More Than a LABEL

What is your branding? What is your “Brand Identity”? What’s your brand strategy? Do you have brand recognition? Do you have brand trust?

What is with all these questions about branding? Isn’t that a business and marketing thing? It sounds like a cheap gimmick at a used car lot, where they try to sell you the world and get you to buy anything and everything.

Believe it or not, we are all a brand. Even our church is a brand. Yes, that’s right, the Adventist Church has its own brand. Not only do we shop for and connect and interact with different brands during our daily lives— whether that’s Nike, Starbucks, Walmart, Beyond Meat, Honda, or Postum—we are all our own, personal, living brand.

Before we jump in any further, what is a brand? According to Allie Decker, “A brand is a feature or set of features that distinguish one organization from another. A brand is typically comprised of a name, tagline, logo or symbol, design, brand voice, and more. It also refers to the overall experience a customer undergoes when interacting with a business—as a shopper, customer, social media follower, or mere passerby.”

If, ultimately, the overall experience a customer undergoes when interacting with a business is so crucial, we should probably look a little more into branding when it comes to our church, right? Now, I know we are a church organization and we do not have customers, per se, because we are not selling products for profit, but we are an organization that has members, and we provide services and spiritual experiences. That in itself warrants us to understand more about what connects and resonates with and impacts members and the people we are trying to reach in the secular world.

Decker goes on to say, “Branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services. Branding is an iterative process and requires getting in touch with the heart of your customers and your business."

That makes sense, right? If "our brand" is one of our organization's most important assets because it describes our identity, then we need to put more effort into understanding, assessing and analyzing our Seventh-day Adventist branding.

Just think about it for a second: For what are Adventists known? For what do we want to be known? Better yet, for what do we think we are known? How do people perceive us? Trust me, if our brand is off, people will not want to interact with us or come to our churches. Did you ever see a brand in a store about which you heard about? Maybe it wasn’t good. What do you do? You say “Next” and keep moving to the next brand that has good reviews and with which you have had a good connection or experience.

Even on a personal level, whether you believe it or not, you are your own brand. The way people interact with, experience, and see you—your personal brand influences others. You are either drawing people to you or repelling them away from you. If you are drawing people to you, that is a perfect opportunity for people to see Christ in your personal brand and meet Him through you.

For far too long, people have recognized the Seventh-day Adventist brand as people who only go to church on Sabbath and don’t eat pork. I think it’s time we change our branding and allow people to truly see us for what we really are: Jesus-loving people who want to invite other people into that warm Christian community.

What are some things we can do to help ourselves redefine and rediscover our brand as Seventh-day Adventists?

• Holy Ghost branding: Ask God to guide you in building brand that will make a positive impact on people.

• Take ownership:

Take control of your brand; if your brand is outdated, fix it!

• Be authentic and keep it real: If you don’t believe, no one else will.

• Figure out for what you want to be known: Don’t just assume; be intentional

• Strive to keep your brand warm:

If your brand is cold, no one will enjoy it.

• Communicate the brand effectively:

It’s 2021! Pay for a graphic designer and put out good media content, whether it is video, social media, radio, or print.

• Figure out what people really need or what: We are often selling things for which people don’t care. Is there a felt need the church meets?

If no one wants what you're "selling," then maybe your branding is outdated and out of touch: If no one is showing up to your events, check your marketing, advertising, and branding. It could be outdated and irrelevant. Your branding needs to be appealing and connect with people.

The reality is branding is

The reality is Branding is more than just a label. We are more than just a label. Being known as Seventh-day Adventist is more than just a label. As Adventist that is our mission yet, but our identity is found in Christ. Christ is our identity not Adventism.

more than just a label. We are more than just a label. Being known as Seventh-day Adventist is more than just a label. Being Adventists is our mission, yet our identity is found in Christ. Christ is our identity; Adventism is not. We should be known for more than just eating veggie meat and being “holier than thou.”

As someone correctly put it, “Sometimes, we want to be more known as Adventist than Christian.” Are we more in love with the Adventist brand and label than we are with Christ? Our brand should be rooted in the values of Christ and who He is: an all-loving God who invites us into an everlasting, loving relationship.

Reference List: www.blog.hubspot.com/marketing/branding

By Dr. Lyle Notice | Youth Director Alberta Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist