For as long as I can remember I have been someone who has been very much into technology and in the last 6 or so years, design and multimedia for churches and ministry. It’s not until recently I have discovered the massive different between designing something and advertising something.

Traditionally in our ministries our aim is to design flyers, videos and websites that look good – if it looks good, people will buy, register and attend whatever it is, right? Many times I have made something for our ministry that looks good, and we are all happy with that, and even though a lot of though has gone into the design of whatever it is we are making, no thought has been made into the advertising aspect of it.

1. Who is the target audience? What colours and colour combinations do you use when making an advertisment. When it comes to kids, we just hammer it with every colour we can but this is not how we should do it. According to advertising books, we should really be choosing a few colours that contrast with each other, and, ones that appeal to the psychology of our target audience.

2. Have you considered how the reader should react to the advertising? How should they feel? Excited, curious, happy, emotional – does it look cool, or does it make the audience really want it? If you were to advertise missions, you would want it to appeal to the emotional needs of the reader, but if it was a kids camp you would want them to be exited because the camp will be fun. If it was a church album recording, you wouldn’t want people to feel emotional, you would want them to feel expectant, and excited. You need to create a need in the reader to act on what you are advertising for.

An interesting fact – Did you know that nobody had a problem with bad breath until the 1920′s when Listerene (previously a hospital antiskeptic, sore throat remedy, floor cleaner and dandruff treatment) created a fear about through it’s advertising. When you market something, consider, does it create a need?

3. Does your advertising fit the theme or feel of your ministry? If you stick to a general theme, for example, a font set, logos, style, people will become familiar with your brand and will be able to identify with it. At the very least, do you have a logo that looks good? How is it identified, and can it be identified quickly out of the blue? Try thinking of the brand that first comes to mind when you read these examples;
- You go to the supermarket and pick up an apple.
- You are at the beach and you see a shell.
- a tick on a peice of paper.

It’s no wonder companies can pay millions of dollars for a logo, but I was always taught that if you can make a person think of your ministry from looking at something, smelling something, tasting something or hearing something then you have won.

There are many other ways that you can ‘market your ministry’ but this is just a few different things to think about. More to come!