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YAALASHTOTIIYOU

YAALASHTOTIIYOU = Your acronyms are like a secret handshake that only the insiders in your organization understand.

I was driving behind a minivan heading to the mall today and I saw a vehicle with an “NCC” sticker on the back. It was the only sticker on the back of the minivan, so it grabbed my attention. In that respect, the marketing worked. The only problem is that I have no idea what NCC stands for. I’m guessing it’s “Northland Chiropractic Center.” Or maybe it’s “New Covenant Church.” Or maybe its “Norfolk Community College.”

Acronyms make sense to everyone inside your organization. In fact, it’s just easier to say “NCC” rather than “Northland Chiropractic Center.” The problem is everyone outside your organization has no idea what the initials stand for.

Some organizations incorporate their initials into their logo. If that’s you, you’ll just need to remember to always include the name of your organization everywhere you use your logo. We can Google the name of your organization and find you. It’s not going to do us any good to Google your initials.

It’s just a great reminder that we need to be careful that we’re not using insider language when we’re trying to communicate with people outside our organizations.

By the way, if someone doesn’t agree with this advice, just tell them that APM said it was so.

Announcing Our New Communications Dude

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A couple of months ago, I posted something on Twitter indicating we were looking for a communications director at West Ridge. We had several great candidates respond. I’m excited to announce that Phil Bowdle will be joining our team in a few weeks. Phil is coming from Montgomery, Alabama where he was on staff at Frazer United Methodist Church, one of the largest United Methodist churches in the country.

Phil will be serving in our creative arts area where he’ll be building teams to help with communications including writing, graphics, media and web. If you attend West Ridge and have real life experience in one of those areas, let us know. We have volunteer opportunities for well-trained folks who are ready to help us with our web and marketing strategies.

By the way, John and his team are helping us put the finishing touches on the new WestRidge.com. Get ready for fresh web goodness.

In the mean time, head on over to Twitter and say hello to Phil.

Will Social Media Impact Delayed Messages?

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As more and more churches embrace multi-site, one of the first issues that ministries have to wrestle with is whether to invest in technology to deliver messages live or to consider the cheaper (and sometimes more reliable) option of just using a DVD of the message. For those churches that choose the latter and don’t have a Saturday evening service for recording the message, that often means they’re operating on a week-delay at their remote campuses.

Before folks began to embrace social media, the option of week-delay was very viable. In fact, in many respects it could be preferable because you have much more flexibility with the timing of the services and the length of the service elements leading up to the message.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you view it), social media changes the game. Now folks are sharing thoughts and reactions about their experiences as the services are taking place. People are using Facebook and Twitter to let their friends know what’s happening as the service unfolds. Then it’s not uncommon for someone, possibly even the teaching pastor, to summarize the highlights of the service including the message. That potentially creates a challenge for campuses who won’t be viewing that message for another week.

Ironically, the television networks are wrestling with this same issue. In years past, events like award shows were delayed on the west coast to make sure the programming took place in prime time. With the increase in social media, though, folks on the west coast were seeing the results before the programs were televised. As a result, viewers declined. Christina Warren, a blogger for Mashable, recently wrote:

Social media has only made the need for live programming even more clear. In the old days, web forums or IM chats or liveblogs could give people the play-by-play, but people had to know where to look. Now, live events immediately take over Twitter and Facebook streams. If you don’t want the surprise to be spoiled, you pretty much have to stay off any social network during the live telecast.

So the question is will this same dynamic impact churches? Will the increasing use of social media make week-delayed messages a thing of the past? For those of you who are engaged in multi-site and multi-service settings, have you noticed any negative reaction?

Platform

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There are no shortcuts to having a platform. You have to earn it.

No one owes you a platform.

Sometimes someone who is trusted can help you get a moment on the platform, but you still have to deliver to keep it.

The harder you try to have a platform, the harder it is to get it.

If you do what you’re designed to do and you are faithful to stick with it over time, there’s a good chance you’ll have a platform.

Not all platforms are created equal, but all have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of others.

Relationships are the foundation of a platform. If you can’t build relationships, you can’t have a platform.

The person who yells the loudest doesn’t necessarily get the platform.

If you never stop and listen, you probably won’t get the platform either.

If it’s just about you, you don’t have a platform.

You’ll lose your platform if you don’t continue to use it for positive change. You have to move people to a better place.

You’re more likely to leverage your platform if you tell stories that engage both the head and the heart.

You’re more likely to keep your platform if you ask questions.

If people can’t have access to you and your daily life, your platform is probably shrinking whether you know it or not.

Platforms are established over time and lost in an instant.

Lots of people want a platform, but very few are gifted to have a platform and even fewer are humble enough to keep it.

Why I Have a Boring Blog

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I read this verse again several days ago. Maybe you’re familiar with it.

“Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.” (James 4:11, NLT)

It’s because of teaching from God’s Word in verses like this and others that I believe using my blog or Twitter feed to be critical of specific individuals or ministries is sin. You may disagree, but that’s why you never see me talk negatively about people or churches. That’s also why I don’t allow comments that do the same.

I know…I’m giving up traffic on my blog because of that. Criticism and controversy generates traffic. My site sponsors would probably love it if I started using this platform to call out people and turn this site into the Christian version of TMZ.

Yes, things could get a lot more exciting around here if I started calling out pastors and their churches. Instead, I’ve decided to generate conversation around ideas. By the way, feel free to push back on my ideas. Just don’t attack me personally. I like a good dialogue on ideas. That’s how I learn. (Maybe this is one of them.)

So, in the meantime, I’m going to try to follow God’s design for my life even with this website. Sorry I can’t fulfill your craving for rumors and gossip and a good ole’ fashion claim of heresy. I’m sure there are other websites available if that’s your thing.

And now you know why I have a boring blog.

What if Target Operated Like a Church?

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‘Tis the season to shop for Christmas gifts, so I recently made a trip to Target. I love Target because I don’t have to spend a lot of money, and I avoid going to Wal-Mart.

After spending a little bit of time in the store, it struck me how different Target is from most churches I’ve visited in the past. That led me to wondering how Target would be different if it operated like the typical church. So, with that in mind, here’s my initial list:

What if Target Operated Like a Church?

Instead of having men’s and women’s clothing departments, they would be called clever names like Impact and Embrace that are completely meaningless to new shoppers.
Each department in the store would have its own logo to go with their clever name. And, of course, all those logos would be different than the logo on the front of the store.
The workers in each department would all have their own t-shirts and flyers to promote what’s available in their departments. The youth clothing department would, of course, have the best flyers.
The store manager and his wife would be pictured on the front page of the website.
You wouldn’t actually be able to buy anything from the website, but each department would have its own page explaining why they are such a great department and the the information would be several months out-of-date.
If you are in the shoe department and have a question about flashlights, the shoe department employee has no idea how to help you because it doesn’t have anything to do with shoes.
Shoppers would be able to start their own departments so that they can buy the items that they want to buy. Don’t worry…that means there will certainly be a clothing department for singles.
Shoppers would also be able to appoint their own store manager and then serve on committees and boards to tell the store manager what to do.
The store would only be open one day a week between 9:00 a.m. and noon and on the first Wednesday evening of every month.

Hope this makes you laugh. (Emily and I did.) And, maybe it also challenges some preconceived notions. After all, churches are sort of notorious for worshiping methods and traditions whether or not they actually produce results.

What would you add to the list?

The LOUDER Trap!!!!

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When I was taking piano lessons early on in life, I had a bad habit of pounding on the keys. In music terms, I loved fortissimo. “Very loud” came very easy to me. Then my piano teacher taught me the value of dynamics. She explained how beautiful music isn’t just achieved by hitting the right notes–it’s also a reflection of the dynamics. The power of fortissimo doesn’t grab our attention in music unless we also embrace the pianissimo, the very soft movements.

Have you ever been in public when a parent blows a gasket and starts yelling at their child but gets no response? Here’s my bet. The very first time the parent reacted like that, their child responded. The reason why kids choose to ignore a yelling parent is because it’s a learned response. Kids are smart. It doesn’t take them long to learn that if a parent constantly yells but never follows through with any real punishment, then they can ignore the screams.

Loud is only effective when it’s louder than normal. If it’s always loud, then loud becomes the new normal. In other words, loud is not loud anymore.

The same principle holds when we’re trying to promote something in ministry. Here’s how it works. You commit to a promotions campaign to get people to a new series or a big event. You decide to go loud. You buy the billboards, print the fliers, hang the banners, create the viral videos and announce to the world, “This is going to be the best deal ever!” That’s great. The first time it may work. And, chances are it could work, again, sometime in the future as long as you have some long pianissimo movements in between.

But, if you choose to go loud with every series and every event, people will get smart. They’ll soon learn that “loud” really means “normal.” When that happens, you’ll be spending a lot more time, energy and money, but people will learn to ignore your yelling. Loud will not be loud anymore.

Before you “pull out all the stops,” make sure you’re really going to deliver what you promise. It better really be the best deal ever. If not, all that yelling will eventually lead to you losing your voice–your message will lose credibility. People will stop believing you, and they’ll stop responding to your message.

If everything is loud, nothing is loud.

Stop Trying to be Fair!

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I had lunch with a few of my West Ridge teammates a couple of days ago in a no-name restaurant. It was quite the surreal experience. Everything about the restaurant screamed 1970s…including the waitresses. One of them reprimanded me for trying to pour tea for someone else. (I’ll never do that again.) Oddly enough, they were playing Madonna music over the sound system. Like I said, it was very surreal.

As we were walking out, we noticed this display of business cards:

There have to be over 50 business cards on that shelf. Everyone is vying for the attention of the restaurant patrons. You can buy a house, get your hair cut and catch a taxi among other things. I guess we could call Sheila’s Beauty Salon to see how effective this advertising is for her business. Looks like she got the prime real estate on the front row.

I guess we can’t fault these businesses for taking advantage of some free advertising. And, honestly, I guess we can’t fault ministries in our churches for doing the same thing. At some point, though, someone in leadership probably needs to ask the question: what’s the priority message?

Here’s the reality though, it’s just easier to say “yes” to everyone. It’s easier to treat everyone the same. Only problem is that when you try to make everyone equal and attempt to treat everyone fairly, you end up with this cluttered display of business cards.

Regrettably, this crowded shelf of business cards is reminiscent of what I see in too many churches. In an attempt to be fair, churches are willing to be less effective.

When we promote every ministry equally, nothing gets prioritized.
When every ministry is treated the same, it creates confusion for people trying to figure out their next step.
When we give everyone the same platform, it’s difficult for any of the messages to be heard.

The only answer to this is for leaders to be unfair. You have to determine your priorities, and give those ministries the focus in your messaging. You have to be willing to say “no” to many requests for platform time and bulletin space and email blasts. You have to keep the important stuff important.

It’s one thing when you’re in a 70s restaurant in northern Georgia and someone is trying to get you to find a new beautician. It’s a completely different deal when you’re trying to help people take their next steps in their spiritual journey. If your objective is to help people become more like Jesus…

Stop trying to be fair.

Do you have vision clarity?

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MediaOutreach.com recently interviewed me about web strategy. One of the questions they asked me was what’s the most vital part of a church’s website? Here’s my response:

“A clear vision and a clear ministry strategy reflected in a focused landing page with simple, intuitive navigation. We don’t need to tell the entire story with our websites. We just need to help people take their next steps. Of course, since most churches don’t have clarity when it comes to vision and strategy, it’s probably a little unrealistic for me to expect to see that reflected in their web strategy…but that’s probably a blog post for another day.”

You can catch the rest of the interview here.

Web or Print?

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Met with my real estate agent this morning to list our house for sale. We’re taking steps to move closer to West Ridge near Atlanta. My agent was talking about the marketing plan for our house. Primarily, that includes a sign in the front yard and listings on a variety of websites including realtor.com.

And then he made an interesting statement. He said, “I still use some print advertising just to make the sellers happy, but almost all of my leads come from web marketing.” In other words, he places newspaper and magazine ads to placate his customers, but the ads don’t really work.

Remember… I live in Anderson, South Carolina. We’re two hours from metro Atlanta. We’re 30 minutes from “metro” Greenville. (if there is such a thing.) We’re in the boonies. I’m pretty sure this is one of the last locations that Al Gore installed the Internet. Whatever you imagine high-tech, web savvy communities to look like, I’m pretty sure Anderson would be on the opposite end of that spectrum. Yet web advertising is still the primary way to reach this market.

That, of course, prompted me to think about how churches invest their communications dollars. Think of the money you invest in bulletins, brochures, flyers and other handouts. Now think about how much money you invest in your web strategy. How do those numbers compare? Here’s my guess. I’ll bet you’re spending quite a bit more on print communications even though the web is where you’re more likely to find “your leads.”

Feel free to keep investing in print communications if your highest priority is keeping your “internal customers” happy. Just thought you should know that other organizations are using the web to reach the same people you’re probably trying to reach in your community.

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