Tag Archive - brand

Authentic Communications: Sharing Your True Story, Not the Story of the Church You Wish You Were

July 12, 2011 in Communications with 0 Comments

Authentic Storytelling

Every community has one, it’s that church which seems to draw thousands on a Sunday morning, has the slickest website, or sponsors every community event. It’s natural for organizations, even churches, to want to emulate success, or what they perceive as being successful. So, if you follow the same steps toward success, you reap the same rewards, right? Wrong.

If you look across the landscape of how churches communicate and share their stories, you’ll find it littered with copycats. From brand strategies, website templates to messaging, churches often fall prey to the practice of over promising through communications and then under delivering in the execution. It’s easier to emulate rather than investing the sweat equity required to discover who you are and what you do well. Success is ultimately achieved when you share your authentic story – the story of who you are as a church, not who you wish you were.  Continue Reading…

How can your church fight hay fever … be more like Kleenex?!

May 17, 2011 in Social Web with 0 Comments

Apple Kleenex Box

Say what? Yes, I know, a cheap headline trick to grab your attention, but it does have merit. I found myself fascinated yesterday when I read about Kleenex’s new social media efforts yesterday.

Kleenex is to utilize social media sites in order to give hay fever sufferers advice. The tissue brand will be creating an online support group on Facebook, and will offer a daily resource with advice from specialists including Jean Emberlin, director of the Pollen research Unit, an allergy nurse and acupuncturist.

In addition, the company will be actively helping Twitter users who display hay fever symptoms by offering them a “rescue kit”, which will, naturally, along with other items, contain a pack of Kleenex tissues.

Unfortunately, most organizations simply want you to “like” them or “follow” their posts. The “like” and “follow” are a customer’s deeper commitment to your brand. You must first earn their trust by freely offering resources that will directly impact their life. The latest social media efforts from Kleenex are a perfect example of earning brand loyalty through sweat equity.

So, ask yourself … as a church leader, how can you use the tools of social media to directly impact a life, rather than collecting “likes” and “follows”?

In what ways is your church directly impacting lives using social media?

Photo: Daniel Morrison/Flickr

Don’t let your church building be your brand

March 18, 2010 in Web Ministry with 0 Comments

Don't let your church building be your brand

Don't let your church building be your brand

Churches often ask me to assess their website design. Most assessments begin with the same advice, don’t let your church building be your brand. It is never a good idea to rely “solely” on the image of your church as a brand marker. While there are exceptions, which I’ll discuss in a moment, in most cases, you should never use your church building as the means by which to promote your church. Specifically, don’t let the image of your church building be principal to the visual design of your website.

Years ago, Robert Fulghum reminded us that that all we really need to know, we learned in kindergarten. Let me illustrate. Interlace your fingers and repeat after me …

Here’s the church, and here’s the steeple.

Open the door, and see all the people.

The church is about relationships with a community of people and God, not a relationship with your building. And when seekers are church shopping online, which they do, they aren’t looking for the church with the best architecture. They are looking to be part of something bigger, a relationship with Christ, and an opportunity to make a difference in this world.

So here are the exceptions. If your church building is so central to your community, meaning you have tens of thousands of cars driving by it each day, or it is considered a historical marker, not by you, but by your state historical society, then you ought to consider including the building in your brand strategy. And one other exception; if your sanctuary is in high demand because of its beauty, meaning you are able to schedule at least 3-4 weddings per week, then use it to your advantage.

Let the stories of how the people of your congregation are making a difference in the world be your brand.