The Importance of Culture

You may have noticed a few years ago that brands got some personality. Wordpress greets you with a hearty “Howdy” instead of a staid “hello.” All of a sudden, marketing newsletters greet you like your best friend.

In recent years, there’s a growing trend in marketing to humanize your brand. Businesses are trying to “Alexify” their brand voice. Sure, you could ask Google, but Alexa has so much more panache! Plus she can sing…

As you think about how to “market” your church to the world, take a look at how you sound to your first-time visitors. Look at your website. Does the copy read like it was written by a person or by a robot? Is it inspiring or informative? This is where culture comes in.

As Christians, we have a collective culture in Christ. We have shared values, such as service, humility, selflessness, generosity and joy. We have shared actions, such as discipleship, feeding the hungry, funding the missionary and telling others about Jesus. But each church feels a little different, right?

Beyond the obvious differences between Baptists and Pentecostals (yes, we’ve seen the memes…) each church has a culture which is constantly created by the pastor and his lead staff. It trickles down to the congregation and invites (or repels) visitors.

Unfortunately, we have all encountered churches with less-than-stellar cultures. We have also encountered warm, welcoming churches. Most churches are aiming to be the latter.

How to create culture is another subject for another day, however, one thing is certain: Your church has a culture. People should encounter your culture as they visit your website and start learning about your church. If you are a welcoming, fun-loving church, but the information on your Facebook page sounds like it was written by Siri, they won’t know that.

At Share, we have marketing and branding freelancers who can help you clarify your church’s voice and communicate the flavor of your church to the outside world. We have graphic designers, video editors and social media managers to help you get the word out once you have your brand voice. Terms like “brand voice” and “marketing” may not sound very churchy, but they make a world of difference.

‍