Have You Heard the News?
Getting the Word Out Has Gone High-Tech, Low-Cost

If your in-house publications are looking a little dated, don’t think you’re the only one who’s noticed. A bulletin or newsletter can really enhance or detract from a first-time visitor’s experience at your church. Does the impression your printed materials make match the one you hoped to convey when they stepped through your door?

If not, it’s time to start thinking outside the box. Getting the word out and keeping members involved has moved way beyond paper and stamps to e-mail, the Internet and even text-messaging. These four innovations can point you in the right direction: the future.

Sharing videotapes of baptisms, weddings and special worship events is now just a mouse click away, thanks to a first-of-its-kind new service from Digital Silo Inc.

Digital Silo makes it easy for church leaders to share their most important events with members instantly — anywhere in the world — while preserving and safekeeping their video footage.

Watching and sharing these videos no longer requires hooking up a camcorder to the television and gathering around. Similar to photo-sharing sites like Ofoto, videos stored online at Digital Silo can be viewed on demand from any Internet broadband-connected computer at any time. Best of all, there’s no hardware or software to buy.

Begin the process by visiting and signing up for service on Digital Silo’s website (www.digitalsilo.com). You can convert as little as three hours of video footage with unlimited viewing, in multiple streaming formats, for $60 (including all shipping) for the first year. You may also store unlimited hours of video for a nominal additional charge.

Within three days, a pre-paid FedEx secureshipping container will arrive. Placed the videotapes inside and return the box to any FedEx or Kinko’s location. Within a week, the videos will be available for viewing over the Internet on almost any computer. Customers receive their original videotapes back, along with a complimentary DVD of each tape they sent, so even families without computers can stay connected.

Digital Silo customers receive their own websites, where they can watch and virtually edit segments of their videotapes stored online. Footage can be arranged into video albums, and complete videos, segments or albums can be shared via a secure personal guest site (also included). An online e-mail system lets customers send links to their videos directly to people the world over, all with just one click of the mouse.

“The ability to share videos shot anytime during the past 30 years is a unique and rewarding experience,” says Digital Silo Inc. President and Co-Founder Michael Wolf. “The wonderful experience of sharing videos with people around the world can’t be duplicated. Memories can, in fact, last a lifetime.”

If you were the pastor of a start-up church and wanted to grow your congregation, how would you do it? According to the Rev. Warren Mize of Redeemed Family Church (RFC) in San Antonio, Texas, you’d print your communications on a Phaser solid-ink color printer.

“It used to be a challenge getting people within our congregation to write an article or column for our newsletter,”Mize says. “Now they’re begging for opportunities to be included in such a fantastic publication.”

People are amazed at the high quality of the church’s printed materials, Mize says — especially other ministers who’ve seen the publications and wonder how RFC is able to always produce such excellent full-color materials. Since receiving his Xerox Phaser printer via the FreeColorPrinters program (www.FreeColorPrinters.com/church43), Mize says RFC’s monthly mailed newsletter has reached “soaring heights”; now it’s printed on 16.5-inch sheets (folded and stapled) and features full-color pictures, graphics and type setting.

Not only has the church expanded its newsletter from monthly to bimonthly using the Phaser, it also produces sermons, articles, records for books and bulletins on the printer.

Mize says printing solid ink on glossy paper makes the prints look as if they came from a professional four-color press: “Our weekly Sunday service bulletin now looks like we paid thousands to have it printed.”

The ability to personalize and customize his communications so easily with the Phaser is another benefit, Mize adds. More people respond to personal touches like scanned images, he explains, and many comment on how great the materials look when printed.

Quick shipping is another plus. “Any time I need materials, they’re there the next day — I love that,” Mize says. “It’s faster than going to OfficeMax!”

Right now, more than 120 million Americans own text-messaging-enabled cell phones, and they collectively receive about 2 billion text messages per month. By 2007, that figure is expected to increase to 75 million users and 44 billion monthly text messages.

Additionally, research has shown that mobile-marketing campaigns promise recall rates of up to 96 percent, meaning receivers will show or forward a message to their friends or colleagues.

One new tool, Textalert.com, lets you harness this powerful tool by sending bulk text messages — birth and worship service announcements, birthday greetings, fund-raising updates and much more — using a simple website.

Having collected members’ mobile phone numbers, users of Textalert.com simply enter the message, input the numbers into an online address book and click ‘Send.’

Rates are pay-per-use, and there are no signup or other additional fees. Prices start at about $.13 per message for low volumes, and discounts of up to 50 percent are available for higher volumes.

“Churches that embrace new technologies and modernity have had great success recruiting younger followers for a new generation of worship,” explains Marketing Director Sara Hodkinson. “[Our service] provides an unobtrusive, high-tech means of reaching your congregation directly.”

Hodkinson says the company set out to demystify text-message marketing for nontraditional users such as churches. “We’ve made it so simple that it requires no prior knowledge, and new users can be up and running in just two minutes,” she explains. “We also offer more complex features that allow filtering and targeting, but there’s no need to learn how to use them right away.”

Xerox Offers Free Color Printers

Got 5 minutes? Get a high-speed Xerox Color Printer FREE for your business or organization. Print all your documents in color, in your office, on your schedule. Save time and money — and stop being a slave to the copy store! If you have a need for color, you owe it to yourself to apply. It takes only minutes, and you could receive a free color printer. Once you become a member of FreeColorPrinters.com, you can log in to access printing ideas (school calendars, photo frames, business cards, letterhead, envelopes and more), as well as order supplies and manage your account — all online. You’ll also receive the FreeColorPrinters newsletter, which highlights exclusive member specials and promotions and offers important account information, the newest printing ideas and many useful tips for supporting the printer. To find out more, log on to www.FreeColorPrinters.com/church43 or call 888.518.2076 (Option 2).

CD/DVD Printer Builds On Success

As the demand for in-house CD/DVD production grows, Microboards Technology LLC — a leading provider of disc duplication and printing solutions — recently announced the debut of its PF-2, a highvolume disc printer that helps organizations create discs at high speeds and at a low cost. Microboards offers a solution that enables users to create a distributable CD or DVD quickly and costeffectively. Print Factory delivers the ability to add a full-color, professional label to discs. The new PF-2 boasts a doubling of capacity from 50 to 100 discs, along with a spindled output for improved stacking and handling, while still continuing with the ability to print 16.7 million colors at up to 4,800-dpi resolution. The PF-2 will also have a reduced list price of $2,495. The notable levels of usage might also stem from the increased adoption of DVD. With optical media experts warning against the practice of using paper labels, the PF-2 has a place with highperformance DVD technology. “A few years ago, we were introducing the market to the aesthetic benefits of printing directly on CDs without using paper stick-on labels,” explains Microboards CTO John Westrum. “With the onset of higher-performance DVD technology, that ability has become more than a benefit — it’s a necessity.” For details, call 800.646.8881 or log on to www.microboards.com.