Developing Clear Communication in a Church Capital Campaign - Part III

John Caples, a marketing copywriter, once wrote: “I’ve seen one advertisement sell not twice or three times as much, but l9 times as much as another. Both ads occupied the same amount of space in the same publication. Both had photographs and carefully written copy. The difference was that one used the right appeal (the audience’s point of reference was considered), and the other used the wrong appeal.”

Obviously, you’re not selling a commodity — but you’re in the business of deepening understanding and acceptance buy-in of the vision, and the need to support that vision. So, with the right appeal, you can gear all creativity (writing and graphics) accordingly and, thus, better hit the mark with your audience in your capital campaign.

David Ogilvy once said to his copywriter: “I’m not saying that charming, witty and warm copy won’t motivate. I’m just saying that I’ve seen thousands of charming, witty campaigns that didn’t.” Do you want glowing things that can be framed by copywriters, or do you want to maximize church response rate in your capital campaign?

Based on this sentiment, it’s often wise to enlist an internal communications overseer (not a designer) who can clearly see the big picture. This pivotal team member should seek assistance to guide communications development in a way that’s beyond his or her own limited perspective. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to have an overly-hip group of post-Generation-X designers develop the communication pieces for your capital campaign from their personal perspectives (without unbiased oversight) if the majority of the major donors in that particular congregation are 50 or older. The same, of course, is true in reverse.

Receiver-oriented communications must be both specifically targeted and easy to follow. By “targeted,” we mean you must focus on one thing, or no more than a few strategic goals. Shooting for everything is to shoot for nothing. With clear, targeted communications, you can appropriately tell your story and vision in a manner that captures the imagination. Doing this in a focused manner must be the driving force behind all good campaign communications. Like a train, the focused vision ahead is the engine that propels everything; design styles, images, fonts and so forth should follow.

Never design for design’s sake. Many things are fighting to grab your congregation’s attention, so it’s critical that the communications clearly lay out the steps ahead necessary to get to that larger vision.
Let the audience know what you want them to consider and why. Each objective and perceived challenge in a church building program should be adequately explained. It’s not only wise to do so, but it’s right.

Writer Michael Novak once stated, “Clarity of what works is an ethical imperative. Otherwise, you’ll reap exactly what you sow.” If the church communications sow a lack of clear direction on the steps in the vision, you’ll surely reap a corresponding response when asking for needed service commitments and increased giving. Your people will be confused about the goal and, as a result, hesitant to invest.
We hope for better returns than this for you: returns of a deep commitment from the congregation, rooted in a thorough understanding of the envisioned end, and the steps to get there. To lead them to that commitment, thoughtfully developed, receiver-oriented capital campaign materials are your best tools.