The Author's Brand - Where Do You Live and Minister?

On his blog, Author Bill Reichart writes about branding and what it means to do a good job of it. Most authors aren't thinking of branding as they go about their careers and often find their brand is something that attached itself to them along the way. Not surprisingly, those involuntary brands often miss the mark and ministry of the author, consigning them to audiences just a beat off and out of step with the calling of your work.

One must determine their "Brand" then work to make and keep it so.

Great Branding Should Be Invisible
Written by Bill Reichart on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 2:41 PM
http://ow.ly/aglW

Legendary film director John Huston said something to the effect, “Great movie directing should be invisible. If someone in the audience ever tells you how great a particular shot is, then you’ve failed, because you’ve distracted them from the story.” Huston knew great shooting was there to enhance the film story, never to call attention to itself.

The same way is true about "branding".

In Phil Cooke's book Branding Faith, he shares that branding and identity are tools to help a product, person, or organization connect with an audience. An effective brand story is a way to cut through the media clutter and get your message heard. The ultimate point of course is to sell more products, get your message out there, or create name recognition.
Our church is currently in a branding process. Of course we are not so much concerned about "selling products" but we are interesting in getting our message and identity clearly out. We are working through our church name, logo and look to make sure we connect and communicate with the community and people that have contact with our church.

Branding isn't about spin. It isn't about communicating something your aren't. But rather branding marks out and identifies clearly who you are. That is the process our church is currently moving through. It is a process, and it takes a while. But we are staying faithful to it and seeing where it is going to taking us.