XCITE Church Positioning Strategies - Case Study Example

Name Course Tutor Date Introduction XCITE Church is a church located in Melbourne Australia. It was founded by university students in the year 2007. Its vision includes reaching out to the broader international community both in Melbourne central district as well as in the suburban areas of Melbourne. Several church members belong to Monash University and these same students live next to the university. XCITE Church also hires venues within the university in order to enable other students and other people within the university to access the services. It is run by a voluntary pastor. This is mainly because it has inadequate finances to employ a full time pastor. In the past, this church had part-time employees, but currently has none as a result of financial constraints. These financial constraints have created several problems for the church and its’ members. This report talks about XCITE Church and looks into the case of financial constraints facing the church. It also answers questions on the church’s position strategies, challenges as well as the strategic direction to be followed in order to overcome these challenges. XCITE Church positioning strategies XCITE Church has positioning strategies. These positioning strategies deal with the positioning of the church in relation to its adjacency with the people attending the services. The positioning strategy is an issues in the church, since it creates problems in maintaining the church’s’ unique position in the huge and competitive church market. A positioning strategy is conceived and even developed in many ways. It can be derived from competition, object attributes, the type of customers, application as well as the characteristics of a given product class. All these attributes mainly represent a whole different approach in the development of positioning strategies. All of them however contain a common image in consumers’ minds or in the audience’s minds. Some of the positioning strategies employed by the church include the setting up of a welcoming lounge. This lounge belongs to the newcomers whereby they meet up with the leaders of the church after the church services. These newcomers receive the welcome cards and in these cards, they fill in their details. After filling in the cards, the ushers return these cards. The usher team then later on takes the newcomers contacts and informs them of the next Sunday’s services. This strategy helps to increase the number of people attending the church service and an increase in the number of people attending the church service increases the contributions made towards the expansion and the growth of the church (Seggie 2009). Another strategy is the provision of business cards and t-shirts. These provisions enable the church to promote its’ services. A church resembles a business venture in the sense that the more the fraternity, the more the church expands not only in congregation means but also financially. The church also has a page in Face book. This marketing strategy enables the church to post links concerning the upcoming events on the services in the church and other events. The page also has full details on the location of the church as well as any upcoming events of the church. The church elements including the sermons, the music and the decorations on several occasions target the university students. The university students range between 18 to 25 years therefore everything is set to target these youths. The church pastor wears very informal attire to suit the church audience. The sermons are also light as well as relevant. This means that the sermons suit the university students and this therefore develops their interest in returning to church during ever event. Their music is also upbeat and loud and they suit the youths. The church throughout the year organizes for promotional activities. At the beginning of the semester, these promotional activities highly attract the new international students (Taute 2011). These activities also include the use of posters, brochures as well as advertising in the student’s magazines as well as the standing posters. The use of all this is to enable the church to expand its’ services. Location on several instances has a dramatic effect on the business’ productivity. This is because it provides a constant flow of the pedestrian fellowship attendees. Places like busy city streets that have several people passing by highly attract these people and even invites them into the church to know what is going on. Businesses situated in the strip malls or the businesses situated in the standalone businesses that contain increased exposure towards the passing traffic. This highly boosts the business’ viability and also makes the passersby to stop in and check on the items available (Tadajewski & Hewer 2011). The church ought to be situated in a town or the students’ shopping centre not just in a place adjacent to the university or it can be situated right at the entrance of the church in order to allow any one going in or out to be able to go to church. This form of marketing strategy will enable the people not only passing by but also within the university vicinity to attend the church services. A business located in a place that is harder to find or access will eventually experience less productivity. If the customers cannot find the location of a given business at ease, then these same people cannot help the business towards achieving success. In the case of XCITE Church, the location of the church must be in a place that is accessible to not only the students but to the people living in Melbourne and even outside Melbourne. Another factor on positioning strategy is the facts on the parking lots. If people find out that small factors like unsafe surroundings for parking of vehicles as well as unsafe vicinity to attend church services, there then these people will change places of worship (Nuttall 2011). XCITE Church must ensure that the location of the church or rather the positioning of the church guarantees the members’ safety when they’re in church. This will keep more members attending the church services and even the members will invite their friends and relatives to attend fellowship in XCITE Church. The main problem affecting the church is the issue on financial constraints. The positioning of a given business and in this case the positioning of XCITE’s church contributes to the financial constraints. A business’ location affects the success of the business as well as the productivity of the business itself mainly by extracting the financial costs. There are some municipalities in Australia and some states that have higher sales in business as well as the other taxes eating into a given business’ bottom line. XCITE Church main attendees are the students. Students portray less church attendance not only in Melbourne but all over Australia. The ones who attend on the other hand cannot contribute much since they do not earn a lot of income. There is also the issue on the professional licenses or the operational licenses. They might cost higher and therefore the finances in the church are wired towards meeting the operational costs. The church location therefore should be in a place whereby there’s equal balancing between the money in the church and the operational costs (Hardey 2011). The aspect of competition is also important when talking about the positioning of the church. When a given business relies on the neighboring local community then one needs to check out of the competition. Since the church cannot employ more employees due to financial constraints, then the possibility is on the movement of the church from its’ current position to another position that is more relevant to create more finances to the church. In some cases being near several churches is important while in some cases it is not an advantage. Being near several businesses can be advantageous since it leads to the drawing of certain consumer to the specific area. In the case of XCITE Church sitting it in a place whereby there are other churches means that there will be a huge competition of people attending services. This is mainly because not all of them will attend XCITE Church; some of them will prefer other churches due to unknown reasons (Hardey 2011). Push and factors refers those factors that draw a given business from certain factors. These factors include the increasing costs, reduction in the demand, more competition or the poor transportation and communication systems. More competition in this case concerns XCITE Church since it receives competition from the neighboring churches. The pull factors refer to the factors that pull a given business towards a given location (Tadajewski & Hewer 2011). These factors include the lower labor costs or a growing consumer base. It also includes the improved communication and transportations systems as well as the government incentives. Before locating a business or a given church, there has to be a consideration of such factors. The roads leading to the church must be passable in any weather conditions as well as the consumer base whereby in this case, this refers to the people attending the church services. Customers and the community is also another effect. When someone relies on specific customers to visit and venture into a business, it is important to consider the demographics of the business’ potential location. A business that appeals to the young generation on several occasions cannot develop well in a region whereby an average householder is older than close to 50years and above. On the other hand, a day care facility needs to be located where the dual income families stay. They can also be situated whereby the young parents work in order to allow the dropping off of kids and their picking up is less stressful. Area and success refers to choosing an actual business area that contributes towards a given bottom line. It is therefore important to consider the traffic patterns as well as the accessibility of the business to not only the customers but also the employees. Even if a given location has no specific zoning, then there might be deed restrictions or covenants on a given location that someone chooses. The most important thing when choosing the space of a given business or in this case the positioning of XCITE Church, is to determine how big the business or church will be in relation to the number of people expected to attend (Hardey 2011). Challenges faced by XCITE Church XCITE Church has over the past two years experienced several challenges. These challenges mainly emanate from the management of the church. The first challenge is on the costs incurred by operations. Operational costs can either be the fixed costs or the variable costs. Fixed costs occur similarly whether an operation is closed or if it is still running at full capacity. The variable cost on the other hand refers to the costs that increase. Their increment depends on whether there is more production as well as how the production happens. The overhead costs are the resources costs used by a given organization in order to maintain its’ existence. These costs on several instances are measured mainly in monetary terms. The non-monetary one occurs in form of a given time that is required for the accomplishment of certain tasks. The operational costs of the church include the renting of venues, spending on promotional materials or the honorarium fees awarded to the guest speakers. All these operational costs put the church in an uptight manner considering the fact that they have to look for a higher amount of finances aimed at offsetting all these operations (Seggie 2009). The second challenge facing XCITE Church is the fact the members constitute mainly the students fraternity. These students have a limited income since they are halfway done with their undergraduate studies. The amount of income gained from each Sundays’ offerings is insufficient to cater for all the church’s operational costs. The church therefore struggles a lot in covering these operational costs and relies heavily on the fundraising activities organized in the church as well as the donations from the non-members. This challenge deals a heavy blow on the church since little money is always gained that is not even enough to sustain a full time pastor. Because of this problem, the church cannot employ any full time employees. This is because it has fewer finances to cater for their salaries. In order to overcome this issue, the church should change from its’ normal phase. The church currently goes with the current youths. The pastors’ dress code, the music played and other things suit only the youth. This can be done away with by ensuring that there is change. Once this change pushes through, not only the youths will come back to the church but also their lecturers and other families living in Melbourne (Taute 2011). XCITE Church had one pastor. Nowadays however, they rely heavily on the volunteer pastors. This is mainly because it has insufficient funds to employ full-time pastors. The Church’s senior pastor works mainly full time in the university as a lecturer. The pastor therefore has very little time to concentrate on the church’s needs as well as oversee the needs of the congregation In order for a church to work well, there has to be a full time pastor situated in the church. This pastor’s work can be counseling the members, organizing for weekly services and even managing the finances. The lack of a full time pastor can also lead to the chasing of other members to other churches mainly because their demands are not being met. The people who end up remaining at the church are therefore the members who are not dedicated to the church or their needs being met (Taute 2011). XCITE’s Church members have in the past complained of their needs being overlooked by the pastor. This is mainly because on several occasions, the pastor is not available for the counseling sessions during the week. Some members therefore have left XCITE Church to look for better attention and services in the neighboring churches. Most of them cite the lack of the attention of the pastor as a major problem and this has on several occasions been an assumed issue. Without a full time pastor who can provide counseling and attention to the members during the week, then not much can be done in the church. This is mainly because the members on several occasions have issues affecting them that require urgent attention and without this they look for help elsewhere. This is in the same case as any normal business. If the customers do not receive the ultimate services they need for example services from the employees running the business or from the administration, chances are they will look for better services and goods elsewhere. The negativity however is that the church has fewer finances to keep a full time pastor. There is also the challenge of overreliance on the volunteers. Over relying on volunteers has adversely affected the quality of XCITE Church services. The people involved in ministering can be late on other occasions. This is for example after a given specific invitation. These volunteers can show up to the church late and even fail to apologize. The pastor of the church has failed to address the issue of volunteer ship in a long time. The pastor has been hesitant in addressing the issue since there is no other choice than to rely on volunteers to provide the services. There are also problems involved mainly with commitments. This is whereby some students have not fully committed to the church’s ministry activities. This is mainly because they have heavy study loads. During the period of continuous assessment tests and during exams periods, the church runs very thin on resources. This also occurs during semester breaks when the students return to their various home countries or to their places of residence within Australia or in the neighboring countries. Some of the church’s elements like hospitality, music and pastoral care suffer immensely. This is mainly because only the remaining few living next to the church contribute towards the church’s ministries. This is however still not enough to cater for the church’s many needs (Hardey 2011). There are other churches located in Melbourne and this creates competition. The church on several occasions struggles greatly to retain their first time visitors but on several occasions, these visitors leave the church due to the challenge above on lack of pastoral attention. Some of the visitors on the other hand prefer to move to the bigger churches that contain better and quality services therefore leaving XCITE Church with less people. In these bigger churches, they have the attention of a full time pastor and their needs are also met without any possible arising of problems within the church. In a business, when there are no customers, possibilities of the success of that business are low. The bigger churches in this case have a higher advantage since they afford to keep not only fulltime pastors but also employ some full time musicians who can entertain the church during the services. These churches are available in Melbourne and the possibility of the residents of Melbourne leaving XCITE Church to attend these other churches is high. This is mainly because these churches have pastoral attention and counseling on several matters. These churches also offer excellent ministries that range from students services to catering for families needs. They also have services that cater for the elderly in the church. XCITE Church on the other hand caters only for the university students who do not add up to even half of the people situated in Melbourne. A given business must have all its’ requirements in order to keep running in several occasions (Nuttall 2011). XCITE Church must therefore develop all that it needs to keep members in the church. This includes introducing services that cater for not only the university students, but also other people of the society. The church must also ensure that the needs of the people are well attended. On the issue of volunteering pastors, it is important to ensure that the church first of all looks for a full time pastor and to do this the church will require finances. The church can look for finances by for example producing plays acted by the university students or recording songs. They would then sell these songs and plays at a fair price to look for finances. The church can also involve the university students during their free time for example when they have no exams, projects or continuous assessment tests. The church can mobilize the students to provide services like cleaning services in hospitals or garbage disposals and other housekeeping chores. This will only involve the students who attend fellowship since the students who do not attend fellowship would refuse to partake in this. If these services are offered each week, then the church can accumulate enough finances to not only pay the pastor but to also employ part time employees and even musicians. During midterm breaks, the church can look into closing the church and creating the open air services not only within Melbourne but even outside Melbourne. This will help in gaining finances (Tadajewski & Hewer 2011). Road Ahead The pastor of the church has to look for solutions to prevent the problems at hand. In order to pull out of the current problems, a clear and strategic road has to be pursued despite the challenges lying ahead. The first address to the challenge is to look into the idea of expansion of the church. The church must expand its’ current target towards the students, to include families and young professionals. This mainly comes in with the problem of finances whereby there are fewer offerings due to the fact that most students earn little since they work part time. Some of the students even do not have work. In order to expand XCITE Church’s current target, the church has to develop a positioning strategy. This would include changing the current services offered by the church. In order to fit the families sector, the church has to offer children’s ministry and this would require the need of a teacher specialized for the children’s ministry. The music will also be changed to fit all the generations ranging from the university students to the young professionals and the families too (Seggie 2009). The promotional materials of the church will also have adjustments to suit a family church instead of a youth’s church. Some of the church’s leaders may feel that the repositioning strategy of changing services to fit everyone might lose an appeal to the originals of the church, the university students. However, everything must be tuned to suit everyone if the church requires enough people attending the services who can boost the current stalemate of lack of enough finances. In my opinion, repositioning the church would be a great idea. This is because it would appeal to the family segment and the young professionals. The church can also reduce their operational costs like honorarium fees for the speakers and renting of venues. This would save up finances for the church. XCITE Church has over the past years grown into one big church. The problem however lies entirely in the management of operations because of financial constraints affecting the church. Although there is high attendance, the church cannot afford to fully employ staff as well as a fulltime pastor. These problems can be overcome if a clear financial strategy is written down that would work towards alleviating all the problems of the church (Hardey 2011). Conclusion XCITE Church faces several problems and all these problems create financial constraints to the church. These problems range from operational costs which greatly affect the operation of the church. The church also lacks a full time pastor who can attend to the needs of the people. These problems have over time led to people moving to other churches. Several members attending the church services constitute the students fraternity. Most of the student’s have limited income sources and therefore cannot fully support the church’s needs. This has become a huge problem to the church that requires to be addressed. The main factor that would reverse the current situation of the church is however by changing the church’s targeted segment which is the university students towards not only the university students but also the families segment but also the young and old professionals which includes the university lecturers. References Read More