The Bible Society of Malawi was one of 25 Bible Societies involved in the publication of the African Women Devotional Bible. In a normal year, the occasion might have called for in-person celebrations, but the pandemic forced a more digital approach, using Facebook Live and Zoom.
An email campaign let people know about the launch, and those who responded received an automated follow-up email. On the first day of the campaign, even before stock had been received, people began to pre-order the Bible.
This campaign also created relationships with many new people who were now interested in the Bible Society of Malawi. More follow-up emails promoted membership, and within two weeks of the initial email send there were almost 50 new membership pledges. “The use of digital communication during this project was quite eye opening,” says Herbert Chagunda, Distribution and Marketing Manager of the Bible Society of Malawi. “It has given us tools by which we can communicate with our audience and have measurable results, which has been quite a challenge with other communication channels in Malawi.”
Herbert also notes that digital methods are forging new connections in “the middle-income market,” a group that is essential to the growth of the Bible Society’s ministry in Malawi. “At a time when we could not meet physically, the digital tools facilitated smooth communication with our audience with quite tremendous results. We hope to utilise these tools more in our future projects implementation.”
