Know-How Exchange : Copywriting

What's the benefit of being Christ-centered or having a Christ-centered curriculum? Salvation? Social acceptance in a Christian community? Inner peace?

This isn't a theological philosophy discussion. It's really to ask why parents might want to send their children to a Christ-centered pre-school. Is it because of what others will think of them as parents? Or because they feel it will somehow make their children better human beings? Do they think it might make the children less likely to stray when they grow up?

You need to push hard to find the benefit that will ring true to your target audience. If it doesn't the words will be wasted, no matter how clever they are. That's what positioning benefits are all about.

A feature without a benefit is like a fish without a book. (Huh?) It's all about the benefit. The feature at best is a reason-why.

Parents looking for daycare are concerned with these issues: cost, safety, convenience, child's experience, and community. As Michael mentions, you need to highlight how your organization satisifies some (or all) of these issues.

For example:
* Affordable Childcare, Centrally Located, Spiritually Focused.
* Taking Care Of Your Christian Children.

Amanda,

speaking as a person in your potential target audience -- "Christ-centered curriculum" speaks volumes to me. As a Christian parent, protecting my children from the ever present decay of moral values in our society is THE thing that makes me want to put my child in a Christian school.

Right now, I have chosen to keep my youngest home instead of allowing her to go to public pre-school because I feel she is not ready for the secular push of society and she needs another year home to strengthen the moral foundation we consider an important piece to lead a healthy and happy life. As much as I hate to disagree with Michael, I do think theological philosophy is a huge part of what I look at when looking for a church to attend, or a place to send my children to be educated by people (who I know may or may not have the same value and belief system as I do).

The only reason we won't be sending my daughter to a Christian pre-school is because of transportation and school cost -- if we had the funds, it would be a no-brainer.

That being said, we're talking about heart training and mind training -- and I think "Christ-centered curriculum" is a benefit and important verbiage and should definitely be included in your branding efforts.

If your target audience is Christian parents who want to also grow their children in Christ, you should not diminish or dilute that aspect -- ESPECIALLY since this is pre-school. In pre-school, children learn the basics of math, reading, etc. but much of it will be "re-learned" in Kindergarten, because there are so many children that don't go to kindergarten with those things mastered -- and outside of the "learning to cut" and "draw straight lines" there is tons of overlap in the academic skillset for these two levels.

For a Christian parent, the heart training is paramount at the pre-school level. I don't think "a place for you" or even "a place for your children" work at all with this situation. That works well for a church -- because your audience is much broader, but this is a totally different group of people you're dealing with (not to mention shorter ;) )

Another concern you should try to address (probably not in your slogan, but in your advertising and supporting verbiage) is your staff -- do you do background checks? Are they certified teachers? Will my child be safe with them? These are the things that would back up the heart training I know my child would get at a school with Christ-centered curriculum.

I do think you need a slogan / tagline for your schooling area, that would fall under the umbrella of the church but that would speak to your target audience better. Like Michael said, If it doesn't the words will be wasted, no matter how clever they are.

All that said, the following are some general thoughts, none of which are honed, but may help in your branding efforts. These are the kinds of things that would appeal to me.

With Christ-centered curriculum, we train your child's heart and mind.

Building Your Child's Foundation for Learning and Life with Christ-Centered Curriculum.

A Safe Place for Your Child's Heart and Mind ...

Well, hope this helps. Also, keep in mind that you can't be all things to all people or you will dilute your brand to the point where it doesn't make sense to anyone.

Good luck!!

Jennifer P.
XPRT Creative

Generally, I'm with Jennifer's take as a Christian parent. I also like Jay's suggestions.

When it comes to "marketing" any religious endeavor (for kids or not) you should mesh what we learn from studying marketing while also sticking to your convictions regarding your spirituality. If those interested in your school (or church) are meant and really are interested in being there, a strong marketing message stating what you are about (i.e. Christian centered education) should be made.

This of course would also apply to any other religion, social views, etc. When it comes to these type of issues we have to remember we are not mass marketing in a rush to gobble up market share --- we are trying to much more than that.

Hope this helps and is not preaching! Good luck.

I welcome the discussion, Jennifer. I'm not so sure we disagree.

I agree with most of what you said, especially when it is couched in terms of the benefits: You can rest assured that your child will be safe/a better human being because we provide a learning environment that is consistent with your own [Christ-centered religious] values.

The "Christ-centered" part is a powerful, distinctive and important reason-why, but not a benefit per se. The benefit (in that statement) is the parents' peace of mind that their child is in an environment that is safe and will encourage behavior and beliefs that are consistent with the parents' values -- i.e., they'll be better/happier human beings.

Note: "Better human being" can probably be articulated better. It could include, for example, four dimensions of development: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Etc.

Michael, thank you :D

I do see where you are coming from (and I do realize much of this is semantics), but I really do see the Christ-Centered curriculum as the direct benefit -- because it provides an advantage over Christian schools that are not equally yoked. There are so many differences in dogma even from Christians-to-Christians, and that actually is the first thing I look at when assessing Christian schools (some day my wallet will catch up to my heart, eh? LOL!!).

I see the safety aspect being a separate physical issue (with appropriate benefits), versus a mental / emotional one tied to the spiritual growth that comes with this venture.

Here's what I see happening with a benefit being the spiritual growth (which is a given) -- versus a benefit having Christ-centered curriculum ... and this is probably opening a whole other can-o-worms, but the approach of focusing on the parents' piece of mind as a benefit that is supported by the curriculum takes the impact/importance from the Christ-centered aspect. It seems this is the trend of our society, and without stepping on the soap box that apparently is here next to me (maybe I have one foot on it already?), I think moving the Christ-centered curriculum to the "reason" area instead of valuing it as an "end-benefit" really waters it down and plays the safe card - which I don't think is the best approach for this particular target audience. Because of how Christianity is portrayed in much of the public, even those of us who can speak our minds without sounding totally crazy (well, most days, anyway) tend to lean toward using the safe card while we cheer on the inside when someone steps out and says what is really on all our minds but that we are just too afraid to say or are unable to properly articulate.

And, you know, Michael, I totally do get what you are saying (and I think you are brilliant, by the way), and technically, both views can be correct and effective in the branding efforts -- both are really correct in different ways, but in this case, I do think Christ-centered curriculum should be categorized as a benefit and I see "spiritual safety" for my children being in a totally different realm than physical safety.

I hope I am explaining this so that it makes sense. And, you are right, I do think "Better human being" can be articulated better (actually chuckled when I read that - because I know you see what is happening with the word choice). Really, it's not about Christian values promoting a child to be a better human being -- Christians are no better than those who don't believe - we just have a different belief system and a certain set of values.

(Interestingly enough, before I had children I never would have thought twice about breaking down the semantics of this discussion, but it seems the more children I have, the more opinionated I become. I'm going to be a scary lady when I'm 80 with grandkids. ;) )


Jennifer P.
XPRT Creative

:)