You've probably heard the story that in 1971 the average person received an average of 560 advertising messages each day. Now the the average person receives 3,000 advertising and branding messages every single day (The actual figures varies depending on which article you read, but they are pretty much all the same).
How an earth do those leading in church communications overcome the glut of information out there and get our message though?
By getting strategic. What does that mean? It means cutting back on what you communicate, especially on a sunday service.
Yes. You heard me. Cut. Back.
But here is the killer point. After you cut back, focus more. What does that mean? It means:
1) Align every platform announcement with your main message of the day. Only choose to announce notices from the platform that reinforce the message that is being preached on the day. Push the rest of your announcements to your bulletin, website, Facebook or Twitter communication channels.
2) Preach one point, instead of three million points. If you have more than one point, turn your sermon into a sermon series and preach your message over weeks instead of 30 minutes. The message will be stronger for it.
3) Ensure your worship set is thematically linked to your sermon. Eg. If you are preaching on missions or evangelism find a worship song that is about God's heart for the world.
Why? Because the more you announce, the more points you preach and more topics you sing about, the less people will hear what you really want to want them to leave with. Your main message will get lost in the noise and clutter of the day.
Keep it simple. I'm so passionate about clear and simple communications that I called my blog clear and simple. Why did I do that?
Because I know that keeping your communication clear and simple really does work.
