Learn

Amendment as of 10:01 a.m. - You know when you put a bunch of time, effort and energy into launching something new? You feel ready, excited and a little nervous. And then the email goes out with a typo in the title, weird spacing on the pictures and stretched out buttons that look like they are from the early '90s ... No? Just us? We knew we weren't perfect before, but this was a definite confirmation. Our new VIP email went out as scheduled at 10 a.m. Unfortunately, the screws weren't tightened completely. The sentiments of this post are still the same. We're still committed to providing you the best content possible ... hopefully next week, it'll just look a little better.  

Inevitably, during most of our projects and collaborations, a church will ask us something like, "How long can we expect our (website, new logo, social media strategy, sub-brand, etc.) to last?" It's a valid question. Unfortunately, the typical answer we give isn't always what they want to hear. Our answer: We don't know. There is no set timeframe for how long new communications tools or strategies will last. The truth is because technology, culture and your audience preferences change all the time, your communications efforts should be living, breathing entities, constantly tweaked and changed to remove barriers, so you can communicate your message as effectively as possible. This can be a hard truth to acknowledge, and it takes a certain level of proactive planning to accomplish well.

Recently, we took a dose of our own medicine ...One of our main goals here at Fishhook is to develop fresh, educational, inspiring content for church communicators and pastors on a regular basis. We work hard to research what questions and challenges you have and to write blog posts, make videos and create downloadable resources and infographics that help you overcome those things.

But after moving our website to HubSpot, a marketing platform and content optimization system, a few years ago, we realized that we had spent a lot of time thinking about and analyzing the actual content, but not as much time being proactive about the delivery. This has led us to rethink our social media strategy (more to come on that soon) and, most recently, to revamp our weekly VIP email. In case you're not part of the list, this email contains our most recent blog posts and fresh content each week! We focused on two things: 

1. Design
   Our designers looked at the layout and design and realized we were missing some opportunities to express our brand and organize the content in a way that was easily digestible for our readers. We had to redesign within the constraints of our email tool, so we didn't get to do everything we wanted. But, we hope that you notice the change and feel like it's more exciting, fun and well-organized.
   
   
2. Timing 
   If I'm being honest, this one was difficult for me. We had a good content development routine going. I knew when I needed to send new pieces to our designers and content developer, we could fully take advantage of the time to push our due dates to the last minute. (Anyone else do this?) Often on Thursdays, you could find us in a marketing jam, working together to write, edit or publish new content. Then, on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m., the email would go out, and we would start all over again on Monday. But we realized something: this wasn't the best time for you. And that means it's no longer the best time for us. After doing some research and thinking about a typical workweek for a church communications leader, we realized that a lot of our audience lives on a timeline that looks something like this:

• Saturday/Sunday: Weekend services
• Monday: Day off/catch up
• Tuesday: Staff meetings
• Wednesday: Finally sitting down at your desk
• Thursday: Printing, prepping and praying for the weekend
• Friday: Crap. It's almost the weekend again. 

We realized that sending you an email on Thursday packed with new ideas and advice probably feels overwhelming, and that's the last thing we want! So, if you're on our VIP list, you'll notice the new email shows up in your inbox on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. We hope this feels like a less stressful time and that you're able to read, digest and use the content we send you each week. 

We truly believe that who you are and the work you do matters. And when we started producing more free content, we did so because we want to help churches catch more. We love hearing that a piece we wrote helped you fulfill your calling because it means we're fulfilling ours. But, we also need to hear when something's missing. Do you have a topic, specific question or challenge you'd like us to address in upcoming content? Let us know! We'd love to hear from you! 

If you haven't signed up for our VIP list, click below. You'll receive the fresh weekly content we talked about above, plus updates and previews of new services, sales and VIP-only content.