The topic of marketing came up at our recent staff advance. I presented a paradigm to our entire team that I’ve embraced since pre-day-one of our ministry:
There is no marketing department at Elevation Church. We are all the marketing department. We are all marketing. All the time. We are marketing the greatest message in the history of mankind. Everywhere. To everyone.
The whole team was nodding, and I felt like I was preaching pretty good, so I continued:
A lot of times, we think it’s the job of the creative department to make everything cool and attractive. Like they have some sort of magical process where they can make everything shiny, slick, and exciting with the touch of a button. In reality…
All of us are responsible for both the content and presentation of every message we send. Every initiative we initiate. Every communicative process we instigate.
Then came my favorite line. I thought of it on the spot:
There is no phone booth where we put in crappy and it comes out cool.
(Please tell me you got the Superman reference. It’s the best part!)
The way I stated this seemed to bring a lot of clarity to our staff. I’d suggest you get in front of your team, read Matthew 5:13-16 and Acts 1:8 for foundation, and have this discussion:
In what areas are we putting in crappy ideas and expecting them to come out cool? How can we be more strategic about the presentation of every message we send? Especially considering that it’s the only message that will matter for eternity…
(My acknowledgments to the venerable Seth Godin for ingraining this idea into my mindset)