I was going to answer this question myself, but I found a better article on Church Marketing Sucks. Check it out

Good marketing is based on a strong, compelling message to the audience. This message should make an impact and prompt the audience to action. So what was God’s “compelling message” at Pentecost? Most importantly, it was to declare His [powers and wonders (Acts 2:11-12)] through the languages and the tongues of fire (which the religious Jews would also understand on a symbolic level).

In essence, God used this display of power to draw a crowd, which in turn would hear a presentation of the Gospel by Peter (Acts 2:14-40). As a result, Scripture says, “Those who accepted [Peter's] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41).

Biblical Church Marketing

While on earth, Jesus spoke to people right where they were—geographically and emotionally. He touched and spoke to people individually about matters that were important to them. In marketing terms, Jesus used an appropriate media and method and drew a targeted and receptive audience. He always got people’s attention in a powerful way, recognized them as a receptive audience and then delivered a relevant, compelling message. This is church marketing at its best.

Follow Jesus’ example. Examine the communication channels or media available to you, and strategize effective ways to use them for the Kingdom in your own community.

Remember, marketing is simple communication that prompts a targeted audience to action. Whether direct mail, advertising, radio, television or just the traditional church marquee, God is using marketing strategies today in much the same way He used them in Biblical times. And while the methods can and should be tailored to reach people in a changing cultural landscape, the life-changing message of salvation is still the same.

This is the way my life often goes . . . chaos and confusion introduce another day when I’ll go out and strive to fulfill God’s calling on my life. But chaos is often part of our circumstances in this world. Fortunately, we are in the world, but not of the world. My friend and ministry client, Pastor Lynton Turkington, says, “It’s not about a religion, it’s about relationships.” I think he means a relationship with Jesus Christ, but he also means a relationship with our family, friends, and neighbors. If we could banish chaos and distress we wouldn’t need relationships; but God strictly intends for us to live out the Gospel through relationships.
And that’s why when we talk about “marketing ministries” we aren’t just talking about diligent planning, anticipating hazards, and ironing out all the wrinkles. Planning is vital, of course, but it’s all for naught if relationships aren’t the goal of the ministry and the power behind the success of marketing. Building relationships to fulfill the Great Commission in the midst of our chaotic day should always be the ministry’s goal (Mathew 28:19 ).

Do you remember the 1980 movie Caddyshack Here is one of the famous lines from that movie

Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball. …. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.
or how about the scene the 1999 movie For the Love of the Game, pitcher Billy Church (trying to focus and then say to himself, “Clear the Mechanism”

Can we focus, clear the mechanism, stop thinking, let things happen and “Be Scripture or Be the Brand? Thanks to my good friend and mentor Jerry Murphy we now have steps to “Being Scripture and Being the Brand. Check it out….

1) Read Scripture
2) Read Scripture out loud in front of the mirror
3) Memorize Scripture
4) Understand Scripture
5) Being Scripture

or

1) Reading about branding
2) Reading articles about branding to other people or send branding links to them
3) Memorizing branding
4) Understand Branding
5) Being the Brand

Wow!What a world of difference….. from reading to being scripture, and reading about branding and understanding it. There are very few people on this planet who truly understand scripture to the point where they can “be scripture”. The same goes for branding.I am looking forward to associating with more people who understand how to become scripture.

The holidays… Here we go…
I have often said that after November 28th we should just skip the rest of the year and go right to Jan 1. We are all so busy we don’t know what to do with our selves, and our ministries. Here is what it means in the marketing world. One, impressions are high. Major retail companies are bidding for your personal market share and they are paying big money for it. Two, we are even busier so our calenders tight and our attention spans are non existent. What is the ministry to do? My down and dirty answer is Plan and Pray. Plan for next year and pray for wisdom, guidance, ears to hear and eyes to see. Your budget is spent…and your making final preparations for your Christmas out reach or service. Now is not the time to be competing for impressions through mass media. Don’t even think about.

I am familiar with most of the dialogue and debate out there about whether the church should be marketing itself, which leads to the premise of my book:

There are over 100 million people in America that place no value on church.
They don’t see it as an option, because it has no value in their lives.
It is not a viable solution to their problems, nor do they see it as an avenue to success in their lives.
If they did, a lot more people would attend church.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; but as an American living in America I am bombarded with secular media, marketing, and advertising. Nearly 1,700 images hit me (and you) daily. Thousands of companies want our buying power—from basic commodities to a new car. It’s amazing! So the church has become an inconspicuous option? What are Christians supposed to do? Luke 14:23 says:

“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” KJV

Is this scripture comparable to the word marketing? Or is marketing a twentieth century word for evangelism? I don’t know; but I do know that if we don’t get in the game we will never be a player. I do know evangelism is the process of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have the most important, most excellent message of good news in history, and it is possible for us to come out of obscurity and deliver it with excellence.
According to Mark 16:15-16: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Bible doesn’t say extensively how we should preach it or communicate it, but I think it’s pretty easy to connect the dots.
The Bible also doesn’t mention sociology, anthropology, psychology, paleontology, or economics by name but it has inspired countless volumes of commentary and insight into these academic disciplines. Could it be that marketing also developed over time from principles of communication we find in the Bible?
People and relationships are two important aspects in the life of ministries. Getting people saved—fulfilling the Great Commission—is the most important thing. People need to come to the saving knowledge of Christ, even if it occurs because of a flyer, the internet, or a radio or television advertisement.
People in today’s culture make instant decisions based on the quality of the product or service being distributed—by the quality of the marketing that propels them to take action. Whether people come to know Jesus by a personal invitation or a TV spot is irrelevant, as long as they come.
In the 1960’s there were over 600 impressions a day that an average American was hit with, when I completed my book research indicated that we were up to 1700 impressions per day, experts are now predicting that by 2010 we will be upto 5,000 impression per day.
Marketing the Church is a combination of knowing your target demographic the gospel, the ministries vision, and coming up with prayed over spirit filled message that can touch your community. Once you have this consistent message, theme or brand together its time to implement it across all deliverables. Ie your website, video, bulletin, invite cards, email etc. Now its time take this consistent message into the community, with the intent of letting them know that you exist and are an option in the market place. The more impressions you can make over a short period of time will increase your effectiveness.

Thus, Sending out your youth pastor to hand out invite cards is not marketing.

So here we go, what is the correct answer? Do you build the brand off of the Pastor, Church Building or the Mission of the Church. I wish I could give you a down and dirty answer to the question. However the answer has so many variables to be able to give a direct answer. Here are some things to consider

1) Don’t do this yourself, outsourcing is great option or build a team
2) Your decision making should have the end result in mind
3) Understand your core demographic
4) Understand who the Pastor thinks their core demographic is?
5) Know the The Church mission
6) Know the Pastors Vision
7) Nail down a date to have an answer
This is a big decision… Treat it it that way
9) This decision can’t be avoided, you are spinning your wheels and creating indecisiveness in your marketing team if you don’t make decision.

I would like to challenge everyone who is reading to please get involved

Fairness doctrine and hate crimes speech has been held up or blocked by conservative Christians who are called to serve in Washington. Groups like the NRB, Capital Ministries, ADF and others have fought for conservative values. I would encourage you and everyone who has been commented to get involved with your local politics or congressman or woman, to find out more about the details o f thes heavily weighted legislative items that are getting ready to pass now that our political landscape will be heavily liberal.Our voice has been not been squelched but our legislative power has.

I am personally not an alarmist or a futurist. This past year I had the fortunate opportunity to sit on the NRB Presidents Council, in those meetings we were briefed by the congressmen, senators and FCC commissioners on issues like Fairness Doctrine and Hate crimes speech.

Please do the research your self and get involved. I am here to tell you and anyone else who is reading this that the Christian broadcast landscape in going to significantly change in the next 12-18 months.

I love the lord and will be praying this doesn’t happen. 1 Tim 2:1-3

So here we go, what is the correct answer? Do you build the brand off of the Pastor, Church Building or the Mission of the Church. I wish I could give you a down and dirty answer to the question. However the answer has so many variables to be able to give a direct answer. Here are some things to consider

1) Don’t do this yourself, outsourcing is great option or build a team
2) Your decision making should have the end result in mind
3) Understand your core demographic
4) Understand who the Pastor thinks their core demographic is?
5) Know the The Church mission
6) Know the Pastors Vision
7) Nail down a date to have an answer
This is a big decision… Treat it it that way
9) This decision can’t be avoided, you are spinning your wheels and creating indecisiveness in your marketing team if you don’t make decision.

Recently I have had many branding conversations with Senior Pastors, Apostles, Bishops and ministry leaders. The branding process takes time, strategy and is subject to the mission and vision variables. Getting your branding element right, is extremely crucial to the ministries success, all of your current deliverables (Video, website, bulletins, commercials, promos) are hanging off of what the designer or video editors believes to be attracting people to the church or ministry. More times than not, the executive team has not had a branding conversation or know who they are attempting to attract to the ministry. There are usually, two basic elements to your brand. One, who are you? Two, who does your audience think you are? There are other variables that go into the brand and there is a strategic process to uncovering your brand. However if you want to use staff members to go through this process then start with the above questions and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.

So, who is in the drivers seat when making design and production decisions, the designer?

If we had to substitute marketing for another word it would be planning, Jan 2009 is right around the corner, your planning for 2009 should be done in November so you can vision cast to your team in December. Therefore, its time to start thinking about your 2009 marketing budget which includes your media budget as well. Forecasting and planning will maximize your efficiencies among the work flow of your church or ministry employees. All of your plans should relate back to a vision or core beliefs or your church or ministry. This will force your ministry staff to be accountable to themselves, you(Senior Pastor or Media Director) and outside vendors, ie television and radio reps or equipment companies.