Client Profile: Toledo Diocese
 

The Client

Toledo Diocese

Website

Client Info

Established almost 100 years ago, The Catholic Diocese of Toledo is comprised of 129 parishes in 19 counties, covering 8,222 square miles. They’ve been a BusinessVoice client since June of 2003. You can find them online at www.toledodiocese.org.

Client Testimonial

“BusinessVoice and WebArt took the time to develop a relationship with us and understand who the Catholic Diocese of Toledo is at the core of our organization,” said Public Relations Assistant Colleen Buckman.

“[They] get what we like and don’t like, [they] understand our needs and motivations, and [they] always come to the table with professionalism and dedication to our goals.”

What They Do

What don’t they do? The Catholic Diocese of Toledo operates the Catholic Cemeteries, Catholic Charities, Catholic Club, Catholic Schools, Catholic Hospitals, Catholic Youth Organization, the Office of Vocations, and more. They also serve as the headquarters for all the parishes in the area, carrying out administrative functions, including communications and human resources.

Why They’re Special

The people who work at the Catholic Diocese of Toledo are largely responsible for making this organization so special. They know they’re part of something bigger than their jobs. They’re committed to the people in their communities and to each other. And although the Catholic Diocese of Toledo evolves as the Catholic Church evolves, their message of faith never changes. Faith permeates everything the organization does.

Overall Marketing Goal

According to Colleen Buckman, a Public Relations Assistant at the Diocese, their most important marketing goal is to broaden the reach of the Catholic church. They’re always re-thinking the marketing tools they use, learning new technologies, and looking for alternative ways to reach a younger demographic and those who are disenfranchised.

The Diocese is using its website, for instance, to cast a wider net in this digital information age. To create an effective online presence, the Catholic Diocese of Toledo turned to BusinessVoice and our in-house web division WebArt for site design and development services.

Website Goals

The goal was to turn their outdated, under-utilized website into a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing information center.

The site we built not only keeps parishioners updated on what’s happening with the Diocese, but also includes a personnel access point to keep diocesan staff informed and communication lines open. The site was developed using Content Management Software which allows approved Diocese employees to update the content on their own.

Prior to coming to BusinessVoice, the marketing team at The Catholic Diocese of Toledo saw about 4,000 visitors per month on its site. After one month with BusinessVoice, the traffic doubled to 8,000 visitors. Today, their site is seen by more than 40,000 visitors who view a total of 186,000 pages each month. And several times the site’s traffic has risen to 42,000 visitors and total page views of 350,000 within a one-month period.

“It’s been a great working relationship [with BusinessVoice and WebArt],” said Colleen Buckman, a public relations assistant at the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. “Not only do we now have tangible data we can leverage for our marketing efforts, we also have a sense of community with our site users who may have not otherwise been exposed to the Catholic Church and the Catholic Diocese of Toledo.”

Other Marketing Efforts

The Catholic Diocese of Toledo uses many marketing mediums to communicate with their audience, and those mediums are dictated by what’s being promoted. For example, this year, the marketing plan for Catholic Schools uses television almost exclusively.

Each entity the Diocese supports is different, in marketing message and in audience, so they stay open to all the opportunities available to them, including print, radio and billboards.

Market Changes

Over the last twenty years the Catholic Diocese of Toledo has changed in many of the same ways the Catholic Church has. They’ve experienced major physical changes with the closing of some parishes and the opening of new parishes as people re-locate from the urban centers to suburbs. One of the roles of the Diocese is to see parishes and the people who worship there through these shifts. The churches have seen a decrease in registered church members, but overall attendance is up.

Over the next twenty years, the Catholic Diocese of Toledo will continue to evolve as the Catholic Church evolves, and will likely see a shift from traditional marketing to more digital marketing, as well as grass roots initiatives and cause marketing.