How Long Does a Church Rebrand ACTUALLY Take?

It can be hard to know if you should tease a church rebrand in advance. An all-at-once approach might seem cleaner and easier. However, if you really want a lot of buy-in from the congregation, there are real advantages to letting certain people get a little taste of the rebrand before it officially launches. I recently worked with Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, KY on a total rebrand. Here’s what worship pastor Will said about their strategy (shared with permission): Before I did the big roll-out to the whole church, I did a presentation for our staff and our deacons. This allowed me to practice my spiel, but it also let two influential groups of leaders give their immediate feedback. It also created some helpful buzz, as those leaders could tell their friends that they had seen the new branding and liked it. That helpful buzz was really important. For Walnut Street, teasing or “pre-launching” their new brand was a great way to build momentum leading up to the official launch. Where else would you apply this idea of creating buzz?

As the ways to communicate online and with technology expands, so does the number of places your logo and colors need to be kept up to date. Your logo has to be replicated across every platform on dozens if not hundreds of profile pictures and thumbnails. And you’re probably using more online services than you think. In fact, the only thing holding some churches back from rebranding is the simple logistical costs of transitioning. That’s why it’s more important than ever to have a timeless visual brand. For every additional year your branding stays relevant, you’re saving ministry dollars on the costs of a rebrand. Conversely, a DIY or cheap logo that’s fresh but doesn’t stand the test of time is costing you money in the long run.

Where I live in Oklahoma is not too far away from Drummond Ranch. The Drummonds are a wealthy family with 433,000 acres of land in Osage County. I own 37 acres, which feels like too much some days. The Drummonds own more than 10,000 times more than that. It’s been said that at one point in the 1960’s they had an operation with 200,000 head of cattle. Those numbers are mind-blowing. If you’re a cattle rancher with 200,000 head, you can bet that branding (literal branding) is on your mind. Now let’s say you wanted to “rebrand” your ranch (I might be having too much fun with the wordplay). Even a tiny change would be massively costly. A ranch of that size would ruin its recognition (and finances) by rebranding every 5 years or even 10 years. If you truly needed to change your brand, there’s only one responsible thing to do: Spend the extra time and money to future-proof the rebrand. Upgrading your branding to something more timeless is a financially savvy move in the long run. Get a brand without an expiration date, and tending it will become easier.

If there’s a disconnect between your vision and your church visuals, you might have considered a rebrand at some point. There are different ways to approach a church rebrand, but there are two old ways of doing it that can be anywhere from “just ok” to a total disaster. The Bootstrapped Brand This seems like the intuitive way for a lot of churches. Here’s how this approach normally looks: Have a member design your logo Find a font that “looks nice” Rebrand again in 2 or 3 years when you outgrow it You don’t feel like investing much time and resources into the rebrand, so you rely on a home-grown approach instead. Here’s the problem: without a professional designer, what these churches get is probably not the best quality, and probably won’t last as long as they want it to. The Secular Agency This second way seems like it solves the problems inherent in the bootstrapped rebrand. Here’s what it often looks like: Go online and find a designer who does corporate branding Endure 6 months or more of revisions and tweaking End up looking, well… corporate… This approach invests time and money into the rebrand, recognizing that a DIY identity is probably not what you want. The problem with hiring a secular agency, is that they are probably not specialists in branding for churches. They may not understand the unique two audience dynamic of a church brand, and they probably don’t have as much practice capturing a distinctly Christian aesthetic. The Better Way Maybe I’m biased, but there’s a better, more effective, and less stressful way to rebrand your church. I truly believe it’s critical to have a dedicated, professional designer who understands and specializes in churches. You shouldn’t have to pick between an expensive, year-long process of a secular agency or the uncertainty of doing it yourself. I do just that, but don’t take my word for it. Look at the portfolio of churches I’ve helped.