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

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Compelling Content, Greenville,SC, Innovation, Internet, Portable Media, Print, RSS, Upstate,SC, blogging, branding, graphic design, marketing, podcasting, social networks, web design, web development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.