The word “brand” gets thrown around a lot in today’s language. So, does a branding conversation belong in church communications? We are going to talk about this and much more at The Table on June 25th!

What is a brand? What is your brand? When we hear that someone has “rebranded,” do we know what that really means or did they just update their logo?

The word “brand” gets thrown around a lot in today’s language. Everywhere we look, brands fight for our attention. In the book The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier describes a brand as “a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.” We all know what brands we love. I love Target, Starbucks, and Pottery Barn, and I recently started buying The Honest Company’s cleaning supplies—not just because it’s good for the environment, but because of the visual appearance. What can I say? I love a good design. The way they present their packaging and products appeals to me. But it would be wrong of me to say, "I like their brand,” before ever experiencing using the cleaning products. Their brand is not their logo or packaging; it’s much more than that. A brand is whatever a first-time consumer says when describing a product after they’ve experienced it. 

So, does a branding conversation belong in church communications? And if so, how does it translate?

I work at Traders Point Christian Church, where we recently updated our logo. Obviously, the church isn’t a product, but we still think about our “brand” in this way: when guests arrive on our campus, what do they say when they leave to tell their family or friends about this place? How do they describe Traders Point? Your brand should be the experience people take with them when they leave.

Some (at Traders Point) might say we “rebranded,” but that was not the case. It was actually the opposite. Our brand evolved as we grew, which forced us to change our logo. Our logo is only a part of our identity, which makes up our brand, and it wasn’t matching. Once we finalized our updated logo, we then went through all of our ministries to make sure we were consistent with the larger brand of Traders Point. We learned that there was some disconnect from the brands of ministries and the larger brand. Kem Meyer, the communications director from Granger Community Church, describes it this way, “To make the brand connection stronger, we’re organized as a ‘branded house’ (not a ‘house of brands’). In other words, Granger Community Church is the brand and all of their activities are an extension of that brand; individual events and ministries don’t stand alone."

We are going to talk about this and much more at The Table on June 25th! Here are a few questions we’re going to discuss:

  • What are your brand attributes?
  • Are your leaders on board with your brand attributes? Do they know what they are? 
  • Do all ministries/locations fall under your brand?
  • Is your brand embedded in everything you communicate, facilitate, and produce?
  • What internal filters do you use when looking at different ministries/locations?
  • What brand does your church create in your community?

RSVP to The Table here!