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What it is:
Promotion planning for churches. The schedule is generated from the size of the event. $29 a month per church.
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Playbook · Trunk or Treat
Trunk or Treat is a community event: most of the audience has never been to the church, and the promotion has to work in the neighborhood as well as in the room. There are two asks. Families outside the church are asked to come, and members are asked to host a trunk, bring candy and serve, and the second ask has to finish before the first one peaks. The event is on a Saturday, so the Sunday pieces land the Sunday before.
The whole church: 10 pieces over 6 weeks. Dated for Saturday, October 31, 2026, the next occurrence after the day this page was built.
The size
Whole church. The number of trunks sets the number of families the event can take, and every member is asked for one of the three things: a trunk, candy or an hour. Ten pieces across five channels, with the website page carrying the public information and the Sunday announcements carrying the member asks.
10 pieces · 6 weeks
Everybody should know. The level this event is on.
6 pieces · 4 weeks
A ministry or an age group. 4 channels.
3 pieces · 3 weeks
The people already involved. 3 channels.
The schedule
For Trunk or Treat on Saturday, October 31. Publish is the day a piece goes out. Due is the day it has to exist, which is the publish date less the channel's lead time: 2 days for Newsletter, 1 day for Social, 1 day for Sunday Announcements, 3 days for Website, 7 days for Print.
| When | Channel | Piece | Publish | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 weeks before | Newsletter | First mention | Thursday, September 24 | Sep 22 |
| 5 weeks before | Social | Save the date | Friday, September 25 | Sep 24 |
| 4 weeks before | Website | Put the page up | Monday, September 28 | Sep 25 |
| 3 weeks before | Newsletter | Second mention | Thursday, October 8 | Oct 6 |
| 3 weeks before | Posters up | Friday, October 9 | Oct 2 | |
| 1 week before | Sunday Announcements | Announce it | Sunday, October 18 | Oct 17 |
| 1 week before | Social | Reminder post | Friday, October 23 | Oct 22 |
| 6 days before | Sunday Announcements | Final announcement | Sunday, October 25 | Oct 24 |
| 2 days before | Newsletter | Last call | Thursday, October 29 | Oct 27 |
| The day | Social | Day-of post | Saturday, October 31 | Oct 30 |
Move the event and every unfinished piece keeps its weekday and its lead time. A piece in the event's own week that would land after the event is moved to the week before; the day-of post counts from the date itself.
What each piece carries
What the 10 pieces above have to say for Trunk or Treat, channel by channel.
The first mention opens the trunk sign-up with the date, the hours and the three asks. The second mention is the trunk count against the target and the candy drop-off dates. The last call is the final count, the arrival time for hosts and the parking plan for guests.
Save the date is the date, the hours and that it is free, on an image a neighbor can share. The reminder post the Friday before is the public one: hours, address, parking, rain plan. The day-of post goes out mid-afternoon with the hours and a photograph of the first trunks.
Announce it two Sundays before with the trunk count and the candy ask. The final announcement is the Sunday before the Saturday: the host arrival time, the candy total, and the request that members park off site to leave the lot for guests.
The public page: date, hours, address, parking, that it is free, the rain plan, and what a child needs (a bag, a costume). The trunk sign-up and the candy drop-off dates are on the same page under a heading for members. Published four weeks out.
A yard sign at the road three weeks out, flyers for the neighborhood and the nearby schools, and a poster at the entrances. Due a week before they go up because the printer needs a week.
How it is built
Three inputs: the event's date, the level, and the church's framework. The framework is the one above until a church edits it.
Channels with a default weekday and a lead time, levels with a rule for each piece: which channel, how many weeks out, which day. A church edits the defaults to match how it publishes, and every schedule after that follows the edited rules.
Enter the event, pick the level, and the pieces are written with a publish date and a due date each. Each piece is assigned to a person, who sees it on their own list and in their own calendar, with the brief and the copy attached.
Change the date or the framework and the unfinished pieces move to the new dates. Finished pieces, assignments, notes and the copy already written stay where they are. Nothing is published or sent by the software; a person presses every button.
Other playbooks
The same schedule arithmetic, for the events a church runs through the year.
Set your church up, enter the event and pick the level. $29 a month per church. Free for 15 days, no card.
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