Publicity—Second Thoughts

This morning, I posted an appreciative post on this blog about the banner signs that are currently displayed in front of St. Paul’s. (If you haven’t read “Lawn Signs,” do so before reading on.)

One of those signs is promoting the forthcoming Refuge service. Looking over my post once it was uploaded to the Web, I was reminded that the banner and the ad in Mt. Lebanon Magazine both point the reader to a Web page, namely that at http://www.stpaulspgh.org/refuge. This is what that page looks like as of today (click for a larger view):


What’s wrong with this picture? To begin with, there isn’t much here. Supposedly, Refuge is a big deal. Why aren’t there more pictures, more explanation, and more information about the church and personnel who are making this service a reality? There certainly are more pictures on the service’s Facebook page, but, even there, there isn’t much of a pitch for attending or caring about the church’s new initiative.

What really made me think I had to write this post, however, was this line:

Visit us at Mt. Lebanon’s First Friday, on September 10

One doesn’t have to look at the calendar to know that, even in Mt. Lebanon, the first Friday can never fall on the 10th of the month. The post on the St. Paul’s Web site is dated July 29, 2010, and, in more than a month, no one caught that egregious error!

While on the subject of the St. Paul’s Web site, let me offer a thought or two. (I will defer a full critique of the Web site for another time.) I am sitting at my computer that says the outdoor temperature is 90 degrees, but the banner picture on the Web site shows a winter scene, snow included. The picture is not refreshing, just insensitive and irrelevant. And the colors look like they were chosen for a Halloween makeover. How welcoming is this on September 2?