Marketing, Messaging and Misinformation

Today, perhaps more than ever, marketing has become the primary way to promote a product to reach and influence people.

This is true in entertainment, education, athletics, and business.

One way to accomplish this goal is to create a marketing campaign that saturates the marketplace by constantly exposing people to what you are selling.

A successful marketing campaign has to do with messaging or communicating in a way that is attractive, informative, and interesting. The messaging must always be simple, concise, and memorable, so it sticks in the minds of your target audience.

Things like catch phrases, jingles, mission, and vision statements are used to capture and hold the interest of the target audience.

Another tool used in marketing today is misinformation. The marketplace uses this term to soften or lessen the truth. Misinformation is simply a lie. In terms of effect this tactic is used because it is much softer and more palatable.

For this reason, misinformation is being used to market an ideology, mindset, or product with the goal of lying without offending. This is true because there is almost nothing that can destroy your marketing and messaging campaign quicker than offending someone.

In every instance, “marketing, messaging and misinformation” are used with one goal in mind: selling your product.

There is one genre which employees these same tactics with equal fervor. That genre is the Church of Jesus Christ. Though I understand the intent of applying these principles, it bothers me at times because Jesus is not a product. He is the second person of the Trinity; Jesus is God, and you cannot sell Jesus to the world.

You must show Him to the world. You do this by the way you live your life!

This simply means, if we are going use marketing, and messaging to reach people for Jesus, we must be certain we are not using misinformation.

The flaw in thinking the same strategies to market a product can be applied to Jesus is with each new campaign, the ebb and flow of the demographic and interest of your target audience changes.

While the truth found in Jesus and the Word of God never changes.

So, what can we do if we choose to use the marketing and messaging tools the world employs in the Church?

We must ensure we are not allowing misinformation to be a part of our strategy. We must be who we are, we must stand on the truth of God’s Word, whether it offends the sensibilities of people or not and we must apply that truth to every aspect of our lives.

The question is, can we do this in world where every differing opinion, view and perspective is divisive? The answer is, not only can we, we must!

You see, “marketing, messaging and misinformation” are the ways the world introduces a product to its target audience. This is not how Christ Followers should introduce Jesus to that world.

We show Him to the world by being loving, kind and gentle!

1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”.