Church Marketing Sucks

Productivity guru Merlin Mann has this to say about branding, via Twitter:

If you’re really worried about your “branding,” try to stop thinking about life as a press release and just focus on making something.

I’m pretty sure this is a common view, and I’m pretty sure he knows more than I do about most things. But I’m also pretty sure that your church shouldn’t listen to people who espouse this view. At least not fully. Let’s look a little deeper at what he says:

Stop looking at life as a press release. I think he has a great point here. And I think our own Brad Abare and the Think Personality team have this running through their veins. You shouldn’t be spending time and energy considering the smallest details of your church and figuring out how to put off a good image. You should, however, understand your identity and check up on yourself to make sure you’re effectively communicating that as your brand.

Make something. For churches, this could be “Do something,” “Create something,” “Change something,” “Communicate something,” etc. But your priority should be making disciples (however your church is going about doing that), not making press releases.

I think Mann is really speaking to companies here who seem to just come up with a cool identity and scramble to build a product around it. But, as with anything, the church can learn. You can’t just come up with a cool church name, a neat logo or a pretty color palette and concentrate on building a brand around it. You can, however, understand your personality, mission and passion, and focus on using that as your brand.

My imaginary, under-140 character, updated response tweet:

Know who you are, and build a brand that’s true to that. Stop thinking of life as a press release, and just be yourself.