When deciding to brand your church, it is a process that goes beyond simple design and marketing to represent the unique character of your church. At every touchpoint, you can communicate vision with your congregation and those outside your walls. But before you can do this successfully, you must have a solid understanding of exactly what a brand is and what it entails.
What is a brand?
Your vision equals your brand. It represents who you are as a ministry. It showcases your calling and your core values as a church. It is the consistent message a person gets from interactions within your church, whether directly (in person) or indirectly (through various types of media)
A brand is more than a logo.
A logo is not a brand; rather, it is an important starting point. It gives your organization the foundation it needs to build a solid brand. A logo becomes a recognizable symbol that audiences can respond directly to. It begins the process of communication that branding creates by showing the brand’s unique qualities.
The logo is the starting point to the entire church brand which goes beyond graphics and media in into the decisions it makes to act out it’s vision. The logo is supported by additional visual language which becomes a churches identity. This can reveal your unique attributes and the kind of experience someone will have when they attend your church on Sunday mornings.
Creating a logo and identifying colors and fonts allows you to control consistency and meaning across other types of media: signs, website, blog, print, email, and social. All of these work cohesively to create an accurate and attractive representation of the churches vision.
Your church’s brand should be clearly communicated with both your congregation and your community. Before this can be done successfully, you must have a solid understanding of your brand and be able to explain what it is. You must also establish your target audience.
Your brand represents your target audience.
Who is it, exactly, that you want to reach?
Without a target audience, the questions and possibilities will be endless. Problem-solving and strategizing become difficult. You must have structure. You simply cannot please such a wide range of people, much less make your organization attractive to them without structure.
Establishing your target audience is an essential part of good branding. When you have pinpointed a specific audience that aligns with your vision, your decisions can be made in respect to themes that would engage them specifically.
Bales Avenue Church Example
Bales Avenue is a church which had a vision to reach a particular intercity community made up of various ethnicities within a couple of city blocks. Their vision is to serve them first by meeting their needs and then lead them to Christ.
The logo we designed for them reflects the idea of that local community by using multiple colors to represent the various ethnicities and the 2 blocks are meant to relate to the specific city blocks this church is called to reach. The cross is a secondary element within the blocks which lends to the idea of serving first then leading to Christ.
This logo is a good example of how a vision begins to become a brand starting with a logo.
What are some issues you are dealing with when creating your church’s brand?
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