Preparing to Launch (Part IV)

This week I will be sharing a number of strategic actions we plan on taking as a Launch Team as we prepare for our Opening Day - September 13th, 2009.

The fourth stage will be Building a Reputation Within Our Community. 

While branding a church may sound corporate and consumer-driven, it is really nothing less than communicating an eternal truth to a lost community. We believe that the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing. Our brand is the reputation our church has in its community. It's what the church does, who the church is at its core. The decision to intentionally brand our church is really the decision to take control of the way our church is perceived internally and in the community.

It is about making such a remarkable difference in our communities that we are unignorable. Our goal is to begin making such a big difference that we become a highly visible part of their community. Here is how we will get started:

• Everyone on our launch team will establish regular places (and days and times) where they will shop, eat out, fill their car with gas, get coffee, etc. We will be working on developing relationships with the employees at each of these places. We will train our people on ways to do this. We will all then invite the people we have met to our opening service.

• Serve downtown employees: We are going to look for ways to serve those who work in the businesses downtown. (For example: Donut Drop-offs. Everyone on our launch team will choose at least one business where they will drop off a box of donuts weekly. The box will have a card with info on our church).

• Neighborhood Block Parties: This will help us to develop relationships and make inviting our neighbors much easier.

• Serve neighborhoods and universities within our community. We will do a variety of service projects focused on the people who live within a three-mile radius.

• Advertising to three-mile radius: We will likely do some kind of advertising for our opening service to the homes that we have been serving. This may take the form of postcards or door-hangers.

• Create viral buzz: We will use MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and more to create an online and word-of-mouth buzz.

• Coffeehouse Offices: Rather than renting office space, we plan on each member of our team making one or two local coffeehouses their personal office. The hope is that by being a nearly constant presence, we will develop relationships with the employees and other regulars.