CONSISTENCY IN BRAND MESSAGING
Consistency in brand messaging is important in building both a stable and committed audience, and a strong brand image. This is doubly crucial in ministry, as many of the people which are being reached by your media ministry may be new to the Church. Consistent messaging is key to successful outreach. The following are a couple of tips to do this well:
Setting clear brand guidelines
Setting clear brand guidelines by defining your ministry's mission, vision, values, and visual identity will help in setting your brand image initially. A capable marketing team can help you build a Brand Style Guide that will keep your team on message. Once you have these guidelines in place, everyone in your organization should be able to refer to them as a reference point for keeping your messaging consistent. A brand guide should help with internally affirming what your ministry is projecting, how your audience should be addressed, and how the ministry uses branding internally and externally.
Marketing Calendars and Recycling Content
Using a marketing calendar can help you plan your content and marketing activities in advance, allowing you to make sure that your messaging is consistent across all channels. When unexpected events or promotional opportunities arise, your team can adapt quickly by seeing what to postpone and reschedule to a future date. Marketing calendars work well if your team is repurposing content. A single view of your messaging across different communication channels will help keep your messaging both consistent and time efficient. For example, you could create a video that you can then repurpose into shorter social media videos, blog posts, and even infographics. These simple tricks help you conserve time, while utilizing your resources to their fullest and keeping your message consistent.
Brand Messaging
Use consistent branding elements. Brand elements include your logo, colors, fonts, and imagery. When you use consistent branding elements across all of your marketing materials, it helps to create a cohesive brand identity that people will recognize and remember. Take Apple for example: they have created a brand image that is synonymous with sleek, quality tech products. This is achieved by producing products that, while improving, stay within the same brand image boundaries as the previous offering. Consistent brand messaging and design will reinforce your message rather than distract your audience from what you’re trying to communicate.
Conversational Consistency
Consistency in your tone of voice, language, style, and level of formality across all communications and interactions associated with your ministry will create consistency and trust. For example, if your ministry brand is informal and conversational, then you should avoid using formal or technical language in your marketing materials.
Final Thoughts
Here are some additional tips if you’re interested in building a consistent brand message for your ministry:
Be mindful of the cultural context.
When you're sharing the word of God with people from other cultures, it's important to use language and imagery that will be relevant and meaningful to your audience.
Use storytelling.
Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate the message of the gospel, which is probably why Jesus used this method so often. When you tell stories, you're able to connect with people on a personal level and help them to understand the message of God's love.
Be patient.
It takes time to build relationships and reach people with the gospel. Don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results.
Consistency in brand messaging builds trust. A purposeful approach to your digital outreach will produce greater results and avoid creating barriers or distractions for your audience over time. When we engage in the work of digital ministry with a consistent and intentional approach to branding, language, tone of voice, and conversation, we’ll build trust and predictability, allowing our audience to draw close and engage in meaningful conversations.
