Before you design your next church marketing piece, ask yourself these 3 questions

Striking images can evoke emotion and create a lasting impression in the viewer’s mind, so what role do images play in church marketing collateral? It’s very easy to hop on iStock and grab some nice looking images, but I think the urgency of our message calls for a more intentional approach. To move us all in that direction, I pose these questions:

Why did you pick that picture?

Is it because it looks like other church direct mailers or brochures you’ve seen? Maybe you just like the colors or the way the people look. It could be a utilitarian choice based on the amount of copy space.

Aside from these possible reasons, choice of images, like everything in the design process, should emerge from your overall church marketing goals and square with a church marketing framework.  Each image you use should be chosen for a specific reason and purpose, which leads to my next question:

What do you want your images to say?

Images can stir emotion, positive or negative, and therefore set expectations for the viewer about our church or event. If you use stock images of a foggy concert with cool lighting, but your event actually features 4 high-schoolers on a makeshift stage in your gym, it’s safe to say you’re creating false expectations.

This point aligns very much with the AEE Benchmark of Authenticity. You’re images should fit within your overall strategy, but they should also be real, whatever that means for you and your community. Too often church marketers portray who they want to be rather than who they are.  It’s time to change.

How do those outside your circle understand your images?

This last question relates to the way the intended audience perceives the messages your images send.  How do they decode what you’re trying to get across?

This is difficult to answer, both for church marketers and marketers from Business World, because it asks us to remove our own interpretative frameworks and view our efforts without bias. While completely removing our own bias in any situation is impossible, it helps to to try as hard as possible.

For example, what does that composite of young, good-looking, smiling families mean to church outsiders? What about the closeup of hands holding a sapling? And what is it about over saturated skies and really green grass? Just sayin’.

These visual metaphors are very popular in church circles, but do they carry the same meaning to those who aren’t in-the-know?

A confession

In the interest of disclosure, I must admit that I’ve been guilty of all the things I’ve criticized here. I’m pointing the finger at all of us, not all of ya’ll (that’s right; I’m from the South).

So let’s take a step in the intentional direction. Church leaders: you’re responsible for setting the tone of any church marketing your ministry carries out, so it’s up to you to set the tone.