Evaluate your goals. How do you want to use your bulletin? How are you actually using your bulletin? How can you make it better?

Templates are your friend! Set up simple template structure. Select an attractive cover matched to the sermon series, season, or mission. Selectively use graphics, images, icons and clip-art. Limit yourself to 2-3 fonts and colors.

Give visual structure. Give weight to what is most important and make your bulletin easily scannable. Breathing room (called white space) is helpful.

Share worthwhile content. After entering your order of service, include options like: Upcoming church events (with point of contact), ministry spotlight, ways to get involved, Bible study/small group options, sermon outline, notes area, a list of ministries, testimonies, prayer requests, a short welcome statement, a scripture verse, church contact information. Any items that will help visitors and members alike to connect and reconnect.

Proofread! Misspelled words negate your credibility.

Should you use bulletin inserts? Some experts say yes! It gives a “third dimension” of engagement.

Appearance: Keep your page looking clean by choosing coordinating colors, an easy-to-read web font, and illustrative graphics. Aim for a simplistic look that shows an organized and logical layout. 

Content: Write in a friendly-tone to help your audience feel valued and informed. Group related items, be concise in your verbiage to avoid blocks of text, and break your content up by using headers to help skimmers slow down and read. 

Functionality: Keep the essentials easy to find for your audience: contact, events, social media, service times, etc. Review content over to ensure an error-free webpage. 

Usability: Beyond appearance, navigation is the second feature your audience uses to explore your webpage. Give your navigation a logical sitemap to avoid confusion and frustration. 

Findability: Use 3-5 keywords per page to increase your Search Engine Optimization and chance of being found. Provide accurate contact information to promote better connections. 

Adaptability: Websites have a 1-2 year lifespan and user aspects are constantly changing. Repackage your content and adapt it to keep up with your audience needs. 

Great (and not-so-great) design is all around you. Cultivate an increased visual awareness. Find a design you like, and recreate it into your needs. Mimic a magazine spread, book display, event flyer, or another attractive design. Watch tutorials from Before & After’s John McWade, Lynda.com, or read Robin William’s Non-Designer’s Design Guide.

A design structure gives you freedom to create within guidelines.

The Adventist Church recently released a dynamic visual identity guide with a suggested color palette, Creation Design Structure, fonts, updated logo, and a variety of templates.

Explore the Adventist Identity Guidelines>>

This process begins with one question: How do you want to be known? This is your brand.

Your branding should:

• promote awareness
• foster emotional connectiveness
• communicate your mission and values [brand story]
• encourage brand ambassadors
• provide strategic direction to your team and set clear goals/objectives [mission/vision]
• shape expectations for those you serve [brand promise]

 
Your brand strategy and digital strategy work together, and are part of an overarching grand
communications strategy that includes traditional means of outreach and experience.

Redeveloping your brand and/or your strategy takes a lot of behind-the-scenes homework. Involve people in your team throughout the process so they could share in ownership. This is especially important for choosing a handle or name for your social media profiles.

​Next develop your identity across all platforms and channels as part of your overall brand. Social media does not work in a silo; it should be integrated in your broader communications, both digital and print. 

Social media is an extension of your church brand and voice, shared with an online audience. Your brand is how your church is perceived. How we feel about a brand ultimately stems from our experiences with it. Put yourself in the shoes of a person experiencing your brand, and view your ministry through an outsider’s perspective. Evaluate their experience objectively and make changes based on your communication objectives. Develop a clear brand promise (expectation of what it's like to experience your brand or what your organization has to offer) and make sure all aspects of your organization deliver on that promise.  

Strong digital brands create connection and take a comprehensive approach to the member experience. Treat your members online as if you’re talking with them face-to-face. Their online interactions with you should make them want to experience your faith/mission in person. Then, when they come to an in-person experience, it should be a continuation of the positive relationship you’ve built with them online. This applies also in reverse. Have guidelines for every part of an audience member’s journey, including in-person, on-site interactions. Remember every experience–physical or digital–speaks to your brand.

How your online followers and community perceive your ministry influences their perception of, not only the Adventist church corporately, but God, even if you haven’t put any effort into creating or managing your brand. In the absence of your story, people will fill in the blanks themselves. Your digital voice may be the only opportunity your followers have to see Christ’s love demonstrated in their life.

But first, we must have a clear understanding of who we are and be able to clearly demonstrate our mission, vision, and value. Create a brand that your target audience can recognize and connect with in a meaningful and positive way.
​
Having a strong brand and digital communications strategy won’t cost a lot of money but will involve a lot of time. Consider this an opportunity to build a team of digital disciples and brand ambassadors within your church or ministry. These people will become the human face and voice of your brand 24/7. Investing in their talent will keep them invested in the church long-term. 

Collecting email addresses is not enough to ensure effective email communication with your members. Here are some quick tips to help you optimize the design and functionality of your emails. 

1. Subject Lines: Choose your words wisely. People quickly scan subject lines before deciding what messages in their inbox to open. Be direct, not clever. Inboxes are cluttered, and people need to know why they should choose to open and read your email.  Most emails are viewed on mobile devices, so most people will only see the first five words of your subject line. Make sure the most vital information is placed at the beginning of the subject line. Example: Volunteers Needed: Medical Clinic (Dec. 25-27) Use all capitalized words in the subject line but avoid ALL CAPS.

2. From Name: Your from name should either be your brand name or the name of a high profile person in your organization such as a conference president. Experiment with subject line A/B testing to see what your list responds to the best.

3. Personalization: Merge tags for email name, subject, or body helps increase open-rate. People like to be identified, acknowledged, and thanked. Example: Start the body of your email with Dear <first name of recipient>,

4. Urgency: People respond to a sense of urgency or importance. Keywords to try in the subject line and email body include: Urgent, Just Announced, Important, Alert. But avoid words that sound too sales-y like: Limited Time Only, Last Chance, or vague references to Sign Up.

5. Structure & Design: Use a one-column format such as: image>headline>paragraph>call-to-action. Pick/adjust a color palette that reflects your brand look. Remember, color attracts, black informs. Select a neutral color for better readability of text. Images should extend the width of the copy area (about 600 pixels), and be of high quality. Use divider lines for white space between featured announcements. Text should be a universal font such as Arial and be at least 14 pixels in size for readability on mobile devices.

6. Tone: Write in a friendly, conversational tone. Share important details. Give teasers, and then refer/link to your website or point of contact.

7. Buttons: Clickable buttons and links allow you to track and see what is important to your reader. Make it easy for them to click and respond (on their phone) by using large buttons. By making it easy to take action when you have their attention, you are more likely to see an increase in results.

8. Build Your List: Offer many opportunities for new members, current members, and friends of your organization to join your email list. Integrate a subscription box into your website or Facebook page. Print sign-up cards to be handed out at events, and conduct an email append. 

9. Use Groups: Keep a master list of contacts, and then divide the master list into interest groups (women, children, families, students, committee members, specific ministries, etc.) This allows you to send targeted messages to segmented lists when needed. Overall, segmented lists enjoy a 14% higher email open-rate than non-segmented lists.

We hope this helps! Post your questions and comments below.

A hashtag is simply a way for people to search for posts on social media that have a common topic and to join or being a conversation. You may recognize it as the pound sign, or if you're a musician, a sharp sign. Hashtags can be used in many platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google +.

The ability to create a collective conversation has made hashtags a vital tool for reaching and engaging audiences that share a particular interest. With so many options, it can be difficult to know where to start and which hashtags to use, download our Adventist hashtag library to help you connect and share content related to our message and mission.

Below are some key elements to consider.

Download the Adventist hashtag library and get started!