Last time we looked at how most churches and ministries are probably not over-branding. People are forgetful and have lots of other things going on. To cultivate a brand that bears fruit, we have to cut through the noise repeatedly, with clarity and consistency. But how do we repeat ourselves without being annoying? The last thing you want to do is give people a negative feeling when they interact with your communications. The key to this is to say the same thing in different ways, over time. If your church has a tagline, or a "thread" like Mark MacDonald outlines in his book Be Known for Something, then you have your message - what to say. Now the trick is to repeat that message in different ways and in different places. Let’s say your tagline is “Alive To Christ.” First, you can put this tagline on your social media banner, website, and logo placeholder slide. These are semi-permanent places where new visitors and members will be introduced to that phrase. One Sunday a month, take 60 seconds of announcement time to explain what it means to be “Alive to Christ” and connect it to a ministry opportunity your church has in the upcoming month. If you livestream your worship services, you can even turn that clip into a social media post or a short reflection for community groups. Next you could design “A2C” mugs or a t-shirt that says “Dead to Sin” on the front and “Alive to Christ” on the back. These are just a few examples, but I think you get the idea. There a million different ways to say the same thing. Do you have a tagline or thread at your church? Reply here and let me know what yours is :)

After finishing a rebrand project, I used to caution clients against using their new logo on everything, warning them about the dangers of "brand fatigue." I've changed my perspective on this now. It feels counterintuitive, but your brand should be 99% repetition and 1% novelty. As a ministry leader, you'll get tired of hearing your core values long before your audience even remembers one of them. You'll be dreaming in only your brand colors before anyone even notices that there's an intentional palette. In fact, there was a study done to see how well regular people could recall major brand logos from memory. The results were pretty shocking. If regular people struggled to remember the TARGET logo, then your church probably doesn't have to worry about "over-branding." That said, there's a simple principle that can help you give your church more brand "touchpoints" without going overboard and getting on anyone's nerves. I’ll talk about that in the next one. See you there!

Hi, my name is Braden East. I've worked on creative teams doing brand and web design at both local and international ministries for nearly a decade. For a long time, I've wanted to start an email list for pastors and ministry leaders: the type of people I help in my work every day. In 2025, I'm finally doing it. I'm calling this email Tend Your Brand. The meaning behind it is simple: Your brand is like a vine (any biblical analogy enjoyers?). Without attention and care, it can grow out of control, interfere with other goals, or just die out completely. Too often, ministry leaders get one of those outcomes and give up. "It's just gimmicky marketing." "It's too much work." "It's not helping us." But your brand is not an invasive species. It’s also not a burden - at least it shouldn’t be. When you start seeing your brand as something to tend and cultivate, it starts bearing fruit. If something (your brand) could multiply your outreach efforts and give people a sense of belonging, why wouldn’t you focus on it? I believe the answer is that most ministry leaders just don’t have the right tools and strategy. This email is where I'll share those tools and strategies that can help you get your brand under control and turn it into something that bears much fruit. If that sounds interesting to you, click the subscribe button and I'll see you there! P.S. Because we’re all busy and have short attention spans, I’ll keep them under 1 minute read.