The Digital Space Should Not Replace Meaningful Human Interaction

Something we often see in the digital era of online businesses, online ministries, and even online churches, is a desire to automate as much as possible, to save people time. 

And you know what? We love that. The digital space has created a lot of cool opportunities for us to streamline our work so we can focus on the areas that are most important. (Admittedly, it’s also made real focus incredibly challenging, but that’s a different conversation!) 

But in the push to take things online and automate processes, something can get lost. 

In Scripture, God himself, by his Word alone, gives life and meaning to human beings. By saying we are made in his image, he distinguishes humans from the rest of creation. He creates human beings for community, with Himself and with each other—he creates Eve to pair with Adam, and creates humanity to be fruitful and multiply.

This has a lot of implications, but the most important is this: If we take Scripture seriously, we must also take the meaningfulness of human existence—and thus human interaction—seriously. God created us to engage with one another!

Technology may serve many desirable ends, but it cannot satisfy the divinely-appointed human desire for meaningful engagement with other humans. 

We are brand architects, and this conversation matters to us because we want to help ministries, nonprofits and for purpose businesses build brands that help them cut through the noise and engage the people they are called to serve. We want to see brands used as tools to further the good and uplifting human engagements with each other. 

Connecting Your Brand to the People You are Called to Serve

For organizations that operate at all in the digital space (if you’re reading this, then this almost certainly applies to you!)—we want to push you to think more humanly about your brand and how you engage people. Here’s a few questions to ponder:

• What if you thought of Clarity and DNA work as the personality of your brand?
• What if you thought of your marketing and sales interactions as the embodied reality of your brand? What would be the implications for how you engage with those you are called to serve?
• How can your brand not just be a simulation to get clicks and donations but to actually bless your audience? 
• How can your brand become an embodiment of an aspect of God's abundant character for meaningful engagement?

This content is our attempt to create some meaningful engagement by pushing a deeper level of thinking about what a brand should be. Brand is not just a necessary tool to market and grow your audience, it is the core of your organization, the center around which other organizational aspects should orbit.

Some Ideas to Create a More Human-Centered Brand

1. Brand clarity. Digital engagement such as social media, ads, and email marketing is important because that is how we market in this day and age, but, it should not be a substitute for deep brand clarity. Without brand clarity, the digital expression of your brand will fall flat, making your efforts useless, and thereby missing out on an opportunity for meaningful engagement.
2. Brand strategy. Without deep brand clarity, you may be avoiding a more vivid understanding of your brand’s unique role and opportunities to bless the people you are called to serve. And without strategy that is rooted in your brand DNA, you are almost certainly missing out on how to act on that understanding.
3. Visual identity. What if instead of developing a logo that is cool, trendy or utilitarian (sometimes you just need something to put on that business card), you developed a logo that flows directly out of who your brand is, so that when your audience sees the logo, it resonates with them as something they should be involved in?
4. Cultivation processes. When someone fills out the contact form on your website (or signs up for your newsletter, or gives their email to make a donation), you may be tempted to not personally follow up because “that’s what your automated email marketing system is for.” It’s great that you set up a smart workflow to funnel leads into the right place. But, don’t dismiss the power of a 1-1 follow up phone call to check in and hear what brought them to you. Human interaction is part of our make-up, deeply connected to our core purpose.
5. Fostering connection within your brand sphere. Your brand can create its own sense of community, but don’t try to make your brand more than it is. Whether directly or indirectly, you can use your brand to encourage and exhort people in their biblical faith journey (but keep the topics  within the scope of your brand). Just as an example, a nonprofit counseling center shouldn’t try to become a church community replacement, but find your unique service as a para-church organization. 

We’d love to hear from you—you can contact us here with any stories about how your brand has pushed beyond the digital space and fostered meaningful human engagement!