Branding Terms Defined: Positioning

There’s a Church on every corner! At least that’s what we’ve found in the Southeast (where we live). It seems that there are more churches than people here! So how does someone choose their church?

The #1 answer is usually: “It’s where I grew up”. Not too compelling, eh?

If you imagine someone deciding that they wanted to start attending a good church, what makes yours stand out? In fact, the web creates an environment where all the Places of Worship are lined up in front of anyone doing a simple google search.

In fact 80%+ of those visiting a church, have checked it out online first. The problem is that the average church doesn’t look like it’s website. Nor does the website clearly state the one compelling benefit to attending.

Brand Positioning is simply the best way to get people to recommend or adopt a “brand”. And must include these 3 things:

1. What makes you stand out. List your “competition”. Then list all the things you and they do well. You know, all the programs you offer and the features of your church. Then determine the things you do a bit better than the others. If you can identify something that you alone do better than everyone else, you’ve got it made! But then check the other churches and make sure they’re not making similar claims. It’s almost impossible for you to standout if you say you’re the same as someone else.
2. Simple, short and easy to remember. This is key! You want your congregation to remember it. This is not your vision or your mission. This should be a key benefit of attending and participating. If someone in your pew was asked why they love your church, the majority should be able to remember and claim your positioning. That’s why we say 5-6 words MAX! It should be applied to your logo as a tagline. Another reason to keep it short.
3. A benefit that creates an emotional response. Take all your products and features and convert them to benefits. True benefits that create such an emotional response, that they are compelled to “sample” it. Create your positioning statement from a combination of all of this.

One caveat: You MUST make sure that anyone attending your church experiences the benefit continually. Or the disconnect will turn people off. Easy task? Should be if your created the positioning from existing products and features.

This is a huge undertaking. We realize it. Feel free to contact me if you’d like our assistance. We create positioning statements virtually everyday!