Building a Church Brand that Connects

When most people think about branding, they think about consumer products — not churches and other non-profits. The thing is, the principles of brand development are universal, even when it comes to marketing an organization that exists outside of consumerism or commerce in general. By following these steps, you can learn how to build a church brand that connects with its target audience while still remaining true to your core values and mission.

Don’t be generic

A church brand should be more than just an idea of what the church looks like. It's about creating an identity for the church and then developing a strategy to communicate it. The most important part of this is to focus on three things: what you want people to know about the church, how you want them to feel when they hear or see your message, and what you want them to do in response. With these considerations in mind, here are some questions you might need to answer as you create your church's branding: 

- What do we want our audience to understand about us? 

- Who am I and who is my community? 

- What will make us different from other churches out there? 

- How can we best share our story with our audience?

Create and establish a philosophy for your church 

A philosophy can help guide your church's message and mission. One of the most important aspects of developing a philosophy is understanding what sets your church apart from others, who it's for, and how to communicate this to potential members.

This might be as simple as writing down what your church community is passionate about or what you stand for. But if you need some help, here are some questions to ask yourself: What do I think is the central focus of our church's work? What does the community know us for? If we suddenly disappeared from this area, what would our city be missing?

Take those thoughts and boil that down into one statement. Something like "Bringing hope where there is none" or "Broken people helping a broken world". It doesn't hurt to see what other churches are doing either! But don't just take their idea, they aren't your church. 

Create your visual identity

The visual identity for your church is how you want the world to see you. This includes everything from your logo, to the colors you use on your website, to the way you set up your marketing materials. A cohesive design will create a stronger brand and make it easier for people to find what they are looking for.

There are great services that provide great pre-made images for banners or promotion slides, but if you're choosing these things at random they make your overall design look chaotic. You want everything you do to look like your church's visual identity. It shows a level of care and direction that allows people to feel like they too are going to be cared for and lead well.

Use social media effectively

Social media is an easy way to get your message out to the masses. If you are building a church brand, be sure to make social media part of your plan. Social media should be included in your marketing plan from the beginning. It's important not only to have a presence on social media, but also to post regularly and interact with followers. In order for people to know what you're about, they need regular updates as well as interaction with you.

Try setting a social media calendar with reminders to make daily posts. It could look something like this for starters:

• Monday: Sermon point recap
• Tuesday: Scripture image
• Wednesday: Event promotion
• Thursday: Prayer requests
• Friday: Quick video from the pastor
• Saturday: Sunday reminder
• Sunday: Worship Service Post

There are lots of tools online that can help you schedule these posts so you can set it up ahead of time and rest easy knowing that your brand is being effectively promoted. You can even use platforms such as Buffer or Hootsuite which allow you to share across multiple networks at once. You want to be consistent, creative, and helpful in how you engage people who follow your account!