The well-known marketing site brandchannel.com covers church branding in yesterday’s article “Churches Put Their Faith in Branding.” The story includes quotes from Richard Reising of the marketing company Artistry Marketing and Simon Jenkins of the web magazine Ship of Fools.
“There’s not a church in the world that doesn’t market itself,” says Richard Reising. “Some do it well, some do it badly. But when you don’t do it consistently and effectively, then you say clearly to the community that you don’t know who you are; you’re not professional, and you don’t take time to think about what you are about.”
Reising dismisses concerns that branding is strictly commercial and insists it’s about being strategic. He also emphasizes that branding helps insiders just as much as outsiders, citing results of people being more willing to invite friends after a church implemented changes: “People are not ashamed of Christ, but they are ashamed of their church.”
Jenkins spoke about the need for a local church brand to avoid any connection to a homogeneous globalization form of branding. He also encouraged consistency, noting that it comes down to the people living up to the brand. (link via Matt Constantine)
brand1m
March 15, 2005
Good article. Times really are changing regarding marketing and the church. It is nice to see professional companies popping up to help churches in their efforts. I hope to land a job at Mr. Reising’s place, or possibly another one here in the Dallas area.