I have heard this saying for many years. Probably the best analogy to describe when you have things out of logical sequence. I love technology and communication. I love to tell the story through any means but I particularly like digital formats. “What is it I love the tell? Oh yeah, the story. Right. I got keep that in the fore front. I could really tell a good story if my website had a flash component with blue hues. Yeah, blue hues are me. Lets find a good blue design and a catchy URL. Alright, got it. OK now lets design the page and launch it. There, now I like the look of that. Can you imagine the impact I will have with this site. Oh yeah, forgot to actually finish the story. What exactly was the story again? Maybe I could write the story so it fits with the design of this site. Wow this is harder than I thought.” Remember the story it self is the key. If you don’t have the story you need not go any further. The story is your message. The message should drive the tactics…not the other way around. Next time you have a story to tell or a message to get out, perfect the content and then start the tactical planning.
Ministry at any level requires strategy and planning. Many of us voice frustration with all the meetings we are required to attend. From my perspective, there would be a lot less meetings if the list of invitees was better thought out. Many meetings take place impromptu and there is really nothing that can be done about these. I’m talking about the planned strategy meetings. The ones where the highest leadership is involved. The plan? Get in a room and brainstorm the best ideas. Why wouldn’t it work? You’ve probably got the most experienced team of people in the room. What is missing? Quite often the doers are missing. The marketing people, the design people, the web people, the video producers…the people who have to facilitate the good idea and help it get traction. They are ones who can advise of certain pitfalls and bumps in the road if you go a certain direction. Believe me, you are not hiding from the reality of pitfalls by not inviting the doers. Those pitfalls just surface way later than necessary and then another meeting is needed to address these issues.
My advice? Start by thinking about the doers that need to be at the table. I can almost guarantee you will have less meetings and the programs will come to fruition much sooner with the right people at the table.
I have posted blogs in the past regarding branding and marketing as it pertains to the church. Some of my thoughts have been well received and others have been very put off by my thoughts. When you get negative feedback about a position you take I think it is natural to re-evaluate that stance. I can honestly say that I am very comfortable with my position. Keeping and protecting the the brand that is the Church of the Nazarene is extremely important. What people think when they hear Church of the Nazarene is what I am talking about. I am not implying that we should advertise with the intent of selling faith in Christ. If you think that, you are completely missing my point. I think we have to look around us and make sure that we are contextualized in a manner that communicates well with our environment. Think of Missionaries that learn a new language so they can reach a certain people group for Christ. In some ways we are reaching out to another people group…the group that has not accepted Christ as their personal savior. Why would we want to disregard the way we communicate to this group? I believe that someone who says that marketing and branding has no place in the church is basically saying we should not care how our message is perceived. Now, just to be clear. If anyone thinks that we need to change the message itself…then I have a major problem with that. Communicating the SAME message but in a contextually relevant way is what I am talking about. Any thoughts?
P.S. So help me, if anyone brings up the need for a new logo in this discussion…well lets put it this way. Go read a beginners guide for marketing and branding. Also, don’t freak out about the cartoon. I in no way think that we have a history of dismal results. Its just a fun cartoon that kind of applies here…kind of. 
Its been awhile since I posted a blog. Mostly because I am too picky about topics and what I should write about. I feel strongly that I have to offer something in what I write. Hopefully you can take something away from reading my posts. Today I have been beating myself up for not posting more blogs. I think I figured out that I have to be in the mood. What gets you in the mood. For me it is music. Last week I read a post on the blog titled Finding Faith. As I read the incredible testimony of God’s grace and forgiveness I was listening to my iTunes library and the song “Grace like Rain” by Todd Agnew was playing. What a great background track for the blog I was reading. The combination of the two really blessed me. However, we are now a week later I am just now getting around to posting a new blog. I need to get past the self perceived legitimacy of my posts and just blog my mood and feelings. I guess in the back of my mind I didn’t want to post unless I felt it would impact someone and they would tell someone and they would tell…you get the idea…and soon I would have a huge following reading my blog. If you blog just to attract a crowd you will not have a good blog that conveys you and your feelings…exactly the things that make your blog readable and enjoyable in the first place.
So fellow bloggers, lets make a pact: repeat after me, “Before or during blogging we will crank up the iTunes, eat our favorite ice cream, pop bubble wrap, or whatever activity puts us in the mood to write from the heart and share our thoughts regardless of how many people will read it.” We may be surprised at how many readers find our blogs entertaining and helpful.
When you develop a message to communicate, how do you prepare it for dissemination? Do you write like the expert you are…someone who knows the message so well that you have a hard time communicating it? Do you package it in a manner that is convenient for you but overwhelming to your audience? I had a Statistics professor in college that knew statistics so well that he could not teach it well. Half the class had a D or an F. Sometimes we need to step back and prepare the message according to how it will be received by our constituents. I read a blog post on Phil Cooke’s blog that had some great insight on this. You can check it out here: http://philcooke.com/your_message_is_not_working.
Some web sites are free to develop and host. Some cost a good amount of money to develop and host. All sites have a cost of some sort though. Even the free sites demand someone’s time…maybe yours. So, how do we measure the return on investment (ROI) on websites?
Current statistics show that there are approximately 110 million websites. There are 6.7 billion people living on this planet, but not all of them are able to access the web. In reality there are approximately 1.4 billion people on earth that realistically can access the Internet. This figures out to be about 13 people per site.
What should we do with this information? It seems kind of meager to me. I don’t want to think about all the work I do being for only 13 people. But what if those 13 people took ownership of the site and content because they could contribute and interact? How far would they go to tell their friends and acquaintances? How often would they place links to the site from their own site or blog?
ROI is hard to measure when dealing with the web. A financial ROI is fairly simple. You invest funds and you get a return…sometimes positive and sometimes not so positive. On the web we may need to measure ROI on how interactive our sites are. If you offer web 2.0 applications like blogs, forums, etc., is it safe to say that you are getting a good ROI? What else should be considered?
In this digital age many peices of mail and media can be distributed via the web. My office has given direction to the creation of the Nazarene MediaLibrary (http://nazarenemedialibrary.org). This tool can distribute most anything digital (documents, PDFs, Videos, Images,Graphics, audio, etc). Many offices I work with at the GMC (Global Ministry Center) are looking to diseminate mail packets and videos via this online resource rather than mail hardcopy paper and media. If you think about it, this can save a fairly significant cost in packaging and mailing not to mention the printing costs of the actual item if it is paper or duplication of media (ex. DVDs or CDs) if the content requires this delivery method. We at the GMC are getting excited to start implementing this tool for delivering content. My only question is how it will be received by our constituents. For the most part we have received nothing but high praise for this tool (currently we have a little over 1500 users). Many have found it easy to use and love the 24-7 access to these resources. I still wonder how many people will still require us to mail hardcopy items. I am sure there will be some and I think it is our responsibiity to help those that find the MediaLibrary a poor option for them. Regardless, we should realize some true savings in mailing costs even if we still need to mail a limited number in hardcopy. How do you see this type of tool being accepted? Only time will tell for sure but I would be interested in other thoughts on such a radical switch.
A web–log or “blog”, according to Pyra Labs Blogger is: “A web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically––like a what’s new page or a journal.” OK…cool. Now what do I do with it? Where’s the value? Why spend the time?
Blogs can be personal in nature…consisting of diaries, opinions on anything and links to interesting content on the web. These are fun and a great creative outlet for some people. A blog can also be corporate in nature as a tool for communicating with customers and employees as knowledge and expertise are shared.
In the church there are real advantages to blogs, especially for leaders and pastors. Through this web tool you can share the church’s mission, share expertise on ministry practices, build additional traffic to your website, and facilitate connections between likeminded colleagues.
Just having a blog is not enough. You need a plan so it is not pointless. You need a focus and strategy to really nurture a blog into an indispensable communication tool. Rambling or “incessant barking” (see cartoon above) is of no value. Blogging takes work and dedication. However, your church or ministry can realize some true marketplace recognition through a blog. Who knows who might find your blog through a search engine like Google? You could begin impacting and ministering far beyond the walls of your office through a tool like this. Two-way communication is an expectation on the web. You can send out a newsletter either by hard copy or electronically, but if you don’t allow for continued dialogue on the topic(s) you hinder the value.
Through a blog you can open up a dialogue that can allow you to mentor someone(s) or allow you to learn from others in your field. ALWAYS allow for comments on your blog posts whether you decide to approve them first or let them be placed directly on the site immediately. Stifling communication is the kiss of death for interactive media like a blog site.
In the Church of the Nazarene our Mission is To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations. There are few tools in the world that can allow us to nurture that mission directly from our offices like a blog can. I’d say that alone impresses value in a blog.
Being part of a global denomination is a wonderful experience but also presents several challenges…like actually being global in all we do. In many cases we have said we are a global church but have not responded as such. One area that has taken on a very USA/Canada feel is our denominational website. Without any intent of developing the site in this manner we have created a website that has very few resources in other languages. Some areas of our site have done a pretty good job but overall we have failed in this area. At the heart of the issue seems to have been finances. Getting content translated is expensive and there have not been sufficient funds available to do it correctly.
Recently we have been researching the Google translator. While we understand that this will not be 100% accurate we feel that utilizing it on some parts of our site will allow the user to possibly get the idea of the content we have posted. This is a little scary for some of us. How will this be seen by our constituents? Will they see this as an easy way out or as an attempt to close the gap we inadvertently created. We sure hope it is seen as a good gesture and a good stop gap measure until we can implement a plan to have professionals translate all of our content. Being a global church is much easier said than done…especially when you say it in English and a good percentage of your brothers and sisters in Christ don’t understand you.
In many ways I am a control freak. I don’t think that most people see this side of me. I try to suppress it as much as possible. I really think the reason I don’t like roller coasters is because I am not driving, therefore not in control. I have been doing some reading that is challenging me to address this tendancy. One book is Joseph Jaffe’s “Join the Conversation”. As more and more people (consumers) use the internet and become more and more technically savvy they are becoming prosumers. Most of them capable of producing media and content that simply was not possible a few years ago. Prosumers are not satisfied to have content pushed their direction with no mechanism for them to interact with that content. Its a two way street now days. This presents issues for inner control freaks like myself. These prosumers can say and show anything online. What if it doesn’t mesh with my thinking? What if I vehemently disagree with what they post? They could even post something that conflicts with the theology I subscribe to.
Where do we…or do we draw a line? Maybe we all need to join the online conversation. It may not always be the most pleasant experience but it can definitely help us all stay in dialogue and maybe even build bridges from one generation to another.
