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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

May 10, 2009 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update 

May 10, 2009 

God’s Word Shared 54% of Americans have heard from someone they know that the Bible helped and encouraged them during the past 6 months. Among females the percentage is 63% with 44% among males. 80% of African-Americans have had someone share a Bible truth with them, as have 46% of Hispanics and 37% of Asians and Pacific Islanders. Among generations, 41% of those 65 and older have had this experience, 57% of 50 to 64 year-olds, 53% of 35 to 49 year-olds, 60% of 25 to 34 year-olds and 51% of 18 to 24 year-olds. 46% of those living with a partner have heard such truths in the last 6 months, as have 52% of married folks and 56% of singles. (LifeWay Research Insights 4/16/09) 

Americans and Social Networks According to a Harris Poll®, less than half of Americans (48%) use Twitter or have a MySpace or Facebook account. Only 16% of adults who have MySpace or Facebook accounts update their page at least daily. 5% of Americans currently use Twitter. 74% of 18-34 year olds have an account on Facebook or MySpace, as do 24% of those 55 and older. Of those who Twitter, 8% of 18-34-year-olds, 7% of 35-44-year-olds, 4% of those 45-54 and only 1% of 55 and older participate in Tweeting. (Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 4/24/09) 

Religious Drifters 47% to 59% of U.S. adults switch faith affiliation at least once during their lives, reports the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. While Catholics are more likely to leave the church because they stopped believing its teachings, many Protestants to switch denomination or affiliation because of changed life circumstances. Most describe the shift as “just gradually drifting away from their childhood faith.” Interestingly, the survey revealed that 1 in 6 Americans who belong to their childhood faith are “reverts” —people who left, only to return later. Roughly two-thirds of those raised Catholic or Protestant who now claim no religious affiliation have changed faiths at least twice. 32% of unaffiliated ex-Protestants have changed 3 times or more. Most people who left their childhood faith did so before age 24, and a majority joined their current religion before age 36. 16% of U.S. adults identified themselves as unaffiliated in ’07 while just 7% were raised unaffiliated, suggesting many end up leaving their religion for none. (CR Daily 4/29/09) 

Reputation Is Everything The Internet and search make all information easily accessible and capable of becoming viral and ubiquitous in a millisecond. The Web is the new central nervous system of the marketplace. It’s introduced unprecedented speed and efficiency in synchronizing the core truth about who you really are with your actual reputation in the marketplace. The Web is driving expectations and sensitivity around brands higher than ever. As a result, marketing and brand-building is no longer about creating a desirable façade, but about driving all that is desired into the product in the first place. It’s living by the philosophy that the sum of all your actions equals your brand equity—including even the experience of mundane things like invoicing and returns. Are you really what you say you are? Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.(Online Spin 4/11/08) 

Winning in a Downturn Recessions rearrange the competitive landscape more than boom times. Gains or losses show up early and are likely to last. Research and history indicate the companies that exhibit balance and agility will be the real winners Firms need to promote their business in spite of difficult times and to prepare to capitalize on the future recovery through smart investments. Here are 3 key strategies for success: Manage fear and uncertainty. Help customers, employees and all stakeholders stay focused on the future and to remain positive in the market. Hone and adapt your business model to the market. Confront the external realities, realign financial targets and initiate new internal activities to address the market. Winners maintain advertising to attract new customers and limit traditional discounting. Plan and react effectively to changes. Frontrunners listen to their customers and continually drive their unique value proposition. They cultivate innovators and launch low-risk experiments. They concentrate investments in innovation on truly radical ideas—not just updates or add-ons. (Engage, The Dingman Company, Spring ’09) 

Licensing Opportunities Does this growth strategy hold increased revenue opportunities for you? Let me help you find out. If proven viable, I can help you strategically maximize it. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  

More 20-Somethings than individuals 30 and older believe in the God of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ and the uniqueness of the Christian God, according to LifeWay Research. (LifeWay Communications 3/23/09) 

Chinese males under the age of 20 outnumbered females of the same age range by more than 32 million in ’05, due in large part to the government’s one-child policy and its citizens’ use of sex-selection abortion and abandonment, reports the British Medical Journal. Also in ’05, there were 1.1 million more baby boys born than baby girls. China has a policy prohibiting sex-selective abortions, although it is largely ignored. According to tradition, Chinese sons are responsible for taking care of parents in old age, and only sons can continue the family line. The male-to-female ratio for births in urban and rural areas is 119 to 100, the study said. But that ratio increases for second births in rural areas to 146 to 100, with nine provinces showing a ratio for second births of 160 to 100. (Normal is about 105 to 100.) (Baptist Press 4/13/09) 

Steven Curtis Chapman capped an emotional year by winning artist of the year during the 2009 Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards. Chapman took top honors for the 7th time in his two-decade career. He has collected 5 Grammy Awards and 56 Dove Awards. Natalie Grant won the Female Vocalist award for the 4th year in a row, and Brandon Heath won Male Vocalist and Song of the Year for “Give Me Your Eyes.” (USA Today 4/25/09) 

Kindle e-book retailer Amazon.com has purchased Lexcycle, a company that makes the iPhone e-book application Stanza, in a move that ratchets up Amazon’s presence in the e-book market. Stanza allows users to read e-books in the “epub” format, an open standard supported by the International Digital Publishing Forum used by many publishers. Amazon’s Kindle does not support the format, but Sony’s competing Reader device does. (USA Today 4/28/09) 

Faith Tribes George Barna claims the U.S. has 7 dominant faith tribes that hold the key to the restoration of the nation. “We must recover the values that made this nation great and that must be firmly in place for order, reason, freedom and unity to prevail,” he explains in his forthcoming book. “Our faith tribes are central to the development and application of people’s worldviews, which in turn produce the values on which we base our daily decisions. It is on the basis of such values that a nation rises to greatness or plummets to oblivion. The choice is ours.” Barna identified the 7 faith tribes as: Casual Christians – 66% of the adult population, Captive Christians – 16%, Jews – 2%, Mormons – 2%, Pantheists – 2%, Muslims – 0.05% and Skeptics – 11%. (The Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna, Tyndale, 2009) 

Books The average American reads 1 book after they leave formal education. (Moe Girkins, President/CEO, Zondervan 3/09) 

Influence of Faith 59% of U.S. self-described Christians contend their religious faith has significantly impacted their life. 59% of U.S. self-described Christians say their faith has “greatly transformed” their life, 29% say it “has been helpful but has not greatly transformed” their life and 9% say it “has not made much of a difference.” 89% claim the most important purpose in their life is to “love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul,” while just 11% disagree. (Barna Group 4/13/09) 

Breaking The Curse Of Knowledge We all tend to forget that the knowledge we possess is not common to everybody. We automatically assume everyone knows the same things we do. When we fall prey to the Curse of Knowledge, we phrase ideas as they exist in our own mind instead of expressing them in a way that appeals to the minds of others. The ‘Curse’ leads us to abstraction and separates us from our audience. I can help you communicate in a way that will connect with and appeal to your audience. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath, Random House, ’07) 

Harrison House, LLC has emerged from its recent reorganization and joined with Press Group, a Tulsa-based company which serves the print media needs of Christian ministries in the areas of booking, printing, fulfillment and direct marketing. Keith Provance will continue over the editorial, marketing, production and admin staff. (ECPA Rush to Press 5/4/09) 

Most Influential Time magazine has named Rick Warren as one of 2009’s World’s Most Influential People. Warren's name was listed under the heading of “Heroes and Icons” along with celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Michelle Obama and George Clooney. (Time 5/11/09) 

Women are Connecting like never before with online communities to do their shopping research and share information, according to the 2009 Women and Social Media Study from iVillage, BlogHer and Compass Partners. The research gathers insights on the ways U.S. women use social media tools in their everyday lives. Habits and attitudes of 42 million women who participate in any social media activity weekly or more often were measured. 64% of those polled are posting product recommendations to message boards and articles online. Those postings are influential, as 77% say these community recommendations impact their purchase decisions. 62% of those surveyed are comparing prices online more often, and 48% are spending more time online researching purchases. Message boards and forums are women’s resources for “finding out about new products” (47%) and “giving me ideas about how to manage my house-hold” (40%). Message boards and forums are also used to “get information” (68%), “share opinions” (70%), “seek advice, recommendations” (49%), and “provide advice, recommendations” (49%). (Online Media Daily 4/30/09) 

Trade Paper A growing number of popular authors are agreeing to originally release their books in trade paper rather than hardcover format. Although trade paperbacks are typically priced at $14 vs. $25 for hardbacks, it’s about getting as many people to read the book as possible. The cheaper format is a smarter business model during a tough economy, say both booksellers and publishers. The format is no longer considered second-best, and booksellers are happy to recommend books they like in all formats. Plus, book critics are now more open to reviewing them. (USA Today 4/20/09) 

Earn More, Pray Less 64% of Americans earning $30K or less pray at least daily, compared with 59% of those with incomes of $30K to $50K, 57% of $50K-$75K earners, 52% of $75K to $100K earners and 46% of those earning $100K or more. (Pew Forum 4/30/09) 

A World Vision Funded Study finds 56% of U.S. teens volunteer to support a charitable cause vs. 39% who have a part-time job. Parents and guardians said 82% of teens in their lives do something to support charitable causes. 46% of the adults polled volunteer their time and take credit for inspiring their children to also volunteer. 25% of teens have become more involved in charitable causes or organizations as a result of the economic downturn, yet the economy has also led to cuts in allowances and has teens working more hours at a paying job. (Christian Post 2/24/09) 

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