Brand Yourself.

On October 22 I had the honor of speaking at the Shift Youth Conference 2011 here in Miami.
It was one of the most powerful experiences simply because everyone who attended came expecting.

Expecting God to move, expecting God to speak and expecting to walk out different.
And that's exactly what happened!
God truly surpassed our expectations.

I brought my session on the topic of Branding.

Starting with the fundamentals, Brand can be defined as the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

So that means that Branding is the art of accomplishing a consistent, trustworthy and influential reputation. [For an organization, company, church]

Those 3 words are key in illustrating what successful branding looks like. They work together; one cannot accurately fulfill its function without the other.

Consistent: no mixed messages, stable, secure, confident

Trustworthy: transparent, honest, committed, committed to fulfilling what they promise

Influential: innovative, inspiring, transformational, the ones who are loyal to the brand will go out and move the mission forward

So that means, if I encounter a brand and I don't know what it means or does, it lacks power. And if I have an expectation of what a brand will do for me, but I don't care about the mission of that brand, it lacks power.
In one of my favorite books about branding, Emotional Branding by Marc Gobe, he explains the influential difference in brands and says:

People use a Dell. They are an Apple.

And the difference here is not a war of product, which brand has the best product or features, the difference is that Apple sells you more than a product, they sell you an experience.
Just like Nike, their ads and commercials inspire strength, power...making you believe that you can physically do anything with the right pair of their sneakers.
That's the power of a brand.

But much more than products, we are God's brand.
We are God’s representation here on earth.
Since we are called to be like Christ, others will look at our life and see what it looks like to live for God.
We are an accurate snapshot of our Creator.
Therefore, when they see you, they should see Christ.

Romans 8:29 says, For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son.
Plain and simple, you were chosen, you were designed to be like Him. That was and still is the plan for your life.

So how do we brand ourselves?

Renewed mind so we can be influential.

Display Godly behavior so we can be trustworthy.

Devote ourselves to prayer, fasting, reading His word and worship, so we can be consistent.

When we do these things, when we understand this revelation of who we are, we make room for Him. The more of Him we have, the more we look like Him.
And that is when we’re able to be effective.

It is then that we can fulfill the promise He left us when He said we would do greater things than He did! But that only happens when we are aligned with our Creator, when we look, think, speak and act like our Creator. Don’t be a misrepresentation of your Father.

Brand yourself according to His image; after all it’s what we were created for. Otherwise we’re not really living.

JV