The Brief
Focused on compassion, service to the community, and a love for all people through what they lovingly call “the art of neighboring,” Faith Community Church (FCC) was founded more than three centuries ago to be a place all believers – and those who are unsure – can call home. FCC enjoys a positive reputation in the community and is well known as a church that cares.
FCC found that moving from the tradition of a 300-year-old church was difficult. FCC wanted to move from thinking to connecting, make communication more consistent, and to unite the church’s campuses under one mission. The FCC homepage needed to appeal to current members and attract new attendees simultaneously, while better demonstrating community, service, and impact, while not appearing boring or sacrificing the Bible. Their strategy, website, and digital marketing had to appeal to current members and attract new attendees simultaneously.
What We Did
Consulting
Web Design
Marketing
Our Vision
Partnering closely with FCC, we helped them synthesize their mission into a unified statement while incorporating the key virtues listed below in prominent ways on their new website, in their logo refresh, and brand style revitalization.
Radical Generosity
At FCC, love and generosity go beyond being just read or sermonized. The FCC family lives those values, showing the love of Christ through unconditionally giving to those in need in their community and the world. This had to be digitally communicated to current and prospective members through the FCC website and radical generosity had to be showcased as faith in action.
Practical Teaching
FCC is well-established with a progressive aim to raeach all people. To this end, the pastoral team preaches the gospel in TED Talks style, with modern, digital assets that are easily digestible and applicable. Our team helped verbalize FCC’s brand attributes of being relatable, welcoming, trusted, current, dependable, fun, inspiring, and sincere while remaining rooted in the Bible.
Inclusivity
FCC is a breath of fresh air for everyone who walks through the doors. FCC’s new website had to give a glimpse of what FCC is about and what the FCC experience is – being a place where ALL are welcome. The website and messaging also had to clearly outline faith groups, volunteer opportunities, and key areas of the church so visitors knew they and their families would find somewhere to belong at FCC.
The Strategy
Our team focused on listening intently to FCC to grasp what they wanted to achieve through their new brand system. Then we carefully crafted a strategy to help them achieve those goals.
After strategizing with them and discovering their “why,” we knew that FCC’s website had to be user-focused, welcoming, and authentic while letting people know from their first click on the site that they had found a place they could call home. It had to appeal to prospective visitors as well as current members and attendees and it needed to clarify that both campuses of FCC share the same mission.
FCC’s new website highlights opportunities for connection, involvement, and help, as well as invitations to join in worship and fellowship. The website photos show FCC’s commitment to faith in action, while the new website’s “What We Believe” section makes it even easier for both visitors and members to see the church’s stance on the Bible and salvation, to name a few, in an easy to follow format.
Strategic Consulting
We met with FCC and sought to discern its “why.” We helped FCC clarify and renew their mission statement to better reflect its purpose, “To love radically, live generously, and watch Jesus do the extraordinary.” Although FCC is centuries old, it is uniquely focused on growth and inclusivity. We helped FCC create a strong brand system that would convey that message to FCC’s members and visitors.
Fixed PHOS White BG
Web Design
FCC’s website needed to include ways to access online service streams, a pre-school link, online giving links, and facility rentals. The website also needed to convey the welcoming, authentic feel of FCC and communicate its commitment to inclusivity.
Not only did their website have to be beautiful, but it also had to show the experience of being at FCC for potential visitors and ways to get more deeply involved for current members.
Digital Marketing
FCC is a church with a long-standing history but one that wants to reach new believers and those who have strayed from church or haven’t ever felt they belonged. FCC gives them a safe place of welcoming acceptance for their faith journeys.
The goal of our digital marketing strategy is to synthesize the church’s complexities into an easily digestible message to draw in new users to explore the new website and connect with the correct people at FCC. Our strategy supports their social media, email, and event messaging to create consistency across their digital channels with stories and messages that capture the heart of FCC’s mission. We focus on creating promotional strategies for key events and sermon series to generate excitement and engagement among current church members and the surrounding Hopkinton and Framingham communities, effectively widening Faith Comunity Church’s ministry field.
Results
Before the new website launched, FCC implemented conversion tracking to understand how to reach users and serve them well. Coupling the conversion tracking with their renewed focus on clarity resulted in clearer messaging and stronger processes that communicate the mission and vision of FCC purposefully on all channels and for all new projects.
FCC has since been recognized as one of Hubspot’s 13 Best Church Websites and has maintained a healthy bounce rate that demonstrates the breadth of communication available. In addition to more favorable bounce rates, new users to the website have increased by 31% in the 3 years since the website’s launch. After multiple years including global pandemics and new frontiers, FCC and PHOS’s partnership has continued to evolve, resulting in expanded reach and ministry.
