Branding is a marketing term. Branding is how people distinguish one company from another. Branding tells your story.
Corporations spend a lot of time, money and attention on branding. They know how important image is in today’s world. They establish lengthy rules and guides to control their public image.
Branding includes things like logos, fonts, colors and the “look” of anything produced by the company. It also includes intangibles — ways of thinking, priorities and behaviors or policies.
Most small or even large congregations never gave branding a passing thought until recent years. But in today’s world, it can be a valuable tool. As congregations look beyond their established communities they will want to be conscious of how they are perceived.
Many churches take part in a branding process without realizing it.
Have you discussed a vision or mission statement lately? That’s an important first step in any branding process.
Key question: What do you want the world to know about your congregation?
- What is important to your past?
- What is important to your future?
- What is there about your congregation’s personality and mission that makes you special?
Once a vision or mission statement is approved, the most common place to start branding is a logo. Many churches have their own logos in addition to logos of their denominational affiliation. Check with your denomination for rules.
Logos used to be black and white and simple. This comes from the days of black and white printing or photocopying. Enter the digital age. Use color.
Decide which one, two or three colors are going to represent your ministry. You’ll be using them in many, many things. Make sure they are colors you can live with!
Use imagery that represents the answers to the bulleted questions above. What makes your congregation unique? A church near the seacoast might want to use ship, water, or anchor imagery. A farming community might want to use wheat, bread or nature imagery. Urban churches might focus on people, buildings, or multicultural images. There is always the image of your building to fall back on, but your logo is an opportunity to say much more.
Your logo should be something that any member can relate to your congregation’s mission in one simple sentence. Simplifying the complex is part of the art of branding.
Keep in mind how your logo will be used.
- Signage
- Stationery
- Bulletins
- Newsletters
- Ads
- Posters and Fliers
- Website
- Avatars (which are square)
- Video/Powerpoint Backgrounds
- SWAG (you may want to get some promotional giveaways like mugs or pens)
This list is growing just as our communications options are growing. You may even want to animate a logo for use on the web! There are many possibilities.
There should also be a black/white version. There will still be a need occasional one-color printing.
Surf the internet for examples of church logos. There are some very nice ones.
The logo image is important enough to hire some help if you do not have artists in your community. In fact, it might make the process go easier with outside input.
The process of deciding on a logo can take a while. It should include many people. That always lengthens the decision process. But remember, the logo belongs to your whole congregation—past, present and future. You want the involvement of many. Try to make the process part of your mission conversation.
Dive in and have fun. We’ll address other aspects of church branding in later posts.