women it fell from 82% to 79%. Yet, the majority of Canadians, including nearly half of those who don’t believe in God, think Canada is “essentially a Christian nation,” according to the Edmonton Journal. (Christian Post 4/14/09) 

Executive Pastors More executive pastors come from the business world than from any other field. On average, they work 50 hours a week and have 9 direct reports. Female executive pastors spend more of their week advising the senior pastor than their male counterparts do. Churches typically create an executive pastor role after they reach an attendance of about 1,000. An increasing trend in very large churches is for several people to share the executive pastor role. They spend about 40% of their time in administration or meetings. Executive  pastors voice a high satisfaction level with their relationship to their senior pastor, eat dinner with their family 4 or 5 nights a week and are typically 53 years old. Most say their closest friends are at their church. (Leadership Network 4/14/09) 

The Birthrate of Hispanics in the U.S. outpaces the rate of immigration and is so exponential the U.S. Census Bureau has revised its projections for a majority-minority-nation by 8 years, from 2050 to 2042. (Engage Hispanics 3/26/09) 

Teen Atheists According to a new survey, teens who say they definitely believe in God or a higher power went from 54% to 37% between ’84 and ’08, while the number of atheists rose from 6% to 16%. The number of teens who are uncertain about God remained at 31%. Sociologist Reginald Bibby suggests that a drop-off in religiosity among Baby Boomers is the likely reason why more teenagers today say they do not believe in God. (The National Post 4/7/09) 

Pastors’ Priorities When asked to list up to 5 ministries in order of importance, 24% of identified evangelism/outreach as #1. These were followed by Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (17%);  worship/specific worship services (13%); preaching/proclamation/teaching (10%); children/youth (9%); discipleship/spiritual growth/mentoring/ counseling (7%); and prayer/prayer ministry/prayer groups (5%). When a list of the 5 most often mentioned ministries was compiled, children/youth moved to the top and was identified as one of the 5 most important by 85%. The other 4 most-mentioned ministries were evangelism/outreach (68%); Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (53%); discipleship/ spiritual growth/mentoring/counseling (37%); and worship/specific worship services (33%). (LifeWay Research, LifeWay Communications 4/7/09)

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