The Law of Differentiation
Anybody who traffics in marketing circles knows that branding is replacing marketing as the "in vogue" way of talking about what used to be called advertising :)
I thought I'd post a few branding thoughts.
One of my core convictions is that the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. Another way of saying it is this: best message deserves the best branding. I'm obviously not talking about gimmicks that cheapen the gospel. I'm talking about Luke 14. Jesus said, "Compel them to come in." The word means "to demand attention."
How do we become more compeling?
The key to branding is what I'd call the law of differentiation.
Too many churches look too much alike :) We try to be like each other so much that we lose our originality and authenticity. We end up with lots of church clones. If you've seen one you've seen them all.
There are almost 400,000 churches in America, but most of them are invisible. As Seth Godin says, either you're remakable or invisible. You've heard of the "Invisible Man." I think there are lots of "Invisible Churches" out there.
One of the things we've done to increase visibility is creative outreaches that show the love of Christ in practical ways.
Don't get me wrong. We're not into "photo ops." But the good news should make the news :)
Our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Capitol Hill has increased our visibility in the community because more than 1,000 kids participate. The network news actually covered it last year. Obviously, if your motives are wrong nothing is right. You've got to do the right things for the right reasons--"innocent as doves." But we've got to be "shrewd as snakes" as well.
Another outreach that has really impaced our community is extreme home makeover NCC style. We find a single mom that needs helps and we give her home a makeover on Mother's Day.
The real issue in branding is what should differentiate us?
Unfortunately, I think many churches are differentiated by what they're against.
I think we ought to be differentiated by our love. Isn't that what Jesus said? I'd love to be known as the church that puts a towel around its waist and serves people. I'd love to be known as the church that reflects the creativity of the Creator. I'd love to be known as the church that has authentic community.
I thought I'd post a few branding thoughts.
One of my core convictions is that the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. Another way of saying it is this: best message deserves the best branding. I'm obviously not talking about gimmicks that cheapen the gospel. I'm talking about Luke 14. Jesus said, "Compel them to come in." The word means "to demand attention."
How do we become more compeling?
The key to branding is what I'd call the law of differentiation.
Too many churches look too much alike :) We try to be like each other so much that we lose our originality and authenticity. We end up with lots of church clones. If you've seen one you've seen them all.
There are almost 400,000 churches in America, but most of them are invisible. As Seth Godin says, either you're remakable or invisible. You've heard of the "Invisible Man." I think there are lots of "Invisible Churches" out there.
One of the things we've done to increase visibility is creative outreaches that show the love of Christ in practical ways.
Don't get me wrong. We're not into "photo ops." But the good news should make the news :)
Our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Capitol Hill has increased our visibility in the community because more than 1,000 kids participate. The network news actually covered it last year. Obviously, if your motives are wrong nothing is right. You've got to do the right things for the right reasons--"innocent as doves." But we've got to be "shrewd as snakes" as well.
Another outreach that has really impaced our community is extreme home makeover NCC style. We find a single mom that needs helps and we give her home a makeover on Mother's Day.
The real issue in branding is what should differentiate us?
Unfortunately, I think many churches are differentiated by what they're against.
I think we ought to be differentiated by our love. Isn't that what Jesus said? I'd love to be known as the church that puts a towel around its waist and serves people. I'd love to be known as the church that reflects the creativity of the Creator. I'd love to be known as the church that has authentic community.
6 Comments:
I love it!
Mark,
Thanks so much for taking the time to show us the Fellowship/Plano campus on Tuesday. Loved the tour and the roundtable!
And I love the fact that you guys have a football in your office ready to throw at a moment's notice :)
Mark
Mark-
You are right on bro.
We are even thinking about this "inside" our church...we have noticed that we are not marketing the things that we say are the most important...ie, the weekend and smal groups.
We get caught up in marketing other events - that although they are awesome, are not the main thing. Soooo...we are kicking off some very cool "marketing" for these two mainstays in the near future.
Here is the key though...effective marketing is just letting people know about effective things. I think that people often confuse church marketing with "lies" marketing of some business (although liers do not last long even in business - either you have it or you do not) - So lets "shout it from the mountain", "hide it - NO!"
I am a Christian Marketer and Proud of it!
Thanks Mark.
Great thoughts Shawn.
For what it's worth, we've really focused on "internal marketing" lately--getting people into small groups.
We're going to talk about internal/external marketing at the Buzz conference and hand out a ton of samples.
Being in the church branding business, it's hard not to respond to this. Your message is right on the mark. But I want to underline your last paragraph. Every church aught to serve their community and love them without an agenda or strings attached. It builds trust and … its what Jesus told us to do.
Answering the question, " I want my church to be known as…" is a positioning, and ultimately a branding statement. You've started to do that.
Keep going.
One thing I have noticed in regard to leaders wanting their church to stand out, is that they seem to want to stand out amongst their peers and around the country. Churches look alike because they are busy copying each other, not to reach the community, but to impress each other. If we stand out in our community and are effective locally and no one else ever hears of us, I'm ok with that.
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