Easter · start about 6 weeks out

The Easter Media Plan

Four weeks of work that make Easter morning feel prepared to the people seeing it for the first time.

Download the printable version · 10-page PDF, 10 MB

Easter brings more first-time guests than any other Sunday of the year, and most of them have already decided something about your church before they ever park. They looked you up on a phone at night, probably from bed, and what they found either answered their questions or left them guessing.

Almost nothing a first-time guest needs from you is creative work. They need a service time they can trust, somewhere obvious to put the car, an answer about what happens to their four-year-old, and some assurance that nobody's going to make them stand up and introduce themselves. Your design matters because it carries all of that without making them dig for it.

So this plan starts six weeks out and works in that order. The heart of the season first, because that's what everything else is in service of. Then your own people, because a personal invitation still does more than any post. Then the visitor, whose whole experience begins on a phone screen days before they ever see your building.

The plan

4 blocks of work, starting about 6 weeks out

Week 1

Say what Easter means before you say when it starts

Start with the heart of the season and nothing else, which means holding off on the service times and the logistics for now. Give your church a week of hearing why this Sunday matters before you ask them to do anything about it. This is also the week your visual direction gets set, so decide the look now and you won't be relitigating it in March.

A single Easter key art: one image, one typographic treatment, sized for a sermon slide, a web banner, and a square social post
A pastor's letter or short video, two minutes at most, on why your church observes Easter the way it does
One social post carrying the theme with no logistics attached to it
The Easter date and service times confirmed in writing with everyone who will need them later, even though you aren't publishing them yet

Week 2

Make it easy for one person to invite one person

The most effective Easter invitation is still somebody saying a name out loud, so your job this week is to take away every reason they wouldn't. That means an invite your people aren't embarrassed to send, one that carries the details so they don't have to type them out, and one that works in a text message instead of only on a wall.

A share graphic sized for a phone, with the service time and address readable at thumbnail size
A short shareable video, under thirty seconds, that works with the sound off
A printed invite card if your congregation actually hands things to people, and honestly skip it if they don't
A one-screen page on your site the invite links to, with times, address, and a map, and nothing else competing for attention
A two-line script your people can copy and paste into a text

Week 3

Tell a visitor exactly what will happen

This is the week you write for somebody who's never been inside your building. Assume they know nothing and won't ask: what time to arrive, which door, what happens with their kids, how long the service runs, what they should wear. Answering all of that plainly is the whole reason the design exists.

A 'what to expect' page on your site: arrival, parking, kids check-in, service length, dress
A parking and entrance graphic that reads as a map rather than an announcement
A kids check-in explainer, written for a parent who is nervous about handing over a child to strangers
A short walkthrough video shot on a phone, parking lot to seat, so a visitor's already seen the building once
Updated hours and Easter service times on your map listing and anywhere else your church appears online

Week 4

Build the excitement and close the last gaps

The final stretch is momentum plus cleanup. Post the countdown, but spend the same energy checking that everywhere a stranger might look says the same thing. Conflicting service times are the most common way a prepared Easter still feels unprepared, and they're almost always hiding somewhere nobody thought to check.

A countdown series for the final week, each one carrying the time and location
A single pinned or featured post with all service times in one image
An email to your list with times, parking, and the what-to-expect link
A cross-check pass: website, map listing, social bios, voicemail greeting, building signage, and any printed piece still in circulation
Volunteer-facing assets: a parking team map, a greeter script, and a run of show with times
Your capture plan for the morning itself, so you leave with photos and clips instead of wishing you had

If Easter is closer than four weeks away

Most people reading this aren't six weeks out, which is normal and completely workable. Skip the plan, do these in this order, and stop when you run out of time.

First, make the service times correct everywhere a stranger could find them: website, map listing, social bios. It's the highest-value hour you'll spend and it needs no design work at all.

Second, publish one page or one post that answers arrival, parking, and kids. Plain text is fine, and a visitor would rather read an unstyled paragraph that answers the question than admire a graphic that doesn't.

Third, make one share graphic with the time and address readable on a phone, and put it in your people's hands with a sentence they can copy. One good invite asset beats a full set you didn't finish.

That's the whole emergency version. Get those three done and Easter morning will feel prepared to the people who matter most on it, and the rest of this plan will still be here next year.

Get the follow-ups

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The plan above is the whole thing and it is yours either way. If it is easier to work through one piece at a time, we will send it as a short series so each part arrives when you need it.