Spotlight on Eric Connolly
Marketing Team Lead, Dynamic Catholic
We at Mission Advantage believe that when the mission of a person aligns with the mission of an organization, the results can be exponential! That has certainly been the case for Eric Connolly who is on fire for the mission of Dynamic Catholic. We took a few minutes to learn about the inner workings of Dynamic Catholic and why he’s so excited to be working on their team.
MA: Hello Eric! It’s hard to believe that you’ve been at Dynamic Catholic for over 2 years now—time is flying by. You were hired as an email marketer and now you are the head of marketing—that seems like quite the promo!
EC: Yes! About a year and a half into my original role, I became head of marketing so I’m now leading the team that I was hired onto.
MA: Congratulations! How would you describe the last two years with Dynamic Catholic?
EC: Busy! Dynamic Catholic is an organization that moves quickly. We take our mission as part of the new evangelization very seriously and are doing everything we can do to move it forward and reach as many people as possible. Moving fast and constantly innovating was something I realized was important from literally day one (even if that means bootstrapping a bit as we go along!)
MA: Can you share some specific projects that you’re working on?
EC: Of course—I was hired to improve their already robust email marketing program, which we were able to do largely by transitioning to a new email marketing automation platform. We are constantly working to improve customer journeys, and better segment our audience in an effort to get the right content and the right message in front of the right people—with the goal of helping them encounter God.
MA: No pressure there!
EC: Another big initiative that we’re working on is called Holy Moments. The movement began with a book of the same name that Matthew Kelly wrote and released last year, which has organically expanded into a movement. We’re trying to get the book itself out to as many people as possible and centered our Best Lent Ever program this year around it. The idea behind the movement is a really simple concept: in the moment, collaboration with God—when you feel a pull towards something and create a literal holy moment. We’re about a year into building this program out and we have a lot more exciting pieces coming!
MA: Can you share a little more about what’s next for the program?
EC: Definitely! We are going to be focusing on getting the book into people’s hands—we’ve just launched the Holy Moments six-pack, which is when we’re able to provide 6 copies of the book for just the price of shipping. We’ve done this with other Matthew Kelly books and always get great feedback from our audience as to how they were able to use the book as a tool to reach out to their families and friends.
We also have a laser focus on the digital content around Holy Moments. In order for this to become a larger movement, the world has to be convicted by it and share it. We can help make that happen by creating more inspirational video and long form content around Holy Moments. Our plan is to then encourage readers to share how the program has impacted them and collect the user generated content to help the program grow organically.
MA: We are looking forward to seeing that—and perhaps submitting some of our own feedback! Is there anything in the pipeline that you're excited about?
EC: Yes! Two (related) things:
Dynamic Catholic will absolutely have a role in the church’s three year Eucharistic Revival efforts. This makes me super excited as my own reversion story was centered around the Eucharist. To be able to have a part in creating and amplifying content that is meant to bring others back to the Mass and see the beauty that’s actually happening there—I am here for it!
Next up in the Catholic Moments series (focused on the sacraments) is Sunday Mass. I am of the belief that if you understand what is going on in the sacrament of the mass, then you’re a Catholic for life. It makes me so excited to have an opportunity to contribute to a program that is helping make that happen.
MA: We’ll be keeping an eye out for those two things. Back to business for a moment: what’s your role in regards to the content side of Dynamic Catholic vs. promotion, sales etc.?
EC: The marketing team is very involved with getting our audience engaged and signed up for programs like Best Advent Ever or Best Lent Ever, before it begins. While we’re not writing the actual emails, we are executing on them—designing, deploying, and promoting them.
That said, everyone at Dynamic Catholic is called on at some point to contribute stories to these programs, myself included! So if you sign up for the next program, you might be able to learn a little more about the inner workings of Eric Connelly.
MA: How many people typically sign up for these programs?
EC: It fluctuates from year to year and program to program, but we are typically delivering emails in the high six-figures.
MA: Just a few! That’s incredible work. What are some of your proudest moments at Dynamic Catholic over the last two years?
EC: The team that I have is the best part of my job. They are the most capable group of people that I’ve ever been able to work with. Everyone is fired up about the mission of Dynamic Catholic and they are excellent at what they do. When you have people like that working on a project, they can make it sing!
There has also been a lot of success with our book program—at Christmas and Easter we are able to get Dynamic Catholic books into parishes around the country at a very low price point, reaching a massive amount of people. When you think about the impact that the right book can make in the hands of someone looking for God, it’s an incredible way to move our mission of evangelization forward.
MA: That’s incredible. Can you share some stories about people’s lives being changed through the mission of Dynamic Catholic?
EC: Yes! About a year and a half into my original role, I became head of marketing so I’m now leading the team that I was hired onto. We’ve gotten some incredible feedback from people around the Holy Moments book and program. A number of people have shared that “because it’s such a simple and actionable concept, I’ve been able to incorporate it into my life, and I also can’t stop telling other people about it.” “I sent this book to my son, who hasn’t been to mass in years, and he read it and loved it.” Let me tell you—read the stories in the comments section of the Best Lent Ever YouTube videos and you’ll be in tears (good tears!)
MA: Definitely not the norm! Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Eric—we’re looking forward to seeing you and the mission at Dynamic Catholic continue to grow.