MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

The Definition of Your Church “Brand”

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Wed, June 11, 2008
Viewed 53
(7) comments so far

A great article in Leadership Network's Advance email newsletter yesterday about church branding. Here's the premise: A church's brand is more than a professionally designed logo and an impressive website. The brand is the reputation a church has in its community. It's what the church does, who the church is at its core.

While branding a church may sound corporate and business-like – and it does take a marketing strategy to do it well – it's no less than communicating an eternal truth to a lost community.

In one sense, churches are already branded, says Jesse Palmer, owner of The Very Idea Group in Birmingham, AL. "Whether we like it or not, the name 'Christian' is a brand and a label. Much of my work is helping churches and faith-based organizations ultimately develop a brand that fairly and favorably represents the vision, values and virtues of the organization. That isn't always easy." Jesse notes that a church's brand is, first and foremost, connected with the label or name of the organization. Sometimes those labels are suffering from negative stereotypes.

A church has a brand, whether the leaders know it or not. The decision to brand a church is the decision to take control of the way a church is perceived internally and in the community.

Comments

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eric Partin on Wed, June 11, 2008

Whether intentional or not, these 2 articles, Church Branding and Baptist Stigma, are related. There is a stigma that is associated with the Baptist “brand”. It just goes to show that like or not, you are branding your church or in this case denomination, even without trying to “brand” it. So,if it is going to happen anyway, why not be intentional and strategic.
Andy McAdams on Wed, June 11, 2008

I think this is true with most denominations. There was a day when the label on the sign out front of a church was important. Today in many cases, it simply means, “if you’re not one of us…stay out, or be ready to be just like us.”
Sam on Wed, June 11, 2008

There are legitimate reasons for having demoninations. We are to be united around the centrality of the gospel but there are secondary issues that create the need for denominations.

I cant remember who said it but they said that no denominations are good until it comes to time for baptism. Do you bring out a cup or a bathtub. The signs are still important. There is a distinction between a baptist and presby church. Both can be centered on the Gospel but have differences on secondary issues such as infant vs believers baptism. These are issues that all churches have to address. Non-denomination churches still have to make decisions like do we sprinkle or immerse? Do we baptize infants or believer baptism? What do we believe? What does our statement of faith look like?

I disagree. Labels or in this case do make a difference. Church signs tell the church goer what to expect. Vague church names as you see today could be any flavor of church and not necessarily a Christian church.
Bobby Chandler on Wed, June 11, 2008

Most churches don’t think about their brand. I believe all churches have a brand, whether they know it or not. Some churches have an intentional brand, while others have a brand that is simply based on the unintended perception about the church.

Perception about our churches is a big deal. It’s not just about logos. It’s about word of mouth, public relations, community impact, and tons of other factors.

I actually wrote a post on this a couple of days ago on my blog - http://church-hype.typepad.com/churchhype/2008/05/what-people-thi.html
Peter Hamm on Wed, June 11, 2008

The brand is not what’s on your sign, it is what your community thinks you are. Think business for a bit. A lot of people think HP is printers. Well, they make lots of computers, too, but for many they just make printers.

We try to be the church that loves its neighbor, and more and more, our community thinks of us that way. It’s a work in progress, but it’s starting to really work for us. We are always reminding our people that we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community, and the more they buy into that and go out and DO that stuff, the more we further the brand that we are trying to further… I think that’s the Kingdom of Heaven in action!
Jan on Wed, June 11, 2008

I agree with Peter. When we came to our church it was known as “The Angry Church”

That was a wow! and I heard it over and over.

Now I hear “BCC? I’ve heard so many great things and we’ve been thinking about visiting!

You guys are growing aren’t you and lots of fun! I see a lot of cars out there when I drive by.”

We talked about changing our name. But people in our community view us as THEIR community church, even if they’ve never attended. So, we’ve kept it. I think it was a smart non move because it’s starting to pay off.

As to branding and officially coming up with a bi-line or something like it, I think the size of our community makes a difference. We are small enough that word gets around without a lot of hype we might try to build up about who we would like to be or think we are.
Michael Kern on Mon, June 16, 2008

“Nothing will put a bad product out of business faster than a good advertising campaign.” -Morris Hite

I would add, or a good logo or website. As one whose business is partnering with churches on their identity/logo design, our job is to be faithful in the way a church is represented visually. We tell pastors that their new logo should represent who they are, and who they are in the process of becoming. Anything more, or less would misrepresent their church and the disconnect would be apparent pretty quickly. In the end it would be more harmful than helpful.

If you want the best logo or website, take a few simple steps first. Know your reputation in the community. Do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis. Develop a clear vision. Good results aren’t an accident, they are the outcome of good planning and good design.

At the same time, good branding can be a great investment with rich dividends. Besides giving a church a professional image, it can clarify the vision, give the congregation a common reference point that promotes unity, or signal a new beginning.