Congratulations ministry leaders, you made it through Easter!
We pray it was an incredible experience for everyone who attended your church, and that you saw elevated attendance with new people walking through your doors. Celebrate the day, appreciate your volunteers, and thank God for all His blessings!
But now, it’s time to get back to work. You see, the real measure of your Easter outreach success is not your Easter attendance, although that is a part of the measure of success. The ultimate measure of success is what happens the following weeks.
There is a real opportunity here to engage with the new people who showed up on Easter and create momentum that will drive you through the fall. In fact, this is why we coach clients to not spend all their Easter promotional budget driving Easter attendance alone but to leave room for post-Easter promotions.
Here are five strategic ways to draw people back after attending Easter service and continue building upon the momentum:
1. Be as intentional as you were at Easter. You spruced up the campus, recruited extra volunteers, planned a dynamic worship service, and addressed many touch points to put your best foot forward to connect with new people. Now make this the standard each weekend. Remember, just as people go back to a restaurant for the great food, friendly service, and a comfortable atmosphere, they will also come back to your church and tell others when their worship experience is equally as incredible.
2. Follow up quickly. Don’t let people get lost in the shuffle. Be prepared to follow up within 1-2 days of Easter. Be as personal and authentic as you can be. Consider personal phone calls, text messages, and an email welcome series that takes new attendees deeper into your content and the life of your church.
3. Keep promoting the next big thing. Just because Easter is over doesn’t mean you stop creating awareness of your church and all the great things happening, especially to those who may have attended for the first time. We suggest spending some promotional dollars to invite people to come back and attend your church after Easter. Leverage all your marketing channels, especially digital advertising, to reach your target audience and retarget those who may have attended by:
- Promoting a new sermon series that touches an important need in life.
- Targeting parents to make them aware of summer camps and other programs. (They are making these summertime decisions now.)
- Creating evergreen digital ads to heighten awareness of your church and to help others discover it regardless of the season.
4. Don’t check out during the summer. Summer is a huge opportunity to connect with families through summer camps and kids’ programming. It’s also a great time to create energy around special summer teaching series and summer events.
- When the kids go to camp, encourage parents to follow your church on social media for photos/videos of camp highlights and updates.
- Make sure your staff connects personally with each new family that engages during the summer and determines how the church could meet their needs.
- Plan a few fun summer events around weekend services to drive summer attendance and continued excitement. Think of things like a 4th of July celebration, free ice cream handed out, food trucks after service, etc. The goal is not to be gimmicky but to flow with the culture and the desire to be more relaxed and have a little fun in the summer. Why not at church?
5. Create a back-to-school, back-to-church campaign. In August/September, people have a natural inclination to get back into church when school starts. Capitalize on this felt need with fall promotions.
- Plan a sermon series that addresses some of the felt needs people experience as they adjust to a new fall routine. Help people discover what God’s Word says about how to manage work/life balance, stress/anxiety, or making an impact.
- Collaborate with your children and student ministries to create promotions and programming that will draw children and students back to church at the same time.
- Leverage all your marketing channels to get the word out and invite your community to attend.
Easter can be an impactful catalyst that drives attendance and fans the flames of momentum throughout the rest of the year. This requires continued intentional promotion that ebbs and flows with the seasons and culture.
Connect with our D+C team of experts to discover how we can help you create the best strategy to optimize your digital platforms and to reach more people for the Kingdom.
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