Over the next few weeks and months, I would like to explore why it is that churches and Christian organizations struggle so much in the areas of marketing and cultural relevance. I know the reason vary a lot, so I'll just cover a few. To start with let's examine the pitfall of PERCEPTION.If you chat with people who are responsible for a marketing fail, you will find they have no idea. They don't think it's irrelevant or poorly designed, and they can't see why I think that way. I have to admit at first I thought these people were just complete morons, but now I realize that is not the case. The problem is perception.
These people either have no idea who their audience is and/or they have no idea what is appealing to them. The worst is those who fail to realize that there is an audience outside the 'Christian Bubble' and those are the people who need to be appealed to the most. How can you avoid this pitfall?
1. Know your audience. Is your ministry for teens? older adults? families? everybody? Many churches don't vary their ads and looks from ministry to ministry. You really need to, because what is appealing to a 15 year old will not likely appeal to a 35 year old.
2. Know your culture. I don't believe in making carbon copies of pop culture, but you should still be familiar with it. That way you can look at the trends and use that as a catalyst for your own creativity. You should look in the magazines and watch some of the shows and advertising that are popular to your audience. For example: If you are targeting teenagers, watch Mtv, not for the content but for the ads. Pay attentions to the colors, the fonts, and the general art style, and think about how you can piece together those creative elements for your purposes.
3. Know what you're doing. If you don't know how to use photoshop, don't attempt to make art. If you don't know how to use Premiere, don't make a video. It's really that simple. Either learn the skills, hire someone who does, or buy a piece from a professional.
What do you think? Where do you see the greatest disconnect at your church?
At my church, the disconnect comes from them veering towards terrible politics.
ReplyDeleteBut as for this post, I have to say that I find a general problem with marketing and Christianity being put in the same affirmation. Something such as the Word and the Spirit, I think, should adhere to the Truth (read: without any spin for the sake of appeal) at all times, in order to maintain its integrity.
@the clandestine samurai
ReplyDeleteI get where you're coming from. Really I think Marketing, as far as the Church is concerned, is defined simply as letting the community know this particular community exists and expressing that we'd like them to come to us. I have no issue with marketing in that context. I would say that is even Biblical. We're telling the people we are here and encouraging them to join in.
Where I have an issue is when church marketing begins to look like corporate marketing. It's in that type of material that the truth gets lost and it's those people I'm usually making fun of :)
It's ok to take the Truth of the Gospel and put it in to words everyone can understand but it's definitely not ok to put a 'spin' on it for the sake of culture.
Marketing is useful but not required. My point is that if you are going to do it then do it well because it's for the Lord.
That's my 2 cents :)