Branding may seem like such a futile and worldly thing to do, but once you understand why it is essential for your church, we promise you’ll love to indulge in it.
For starters, we must stress that branding is more than just creating a neat logo and playing with colors. It is, in fact, about getting your message and your testimony heard by millions. It grows your influence, and therefore your role in reflecting God’s message.
Sure, many perversions, disruptions, and misperceptions keep Christians away from most marketing and branding practices. But let us change all that.
Some 4.66 billion people use the internet, and of these, 3.6 billion use social media regularly – that’s nearly 60% of the global population.
This makes the internet and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter great places to find more members for your church. Investing in a viable presence online is vital for any entity looking to amass exposure to many millions of people.
With the right marketing and branding tactics, your church can put in place a mechanism that systematically feeds search engines information about your faith and parish. This will help more people find you and your website online.
Creating a website is the first step to building an online presence. If your church does not have the budget to hire a professional to create a website, there are other affordable solutions available for creating a remarkable professional brand presence.
But before we venture into those strategies, let’s see why branding is so important in the first place!
Why Focus On Branding?
It can be challenging for church leaders to understand why their church needs to be a brand.
Well, for starters, it is a great way to grow your congregation and get your sermons and prayers heard far and wide. Besides, the chances are that you are already vying for the hearts and minds of the worshippers in your area, competing with other nearby churches.
Branding can help differentiate you from others and get your church the attention you need to fulfill your mission.
Just like marketing, the ideal church branding strategies focus on improving both online and offline church presence in all spheres of life. Here’s how this helps you:
Show People What They Can Expect
As you embark on new projects and create new programs, you will want your audience to anticipate what your church services will be for each new program.
Your church will have a consistent image if your audience knows what to expect from every Sunday service or Wednesday sermon. For example, you can decide a day of the week to hold addresses over a particular topic or dedicate a month to observing a specific ritual.
Your core values should be reflected in a consistent social media strategy and branding campaign. This is important because your brand is the summary of your mission in Christ. Consistency means staying focused on what’s essential for the church and not getting distracted from its greater mission.
Get Recognized
Imagine having a tagline or a logo that is catchy enough to perk up people’s ears! Many brand advertisers focus on creating a powerful, catchy headline as it helps brands to stand out.
Many successful brands also leverage online logo creators to create a distinctive logo of their own. Rather than competing with other churches, try to develop strategies that allow your church to showcase its uniqueness powerfully.
Inspire Your Local Community
A good branding strategy will not only make people think highly of your church but will also make them get involved with your church’s activities. Creating engaging invitations for group sessions and online videos and graphics will increase participation in events – both as volunteers and staff members.
Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash
Enhance Your Church Presence Using Brand Advertisement
It feels incredibly powerful to have a brand or a business that has a strong presence and can make a significant impact on people. Even better is when people can remember your brand for its colors, themes, and uplifting messages.
This is precisely what a marketing strategy does for you. Your church gets the ability to provide a clear vision of what it’s trying to achieve in the community, using relevant visuals and strong messaging.
The following strategies can work very well for your church:
Mission-Based Visual Appeal
Your brand is your identity that you’re choosing to put forward for your audience.
Even if you’re not taking any particular actions in a branding campaign, your congregation and services very well reflect the core mission of your church.
This is why it is vital to spend potential time to specify your church brand and build consistent, eye-catchy visuals that can give your audience a glimpse into your church services with just over a glance!
For starters, you need to choose a consistent theme to use for all your church’s visual branding. Whether it’s a logo, a poster or a flyer, every design should mirror your colors.
Next, use this color scheme to create a logo that reflects your church’s character and core mission. For example, if your church services are interactive and targeted towards the youth, using warm colors with a bold type-font might be a good idea. This is because a warm color scheme retains the subtlety and seriousness of a church service, while a bold type-font appeals to a younger audience segment.
Remember that your logo is your primary identity, so don’t be shy about using it on your church’s merchandise, events, and social media. You’ve worked hard on making it; now it’s time to let the world see it.
If you are having trouble finding the right color scheme and suitable logo design ideas, check out this logo maker and make your church stand out!
Create An Informative Pamphlet
Now that you’ve established your church’s core values and created a mission statement, it is time to put those words into building some attractive visuals for your brand. And don’t worry, you do not require a substantial budget to make a mark on people. Using affordable and easy-to-use online tools, you can make a fantastic selection of layouts, pamphlets and infographics that can draw a crowd for your church events.
The essentials of a good pamphlet include:
A Tagline
While a brand’s tagline can evoke an image in your audience’s mind, it can get tough to express your brand’s uniqueness in a few words. However, striking the right balance between succinct and catchy can be pretty tricky to nail.
Mission statements like “Sharing Christ’s Love” are too generic and often fail to convey a personal message about your worshipping service. To come up with a tagline that best reflects your church’s character, think about the kind of services you would like to offer.
Do you want your services to cater to a specific age-group? How can you align people’s needs with the plan that God has for them?
Here are some examples that you can use:
“Boldly Proclaiming The Gospel To The Western Culture.”
“Moving Together Into The Remarkable Love Of Jesus Christ.”
“Growing By Connecting With Our Next Step With Christ.”
A Short Invitation Message For Your Church
Church members often send out invitation messages, emails, and letters to invite people to the services. These invitations play a considerable role in helping people understand your church atmosphere and the kind of sermons your church offers.
For example, when sending invites for group bible reading sessions, your message should emphasize community-building, supporting and accepting one another, and our communal ties.
Consider the impact your previous congregations have had before you craft an invitation message for your church.
A Description Of Your Church As A Brand
Your church brand should appeal to the right target audience. It is about your testimony, your message, your influence and your role in helping people connect with God.
Typically, your church brand should highlight the message that it is trying to send people and come together to make a memorable impression on them.
Your Church’s Unique Point
If you decided to start your own church service rather than joining an existing one, you are doing something different from other church services.
The real challenge is to make sure your potential audience appreciates why your church services are unlike others. They must be able to understand your mission statement right away and act on it.
Your Long-Term Goals For Your Parish
You must clearly understand your objectives and how you will achieve them if you are to inspire others.
Do you want to find donors for a particular orphanage? Do you want to increase the number of people coming to Bible studies? Or maybe your goal is to increase attendance in Sunday sermons?
Clearly talk about these aims in your pamphlet, and let everyone know what you want your church to achieve in the long-term. Otherwise, all your online marketing efforts would be in vain.
Set goals that enhance the uniqueness of your church with each new service.
Wrapping Up
Just like a good sermon, an online brand strategy takes planning and time. Thanks to online platforms and tools, you can spread the word about your church events with an appealing poster designer or logo maker to create a range of beautiful branding and marketing materials.
