It’s a common mistake to think branding is done when your logo is created. It happens all the time in churches and plenty of other organizations. But stopping there is an oversimplification of what branding truly is.
Yes, a logo is an element of branding, but your brand expands beyond it and is the total experience people have as they get to know your church. They’re forming opinions with every interaction big or small.
So when you don’t look beyond the logo, here are some of the pitfalls that could happen.
- You don’t create a consistent experience across all touch points. While a good logo graphically expresses who you are as an organization, it doesn’t have optimal impact just by itself. Building an engaging brand means being intentional about everything you do to make sure it ties to your vision, emulates your culture and represents who you want to be as an organization. A great logo doesn’t guarantee greeters will be friendly and welcoming. Nor does it automatically mean all your other communications pieces will match or look consistent. When you stop after creating a logo, you’re not thinking about the rest of your branding even though it exists.
- You miss out on tough conversations that actually lead to good change. You might be thinking, “Why would I want to encourage tough conversations?” Well, it’s often the hard conversations that produce the most rewarding results. Just commissioning a logo to check it off the to-do list might mean you didn’t take the time to talk about your church’s mission, vision and culture. It can be challenging to talk about these things because it might mean some tough changes have to happen to be the best church you can. But starting with these conversations will not only give designers something to work with in creating a mark that expresses who you are, but more importantly it also helps you build a stronger overall brand.
- You’ll have a bad logo. Any organization can get a cool looking logo, but the churches who take the time to make sure it expresses their essence have something that is far more impactful and meaningful. Churches that just create a logo without strategic thought often end up with something that doesn’t represent, differentiate or identify who they truly are. It might be too generic or embrace a style that doesn’t fit the look and feel of what the church is actually like.
Branding work isn’t easy or a single step. It’s also not a throwaway task. But when you take the time to strategically think through the process and create a logo, you’ll have something that is a base for a much more effective, church-wide brand.
