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Marketing with Integrity
By Diana Bridgett, Managing Editor
August 5, 2010

It is not often that we come across a person in the Public Relations arena that has taken the torch to represent the Christian population with tenacity, integrity, and dedication.  Pam Perry is that individual.  She began Ministry Marketing Solutions ten years ago to assist churches, ministries, and Christian authors with building their brand of marketing to empower their target audience.  Her no nonsense approach, coupled with her drive for churches to work in excellence equals a product that has a solid foundation, brand identification, and relays a strong spiritual message.

Hope Today Magazine spoke with this PR Guru to learn what her driving force is behind her company, her passion for ministry, and why she became the vessel of empowerment to the Christian community.

Hope Today Magazine: Can you provide background information with regards to how you became involved in the Public Relations industry?

Pam Perry: I have been involved in Public Relations for the past twenty years.  I believe it to be my career, my calling.  I majored in Public Relations and Journalism in college. When I completed school, I worked for the Detroit Free Press for a number of years in the Advertising and Sales role.  I did this for about a decade and then moved into radio and broadcast sales along with some producing.  I left that, went into not for profit work as the Director of Public Relations.  There after, I decided to strike out on my own with working with two organizations, Joy of Jesus and the Salvation Army.  I combined all of my media, sales, and writing skills to work with those two organizations and that is how I formed the bridge to Ministry Marketing Solutions.

Hope Today Magazine: Can you tell of the services that Ministry Marketing Solutions provides?

Pam Perry: We do PR coaching. We take new authors who are new to the publishing field who do not know how to market their book or self-published authors who are trying to build a brand.  I teach them step by step, everything that they need to do in order to market their book.  We discuss branding, building the platform, social media training, media relations, internet marketing, as well as packaging themselves to gain speaking engagements.

Hope Today Magazine: You assist with building ministries as well?

Pam Perry: Yes, I do this for Pastors as well, typically if they have a book.

Hope Today Magazine: Why did you decide to focus your services towards ministries?

Pam Perry: That was just a love that I had.  I felt there was a huge need.  There was a void that I saw in that particular area. After working with companies who market their products well, I often wondered why the church that has more of a life changing message does not have the technical skills to be able to deliver their products to consumers that would buy into their story as well.  I really learned that from the Salvation Army. People really do not understand that the Salvation Army is a church.  They are a brand.  When people see the red kettles out at Christmas time, that is all branding. It really started there.  I opened Ministry Marketing Solutions because I wanted to offer my skills to churches that just didnt know how to get their products out.  Its good that we know the Word but we need to understand the profession of marketing.  I believe that Jesus is about excellence and when we dont do something in excellence, we are not being a good witness.

Hope Today Magazine: It is not often that we hear of a PR Liason speak so passionately about excellence with regards to marketing with churches.

Pam Perry: You don’t have to be a mega church to do things in excellence. You don’t have to be a T.D Jakes in order to have a really tight brand.  You can do something as simple as sticking to a consistent color.  That is branding.  The typical Christian needs to feel that their church is relevant. I look in the urban areas in which there is a church on every corner.  Why don’t the churches involve the community to rebuild those churches?  The reason why that does not happen is because the community feels that the church is just a little club that they do not understand, that is not relevant and basically recycles Christians every Sunday. We have to become relevant.  We have to engage the community.  This should be a lifestyle not just something that happens on Sunday. It can be the little things, texts messages or having a nice package for the CD of the sermon.  We can do things in excellence.

Hope Today Magazine: What would you say to critics that would say that this is further perpetuating the thought that churches are more concerned about the business than about an individual’s soul?

Pam Perry: I dont think that they are focusing on money rather than they are on branding and bringing people in.  However to get the people in first, you have to spend some money on marketing. You have to have nice post cards, business cards, and signs.  You have to look at companies.  Disney is known for customer service.  Just because we are a church does not mean that we can not take a page form the book of a company that is doing well.  We have to engage people.  We have to look at the culture of what we are up against.  You have to remain relevant. Everything that the world does we can take it, turn the page, and use it to minister to people.

Hope Today Magazine: Who have you worked with in the past?

Pam Perry: T.D Jakes, Teresa Hairston, Valerie Burton, Dr. Myles Munroe, and Pastor Andre Butler to name a few. Within the past ten years, I have worked with about two hundred Christian authors.

Hope Today Magazine: What do you envision for Ministry Marketing Solutions for the next five years?

Pam Perry: We will do more social media marketing for churches and authors.  What I have found is that people are confused about what to do with internet marketing.  I want to take that mystique out of social media.  I will be doing more training and speaking on social media marketing in the next upcoming years.  That internet train is not slowing down.  It is actuall speeding up.  We have to be able to navigate to stay relevant.

Hope Today Magazine: What is the Pam Perry Brand?

Pam Perry: You will see a lot of pink and a lot of books.  I love to give information.  I surround myself with information.  People will see a lot of pink yet when I open my mouth they are quickly made aware that I have knowledge and I am about business.

Editor Notes:
Pam Perry has been one of the more high-powered and visible figures in public relations. Her career serves as a notable example of the potency that personally handled promotion has acquired in the mass media. Perry’s rise in the wrangling world of publicity began when she worked in public relations and advertising. Pam Perry is a contributing writer for Hope Today Magazine. To learn more about Pam Perry, visit www.pamperrypr.com.