The Importance of the Design Process for Church Marketing

When most people hear the term “design,” the words “graphic” or “web” are often added to the beginning, and the criteria for good design is often “does it look clean/edgy/cool/etc?” But design as a discipline encompasses a much broader perspective.

The goal of design in your church marketing efforts should focus on one objective: to effectively communicate.

A problem I’ve encountered with church marketing over the years, however, is the lack of planning many churches put towards a design project. Either it’s bland and uninformative or really cool looking, but equally uninformative

One of the areas in which church leaders can learn from Business World is in the implementation of a design process. Design processes come in a few different flavors, but these are the major points:

• Planning – what are the goals and objectives for the design (info on goals, objectives, strategy, and tactics)? what do we want people to do? how should they feel?
• Research – what are the design goals and objectives? what are the technical requirements (e.g. software programs) and talent requirements (e.g. a web design expert)? what’s the timeline?
• Concepting – based on the goals, objectives, and requirements, begin exploring creative concepts that fulfill the requirements and meet the goals (i.e. don’t just make things look pretty)
• Execution – print the cards, take the website live, mail the letter
• Evaluate – did the design achieve our goals?  how much did it cost? did it accurately portray our personality and mission?

Following a design process helps you and your staff spend your time more effectively and hopefully reduce wasted marketing dollars.