1. Story Formula: Branding your church Replant for Success
2017 Renovate Conference
Orlando, Florida
November 7-9
Most of this material comes directly from Donald Miller’s new book “Building a Storybrand,” Published by Harper Collins, October 2017

2. Your Brand
Your Brand (mission, vision, and logo) must be designed to tell a story.
Every excellent story for thousands of years is modelled the same way…
Every product, including church, must tell a story, not it’s story, but a story.
Each story must be told in a way people can hear, understand, and accept.

3. Brand Your Church for Success
Can we mix Business and Church?
We already do. Think about committees, hiring, finances, taxes, children’s workers, etc.
This workshop is about marketing, media, and messaging not preaching
Is this the Seeker Sensitive Model?
No, it is a communication model
Jesus is our Hero. God is the center of all that we do.
Many people don’t know Jesus is Lord and don’t know they need to care. How can we help them hear the message through all the noise?
To help people listen, you need to address their needs, what does that look like?

4. The Pressing Question:
Is God the Product or the Customer?

5. Getting down to business…
The Best Product doesn’t always guarantee people will consumer or “buy-in.”
The best choir, preaching, youth group, kicking drums and guitar, wonderful small groups, a great vision to reach the world… Don’t guarantee a church will grow!
Marketing Experts say; “The best communicated product with the easiest use is the most likely to succeed…” It burns the fewest calories and more likely enhances the likelihood of success.
To be successful with your product you need to understand your customers and how they communicate.

6. Getting down to business…
Your Message needs to be abundantly clear within 3-5 seconds of hitting your church’s web page or your customer is moving on. People don’t have calories to waste, time to burn, or energy to figure out your web site.

7. What About People?
Everything the human brain does, all day, involves helping that person and the people that person cares about, get ahead in life, that is, to survive and thrive.
People are designed to pursue their self-interest, figure out ways for preservation, and focus (even subconsciously) on survival.
Having to think and process difficult media causes our brain to inadvertently burn excess calories and does not help our customers survive and thrive. Therefore, we ignore and shut out things not easily understood or deemed irrelevant.

8. What About People? People pursue meeting their basic needs first.
Based on a secular world view, Self-actualization and areas of religion, including church attendance and participation, are actually one of the least basic needs…

9. What About People? How do we communicate with them?
Humans, that is, your customers, are prone to communicate through stories. Our brains are wired that way….
Stories that fit a certain pattern, proven over millennia, include a few basic story concepts.
You need a protagonist, or in our case, a HERO
You need a villain, an obstacle, a challenge to over come
You need a trustworthy, knowledgeable guide, who can give help and direction to the HERO to help them overcome their problem.

10. What About People? How do we communicate with them?
This simple marketing story formula works just as well at growing a church as it does entertaining an audience….

11. What About People? How do we communicate with them?
This simple marketing story formula works just as well at growing a church as it does entertaining an audience….
Many churches provide too much information!!!!!
This makes anything you are trying to say simply noise… There are too many HEROS, too many guides, too many villains, on our church’s media.
If churches and our communities are filled with story hungry people, how do we reach them?

12. What About People? How do we communicate with them?
This simple marketing story formula works just as well at growing a church as it does entertaining an audience….
We need to identify our HERO/customer. Here are the Q’s we must answer”
Who is the HERO?
What does the HERO want or what the HERO need to defeat to get what they want?
What tragic thing will happen if the HERO doesn’t win?
What good thing will happen if our HERO does win?

13. Who Is Our customer?
In the Story our church is telling, who is the customer, or who is the HERO?
Is it God? Church Members? Lost People? Maybe the hero is our neighbor? Creation?

14. What Does Our HERO Want? How is our HERO being Challenged?
How will our HERO win?
Will our HERO have his or her problems resolved?

15. What Does YOur Church Do?
In every good story the HERO is looking for something – the rest of the story is about discovering.
Your church MUST position itself as the guide for the HERO. Your church becomes the trusted organization that helps the HERO find the path to over come the villain or obstacle in their life.

16. What Does YOur Church Do?
Define or list the obstacles or villains in your customer’s lives.
Outline who or what is your HERO’s enemy.

17. What Does YOur Church Do?
Remember, your customers aren’t looking for another HERO, they are looking for a guide.
The key to successfully engaging our HERO is understanding our customer’s problems. And providing a sense of empathy to help find a solution.

18. What Does YOur Church Do?
Churches must want their customers to understand how they can help them live a wonderful story.
This GROWS churches!
If you look at successful churches, what makes them grow…, it isn’t necessarily great preaching, music, etc. Growth comes in churches that help their customers overcome their obstacles and survive.

19. What Does YOur Church Do?
Churches need to focus on their customers, customer’s families, and customer’s tribes and help them survive and thrive. HOW?
Here are some ideas: Build Stronger families/tribes,
Connect to one another deeply,
Add meaning to life,
Add mission to life,
Find a home/acceptance/safety
Lead families to walk in obedience to Christ

20. Questions?
Come back to learn how to craft your message and create a singular strategy to reach your target audience!