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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 · VBS
VBS has two promotions running at once: registration for children, which has a capacity and a cutoff, and recruitment of volunteers, which has to finish before registration can open fully. The event is a Monday-to-Friday week, so the schedule is anchored to the Monday and the pieces land on the weeks before it. Most of the audience is families outside the church, which is why the website page and the social posts carry more weight than the Sunday announcements.
The whole church: 10 pieces over 6 weeks. Dated for Monday, June 14, 2027, the next occurrence after the day this page was built.
The size
Whole church. Every family with children is a registrant, every adult is a potential volunteer, and the week's budget depends on the numbers by the registration cutoff. Ten pieces is the minimum for a run that opens registration, fills volunteer slots and then closes registration on a date.
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 Vacation Bible School on Monday, June 14. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks before | Newsletter | First mention | Thursday, May 13 | May 11 |
| 4 weeks before | Social | Save the date | Friday, May 14 | May 13 |
| 4 weeks before | Website | Put the page up | Monday, May 17 | May 14 |
| 2 weeks before | Newsletter | Second mention | Thursday, May 27 | May 25 |
| 2 weeks before | Posters up | Friday, May 28 | May 21 | |
| 1 week before | Sunday Announcements | Announce it | Sunday, June 6 | Jun 5 |
| 4 days before | Newsletter | Last call | Thursday, June 10 | Jun 8 |
| 3 days before | Social | Reminder post | Friday, June 11 | Jun 10 |
| 1 day before | Sunday Announcements | Final announcement | Sunday, June 13 | Jun 12 |
| The day | Social | Day-of post | Monday, June 14 | Jun 13 |
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 Vacation Bible School, channel by channel.
The first mention opens volunteer recruitment with the roles and the hours, and gives the registration opening date. The second mention opens registration: ages, hours, cost or no cost, and the cutoff. The last call is the registration count against capacity and the final cutoff date.
Save the date carries the week's dates, the ages and the registration opening date. The reminder post the Friday before the week is for registered families: drop-off time, what to bring, where to park. The day-of post is from the first morning, with the registration link for the families who decide late.
Announce it two Sundays before the week with the registration count and the open volunteer roles. The final announcement is the Sunday before, confirming the hours and the drop-off procedure for the families in the room.
The registration form and everything a parent asks before filling it in: ages by group, daily hours, cost, the cutoff, what to bring, allergies, and the pick-up procedure. The volunteer sign-up sits on the same page. Published four weeks out, which is before registration opens, so the page can say when it opens.
A yard sign at the road and a poster at the children's entrance, both with the dates, the ages and the registration address. Flyers for the schools if the district allows them. Due a week before they go up.
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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