Rendering Authentic Church Marketing
Today, I discovered the video below which is a talk by Joseph Pine at the TED (Technology, Education, and Design) Conference in 2004. Joseph’s 15 minute presentation is primarily a discussion for business people on providing authentic experiences for customers. However, I think there are a lot of correlations and points of note for churches to consider for their marketing.
Joseph proposes that the core of authenticity has two dimensions:
- Being true to yourself
- Being what you say you are to others
See how this applies to churches? I have been guilty of this as a church marketer and you have seen it too haven’t you? Churches presenting themselves in their promotion (either online or through traditional marketing channels) as more contemporary, trendy, or in some way other than who and what they really are. Not being true to themselves. In your church marketing, represent yourself as you really are…not who you wish you would be. People do not want to be deceived. So Pine suggests three simple things to prevent being in-authentic:
- Understand your heritage or past
- Don’t advertise things that you are not
- Provide places to experience who you are
I think these speak for themselves. Church communities can not craft themselves outside of their past. Your past is part of your heritage and molds who you are at present, and in part who you will be in the future. Embrace it! As you change for the future (and a church should be changing and growing) take the following things into consideration and don’t break these three basic rules:
- Don’t say you are authentic unless you really are authentic
- It’s easier to be authentic if you don’t say you are authentic
- If you say you are authentic, you better be authentic
So, take 15 minutes if you can now, and watch this video and look at the concepts through the lens of how you promote, market, and communicate who your church really is:
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