Redefining Communications Director

I threw something out there to the group last week at the MinistryCOM conference in Houston, TX. [Yes, we rolled by the AstroDome. No, we didn’t see any evacuees.] When asked what I think the job description of a Communications Director is, I answered in two words.

Consumer Advocate.

I’m learning that in most cases, especially in the church, the effectiveness of the Communications Director in the traditional context is declining. It’s time to rewrite the rules. Re-define it. Even the big dawgs in the agency biz are talking about change. "The landscape is changing. Agencies and advertisers who fail to recognize that are going to get lost in the shuffle." Phil Dusenberry, former chairman of BBDO North America

Here’s my first draft:

Consumer Advocate (formally known as Communications Director)

Protect the audience from bad experiences in print and media touch points. Identify barriers to entry and remove them. Work on behalf of the audience to uncover their needs and make it easy to find next steps to meet them. Develop strategies and tactics needed to build internal support for a new approach. Employ the time-tested tools of research, media (online and off) and word of mouth to deliver consistent, trustworthy experiences across the organization. Develop processes that help cut through the clutter to deliver what the audience needs to hear, not the information we have to share. Help people get connected to resources and each other without going through a middleman. Eliminate unfair information overload. Qualified applicants are in touch with audience and management context simultaneously and have the ability to convey different visions to both. Enthusiasm for their work is obvious and contagious. Candidates for this position should have a good working network of relevant professionals; writers, designers, creative directors, developers, production managers, etc.

So there you have it. It's out there. And, it's different.

Here's my handouts and slides from MinistryCOM. I'll be guest blogging later this week on ChurchMarketingSucks.com about the rest of the conference.

• Are You Talking To Me?  |  Slides  |  Handout
• Are We On The Same Page?  |  Slides  |  Handout

Comments

[Mike]

I really agree with you and kelly but I think you go too far. People come to our churches with so many agendas we can't serve them all. But we do need to build a really good and really smart funnel. Wide enough to address most of the communication challenges on the front end--mostly logistic, customer service in nature--but as the funnel narrows, and committment to the church and its direction grows, I think we need to constantly remind and refresh our audience to the mission, vision, and values of the church. We need to creatively and consistently bring them back to the bigger "why's" of all our programs and activities within the church. (Even evangelism and marketing which is nothing more than a program or activity that starts in the church but is pointed outward).

Example: Critical church communication vehicles like the bulletin--who gets in and how much space they get? Ususally this gets decided by how big the ministry is. NO!!! What if this ministry is not aligned with the M/V/V of the overall church? Would we hire or budget like that? If we have a limited resource (like space in a bulletin or time for a verbal up front on Sunday morning) then they must know that those communication decisions must be very strategic. The comm. dir. must be on the look out for this and remind the leadership and staff of the strategic nature of communications and create mediums to carry it. (if we say 'no' in one context, can we create a 'yes' somewhere else?) I'm all for a new name for the position if it carries that emphasis. But Communications Director works for me because it is what it is. Don't ask branding to bring substance. Let substance be the brand.

Mike

[Justin]

I totally love with your "redefinition." I would suggest one possible addition... I think the "church communications director" should have the spiritual gift of evangelism. Or, at least recognize the importance, and have someone on their team with the gift. If we are going to be effective we must be passionate. Our hearts must hurt for the lost. I believe that will drive us to remove obstacles, speak their language, and encourage them to take next steps.

[Michael]

In a word...wow. I want that job!

I currently work with my church doing as much of their communications work as possible...sometimes I charge, sometimes I don't. I have been working on them to open such a position, I plan on using your 'job title' the next time the discussion comes up. Of course maybe God put me where I am to touch more than one church...that'd be cool too.

Keep up the great work, and I look forward to being a part of this blog!

[Rich Schmidt]

Hey, Kem, thanks a bundle for sharing the handouts & slides from your presentations! Good stuff! :)

[Kelly]

Get out of my brain!!! haha

That is exactly how I view my role as Director of Communications at Colorado Community Church. I have used virtually the same phrase in discussions with our Lead Pastor. He has referred to the Communications Team as the church's Kinkos, a place to quickly rip out some more information to toss out to an over-informed congregation. ARGHH! Fortunately, after over 2 years of trying to expand his vision of what our team can do for the church, he is starting to see it.

It has been my experience that lots of pastors think that all they have to do is say it once in a sermon and everyone gets it. This is similar to the way you can have a glaring typo in a document you are writing, but just can't see it because you have been working on the project for 3 days straight. Pastors get it, understand it, so everyone else should get it right away, too. People who live with something under their noses can develop tremendous blind-spots.

It is our job as Professional Communicators to strap on the eyes and ears of the congregation and visitors, forgetting that we have heard the vision mission and values statement (or checked our children into Sunday School, or whatever) 100 times and know the systems backwards and forwards. We have to experience our organization from the point of view of the novice and find where our communications are lacking.

If we aren't looking out for the "consumer" of the experiences we offer, no one will.