Understanding Campaign Zones
Campaign zones are designated areas of your church website that campaigns can take over temporarily. When a campaign is active in a zone, the default content is replaced with the campaign content — automatically, on a schedule you control. When the campaign ends, the original content returns.
The four campaign zones
- Hero — the large banner section at the top of your homepage. This is your highest-visibility zone. Use it for major seasonal moments: Easter, Christmas, a building campaign launch, a church-wide series kickoff. A Hero takeover replaces your default homepage hero with a full custom banner — headline, subheadline, background image, and button.
- Announcement Bar — a narrow strip that runs across the very top of every page on your site, above the navigation. Ideal for timely, short announcements: "Join us Easter Sunday — April 20 | 9 AM & 11 AM." Visible on every page without disrupting the rest of your content.
- Logo — replaces your standard nav logo with a seasonal or campaign-branded version (e.g., a Christmas-themed logo, an Easter cross, a building campaign badge). Most churches use this sparingly — 2–3 times a year for major seasons.
- Popup — a modal overlay that appears to visitors once per session (or once per day — configurable). Use for high-priority announcements that need guaranteed visibility: a missions giving push, a special event registration that closes soon, or a community-wide call to action.
How zones work technically
When a campaign is active, your site's campaign loader script detects it and injects the campaign content into the appropriate zone — removing the default element from the page entirely. When the campaign ends (or is deactivated), the loader stops injecting and the default content reappears. Zero code changes, zero downtime, zero coordination with a web developer required.
💡 Tip: Think of campaign zones as "billboard slots" on your website — you reserve them for specific time windows, run the creative during that window, then the billboard goes back to its normal state. This mental model helps when planning your church calendar around these zones.
Creating a Campaign
Creating a campaign takes about five minutes once you have your copy and imagery ready. Have your headline, image, and CTA URL handy before you start.
- Go to Campaigns in the sidebar.
- Click + New Campaign.
- Give the campaign an internal name (e.g., "Easter 2025 — Hero Takeover"). Visitors never see this name.
- Select the zone this campaign will run in: Hero, Announcement Bar, Logo, or Popup.
- Select which pages the campaign applies to:
- Hero and Logo campaigns default to Homepage only
- Announcement Bar defaults to All Pages
- Popup can be set to all pages or homepage only
- Design the campaign content in the Design step:
- Hero: headline, subheadline, background image, CTA button text + URL
- Announcement Bar: bar text (max ~80 characters), optional link URL, bar background color
- Logo: upload an image file to replace the default logo
- Popup: headline, body text, image (optional), CTA button, and dismiss behavior (how often the popup re-shows)
- Click Save as Draft — your campaign is saved but not yet active.
💡 Tip: Build campaigns 1–2 weeks before you need them live. This gives you time to preview, adjust copy, and schedule the exact activation without scrambling on the morning of your event.
⚠️ Only one campaign per zone can be active at a time. If you activate a new Hero campaign while another is already running, the new one replaces the old one immediately. Plan your campaign calendar to avoid unintended overwrites.
Scheduling & Activating Campaigns
You can activate a campaign immediately or schedule it to go live on a specific date and time — and set an automatic end date so it turns off without any action from you.
Scheduling a campaign
- Open your draft campaign.
- Click Schedule.
- Set the Start Date & Time — the campaign goes live exactly at this time. Use your church's local timezone (configured in Settings → Church Profile).
- Set the End Date & Time — the campaign deactivates automatically at this time. Your default site content returns instantly.
- Click Confirm Schedule. The campaign status changes to Scheduled.
Activating a campaign immediately
- Open the campaign.
- Click Activate Now.
- The campaign goes live on your website within seconds. Status changes to Active.
Deactivating a campaign early
- Open the active campaign.
- Click Deactivate.
- The campaign ends immediately and your default site content returns.
Previewing before activation
- Open your draft or scheduled campaign.
- Click Preview. A new tab opens showing your website with the campaign active — as your visitors will see it.
- Review on both desktop and mobile before finalizing.
💡 Tip: For Easter and Christmas campaigns, set both the start and end dates when you schedule. A Hero takeover that's still running in May or January because someone forgot to deactivate it is a common and avoidable mistake. Auto-end dates eliminate the problem entirely.
The Announcement Bar
The Announcement Bar is a thin strip that appears at the very top of every page on your site — above the navigation — and is visible to every visitor. It's low-footprint, high-visibility, and ideal for anything timely and brief.
What works well in an Announcement Bar
- Service time changes ("We've moved to one service this summer — Sundays at 10 AM")
- Upcoming event countdown ("Easter Sunday is April 20 — invite a friend")
- Giving campaign nudge ("Building Campaign: $2.3M of $3M — Join us")
- Emergency or closure notices ("Office closed Dec 25–Jan 1")
- Special series announcement ("New series starts this Sunday: 'Anchored'")
Writing effective bar copy
The bar displays a single line of text — keep it under 80 characters so it doesn't wrap on mobile. Your bar should communicate who, what, and when in as few words as possible. A link is optional but can drive clicks to an RSVP or giving page.
Bar design options
- Background color — defaults to your primary brand color. For urgent alerts, consider a contrasting color (amber, red) to signal importance.
- Text color — auto-contrasts against the background, but you can override it.
- Link — optional. If set, the entire bar is clickable and a small arrow (→) appears at the end of the text.
💡 Tip: The best bar copy is specific. "Easter Sunday — April 20" tells someone what day to show up. "Join us for something special this Easter" tells them nothing actionable. Dates, times, and links outperform vague promotional language every time.
⚠️ Don't run the bar year-round: If there's always a bar at the top of your site, visitors start to ignore it — the same way people stop reading pop-ups. Reserve it for genuinely timely announcements (a few weeks at a time) so it retains its visual weight when it matters.
Running a Hero Takeover
A Hero takeover replaces your homepage's default banner with a full custom promotion for a set window of time — Easter weekend, a Christmas Eve service, a building campaign launch, or a major guest speaker. It's your highest-impact campaign zone.
Image specifications
- Recommended size: 1920×800px (16:4 landscape ratio)
- File type: JPG or WebP for photos; PNG for graphics with text
- File size: Keep under 300KB. Compress with squoosh.app or TinyPNG before uploading — large hero images slow your page load significantly.
- Safe zone: Keep important visual content centered. The left and right edges are cropped on mobile, so faces and key text should be in the middle 60% of the frame.
Writing the hero headline
Your Hero headline is the first thing every visitor reads. Keep it to 6 words or fewer. The best Hero headlines are invitational and specific:
- "He Is Risen. Join Us Easter Sunday." ✓
- "Christmas Eve Services — December 24 at 4 & 6 PM" ✓
- "We're building something great — and you're part of it." ✓
- "Welcome to our church community — we're so glad you're here!" ✗ (too generic, no action)
Seasonal campaign calendar
Plan Hero takeovers around your major church moments. A suggested annual schedule:
- Advent/Christmas: Dec 1 – Dec 26
- New Year/New Series: Jan 5 – Jan 20
- Lent/Easter: Palm Sunday – Easter Monday (1–2 weeks)
- Summer series launch: Memorial Day week
- Fall series kickoff: Labor Day week
- Annual giving campaign: November (if applicable)
Outside these windows, your default homepage hero runs — and it should be strong enough to stand on its own year-round.
💡 Tip: For Easter and Christmas, schedule your hero takeover to start 2 Sundays before the holiday — not 2 days before. People plan attendance weeks in advance. A hero that goes live on December 23 captures almost no one who was still deciding.