A New Year: Communication Updates (For Now)!

Communication updates are essential for your church. The new year is a great time to remember to check your church brand, your communication tools, and your communication content. And then improve as needed. BONUS: assess your communication strategy.

Like the best resolutions, don’t attempt too many communication updates all at once. Instead, methodically use new year to ensure you’re on track to successfully be known for something relevant and needed in your congregation’s life. If that thread is based on the needs or goals of your community, they’ll be attracted to your church brand too. This is your year for growth!

Starting with easy, and progressively getting more complex, here are 4 communication updates to get you started for the new year:

1. Church website copyright date fix. This is fairly easy. Open your church website in a browser and scroll to the bottom looking for your copyright date. Most websites have it under (or in) the footer. If the year says last year, your information will feel out of date! Not what you want. After updating it, consider researching for the code required to automatically change the date with the calendar year change. A quick google search will provide the solution (or ask your web person).
2. Ensure your social media descriptions have a thread. You should have multiple social media accounts with descriptions of who you are. It’s wise to have consistency. Include a location and persona (who you’re attracting) in the brief write-up. It’s essential to include what you’re known for (thread) so your audience is reminded why they attend; while the community can discover you when searching for solutions. Check length parameters on all channels, choose the shortest, and write ONE description so they all match. Then apply a version onto your church website about page. Imagine! Your church focusing on one message! Don’t know your thread? We’d love to help you discover it: through a retreat, an agency process, or with coaching.
3. Eliminate or reduce print communication. Especially since COVID, the world is preferring digital communication before wanting print materials. This is your year to continue eliminating an expensive print communication footprint. Scared to move entirely to a digital communication format? Then drastically reduce it. What does this require? A simple digital interface that’s easy to navigate and discover what your audience is seeking. Then, especially after communication updates are done, edit the content to have it scannable while utilizing effective SEO principles. 
4. Disrupt with different. The new year is such a good time for this essential communication update: change things up. Look at what’s working for your church and consider a slight tweak before communicating it to attract more attendance. Or look at numbers and decide what’s failing. You have 2 possible solutions: 1) better communicate so more are aware, or 2) eliminate what your church doesn’t want. Do either with a disruption to get attention but pivot to something that’s different, unique, creative, and needed. Communicate simply; concentrating on benefits!