HOW DOES COPY AND VOICE IMPACT CHURCH BRANDING?
Remember, your branding is all about your vibe. It is the feeling that your brand evokes, but this feeling is not just created with colors, font type, and designs. It is also created with your voice.
When I talk about your voice, I’m talking about the language you use. Both in the written and the spoken word. Do you have a formal voice? Should you use slang and casual language? How do you use humor? These are all communication styles that help to create the way people perceive you. In order to be intentional with your branding, you should be intentional with your voicing.
Think of it this way. If there was a photo posted on Instagram by Charles Stanley’s church, and an identical image posted on the Instagram account of Andy Stanley’s church their captions would probably be very different. Each of these churches has its own style and vibe. They have different target audiences, different leadership styles, and very different brands. You could almost recognize the differences in their brands simply by their voices. This is another great example of how branding is not just visual, but so many other details must be taken into account.
Your voice should be intentional. Let’s look at Starbucks as an example and examine how they talk on their social media posts to create a specific vibe. With every post of a perfect latte, they use captions that are short, playful, and classy. This reinforces a brand experience with Starbucks that is both contemporary and sophisticated at the same time. An Instagram post in December shows a beautiful butterscotch latte sitting on a table that overlooks a blizzard outside. The caption simply says “Cozy as can be. #SmokedButterscotchLatte.” The caption is short and casual sounding, and the image conveys a sense of warmth and comfort. All of their posts convey these same fun yet classy vibes, which is what their customers start to sense about the brand as a whole. You need to think about your target audience, and speak in a way that is attractive to them.
Your communication style should even be specified in your brand guidelines book. As your church grows, you are going to have more and more people on your media team. If you don’t specifically define your voice, then every time a social post is written, or an email blast is sent out, it will all sound different. You need to define it and communicate it to your team. Even the titles of your message series or your events should take your branding voice into consideration.
If your church is targeting an older, more established demographic, then have your voice be elegant, traditional, and gentle. If your church is targeting college aged students, then your voice should be minimal, witty, and somewhat playfully sarcastic. For a church that targets young families, use a voice that is nurturing and gentle. If you target young professionals, use a more professional voice. Every demographic and audience has unique and subtle differences in how they communicate. Learn it, speak it, and adapt to it.
Decide how you talk, and make it intentional.
Pro Tip – Follow a lot of the companies, athletes, and musicians
that are popular with your target audience. Many of the ways that people communicate are taken from social media content published by influencers online. If you follow them and pay attention to their voice, you will start to naturally adapt.