One of my first branding experiences in my professional life involved helping a religious non-profit organization develop a consistent brand. I was not the official person in charge of this but I was doing a lot of the leg work including redesigning the logo, advising on a video production, etc. At the time I was working for Outreach North America, the church planting and revitalization agency of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. ONA had hired Jeff Hathcock to help ONA market itself better to the churches and presbyteries of the ARP. In fact it was probably Jeff who drilled into me the importance of consistent branding which became a core focus of my company when I went into business for myself.

The concepts of branding and marketing may seem like “worldly” or less than noble concerns to many churches and non-profits for a variety of reasons, many of which are based on myths or misunderstanding of branding and marketing. Some of those include;

• It’s too expensive
• It’s a “worldly method” and we need to trust in God or our mission is “noble enough”
• If we focus too much on marketing we will look “showy” or our donors may think we are wasting their money.

They are many more but those are some of the most common objections and roadblocks to branding and marketing a church or non-profit organization. Sadly this attitude come across all to well. Jeff’s company, U-Turn, Inc. * specializes in church marketing among other things. One of the aspects of church branding and marketing he points out is the need project a clear message of what your church or organization is all about as opposed to how big of a noise you can make. You are probably thinking that church branding or marketing only involves signs, web sites, brochures, etc. but have you ever considered the building and grounds, Quality of the sunday school program or how visitors are greeted?

Maybe you are involved with a non-profit organization that is not a church. What are the concerns there? Often they are the exact same concerns. A limited budget, volunteer workers, perceived notion or worry about spending too much on “marketing”, etc. Having experience with some local non-profits groups I can tell you a lot of the concerns are the same. As a small business owner I am fascinated and encouraged that the concepts and skills of small business branding can apply to churches and non-profits as well. Including;

• Focusing on a core mission and communicating it with focus
• Taking advantage networking within the community at large, not just inside my “circle.” If you “preach to the choir” you may be facing the wrong way!
• You don’t have to spend a lot of money, just a little time to have a consistent image

When people think of your church or non-profit do they have a clear image of who you are and what you stand for? Does your brochures, business cards and web site all have the same message, logo and look clean and professional or does it look like it has been done by different people at different times?

One of SpinningSilk Multimedia’s core client bases is churches and non-profits, Especially churches and ministries in the ARP Church. We are also involved with quite a few community non-profit organizations that help our community grow. How can we help we help you based on that experience? What questions do you have based on our experience with churches or groups?

*Disclaimer- U-Turn, Inc. is also a client of SpinningSilk Multimedia

A few days ago their was an article on businessweek.com called, Tech ‘Solutions’ Your Small Biz Can’t Use . I don’t think I have ever read an article claiming to be true with so many false statements. This has obviously been written by someone who doesn’t get it. The article tries to explain why the technologies of RSS, Spam Filters, Anti-Virus Software, Blogs, Search Engine Optimization, Mobile Applications, CRM Software, Ad Words, Online Video and Web 2.0. I know from a lot of experience from discussions that a lot of business people may not understand RSS, Blogging, SEO, and the value of Mobile Applications but that doesn’t mean they are not of value and they can be used.

I won’t even justify their comments about Spam Filter and Anti-Virus Software. True, neither are perfect and the best spam and anti-virus protection is education but just try to run a business without these tools!

SpinningSilk Multimedia has been able to take advantage of RSS, Blogging, SEO and yes Web 2.0 initiatives to bring in business and in fact work on all them at the same time as our blogging software is RSS enabled, the act of business blogging alone has increased our SEO and blogging itself along with the way we pipe it through such “Web 2.0″ tools like Twitter and Facebook have brought us business we otherwise would have never had.

I love the fact that I am able to blog and spread the word about how wrong the writer of the article was. If you want to read the article go ahead but only read it for laughs. If you want to understand how these things work and can both bring you business and save you heartache then talk to us and learn more about how we can help your business with these technologies.

Yes, their is a design aspect to sound. Sound design is a primary consideration when setting up speakers in a public venue like churches, conference centers, concert halls and stadiums. Sound design is also a major aspect of the T.V. and motion picture industry. While we are awed by the visual special effects of such films as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Matrix to name a few none of those productions would connect and come to life if it wasn’t for the sound.

Try this for an experiment. If you have a DVD or video tape or even a downloaded file for a popular movie with a lot of special effects try turning down the sound. I’ve tried it with Star Wars and it’s a totally different movie. I’ve even heard some people say that Star Wars depends so much on the musical score that it is like an old silent movie. Even during the time of silent movies that did not contain an audio track  they often included a musical score that was played by a live orchestra or at least a piano in the theater.

In the days of radio drama, which I really wish would make some kind of comeback, the art of audio special effects was born. The artists who create these sound effects are called foley artists and are very skilled at fooling us into thinking we are hearing one thing but in reality they are using everyday objects to give the same impression. One of the oldest examples is using coconuts to simulate a running horse.

I’m sure a lot of readers here may not be producing movies, concerts or radio dramas. You may be exploring the possibility of producing or having someone help you produce a podcast for your business as a way to educate and engage a potential customer base.

More and more people are considering podcasting as a viable way to market a niche product to a world wide audience. The merging of the MP3 audio file format and the web syndication technology known as RSS combined into a new thing called, Podcasting. Podcasting has really started to hit the mainstream after Apple made it an official part of iTunes. If fact in 2008 SpinningSilk Multimedia will be making a concerted effort to offer podcasting as a major service offering of our business. Why? While web sites and blogging are great for when you are sitting at a computer the avenue of podcasting opens up a whole new world and venues where content can be enjoyed. I know from personal experience and from the experience of others that podcasts (especially audio podcasts) can be enjoyed from away from traditional computers. You can listen to podcasts while walking around the neighborhood, working out at the gym, waiting on a seat at a restaurant, riding a train, bus or plane and even when driving provided your mp3 player has an audio connection to your car’s sound system.

All that being said, people will not tolerate poor sound quality and delivery when they can find better. You know the importance of good web design and having a professional looking web site, business card or brochure. The quality and professionalism of your message in audio is equally important. Our eyes may over look or scan past a misspelled word but it will be harder to over look, over hear poor audio delivery.

I’d like to point you to a respected source in the world of podcasting a good friend I have made via the Internet. Cliff Ravenscraft. I haven’t meet Cliff in person yet but we corresponded via e-mail, telephone as well as chat and I greatly enjoy his family of podcasts. One podcast in particular that you should listen to is the Podcast Answer Man. Cliff can goes a lot deeper than I can in this blog post and he also can offer you some great deals on sound equipment. If you are the slightest bit interested in podcasting I encourage you to subscribe to that podcast and yes I would love to talk with you one on one if you are interested in setting up a podcast for your business or organization, especially if you are in Greenville or the Upstate of South Carolina.

You may have seen an article here about how blogging can be good for your business or heard one of us at a networking group talk about RSS, blogging and other similar topics yet you may still think writing a business blog is not the best thing or a top priority for your business. Do you really think that?  Seems that’s a common perception but think again.  Really, think again!  The business and blogging web site/blog is offering readers a challenge. Try to stump them with a business that could not benefit from blogging.  Before you are quick to take their challenge read the example of one such business they were presented with during the writing of the article, a gas station. It will make you think twice about your own business.  Feel free to leave comments here but try to stump them on their blog because they are offering a pretty good incentive. I feel the same idea can apply to podcasting. Podcasts are the same thing as blogs but are audio and video instead of text and more often than not are delivered via RSS.

While I put the finishing touches on my next article in my Aspects of Design Series I wanted to pass along a great resource for those wanting to start or impove on a business blog, especially customers we have have given the tools on your web site to do so.

Michael Martine of Remarkablogger is giving away a free e-Book called, How to start a business blog. All you have to do to receive this e-book is to sign up for his e-mail list or better yet his RSS feed. Even if you are not one of our customers I would love to see more business blogs, especially in the Upstate of South Carolina or Greenville,SC area.