A Logo is not a Brand
I’ve been chatting with numerous church leaders lately about consistent messaging and it has become apparent that many misunderstand the meaning of “brand” and the importance of having one. This is one area in the ongoing saga of attempting to impact the world around us with the message of the Gospel by increasing the skill of churches in communications and marketing.
So, What is a Brand?
The difference between a logo and a brand comes down to consistency and purpose. A logo is generally defined as a graphic mark representing your organization in a way that is unique, distinguished and hopefully, meaningful. A brand has the same purpose but consists of more than just your logo and carries over into all elements of your organization’s identity, be it naming, logos, phrases, etc. Remember Bruce Almighty’s catchy phrase “and that’s the way the cookie crumbles…”? That’s branding. He created a phrase that identified himself as unique, and used it consistently to place a mark on his news address. Apple uses “Think Different”, Nike says we should “Just do it” and so on. Everything they do is embrazened with a specific color palette that is consistent with their identity. Look at the Apple web site. It’s soft, white and has clean shadows and lines… a lot like their devices, huh?
How can we create a Brand?
Think of everything you create for your church. Weekly bulletins, postcards for men’s ministry, posters for Awana’s, and so on down the line. How can you tie all of these things together with a consistent message so that whenever your members and the community see them they say “hey, that’s from so-and-so church”? That’s branding.