Leveraging Your Digital Library to Build Relationships

By J. Sebastian Traeger
August 1, 2004

(NOTE: While this white paper is a few years old – MP3s, podcasts, video streams and downloads are now commonplace – it is still a relevant read and an excellent reminder for organizations of creative ways to use the content archives that they have. It’s also an example of Silas Partners’ thought leadership in the online communications arena as we helped many ministries first navigate their way into maximizing the use of audio and video files on the web when these technologies first became available.)

When Duncan Rein and I started the company, I don’t think we were thinking too far past the launch of our first web site. I think we’ve also compressed a lifetime of stories and experiences into these years. And the inspiration for all of it was the great depth of Christian resources we believed were underutilized because they weren’t available to a wider audience.

Duncan remembers walking into the basement of our church and seeing a wall of sermons on cassette tapes. Each tape represented 20-30 hours of thought, reflection and preparation by our pastor. When preached, they were accompanied by the Holy Spirit and were instrumental in bringing life change to so many people. If they were so helpful to so many then, why couldn’t they be just as helpful today? Since all the work has already been put in, why not allow those messages to continue to bless people? That simple concept—the idea that ministries have a huge store of underutilized resources that still have the power to change lives—is why we started an organization five years ago.

I think we were right in so doing. Many Christian organizations are sitting on a similar storehouse. If you are representing a church, a broadcast ministry, a conference/teaching ministry, a seminary, or magazine publisher, you most likely have a wealth of resources. In many cases, these resources represent the most valuable asset that your organization has.

You might have read that Sony Corporation is currently completing a $5 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM is one of the oldest movie production companies. You might know it from the lion that roars before a movie starts—but Sony knows it for its library of 8,000 movie titles such as The Pink Panther, Gone with the Wind and others. Interestingly, MGM produces very few movies these days. They make the majority of their money off of their huge archive of films. In paying $5 billion for them, Sony recognizes the value of content—and especially archived content.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Christianity.com is interested in acquiring any ministries for $5 billion, but I am suggesting that if secular businesses recognize the value of resource libraries, then Christian organizations should, as well. And so, the goal of this article is to convince you to do everything that you can to flood the internet with your archive of life-changing messages.

What content can you use to build a deep resource library?

Let me first give you an idea of the types of resources that you can put online. And, let me start by qualifying this by what I’m not talking about. When I refer to resources, I’m talking about audio messages that have been prepared and are being formally delivered (i.e., a sermon or a radio broadcast); a video that is either produced or captured from a formal conference; or a text article that was written not in blog-like stream of continuousness nor in “about-us” web page prose. What I mean by a resource is a thoughtful, planned and delivered message or article or thought. Simply, for something to be classified as a resource there must be some gravitas to it.

There are three types of resources that you can put online. First, audio resources. If you represent a church, audio resources are most likely the easiest for you to come by. Every week a sermon is delivered from your pulpit and it is most likely recorded. These captured messages give you a great opportunity to provide someone who missed the service with an easy way to listen to the message or share it with a friend. And, it also gives your website built-in fresh content every week.

The same rules apply if you represent a broadcast ministry: your daily or weekly program—and an archive of them—should be one of the most central things on your web site. Love Worth Finding, the broadcast ministry of Adrian Rogers, does a great job keeping an up-to-date and extensive audio archive. Visit Love Worth Finding to see over 580 messages by Dr. Rogers! You can find something of help to you for almost any topic that you can imagine. What a great tool for ministry LWF has online!

The second type of resource that you should consider web-enabling, are videos. Some think video on the web is still a long way off. But the reality is that, based on our data, video is already incredibly powerful. For example, the Jesus Film has been a popular site for years and interest in it only grows. Video allows users to get a better sense of “taste and touch” of your ministry. Church of the Highlands is pioneering what I think is one of the more creative uses of Video resources. They are putting “H! True Highland Stories” online. Their video-testimonials are VH-1 style clips that visitors are immediately drawn to. Each testimony is short, but clear about God’s work in their lives. I invite you to visit the site.

Lastly, articles can make for a great archive. If your organization already publishes newsletters or teaching material, then most likely you already have articles that can easily be published. Perhaps you have a body of teaching that you are looking to convert to at least a pseudo-e-learning environment. At the very least, maybe you are hoping to transcribe audio or video messages that you have to make manuscripts available.

An excellent example of an organization that has provided a deep archive of articles is 9Marks Ministries. 9Marks is not a large organization but they had the foresight to web-enable the core teaching that they offer. Especially look at the e-learning environment and how they guide users through their curriculum. (While not a text archive, also look at their “Pastor’s Toolbox” as a great example of creatively displaying a wealth of content.)

How can you make your digital library easy to use?

In creating a digital library, I recommend building in four basic types of functionality to make it easy to use.

First, and fairly straightforward, make sure that it is searchable. Google revotionized the way that people find information online by moving queries from “search engines” to “answer engines.” When people view your digital library, you should give them the ability to easily find answers to their questions. The Bible Gateway is a great example of providing a useful search tool. In visiting their site, you can search 19 translations by either Bible passage or keywords. And, when you run a search, answers come back quickly and in a useful format.

In the future, advanced technology will even allow people to search within your audio or video messages for specific use of phrases. Visit Vodium and choose a client link two-thirds of the way down the page. You may need a quick log-in and a little patience, but it should prove worth your effort. In minutes, you will be able to search a keyword and have the video ‘queued up,’ in search results, exactly to the speaker using the word you searched for.

Second, your site should provide the ability to browse through your archive. Browsing provides lists of relevant categories and can be helpful when someone has a general idea of what they are looking for. Because browsing is more user-directed, it is important that you spend time thinking about how you will display results. For example, what size area will you choose to view the article or media? How will the person be able to control the sound or click to the next page of the article? How will they navigate back to the search results to find more media? There are specific choices each designer makes that affect the experience and make it simple or complicated. Your goal should be to make it easy for the user to get what they need as quickly as possible. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all of the complications, don’t dismay. Choose a site you think does a good job and use that as a guide. You can also contact us and let us help you!

Third, your archive should have built-in cross referencing. The power of cross-referencing is you can automatically offer up more information to the user that they might now have asked for, but that they may find equally useful. For example, if a user is accessing a message on baptism, you might provide a list of “Other topics under Baptism you may find of interest,” followed by a list of additional messages such as “Water Immersion”, “Baptism in the Teaching of Paul” and “Myths About Baptism.” Additionally, if you sell content or books on your website, you can use cross-referencing as an enormous benefit for online shoppers. Try a search on “Paul” vs. “Apostle Paul” at Christianbook.com and notice the results will return exact matches (theme, topic) as well as selected criteria to offer an abundance of choices. And it is that offering of choices which increases your likelihood of up-selling.

You may also want to think of this type of cross-referencing as the last minute “great buys” closest to the registers in retail stores—with the added bonus that these great buys are also highly customized to the shopper’s preferences. These “suggested selling” techniques were pioneered and largely perfected by Amazon.com. A search on that site for “Nehemiah” will return cross referenced results in books, video, DVD, popular music, etc.

Fourth, your site should deliver resources in multiple formats. Coca-Cola does a great job of offering the same “content” in multiple formats. You can buy 2-liters, 6-packs, cans, bottles, and almost everything in between. By offering Coke in so many ways, Coca-Cola is increasing the number of people that they can serve effectively.

Your content should also be available in multiple formats so that it can reach the largest possible audience. People’s computer configurations vary dramatically: between the type of connection used (dial-up, network, wireless), the speed of the connection (modem, DSL, broadband), the speed of the computer (processor, RAM, cache level) and the speed of the user (beginner, intermediate, expert). People also vary in how they like to access content: while online, on their iPod, in the car, by reading, through video, etc. An effective web ministry hould be equipped to accommodate as many people’s styles and connection methods as possible. Offering your web-enabled content (audio, video, text) in multiple formats is the easiest way to guarantee the message is communicated.

How can you build relationships with your digital library?

Once you have an online library, equipped with user-friendly functionality, the next step is to use it to build relationships. There are really three ways to leverage your digital library. Whether audio, video or text, once you have your resources in a digital form, there are a few ways that you can use it to generate interest in your ministry or to grow revenue.

First, you can give your resources away for free as a way to generate interest in your site and your organization. As you do this, you provide opportunities for users to interact with not only timely but also archival content and make your ministry a helpful “go-to” source for your constituents. Additionally, with a large archive, you can become an online expert in a given category. While it’s unlikely that people will return daily to search or browse your archives, over time, your site will become the top source that people go to when they have questions on particular topics.

Derek Prince Ministries has an audio archive of over 450 messages. In the month of July, 96% of these messages were accessed at least once by one of their constituents. What a great tool they are providing for their constituents: a library of content on almost any topic that they are interested in.

The second way to leverage your digital library is to allow people to purchase your messages on a one-off basis. In this model, you might provide some resources for free, but all of them for a purchase price – or you provide a “sample” of a resource. Christianity Today uses this model on their site. Notice on this site that they have hundreds of messages from some of today’s top preachers. Click on the “Listen Now” button. You can either listen to a brief 2-5 minute introduction to the message or you can purchase the entire message as a CD or MP3 download. This is a great example of providing a huge amount of content but sharing in the cost of it with your constituents.

The third way to leverage your digital library is by building it into a members-only area. Under this model, you can create value for your constituents by giving them access to all of your materials. If you are a radio ministry, consider putting your entire archive of messages behind a members-only area. Allow your members to stream messages or download MP3s. If they are willing to make a monthly financial commitment to your ministry, then give them a tangible value for doing so. Reinvest their donation back into building your relationship with them and by providing them with even more ministry benefits.

The best example of a members-only area is the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ combines all three of these models: they offer free daily content of the day’s headlines and of the OpinionJournal.com. They offer a members-only area with a 30-day archive of every article that has been on every paper that they offer. Lastly, they allow you to purchase, on a one-off basis, any article older than 30-days. What a great model: free content to initiate relationships, paid content for those who want to be in a long-term relationship and paid content for those who have a very specific need.

How can this apply to ministries?

Imagine if Focus on the Family developed a vision for putting their entire library online? They have 30 years of audio messages and articles on almost every topic on Family and parenting available. Right now, they have a 30-day archive online. Imagine if they developed a comprehensive plan for leveraging these resources. Not only would people be built up and strengthened in their faith but Focus would have a significant revenue model for their content.

As your organization passes its significant milestones, I want to encourage you to see the value of where you’ve come from and what you’ve created. Allow the same ideas that helped you get to where you are today, continue to fuel your growth into the future.

If you would like to find out more about how to implement these strategies and ideas in your organization, please take a moment to let us know a little about your needs.