Going Deeper on Event Branding

event timing marketing
Braden East

Having visuals and event graphics is great, but not just because those things make it easier to do promotion.

The ultimate goal of an event brand is to make the experience “sticky” and memorable.

To maximize that memorability, you’ll want to approach different types of events differently. There are tons of ways to categorize church events, but the one that matters for design and branding is timing.

That said, here are the three different types of events (by timing) and how you can approach branding for each.

Series

Ongoing regular events in the life of your church that happen with a faster cadence (e.g. monthly or quarterly).

For these, a new set of visuals for every event would almost definitely be overkill. However, there’s an opportunity for creativity.

Instead of branding each event, consider giving the series a brand that persists throughout the year.

If you need some variation to distinguish these regular events from one another, change something minor like a background color or a photo for each occurrence, keeping the design the same.

Annual

Annual events offer more flexibility and room to experiment with the unique event visuals.

A lot of churches will approach annual events with an entirely new set of visuals each year, which is totally fine!

As long as certain things about the event are consistent year to year, it can even become a beloved part of your church’s overall brand.

Here’s what should stay the same for that to work:

You can also choose to treat Annual events in a similar way to Series events, keeping the core visuals the same and making minor tweaks.

One-Off

Do whatever feels right! One-Off events are an opportunity to go wild, but they’re also a chance to rely on the branding you use for everything else.

If it’s an event you might eventually turn into a regular thing, then consider designing something simple to make it easier for people to remember.

The goal of all event branding is to be memorable. If you don’t remember an event, it probably didn’t have an impact.


Related to “event”
Try This Branding Approach for Your Next Church Event
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Something I’ve only mentioned briefly in this newsletter thus far has been AI. It seems like that’s all anyone talks about these days, so I’ve tried to steer clear, lest I add to the noise. That said, there are some things that AI is extremely good at, one of those being communication strategy. I’m convinced that if you’re not using them, you’re handicapping yourself and your ministry. AI tools are not going away, in fact they’re getting more powerful and more accessible (aka FREE) all the time. So, let’s put it to the test with an upcoming event in your church. This could be an outreach event, a members-only potluck, or a community worship night - the sky is the limit! Tell ChatGPT something like: “You’re an experienced marketer and event promoter with a specialization in working with churches. When I give you information about my church’s upcoming event, I want you to help me come up with an event name, a tagline or short memorable description, and a promotion strategy that one person could reasonably execute. Start by asking for event details and things specific to my church like brand tone of voice.” I’m continually blow away at how effective ChatGPT is at brainstorming. Whether you’re a church of 100 or 1000, AI is an indispensable tool for planning, naming, and developing messaging around events or campaigns. Try using this prompt for your next event and see what happens!
So You’re Having an Event: Does it Need its Own Branding?
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Does your church ever put on conferences, take the youth to summer camp, or organize community gatherings? Churches who do this at a high level use communication strategies to make these events well-attended, memorable, and impactful. One of those strategies is to give the event its own visuals, but when is this the right call? I could give you a decision-making tree and a process to decide, but I figured a list of pros and cons would do just fine. This way you can go through the list and decide for yourself if each item applies to your situation. With that, here are the pros and cons of creating unique branding for your church event: Pros: Gives the event a distinct identity – Makes it feel special rather than just another church activity. Can boost engagement and attendance – A fresh look can generate curiosity and excitement. Helps with marketing and promotions – Unique branding makes it easier to design flyers, social media posts, and announcements that grab attention. Allows creative storytelling – You can tailor the visuals to match the event’s theme, making it more immersive and impactful. Can attract new people – A well-branded event may appeal to those outside your congregation who wouldn’t normally attend. Cons: Takes extra time and effort – Creating custom visuals means more planning and design work. Can dilute your main church brand – If done too often, people might associate more with the event than with the church itself. Inconsistent quality risks – If branding isn’t done well, it could look unprofessional or weaken the event’s perceived value. Might not always be necessary – Some events function just fine under the church’s existing branding, and adding unique visuals could be overkill. Pro tip Using your main church logo in a subtle, tasteful way on event graphics associates the event with your church. Making a connection to your parent brand is a way to remind attendees of the mission driving you to put the event on in the first place.
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What I Learned About Branding from Oak Trees and My Libertarian Uncle
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Many of us - perhaps all of us - have “that” libertarian uncle. Mine lives in a tiny off grid house he built himself in the woods. Sometimes I think he might be smarter than all of us. Last week was a rare occasion I got to see this uncle, and he told me something I had never heard in my life about how trees grow. Not all trees, but many species we have here in North America, grow very slowly during the first phase of their life - just a few inches per year. Then later in life, the tree will shoot up at a rate of two feet or more per year. That’s only half of the story though. What you don’t see during those early years is the root system spreading far, deep, and wide. Only after establishing its root system and being presented with the right conditions will the tree begin to grow rapidly. Tending your brand is a lot like this. Building a brand is slow work, that takes steady effort over months and years. There are very few obvious indicators of progress in the early stages, and it can feel like you’re not getting anywhere. This is when most people turn to a quick, copy-and-paste logo redesign or a new initiative to get people excited. My encouragement to you is to keep up the intentional branding, invest the time and money, and wait patiently to see it bear fruit in due season.
Starting in A New Role at Church? Don’t Neglect This
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Whether you’re beginning to pastor at a new church, or graduating to a leadership role with more authority, you can expect a laundry list of things to take care of. Progress is slow-moving and happens in tiny increments, one battle at a time. Planning can turn into a battle itself, with unknowns and budget pressures building up as the weeks on the calendar roll along by. There are things you know you need to do, but you don’t have a clear path yet, so they linger in the back of your mind, popping up to the surface every so often to cause some anxiety before getting pushed back down by more immediate concerns. A rebrand is one of those things for a lot of pastors, which causes lurking, accumulating stress even a year out. Because I’ve walked through many a church rebrand, I offer consultations with pastors who are seeing a church rebrand on the horizon but aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger. It helps them feel prepared and ready so they can focus on other things until the moment is right. If that sounds like you, I’d be happy to chat - even if you’re still a ways out and aren’t ready to make a decision. Talking to a seasoned expert and solidifying a basic strategy can make all that anxiety go away. In fact, for many church leaders, the stress gets replaced by excitement. The big rebrand or new website goes from being a fog of uncertainty to being a light at the end of the tunnel. If you want that kind of clarity, you can book a consultation straight from my calendar, and we’ll build a plan for getting you to a stress-free, successful rebrand that lasts for decades.
How to Solve Late Creative Projects Forever In Your Church
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Years ago when I first started freelancing, I was clueless about project management. If you asked me then how I made sure a project got done before the deadline, I would have said “Deadline? I didn’t think to ask!” Around the time I started running brand identity projects for churches, I realized my laissez faire approach wasn’t doing me any favors. So, I started working on systems and processes that would help creative projects run smoother and finish faster. At this point I’ve spent hundreds of hours on those systems and processes, and it’s been worth every second. Creating those project systems and processes, I didn’t have to start from scratch. I borrowed the best tricks from the organizations I’ve worked for, whose project management teams were coordinating 200+ projects per year and spending millions of dollars printing and publishing content. During my 8 years as a designer and art director, I’ve developed a razor sharp sense for creative project timelines and logistics. So, here’s my advice: Get someone with creative project experience on retainer (I offer one that’s geared especially for churches), or invest in a project management tool like Notion or ClickUp. Help your church creative projects look like a well-oiled machine, rather than an oil spill.
Creative Projects Always Behind Schedule? Try This.
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Let’s face it, keeping church creative projects on track is hard. Any of these sound familiar…? Event materials aren’t ready by the time registration opens. Sending another late Easter billboard design to the billboard company. Putting projects on next year’s budget because you know it won’t get done this year. It’s easy to get desensitized to delays, unmet deadlines… these problems just become a part of life. But the place they lead to is deadly for church leaders. That place is uncertainty. How can you set 1 year, 2 year, and 5 year goals if you don’t know how long each goal will take? Now, I’m not saying that you can absolute certainty about how long every new website change or signage update will take.. lots of factors contribute. But, most pastors don’t even have a ballpark idea of how long something like that should take. Imagine the difference it would make to be able to know when all your big creative projects will wrap up, even if you’re off by a couple of weeks every now and then. Rather than juggling deadlines and spec sheets with vendors and feeling out of your depth taking to volunteer designers, you could be spending quality time with your family, studying your sermon prep for Sunday, or reflecting on longer term goals. I’ll write more about creative project management for churches in the future, so stay tuned if you’re interested in that!
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Only Churches Struggle With This: The Dual Audience Dilemma
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As I’ve continued to go deeper into the branding and design industry, I’ve encountered something that is probably not just a hang-up for me, but for a lot of pastors and churches. If you do any research on marketing and branding, you’ll very quickly find lots of resources that are very focused on businesses. For example: “Speak to your ideal customer.” “Drive revenue with these marketing tips” “Create a story that makes customers keep coming back” The customer-centric, profit-driven approach can absolutely work for businesses, but for me, I’ve never felt like it applied well to the church. On one hand, you’re leading a congregation of believers who need to feel united around your vision. They need clarity, language, and visual cues that reinforce who you are as a church and where you’re going. When done well, branding can give your people something to rally around—a shared identity that goes deeper than a logo and helps every member see their role in the mission. But unlike a business, you’re not just trying to “sell” something to a customer. You’re also extending an open invitation to your community. These people are skeptics, seekers, and those who may not understand what your church is really about. For them, branding becomes a bridge. It’s the first impression that points them to Jesus Christ and communicates: This is a place for you. It signals your heart, your values, and the kind of welcome they can expect before they ever set foot inside. Where most churches struggle is trying to speak to both groups at the same time without a clear strategy. The result is confusion, inconsistency, and branding that unintentionally speaks more to insiders than outsiders… or vice versa. The approach I’ve developed in response to this problem is to make Christ the cornerstone of your brand. This seems obvious, but it’s truly countercultural when you compare it to how most agencies and designers work. I believe that a kingdom-first, vision-driven brand matters. It helps you communicate so your congregation is aligned and your community is invited, without compromise on either front.
Copycat Branding: Is it Ever Okay?
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Advertisers are always looking for a way to get you to buy a product. To do that, sometimes they’ll parody or copy each other to make their message more memorable. It’s amazing how well this strategy works, but does it have a place in church branding? No. Copying another church’s messaging, branding, or marketing might look nice. It might even get more traction at first. In the long run, this approach is deadly. The first reason is that you could open yourself up to legal action. Many churches trademark their branding, which means you can easily break the law if you’re directly copying their image. Even if you don’t get sued, there’s a second and even worse outcome. Many people already think of churches (especially in heavily churched areas) like desperate credit card companies: always offering new incentives for people to switch churches. I’ve heard it called “sheep stealing,” “member trading,” and “transfer growth.” While it’s not always the intention of the leaders at one church to steal sheep, it would be wrong to encourage “church hopping” for such superficial reasons as slick branding. The solution Build your church brand around your unique story and vision. It’s that simple. But wait, is it ever okay to copy? Where is the line between taking inspiration and being a copycat? That’s what I’ll cover tomorrow.
When to Use a Local Print Shop Instead of VistaPrint
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Every church does some printing in house, but who do you pick for professional printing services? I’m a big proponent of using a local vendor, but not just for the typical “shop local” reasons. This will save your church time and money and give you better results. So, here are my top three reasons to choose a local vendor: 1. The Value of Physical Proofs In my years as a graphic designer and art director, the importance of getting a physical printed proof from a vendor has become more and more apparent to me. If you’re printing anything with brand colors or photography, you have a lot riding on color accuracy. Here are the cases I recommend asking for a printed proof (sometimes called a “match print”): Prominent interior displays Something you’re printing a lot of Semi-permanent banners or signs 2. Access to Experience If someone is running a successful print shop, you can bet they have technical knowledge of how to get their customers the best results. What type of paper to print your bulletin on, how to set up your artwork for a vinyl banner, or which bumper stickers are the easiest to apply? Most local print shops will be more than happy to answer your questions, if you just ask! 3. Cost Savings VistaPrint and other online print services may be easy to use, but they charge a premium price for that convenience. Between shipping costs and upcharges for every add-on, they’re often the more expensive option for churches looking to print materials on a budget. These are just three of the reasons I recommend churches use a local print shop whenever possible. If those weren’t enough, other reasons include investing in your community, getting consistent quality, maintaining a relationship with a local business, and having someone who can help if a print job goes wrong.
“You’re Just Marketing Jesus”
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I recently heard a pastor make the statement, “the Gospel doesn’t need marketing and branding.” It’s a legitimate criticism. Are churches who spend time, money, and effort on their branding just trying to “market Jesus?” Here’s my response: Some are to be sure… but most are not. Christ-centered branding is about reflecting God’s character, creativity, and what he is already doing in your local church body. It’s easy to see how this is different from just trying to be winsome, seeker-sensitive, and trendy. In fact, I’m staunchly against “winsomeness” as it’s been defined by evangelical leaders in the last 10 years. Their idea of winsomeness smuggles in self-censorship and compromise. I’m also against churches trying to make Christianity seem cool and trendy by mimicking our rebellious secular culture. Christ-centered church branding doesn’t reduce or dilute the gospel message, it makes visible the unique identity of each local church. It doesn’t copy from the world, it argues that beautiful visuals and communication strategies actually belong to Christ. God is a designer, after all!
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