Branding is such a buzz word right now. Maybe it has been for a while and I’m just catching up. Either way, I’ve been paying more attention to it lately and realizing that branding is more than a logo or slogan. Branding is what people think of when they think of you, your product, your company, your church (yeah, your church is branded too), you ministry, even your family.
What are the things that make up your brand? Let me give a few observations I’ve seen:
Do you return emails or voice mails? How soon? I met someone last year that is doing some pretty cool stuff. I asked if I could take him to lunch or email some questions to get his thoughts. 4 emails, 2 phone calls and 3 more in person conversations and have received no attempt from him. That’s Branding.
Do you show up for meetings on time? I just left a meeting with someone trying to sell me something and he was 5 minutes late. No thanks.
Do you hand out professional materials? I was in a meeting a few weeks ago and met sales person that had his cards printed from a “free” company. Of course I knew this because the company that printed them had their info and logo on the back of the card. I wonder if he thought no one would look there?
The issue here is that as Christians, we represent the biggest and most important brand ever…the name of Christ. All the things from emails to websites reflect back on Him. Are you selling that name short? That puts a new spin when Paul said to watch your doctrine and your life carefully. What you believe and how you live matter.
First day of Ministry @ the Max was just that…sooooooo much information. There was a lot of good information. A lot to digest. A lot to dig through. It was pretty much the opposite of the Q conference last month which centered around big ideas, future thinking, innovation, creativity, etc. This was more of the nuts and bolts of how to make all that happen. (In other words, all the stuff I’m not good at). Let me give a brief overview:
-85% of start-up businesses (and ministiries) fail within the first five years because of inadequate planning, structure, and systems.
How do we not become a statistic?
Ministry Venture’s 5 Best Practices are a step.
1. Prayer
God is a God of order.
“Putting things in order is Wise and faithful stewardship”
That is a very convicting statement for us dreamers, visionaries, idea guys, and big thinkers. Have to work on that.
3 Biblical Principles:
1. Build on a solid foundation of prayerful planning.
I’ll be attending a seminar tomorrow that is supposed to help with the foundational issues of leading a non-profit. I’ll post notes tomorrow and share all the info that I’m taking in. Should be a great time of learning about systems and effective communication.
Always striving to get better (and Lord knows I’ve got a long way to go!)
Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) must have been very proud of Sergio Garcia yesterday. He confronted the brutal facts. After winning the TPC at Sawgrass, Sergio thanked Tiger Woods for not being there! He said it does make it easier with Tiger at home. I loved it. It’s true. Not many “professionals” would want to admit it, but its true.
This is an idea that if embraced could have great impact in many areas of life, business, and ministry. Confronting the facts of your current situation will help you make better choices and decisions. For World Causes we’ve looked at all our current human and financial capital and have seen what we can and cannot do right now. We want to do everything with excellence, which right now is Free Chains.
Check out his speech and think about areas where you need to confront the brutal facts.
I think I have a slightly better understanding of what happens when a non-Christian looks at a believer when they are clearly no living out what they say is a foundational belief for them. Be it love, patience, faithfulness, honesty, you name it. Any of the foundational truths that a Christian should not only profess, but live.
So, I go tonight to pick up some dinner for my wife and I. I need something quick, so I think where can I get something that is Hot’n Ready? Where can I walk in and walk out with dinner in just a few minutes? According to Little Caesar’s, you can get a pizza that is hot and ready for you. Well, after sitting for 15 minutes to get my pizza, I also watched the other 7 people waiting for their pizzas. I was thinking…this is why we come here over the other guys! This is what you’re supposed to be doing! This is what you’re known for…allegedly.
I wonder how me people have had the expectation of me and they sat there amazed because I didn’t live up to my key brand.
Mark Batterson talks about the importance of unlearning in his book, In a pit with a lion on a snowy day. Thinking Steps Not Programs is the practice that we have to unlearn some stuff, before we can effectively apply this practice.
Having a program is natural for those who grew up in church. You have a need, you build a program…its simple. But that is not necessarily the most effective way to achieve results. Here’s the difference.
A program is a system/project to meet a need.
A step is a series of actions taken to achieve a goal.
A program asks “what is the need?”
A step asks “where do we want people to be?’
The goal is to figure out where you want people, then create steps to get them there. You want to have teenagers have an intimate walk with Jesus, don’t just create a “youth program” create steps that will help get them there. There are numerous applications.
For World Causes, we want people to ultimately commit to being a part of the solution of the issues of poverty, injustice and epidemic disease. Commitment is the goal, and the steps to get them there are:
1. Raising awareness to the issue (this is one of our “wins”. To raise true awareness. To shorten the gap between our reality and their reality. Repeating a statistic is NOT awareness)
2. Getting people to respond to those needs.
3. Creating ways and possibilities to commit.
Commitment means altering lifestyles, changing behavior, changing character. Its big stuff. But that is where we want to take people and that is the only way that 2.5 million girls will be freed from sex trafficking, and 1.2 billion people can live on more than $1 a day. There are also distinct forms of commitment that we’ll be shooting for with different groups. Individuals, churches, business owners, students…commitment may look different for all the groups, so we’ll need steps for all different groups to get them there. Andy calls this “doing ministry with the end in mind.”
Chuck’s Breakpoint commentary today was very intriguing. He was talking about the effect that biofules like ethonol were having on food prices around the world. Consider this:
-In the United States, egg prices are up 35 percent; milk up 23 percent; and bread up 16. For most Americans, who on average spend 10 percent of their income on food, these increases squeeze our budgets.
-In countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, people can spend 70 percent of their income on food; so even modest increases in food prices can impair their ability to feed their families. And price increases for the staples they depend on have not been modest: Wheat prices have doubled and corn prices quadrupled in the last year
-It takes 510 pounds of corn to make 13 gallons of ethanol—that amount could “feed a child in Zambia or Mexico for a year,” while it fuels your car only for a week.
How does this affect your thinking on biofules? Do you think that our lifestyles directly affect those around the world? What does your worldview put first, people, economy, environment, or something else?
Clarify the Win means to figure out what is most important for your organization. This is what you are shooting for. At the end of the day (week, month, year, campaign) this is what you look at to determine if what you did mattered. It also helps you determine where you spend your time and your money. If something is not going to help you get to your win, then its an easy decision to make.
Just as important as clarifying the win, is celebrating the win. More to come on this…
How do we Clarify the Win?
For World Causes, a win happens when we: (1) Raise true awareness to the issues of Poverty, Injustice, or Epidemic Diseases. (2) Have creative and simple ways for people to respond to those needs. (3) Help people commit to being a part of the long term solution.
Those are some of the larger Wins for World Causes. We have specific wins like, “To find the best price for environmentally and socially conscious goods that we buy”, “to get 24 local churches to join the Free Chains Campaign during the first 12 months”
For each person, initiative, or project that we start, Clarifying the Win will be crucial. Before we invest time, money and other resources into something, we have to make sure that we know what we’re shooting for.
Another great lesson I learned today while reviewing this was the ability to use this principle with other relationships, especially the family. Clarifying the Win with my relationship with my wife helps me determine where I spend my time and money. A win for that relationship is when she feels loved. Flowers, a great investment. Cotton Candy, another great investment. Talking without my cell phone off…fantastic investment. Gold watch, poor decision. New tv…nope.
I’m re-reading through a fantastic book by Andy and North Point Ministries. World Causes is not a church, but there are so many great and practical applications in the book for where we are as a ministry and where I am as a leader. (both are young, small and need lots of prayer and support!)
I’m going through each chapter and trying to take out the material that I can implement for World Causes. There are also tons of great applications for individuals, families, etc. I’ll point out those as well.
If you are in ministry/leadership, I would highly recommend this book.
Greg is a social entrepreneur and founder of the non profit, World Causes. World Causes seeks to engage people in all sectors of society to fight the issues of Poverty, Injustice and Epidemic Diseases, by providing creative ways for involvement. Greg has led all the creative initiatives of World Causes, including the Free Chains campaign to end child sex trafficking. He is married to Betsey, a beautiful first grade teacher. They live in Greenville, SC.
Maybe it has been for a while and I’m just catching up. Either way, I’ve been paying more attention to it lately and realizing that branding is more than a logo or slogan. Branding is what people think of when they think of you, your product, your company, your church (yeah, your church is branded too), you ministry, even your family.
