Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

So you have been recruited to the task of serving as a volunteer church communication director? What, are you crazy? Are you a sucker for punishment? Did you just fall off the turnip truck? I mean, congratulations!

Looking at your church’s communication through the eyes of a communication director is much different than looking at it from the eyes of a “regular” church member. Sometimes leading communication planning can be frustrating. But there are plenty of rewards knowing you are helping your church make more impact in your community.

As communication director, you see how badly your church’s media needs order and discipline. You see the website is in bad shape; you notice the lack of white space in the church newsletter; you see the color schemes used in the bulletin that were picked by someone who had to be color blind; you see there isn’t really a marketing plan (or a budget!). Just about everything you look at in your church’s communication needs improvement it seems.

And, now that you are “on duty” it seems all the ministries in the church want you to help them pull off a marketing miracle too! What can you do to tame the monster you have been given and organize the chaos you may be experiencing?

1. Live in Grace: Keep your eyes on the spiritual nature of the task you have been given and make sure you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to only say things that are edifying! That’s the first thing, don’t call everyone’s communication baby ugly and then ask them to let you help them! (Don’t ask me how I know.)

2. Tell People No: It may not be second nature to you, but you will have to figure out what you need to say “yes” to and what you need to say “no” to. Sometimes volunteers put pressure on themselves to do too much of what they are asked to do by their church leadership. But if you don’t get a handle on the work you do for the church, you could eventually get burned out and become discouraged.

3. Organize the Mess: Imagine the task at hand like doing your laundry. (Please nobody tell my wife I am using this as an example, it would not be good for me, trust me.) You have to sort out the laundry before you clean it. Then when everything is washed and dried, you have to sort it again. If you do your laundry and leave it all in a pile, it will be hard to find things. So, you fold everything, hang the things that need to be put on hangers, fold the things that need to be folded and put away in drawers. (Like I said, mum’s the word, okay?)

Now that you are taking over the communications in your church, it’s time to do a little spring cleaning…err..I mean summer cleaning. Summer is a great time to do this as many ministries slow down and you have a little reprieve from the rush you experience the rest of the year.

Take a look at all the communication materials produced by your church. Put them in a big laundry pile and start sorting. What needs to be cleaned up? What needs to be thrown out? What new things do you need to develop?

4. Set some rules: As a volunteer, you can do your church a favor by putting together a process that categorizes the church’s communication needs. Some things will be handled by you some things will be handled by the leaders in the ministries of the church. Some things need to stop altogether!

Here are some ideas…

• Stuff you will do as Communication Director: Anything that expresses the identity of the entire church to the community or communicates inside the church to the entire congregation
• Stuff ministry leaders will do instead of you: Anything that is designed to communicate within or recruit people to their specific ministry that is not intended for the entire church. Give them templates and point them at tools to use (like their section of the website). But try not to get stuck putting together all their communication materials. (You may need to play a more active role in the youth and children’s ministry marketing.)
• Stuff that needs to stop: Anything that is not consistent with the church’s identity and vision. Anything that cannot be planned in advance and done in a sane manner. Not every idea someone has in your church (even your pastor) can be done. If what you are being asked to do takes you away from doing the main things that express your identity, then it’s time to say no.

Okay, it’s time to go back in there and take a look at that mess again! Don’t become discouraged and don’t over think it. Some people will never understand all you are doing. But if you are loving and patient and keep your church’s priorities together, you will see results in impact in the community.

Conferences for Church Communication Directors

If you can, make plans to attend the MinistryCOM conference (in OKC this year September 18-19) it is a great conference where you can network with ministry communication leaders of every kind and from every size church.

If you happen to live in Oklahoma, the churches of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma are hosting a free one day conference (August 12) on Church Communication at the Baptist Building in Oklahoma City.