Brand Innovations

Ensuring your ministry's long-term relevance.

Guy Richards | posted 12/04/2009

A bad economy is a golden opportunity to do the things you know you need to do but have avoided. It's time to get the right people on the bus, decrease overhead expenses, increase talent, and reposition the organization. It's time to take the risks you were meant to take when the ministry was birthed, when relying on God was all you had. Do you remember those invigorating days when paying for envelopes was a stretch?

But all too often, organizations get caught up in thinking they have accomplished something and stop being creative and innovative regarding how their brand communicates to people. A ministry leader gave me a memorable analogy. He said many large ministries start like a young rock climber with vinegar in his blood, willfully taking risks because he can't see anything but the top. It is as if he is flying on the wings of an eagle.

But as the rock climber ages, his focus on the top is replaced by the fear of a painful fall and the knowledge of the agony of defeat that many around him have experienced. Once dependent on the Holy Spirit, this climber now slips into caution. He hesitates when approaching peaks he once overcame. He moves more slowly. The prize of reaching the top, the destination, has blurred. His purpose is now simply climbing. He is lost in a fog of one foot in front of the other, and past moments of trusting God to do the impossible have faded into a dream he lived long ago.

If you can relate, maybe it's time to take up bungee jumping. Can you remember when you used to overhear people in the streets talk with excitement about your ministry? When decisions erred on the side of faith? When people sacrificed early-morning sleep to cry out to God for an opportunity to effectively labor in his harvest? Can you remember the voice of the young man who just accepted Christ as tears of excitement rolled down his face? What does that feel like? Does it feel like alignment? Like standing in the perfect will of God? If you are like me, you long to live in this place.

The Problem

I believe that many large ministries have become wealthy Goliaths who live on past successes. Thirty to forty years ago, when these ministries began, they inspired action. Their voice was adopted by their generation as its own. Many may still be well known among the 50- to 75-year-old age group, but for those under 30, they are relics of a bygone era. The next generation sees their brands in the past tense.

What does this mean? It means that such ministries will be able to ride the financial loyalty of its founding generation only until their donors die. The leadership remains bound to the style and preferences of that population of givers. Even though the next generation needs the same message with different packaging, many old-line ministries, like that wary climber, are unwilling to change and take risks.

Ministries are like candy bars. Most have invisible expiration dates. Unless they understand "generational brand psychology" and have used it to strategically balance their brand through the years, they will experience the slippery slope of ineffective decline. Generational brand psychology tells us how and why a group of people, usually defined by age, develops emotional connections with people, services, or products.

Let's take candy bars for an example. A generation ago, hits included the Charleston Chew, the Wonka Bar, Necco Wafers, Mello Cups, and Bottle Caps. These brands captured the hearts of countless children who still recall the paper routes they worked to enjoy them.

In my generation we were introduced to the Reese's Cup, Snickers, Kit Kat, and Almond Joy. We looked at the Charleston Chew, Necco Wafers, and Bottle Caps as the tastes of antiquity. In fact, only a few of the 30 to 40 primary candy brands today have survived the generational divide. Lasting brands hold to their values while adapting to new communications and connection strategies.

Solutions for reconnecting your ministry brand

Some ministry brands have maintained relevance for the long haul. But there is one I have kept an eye on over the years that seems to do surprisingly well at maintaining its core values while steadily increasing its relevance. That ministry is Compassion International. This organization has not only survived; 57 years later, it is thriving.

Now I don't work with or consult for Compassion, and my views are strictly those of an outside observer. But it seems to me that Compassion understands four sound principles.

1. They do one thing, and they do it well.

People who gain a positive reputation are the people who do a specific thing uniquely well. Otherwise, the brand will neither be talked about nor gain a positive reputation. This means not just the service/product provided, but also the manner in which you consistently transition your service turn-around times, visual identity, information updates, and technologies to confirm the relationship as a "brand" to the public.

2. They understand the value of word-of-mouth branding.

These days more than ever, we need to leverage advocates to spread positive word-of-mouth support for our brands. We live in a time when a person's sphere of influence has grown from about 40 people to 300 people due to social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. For example, Compassion has a major presence each year at the Creation Festival, a Christian music event that attracts 100,000 high schoolers every year. Why? Kids influence their parents, especially when they want to do something that reinforces a parent's convictions and beliefs.

3. They make their mission understandable to donors.

Compassion understands the need for investors and donors to see returns from their financial support. Donors are able to sponsor children through financial support and verbally encourage their children through two-way letters. Compassion also brilliantly offers opportunities to visit the child, knowing that personal contact is a step in a relationship that few are able to walk away from. This also, importantly, fulfills the sponsor's need to feel like they are making a difference as the stewards God has called them to be.

4. They set donors up for a lifetime of support.

Compassion doesn't tell you that you are signing on the dotted line for the next 50 years for a minimum investment of $30,000. Why would they? They make the point of entry almost impossible to ignore. You might be at a Christian concert, and suddenly the lead performer stops and shares a story of how sponsoring a Compassion child has changed her life. Volunteers then start passing out complete sponsor packets containing pictures of the children. You are offered an opportunity to sponsor a child, and are even given a window of time to change your mind if you do decide to take the packet. Peer pressure to do the right thing is pervasive. Compassion International's plan works well. In the past six years, the ministry has assisted the same number of children, 500,000, as it did in the prior 51 years in operation.

In conclusion, revitalizing your ministry brand will require you to move away from simply climbing to once again reaching the peaks and changing the world. By applying simple but proven principles, you can connect your brand with a new generation of supporters and donors.

Guy Richards is chief branding officer for Abiah (abiah.com), a brand consulting and design firm. Abiah focuses on helping Christian ministries to grow and advance the saving message of Jesus Christ. E-mail him at guy@abiah.com.