Nike, Apple, & Starbucks — what do all of these companies have in common? Aside from being things your youth pastor loves, they are all incredible examples of branding.
These organizations have made decisions on how to position themselves so that anything they do is immediately recognized and attributed to their company.
Take the following for example. One of these is a Nike shirt and the other isn’t. So which one is Nike?
The white one is the Nike— of course! (p.s the youth pastor spotted that from a mile away)
How did we know that one was Nike? Branding.
You see, branding extends into every area of modern life. In essence, branding is how your organization appears to the outside world. It’s not a logo, it’s not a font, it’s not a color, it’s not even the services you offer. A brand is the gut feeling someone has when they think of your organization. Brands are defined by the perception of people, not by the “brand managers”.
Why does branding matter?
Branding plays a vital role in determining the validity of the message you’re trying to send out. This might be easier understood in an example.
Imagine you’re trying to get a mortgage. You go to two different places. The first is a double wide trailer off the side of the highway. It’s kinda dingy, the lights flicker, and there’s a smell that you can’t quite put your finger on. Basically, it looks like a before image on a house flipping show. The guy working there offers you a good deal but you decide to check another place out before deciding. You then go to a second location, this is a much, much nicer place. You know, marble floors, huge ceilings, skylights, the back of your mind questions if this is what Heaven might look like. Then you meet the very well dressed broker and he offers the exact same deal as the other guy. Who do you go with?
Obviously you go with the second location, but why? It seems more trustworthy. It seems this way because the branding supports the message.
Your brand is everything you do. It’s an all-encompassing representation of your organization. It’s your best design and your worst design. It’s your best service and your worst service. Your best staff member and your worst staff member. As a result, your brand perception varies from person to person and interaction to interaction. You can’t control your brand.
But you can influence it.
I am going to tell you 2 key factors on how to influence your brand and give you some specific tips on how to do it.
1. Consistency
This is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of a brand. In fact, if your brand isn't consistent I would argue that you don’t have a brand.
Consistency can be achieved in a variety of ways. Some are visual and others are not. However, the most common inconsistencies come from the visual side. We’ve all been there, one department goes rogue and creates its own content that looks nothing like the rest of the church. As a result, people question if that ministry is part of your organization or a separate church that you’re partnering with.
There are 3 basic areas of a visual brand that you need to pay attention to:
1. Logos
You logo needs to be consistent. It should not be altered, tampered, inverted, or changed period. Don’t get me wrong, there can be a variety of logos but they need to be limited. Your logo is a crucial part of your brand and should be treated with respect as a result. Below is a great example of how Spotify regulates their logo.
2. Colors
The spouse to your logo are your colors. You need to have an official color palette that is visually appealing and reflects your brand. Without this your logo will appear in every color under the rainbow. I’ve seen it happen and while it sounds pretty it’s not. Pick 3-4 main colors to represent your brand and add every color code you might need in order to replicate the color. Take a look at Spotify below.
3. Fonts
Fonts are crucial to your brand. Don’t believe me? Ask your designer what they think of the font “comic sans”. Your font plays a major role in the validity your brand. Imagine your brand as a research paper. If every page has a different font would it appear very legitimate? No, it would be down right silly, and you can’t afford to be labelled as silly. In fact, you are carrying the most important message in all of history so you have to approach this with all seriousness. Picking a few fonts and sticking with them will help add validity to your brand. Now before you start slashing everything in sight, listen to me. You can use other fonts for things like sermon series, handouts, etc. But everything official needs to be in the selected font(s).
The sad reality is that I see too many churches sacrifice their brand on the altar of speed. You have to avoid this. If you sacrifice your brand then you are sacrificing the validity of your message. Speed is not as important as your message. Which leads us to the second point, excellence.
2. Excellence
What separates good brands from great brands?
Let me rephrase the question. What separates good companies from great companies? Excellence. Have you ever been treated poorly by a company? Of course, we all have. The real question is, how did your view of that company change as a result? Chances are, it made you never want to do business with that company again. Why? Because subconsciously we had an expectation of that company set by the brand and our experience didn’t meet that expectation.
This same expectation is being set by your brand every day. Your job is to figure out what that expectation is and where it’s coming from. The easiest way to overcome the expectation gap is to deliver on what is being expected. Your organization has to deliver excellence at every point of contact. Think social media, websites, worship services, volunteers, emails, community outreach, how you talk to visitors, everything.
This is a massive process but it’s an important one. I’ve outlined a few simple starting points to help, but by no means is this an exhaustive list. It will merely help get the ball rolling.
Define your level of excellence
Pinpoint stress points where you are not meeting this
Communicate your desire to staff members
Constantly monitor this
These are two major ways that you can begin to influence your brand. Keep in mind that your brand will not change over night. It takes time to change. You are literally trying to change people’s perception of your organization, so it’s a bit of a battle.
Don’t get discouraged. It is a battle worth fighting and one that needs to be won.
If you need help please don’t hesitate to reach out. Sermon Works is equipped with a team of designers and strategizes fully capable of helping your organization rebrand and launch themselves into a new identity. If you would like to talk to myself or one of our team members just hit the button below!
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