Greater Atlanta

Unitarian

Universalist

Congregations

Appendix F - Feedback From Participants

1. Did you hear any of the advertisements?

• I heard two of the advertisements. I was disheartened to realize that people would have no way of knowing we were a religious community if they hadn't heard of us before.
• Yes, I heard several of them. I was proud to hear this ad on the radio, and thought that it captured the attention of people to consider what UUism might mean, in general and for them. Mentioning the web address was good, and I felt it promoted "surfing" by internet-active folks.
• I listen to Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I heard 2 separate ads during these programs. I thought the ads were fine. The only suggestion I can offer would be to make them more pointed and less encompassing (i.e., instead of an "open minds" type phrase, I would use a more definitive descriptive such as "where people of different faiths gather in peace every Sunday".).

2. The visitor data we gathered was quite mixed, in that some congregations had consistently more visitors who said they visited because of the radio ads than other congregations. Do you have any ideas why this occurred?

• Maybe some greeters verbally asked the visitors about . Our greeters were instructed not to refer to WABE at all so the responses would not be skewed.
• Of course there could be an error in the data collection but as one of the congregations with few if any people from the ads, I think we were pretty good about gathering the data. The demographics of the NPR listener could have something to do with the difference.
• We have few visitors, so I wouldn't have expected more than one or two to have radio ads. Also, Peach State Radio station, so most people who live near our church listen to that rather than WABE. I'm not sure why there would be discrepancies among truly metro congregations.
• Many of our visitors hear about us from a variety of sources, primarily the internet (our website) and friends/relatives. They may have also heard the NPR advertisement, which certainly reinforces our religion as a legitimate and significant institution to consider visiting. I don't feel that the ad, in and of itself, would be enough to entice someone to visit, if they hadn't had any other knowledge of our religion or congregation. It takes much more than an advertisement to get people to visit a new religious congregation on a Sunday morning.
• We had zero visitors indicate they came via the NPR program. I have no idea why this was. Our visitors consistently find us via the Yellow Pages, friend referrals (we've started a Spread the Word campaign with our members), and newspaper ads.

3. Would you recommend that your congregation advertise during NPR programs?

• No, not unless more information could be mentioned in the ad.
• I would not recommend doing further ads on NPR.
• Based on these results I would not.
• Yes. It is a great PR tool, and gets our denomination's name out in the public arena. It also helps create a presence and familiarity in Atlanta with our religion, in general.
• I think that it is important to be on NPR, even though we got no response. If any congregations got visitors, I think that's sufficient.

4. What recommendations would you give other congregations if they wanted to advertise during NPR programs? How would you modify this campaign if others wanted to run it?

• Find some way to tell more about UUism – maybe on another radio station.
• I would recommend that they are able to be clear in the ad that Unitarian Universalism is a religious community and make it explicit in the ads. I would recommend NPR only if it was extremely inexpensive and if other media ads were in place first (i.e., newspapers).
• I would recommend that congregations work together, just as in this project, to promote Unitarian Universalism, and not just advertise one particular congregation. (The cost is far too prohibitive for this anyway.) Using the website works well in introducing the public to who we are and what we are all about. I would also caution congregations not to expect a big response "through the door," but to monitor a greater awareness created through advertising in this fashion. The only modification I would make would be to eliminate the telephone call-in line, as it wasn't necessary or used.
• Use more descriptive ads and make a statement that separates us from the more liberal Christian churches that often advertise as "open" and "accepting".

5. Please tell us your thoughts about this campaign – what worked, what didn't, what did you like, not like, what would you change, what would you continue, what did you learn?

• greeters should encourage visitors to fill in the questionnaire about why they were visiting. Too many skip that questionnaire otherwise.
• I think the campaign was well organized by you and your team. I think that the ads seemed to be crisp and clear and that mainly the cooperation from the congregations was good although we could have been more timely with assistance. I think a big problem was NPR's last minute declaration that we couldn't sound "religious" on them. I think this was a good experiment but I think we would have to modify it if we were to do it again.
• I thought it was well-organized and you made it really easy to report statistics. I learned that WABE advertising is probably not useful for us.
• I really liked the website tracking program that was developed. This will be the key to any future ad campaign that encourages website hits. I am very interested in seeing the results and conclusions about internet activity relating to the timing of the ads.
• I learned that the radio ads were not going to draw visitors through the doors, but more realistically introduce them to UUism in a passive way. Hopefully, the ads caught the public's interest and curiosity enough for them to click on the website and start exploring - a necessary first step for anyone considering our religion for the first time. This project proved the magnitude and value of advertising information available on the Internet. In this day and age, more than 50% of the newcomers to our congregation have all been to the website before arriving at our doorstep. This Internet introduction is a very important part of their journey to our door and to Unitarian Universalism in general.
• Despite the lack of benefit to our congregation I believe the campaign was well executed. Everyone's efforts with the ads and the website were superb and we appreciate the professional results. My only change would be ; I believe there are many liberal congregations utilizing many of the terms we hold as our own. As a result we have to find ways to reinvent ourselves and better differentiate our presence in the community.