Auditing the Brand Identity of a Local Church

The leadership of a large Southern Baptist church outside Tampa asked Guardian for help in resuscitating their brand. While the church offered strong programs for children, a blend of worship styles, and community outreach events, decreasing attendance and a lack of new members indicated there was a problem. We immediately noticed that the building’s façade looked old and outdated—the exterior showed no indication of the transformation happening inside. The church’s aging facilities and longtime presence in the community rendered them forgettable, despite their prime location on a major thoroughfare. In addition, their brand was highly fragmented and disconnected from their core message. They needed to remind the community of their value and presence, so it was essential they present a consistent identity. We suggested a brand audit to determine what was working well and what areas of the church brand needed improvement.

We first wanted to identify how the church sees itself and how it wants to be perceived. We noticed there was a huge disparity in what the staff and congregants believed to be true about the church and what they wanted to be true. The desired reputation combined with what they were actually saying and doing created a perceived reputation. A brand personality exercise allowed the leadership to figure out how to move forward so they could start making organizational changes to ensure the church’s mission and promise were consistent across the board. A strategic plan for proactively imparting church information with the congregation and community was developed to help them better communicate their core message. Guardian also advised the church to develop a social media strategy to more intentionally share the story and brand.

Through this brand audit, we helped the church reposition itself as a robust, relevant church actively seeking to reach all generations.

Our second priority was to review the internal and external culture and procedures to see how the departments in the church relate to one another and to the community. The major ministries used different fonts and logos, which offered no visual connection to the church. We suggested core messaging and a naming structure to serve as the foundation for their external communications to reinforce their brand identity, helping the community more easily connect their efforts back to the church. Finally, Guardian counseled the church leadership to look for ways to refresh their facilities to reflect the new brand attributes and present an overall look and feel that was consistent.

Through this brand audit, we helped the church reposition itself as a robust, relevant church actively seeking to reach all generations. The new visual identity on the updated facilities will better represent the church’s core values and enable them to reach new members and their community.