Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

In Australia right now, MasterChef is the hottest show around. It is rating its socks off. (America is getting its own franchise with Gordon Ramsey. Watch out, it’ll be huge.) One of the principles I’ve learned from the show is that contestants can get a reputation very quickly for being a certain type of chef. Jimmy is thought of as a one dish wonder as he can only really cook curry. Marion is perceived to be the stand out chef and the person to beat. Every contestant and every viewer thinks she will win. She was just eliminated. ;) Callum is perceived to be a good chef but lousy on presentation.

Churches have the same issue. It doesn’t take long to get a reputation for something—good or bad. Once you have obtained a reputation you aren’t proud to call your own, you have to work twice as hard to change it.

Have you ever asked those inside your church and in your community what they think of your church?

Does that match up with how you think you should be perceived?

If you are on the right track, brilliant! Drop us a comment below and let us know how you do it.

If you are struggling to articulate your church’s real voice, here are three steps you can take to change your reputation:

1. If you don’t know how you are perceived, do some focus group testing. You’ll get a first hand opportunity to find out what people think of your church from both internal and external perspectives.
2. If you need to do something internally to get the reputation you are seeking to achieve, implement a strategy to help change your church culture.
3. Do something that connects and impacts your community in a positive way and tell your local newspapers about what you are doing (Get some PR advice beforehand). Don’t do it for the sake of getting the story, do it because it is part of who you are as a church.

Thoughts? Questions? Brilliant ideas? Drop in a comment and start the conversation.

Steve, our guest blogger, is the communications guy for Crossway Church in Melbourne, Australia. He’s a stealth super hero dad and father of 3. He’s the husband of 1 incredible woman, a son, and loved by God beyond what he could ever comprehend. He blogs at Clear & Simple.