Marketing strategies adopted by selected christian churches in Nairobi

Abstract

The study is concerned with marketing strategies adopted by selected Christian churches in Nairobi. The study was aroused by the fact that despite the importance the church in Kenya has in shaping society little study has been done in this area. Also, although the church has recorded a tremendous growth rate in the past few years, there is indication that something is amiss. The membership in some churches has declined while conflicts are evident in some others. The objectives of the study were: 1. To determine the marketing strategies adopted by selected Christian churches in Nairobi. 2. To determine the challenges encountered by the churches in the adoption of marketing strategies. 3. To determine how the churches have responded to these challenges. The study employed the descriptive study design. Acensus study was done on the 10 churches that are affiliated to the NCCK operating in Nairobi. In addition the Catholic Church was included illthe study due to its large following. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and tabulation were used to analyze the data. The study found that the churches employ strategic marketing practices although in most cases they are informal and unplanned. It is therefore recommended that the church consider having marketing departments charged with the responsibility of designing their product to be member friendly. Competition in this industry means that the churches that hope to survive have to be market orientated. It is suggested that further research be carried out to focus on marketing strategies adopted by the upcoming churches which are not affiliated to NCCK both in urban and rural areas to find out if their strategies are any different. Further research could also be carried out on other non-profit organizations operating in Kenya .