Category Archives: marketing

Communications headaches – the wonder and hassle of a world wide web

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I’m a big fan of the internet. I love the speed, the access to all sorts of information, the ability that it gives to me to share news with friends in all parts of the world and the access to people I wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to connect with (Paul, Mark, Eric, Ruth, Matt, Ann… Stephen and Boris!).

But, despite all the opportunities, there are a couple of things that cause me to stop and think.

The demise of the editor

Once upon a time documents were checked thoroughly for accuracy before they were published. This isn’t the case anymore. People can now publish opinion as fact without having to take responsibility for the consequences. Disclaimers can often be a get-out for people who just want to sound off.

No more borders

Once I could pick my target audience. Magazines and newspapers knew who their readers were, radio stations knew their listeners, everything could be targeted and tailored for the audience. We don’t have that luxury anymore. I need to remember whenever I publish something it could go anywhere. Even writing for a print publication, the final text could end up on a website somewhere and be open to the world to read.

Thoughts

  1. Accuracy does matter. Especially if you want to maintain your authority, which is valued in today’s online society.
  2. National borders no longer exist for information. Remember what you say could be read/seen anywhere so you should be writing for an international audience.
  3. Technology is a wonderful tool, but it’s a tool to aid communication and it’s the quality of the information/message that holds the value.

Flying for Life – the new magazine from MAF

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MAF News - the old magazine and prayer diary

One of the organisations Wycliffe Bible Translators works most closely with is MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). MAF provide planes and pilots to take people in and out of remote communities, transporting valuable supplies and ensuring that people can reach important medical facilities in times of emergency.

They share the news of what they do through their website and through a quarterly magazine and prayer bulletin.

Now, to be honest, their magazine hasn’t been doing their mission justice (see the top picture). The stories it told were fantastic, but the overall appearance was tired looking and cheap. Plus, there was no way to tell that the prayer booklet belonged to the same organisation as the magazine.

Compare this to the new publication (bottom picture), which looks and feels loads better. Why…

1 – The colour scheme runs through both publications. You can tell, without reading anything, that the magazine and prayer diary have come from the same organisation.

2 – The paper is heavier. It’s amazing how printing on heavier paper can make a real difference in the feeling of quality. OK, it pushes the costs up a bit, but it does convey a message about your organisation. Heavier paper people will associate with quality.

Flying for Life - MAF's new magazine and prayer diary

3 – Loads of white space. MAF have always shared really good photographs of what they do and they’ve never been scared of using half a page for a picture, but in the old publication any space not being used for an image was used for text. The new publication still has the great photography, but doesn’t have so much text, as a result it’s easier to read and is more inviting to the reader. There are still some great stories to read, but maybe in this case less really is more.

What I’d still want to change

The magazine and prayer diary look great, but I’d want to do more to strengthen the MAF brand. Their website could look more like the publications just by changing some of the colours to match what they are putting out in print.

That could be a quick win as changing colours doesn’t take an awful lot of technical know-how.

Of course, if there was money to spend I’d like to see the swoosh on the web too, but that can come later.

Now I’ll just be interested to see them at a future event to find out if this change has made it across all their literature and onto some of their display stands too.

For now I’ll just say, great job guys… keep up the good work and thanks for all the flying.

Customers can become allies

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Once a week I try to tidy up my Twitter account and spend a few minutes looking at new followers. I’ve stopped following every organisation and person that follows me, but if there’s something there that sparks my interest I’ll check you out for a few weeks. Anyway, this week I end up on Matt Edmundson’s blog.

Matt’s a Christian guy blogging on entrepreneurship, business, the use of technology (PowerPoint to web 2.0) and his life. We both seem to share similar motivation for moving to Liverpool – I went there in 1996 to ‘study’ and watch Liverpool play football but, unfortunately, couldn’t find a way to stay in the city. We seem to have a few similar interests, including marketing.

From: 'Update: a new definition of marketing' on Matt Edmundson's blog, http://www.mattedmundson.com/2010/06/update-a-new-definition-of-marketing/

That’s really what got my interest, especially his diagram on the movement of an individual from first contact, through being a customer to being an ally of your business/organisation. The final step looking something like this…

Movements come as a result of deepening the connection with Customers and thereby creating Allies. This is where I want to take the companies that I am involved in – not being just a business but a movement, and I guess to do that I have work at getting the customers in to the Ally phase, because here is where the magic starts to happen.

From Update: a new definition of marketing

I’ve got a busy day ahead but I plan to spend some time thinking through the full diagram and how it would impact on the operation of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK.

If you’re interested in this stuff it’s worth checking out Matt’s blog.

Learning with iTunes U

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It would be nice to think that after getting a Masters degree in Marketing Management I’d be done with studying. The truth is though, that while the Masters has turned out to be just the right qualification for managing marketing processes and strategic planning, my knowledge of how specific functions work is sometimes lacking.

So I’m going back to school with iTunes. Yesterday I spent a while hunting down some courses from places like Arizona State University, Duke and the Open University to fill in some blanks. I’ve downloaded the first couple of lectures from seven different institutions and plan to listen to each one and pick three of the best to keep me going for the next few weeks.

I’ll let you know if it’s any good when I get to the end.

The best medium for your message

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Slipstream, the monthly podcast produced by the Evangelical Alliance and Focus is coming to an end.

Set up as a network to encourage and grow younger Christian leaders, the podcasts were part of a communication strategy trying to link experienced leaders with those just starting out on the road to Christian leadership.

The quality of the podcasts were always good and the interviews provided some really useful information, so why are they stopping after almost two years.

David Couchman who presented the podcasts wrote the following on his blog…

In the future, the main way the Slipstream resources will be delivered will be through the e-letter. Users identified email as their preferred way to receive information. This will be more frequent, shorter, and will not have a regular schedule, but will be sent out when there is something specific to say – a new resource, an upcoming event etc.

Read the full post here

A few thoughts

  1. We can often get caught up in schedules and loose the plot of what we are trying to do. If you plan to release something once a month you have to produce something once a month, regardless of whether you have good quality content or not. I don’t think this was a problem for Slipstream, they had lots of good stories – including interviews that I recorded with Andrew Hamilton and Eric Bryant that never made the cut.
  2. You have to use appropriate media for what you are trying to share. It’s far quicker for me to read an e-mail than it is for me to listen to a podcast. Much of what was shared through Slipstream could have been conveyed faster in writing than by listening to the audio.
  3. Finally, does the technology limit the audience? I reckon more people can be reached by e-mail than by podcast. I listen to podcasts because I have an iPod and use iTunes on my home computer. If it wasn’t for my attachment to the Mac I probably wouldn’t bother. In other words, a podcast may be convenient for me but not necessarily for everyone. I reckon the e-mail route will give access to a wider audience.

What do you think?

Learning, growing and sharing: The use of Media in Mission

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It’s taken ages to get this sorted, but, finally, this is the presentation I gave at GO2010.

It’ll take a few moments for the audio to download, but the whole presentation is below.

Learning, growing and sharing: The use of Media in Mission

View more webinars from Phil Prior.

Wenlock and Mandeville: Mascots for the 2010 games

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I was willing to give them a chance. I’m not a designer and am more than aware of my ability to miss something clever by making a snap judgement, plus I didn’t want to get sucked in by the media coverage about the 2012 Olympic Games mascots.

But, I’ve now seen the launch video and have to admit that I’m more than a little underwhelmed. This should be a fantastic event with icons that really make Britain stand out in the eyes of the world. I’m not convinced by the video that these characters do that, in this country or anywhere else.

Anyway, that’s my opinion, you should make up your own mind. Wenlock and Mandeville are below, enjoy.

Christian Resources Exhibition 2010

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Elvis Presley’s Bible part of the Museum of the Book

May 11th – 14th I spent the week with colleagues at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park.

This is a giant trade show for all things church related, so there’s everything from pews and vestments to insurance companies and builders. Some things are wonderful, others are quite strange, it really depends on what mood you are in.

We were taking part in the Biblefresh exhibition so we went equipped with a number of Bibles from different parts of the world.

We shared the room with a number of Biblefresh partners as well as the Museum of the Book. Based somewhere in East London, the Museum of the

Book is a collection of different Bibles, either owned by the famous/infamous or historically significant. At CRE there was a copy of the Coronation Bible, an early Wycliffe Bible and Elvis Presley’s Bible, the cover of which he’d signed and listed various dates in his family history.

It was a treat to be in the same room as this exhibition. Especially as people who would stop to look at the exhibits would also stop to take a look at the various language Bibles we had out on display, giving us the chance to chat.

Unwritten messages, what does your church say?

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During the week before Jesus was crucified he visited the temple in Jerusalem. When he got there he became enraged by the stall holders and money changers  trading goods and services in the temple courtyard. Jesus, who we usually picture as a quiet, softly spoken kind of person, turned over the tables and blocked traders from making their way through the courtyard.

Why?

Well, Jesus says that his house should be a place for prayer, not a den of robbers [read the full text here]. In other words, don’t use the temple for trade – there are markets for that – use it for prayer.

I don’t believe that the focus of our church communities should be trade. Aside from anything else, it should never be that someone cannot afford to go to church. But, also, as Christians we’re not supposed to be trapped by the things of this world – your value as a person isn’t ever to be determined by the stuff you own.

So, what’s a church implying with the following promotion

Easter eggs and more than $1M in prizes at S. Texas megachurch

Bay Area Fellowship, the largest church in Corpus Christi, is giving away flat-screen televisions, skateboards, Fender guitars, furniture and 15 cars — yes, cars — at its Easter services next week.

Read article here

It’s not just what we say that communicates our values, it’s what we do too. To me this just encourages consumerism rather than placing value in people.

I think I’d rather have read any of the following,

South Texas megachurch gives $1M to victims of Haiti earthquake

…or….

$1M given to local charities by South Texas megachurch

…and my personal favourite…

South Texas megachurch gives $1M in support of Bible translation in Central America

Suggest another headline in the comments – where would you want to see $1M used? Or vote on the Church Marketing Sucks website – the current poll is on the right hand side of the screen.