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Branding Your Ministry for Growth

Adesewa Greg-Ighodaro

Branding Strategy Insider

  When you have a new product, design or idea and you are getting ready to reveal it to the world, the first thing most people want to do is brand the product or service. They believe that branding is the first and most important thing that must be done and that includes getting a logo, choosing colours, and building a website.
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This is an unpopular opinion but I stick by it. I know it and have engaged in the same processes in my consulting sessions and it has worked. When you get branding right, growth becomes much easier. Every time you put a cart before the horse you are setting yourself up for frustration and undue pressure. There is no one that God calls to ministry to burden them with work, especially if you are just starting out as a ministry. Your concept of branding is probably blurred or limited and so you are trying to chase what you think you should look like to people when in actual fact, you already have what it takes to be a brand. Don’t get me wrong. I am not against getting a logo or setting up a website but when you make that your primary focus for becoming a brand, you are setting yourself up to be overwhelmed because you’ll keep telling yourself that unless your logo and websites are ready you can’t start a ministry.

What is branding?

When you check the dictionary, it tells you that branding is the process of creating a distinct identity for a business in the mind of your target audience and consumers. The first thing you see here is creating a distinct identity. At the most basic level, that would mean understanding what you’re called to do and presenting it in a way that those who need it can identify it. That’s beyond just having a logo, choosing bright colours and searching online for the meaning and symbolism of colours or even building a website with a budget you don’t have. To brand your ministry is to give your heavenly assignment a relevant and relatable meaning through comprehensible languaging to an existing audience in the earthly realm. So, you receive the concept or divine assignment, understand it and then translate or document it in a language that those you’ve been sent to will understand. If you do this well your audience will form a correct perception of that divine assignment and can represent it anywhere.
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Until you can create that correct perception, you do not have a brand. You just have an assignment. This means that what most people say about branding their ministry is more about spending money on PR rather than creating the right perception through messaging. There are 3 questions I believe are important to ask when you are creating your brand or perception map: Your ability to answer this question determines first if you know what you have been sent to do; the details and design, and the value of the assignment. This tells you the importance of your personal journey or story as it impacts the assignment. So who are you? It is important to write it down so you can also identify trigger words that would help you to amplify your messaging and connect with the right audience. This is where you do the perception test. After you have identified who you are and mapped what your story is, reach out to people you know who would give you correct feedback and ask them this question. Remember this was also a question Jesus had asked his disciples. After they had followed Jesus for a while and heard Him preach and do all manner of miracles He asked them who they thought He was. It is the brand perception test. If they had failed in their response, it meant Jesus had not done the good work of marketing his ministry. But Peter was clear in his description of the person and assignment of Jesus because Jesus had been saying it. A lot of times we expect people to know who we are or what the ministry stands for because they are part of it. We don’t realise that people only tell you what they hear you say. If you don’t champion the brand of your ministry by speaking what you want the people to know, don’t blame the people if they can’t even invite more people to the ministry. When people understand what your ministry stands for, it makes it easier for them to share with others. Stop spending money when what you should do first is share the vision.
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After 3 years of starting a ministry, Daystar Christian Center, Lagos, Nigeria, noticed they were not growing so they decided to do the brand perception test on their ministers and members. Guess what Reverend Sam Adeyemi said he found out? Everyone – including the ministers – had different opinions about what the ministry stood for. That was when Rev Sam said he knew there was a problem. Only Rev. Sam could articulate what the vision, mission and assignment of the ministry were. The others just had different ideas. And where there is no unity of vision there cannot be growth. Go back to your core team and do the brand perception test. This may be the key to the growth and expansion you’ve been seeking. Featured Image Source: Branding Strategy Insider
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