1. Analyze your audience.

• Who is target demographic? 
• What do numbers show is your current reality? 
• What is your aspiration? 

2. Collect website traffic data.

• Pore over Google analytics. What are most common pages and clicks, types of content used, routes, destinations? 
• What are missing opportunities? 

3. Collect visitor and new member data.

• Same for new members. What are averages, high and low points, retention rates? The object is to look for trends. 
• Why do people stay? 
• Why do they leave? 

4. Conduct a congregational survey.

• What are best things about church? Worst? 
• What do people think about the church? 
• What are signature ministries? 
• What are ministries in need of development? 

5. Study the campus.

• If you were coming on campus for the first time, what makes the biggest impression, and why? 
• Where is the brand from the exterior view? Is it obvious enough? Where can it be improved? 
• What are existing channels for campus messaging? Missing any? 
• Any presence of core values and stories that reflect brand visible on campus? 

6. Clarify your denominational relationship.

• If your church is in a denomination, you have two (often competing) brands — the local church and the denomination. You need the local church brand to be more dominant, but from an audience awareness view, the denomination is probably more dominant. 
• Decide what to do about this — build both? Lose the denomination? Marry the values? 
• To members who love the denominational brand, conduct a survey: Why? 
• If you stick with the denominational brand, (re)define what it means in your context. This requires extensive storytelling. 

7. Learn your founders' story.

• What did you do in the beginning? 
• What were the big struggles and victories? 
• Look for ways these stories can build the brand. 

8. Explore the why.

• What’s the why for the church? 
• Why do your leaders do what they do in ministry? 
• What is your source of un-peace? 
• Differentiate purpose statement versus marketing statement. 

9. Define success.

• Large church staffs have a lot of assumptions about the whys — a lot of different understandings about what it means to do church. Don’t allow assumptions, but clearly state what “success” looks like to create a clear sense of purpose. 
• Ask, what does an image of a disciple look like at this church? 
• Within specific ministry areas? Point to specific people and articulate why they’re an image of discipleship at your church. 

10. Dig into values.

• Are existing values ever used in decision-making? If not, they’re not good enough. Values should drive strategy. 
• Do exec and/or staff exercises to deepen understanding of group values. I write more about values here. 

11. Create a set of deliverables to increase clarity.

• Share your research results with staff and lay leadership. 
• Tell core stories to the staff and to the congregation. 
• Development brand guidebook. 
• Tweak vision and values statements to reflect this research.

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Len Wilson is the author of Think Like a 5 Year Old: Reclaim Your Wonder & Create Great Things from Abingdon Press. He blogs at LenWilson.us.