A strong church brand is reflective of a long-term vision to create the right perception of the church. A church can start to create a great brand by asking the right questions about who they are called to reach. The logo is a good starting point to help a church define who they are good at reaching and what they can do to leverage their strengths. Barbara Carneiro of Word Revolution) joins us this week.
• Barbara became a Christian 5 years ago and that shifted her design company to serve churches
• Now she helps churches with their communication with design elements
• There is a lot of first impressions that happen before someone even comes to your church
• God is creative and we are made in His image; we are supposed to be creative
• Jesus is a storyteller; He relied on imagery to explain his teachings
• As church leaders, we must spend time thinking about the people we are trying to reach
• People look at the outside so we must not neglect the first impression
• Book: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell)
• People make a decision to come back before they even hear a message
• Many companies understand that establishing a strong brand is essential to their growth
• Companies will set aside a strong budget for branding and marketing
• When churches choose not to address their brand they are making a decision to have a weak brand
• A strong church brand helps people to answer the question, “Can I trust you?"
• People are looking for an emotional attachment; they ask, “How do you make me feel?"
• People are not going to care what you have to say until they know you care about them
• A church is always trying to build trust
• If a church is intentional about their brand they will set a budget for it to make it a priority
• Building a strong church brand comes down to having a long term vision
• Branding forces you to think about your identity; it causes you to look inside first
• A strong church brand allows churches to do good work on a larger scale
• Churches are equipped to serve different audiences within a community; are you aware of who those people are?
• Ask the question, “Who are we equipped to serve today?"
• Barbara has provided a list of her questions she leads churches through to discover who they are
• A church's identity as a brand will grow over time and may need to be updated
• Chick-Fil-A targets families with young kids; they know they are better prepared to serve them
• The biggest obstacle churches have when creating a strong brand is budget
• Branding is an investment to reach people with the gospel
• Evangelistic Center) is a good example of a church that made a long term investment toward reaching people (Episode 018))