It’s hard to believe, but Easter is once again right around the corner. For pastors it seems like it keeps coming faster and faster year after year, which means more stress and anxiety for most of us, but it also means another great opportunity to reach those in your community with the Gospel.
My church, probably like yours, has already met and finalized plans for this Easter. If you haven’t yet, you probably want to do that as soon as possible. It will be here before we know it.
As always, I’m putting plans in place to make sure everyone in my community knows that my church is going to have a great Easter service and we would love for them to be a part of it.
You should be doing the same.
If you’re not sure where to begin to create a marketing strategy for this Easter, let me give you some ideas we’ve used in the past and we’ll be using this year.
Mailers
We’re not doing mailers this year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Mailers are a great way to grab people’s attention, especially if you’re in a small town because not many churches do them. They are expensive, which is one of the reasons we’ve went away from them, but if you have the budget and you want to get your church’s name out there, this is probably the best way to do it. Just make sure you do it well, or it could backfire on you. If you don’t have a professional graphic designer in your church, I highly suggest paying someone to design your mailer for you. Radiant Printing is a good resource. Don’t forget when you mail them you want to make sure they hit mailboxes the week before Easter to have the most impact.
Facebook Ads
We’ve moved from mailers to Facebook ads as our primary form of marketing. Facebook ads have two big advantages. One, it costs a fraction of the price of a mailer, and two, the ads are seen multiple times leading up to Easter not just when you pull it out of the mailbox. If you don’t know where to start, this video should help. I would suggest starting your ad 2-3 weeks before Easter. Again, make sure it looks good, or it could have a negative impact.
Invite Cards
The most effective marketing strategy is your congregation inviting their friends and family. You can make this easier for them by providing invite cards. We use business size cards because they’re easier for people to carry in their wallet or purse, but we have used larger cards in the past. This year we will begin giving our congregation these cards in bundles of five or ten a few weeks before Easter.
Website
Our church website will be updated a few weeks prior to Easter to include the Easter logo and all the important information about service times and egg hunts. I’ve seen other churches have a dedicated website just for Easter at their church. We’ve never done that, but it’s another idea you could try.
Other Ideas
You could hide Easter baskets around your town and post the location on social media. The first person to find the basket wins a prize. We did this last year, and it was a big success. We will be doing it again this year the week leading up to Easter.
Easter egg hunts are always a big hit with families. We brought the egg hunt back to our church last year after going a few years without one, and I feel like everyone enjoyed it.
I’ve heard of churches putting invites into Easter eggs and handing them out around their community. This could be another creative way to invite people.
What are you doing at your church to invite people this Easter? We would love to learn from you, so make sure to leave a comment and let us know. Don’t forget if you want more updates on church growth, leadership, and strategy make sure to subscribe to the blog.
