I spent the afternoon with the nice people at Lanark St Nicholas yesterday thinking about communication.
Here’s what we talked about, sort of:
What do you want to say?
Have you noticed that in Churches, or in any group really, people have different priorities and different ideas about why church is important to them, why God matters to them and what they would tell other people about that? That makes a clear, consistent message difficult. We need to work hard at identifying our ‘core message’
Focus on one thing… or three at the most, but one at a time
Pick something and stick to that for a while. It’s how anyone trying to sell something works. Stick to the message. You can add to it, clarify it, expand it, but stick to the message.
Why does it matter to YOU?
It’s actually quite difficult to explain to people why your faith matters to you. Faith is illogical. Explaining illogical things is kind of hard. Start with what difference it makes to YOU. That means you need to actually think about what difference it does make to you! That’s not easy so stick with it.
Tell someone – and sound like you when you’re saying it!
Try telling someone your story. Some churches do this all the time. People stand at the front and give their testimony. We don’t. That means we often haven’t given much thought to how we would tell our story. Try doing it without using church words! Try to use your words. Sound like the person you are at work, at home, in the pub… the real you.
The rest is about choosing the right media, but until you get these bits sorted then it doesn’t matter what media you choose
Remember, everything is marketing! Saying nothing is saying something.