Alpha Friends

The Invitation begins on 1 September and national advertising will run alongside your local course publicity. This year’s campaign celebrates the highs and lows of life and there are lots of ways you can use the campaign to raise awareness of your Alpha course.

• Where do I start?
• How do I plan a launch event?
• Why hold a launch event?
• What does a typical launch event look like?
• How do I get the publicity to promote my launch?
• When should we hold our event?
• Should I use social media?
• What else can I use to promote my Alpha Course online?
• What if I want to produce my own publicity?
• How might we incorporate prayer?
• What am I forgetting?

Where do I start?

1. Register your course for guests to find it in our listings.
2. Check your website clearly directs people to your Alpha course information.
3. Plan a launch event to publicise your course in September.

How do I plan a launch event?

Download our helpful guides to planning and promoting your launch event:

1. Planning your launch (download)
2. Promoting your launch (download)
3. Using local press to promote your launch (download)
4. How to set up a Facebook event (download)

Why hold a launch event?

A launch event is like a taster of the Alpha Course.

• For your guests, it is easier for them to try out one evening that to sign up for the whole course.
• For your congregation and friends inviting people, it is easier for them to invite people to a party, where they can have a taste of the Alpha course, rather than invite them to the course.

What does a typical launch event look like?

Just as there lots of different types of Alpha courses, there are also lots of different launch events. They are always non-threatening, lots of fun and give you an opportunity to invite anyone who is interested to come on your course.

Here are three examples of different types of launch events:

• Village Party Launch
• Student Alpha Launch
• Morning & Evening Launch

How do I get the publicity to promote my launch?

Firstly, did you get a catalogue and a sample pack of the latest publicity in the post? If not, please email ukinvitation@alpha.org and we will post it to you.

There are three ways to get the publicity:

• The Alpha Print Shop – Customisable Banners, Business Cards, Posters, Postcards and Invitations. Also Drinks Mats and Badges
• The Alpha Shop – Blank Posters, Invitations, Postcards
• Downloadable files – PDFs, Web buttons, Evites

When should we hold our event?

Many courses schedule their Alpha launch event to tie in with the national advertising campaign, joining with thousands of courses inviting the nation to come to a local launch event. Here is a guide to how you might time your launch:

Should I use Social Media?

Social media is a brilliant way to tell people about your launch and it’s free! In the UK alone there are 27.5 million people on Facebook. If your event is on Facebook, it is so easy for your friends to invite their friends to your event.  

Many Courses produce videos for YouTube, set up Facebook pages and Tweet their invitations.

Here at Alpha we can help by sharing your launch details on our social media networks, post info on our Facebook wall or tweet us at our Twitter page.

Here are helpful instructions for how to set up an event on Facebook

What else can I use to promote my Alpha Course online?

We have created lots of free tools to help promote your Alpha course and make it easy to invite guests using the web.

Emailable registration form
How to set up a launch event on Facebook
Evite without copy
Evite with copy
Desktop Wallpaper
Static Web Banner

Animated Web Button

Copy the code below:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="250" height="250" id="ai-2011-invitation-square" align="middle"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/square.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <param name="play" value="true" /> <param name="loop" value="true" /> <param name="wmode" value="window" /> <param name="scale" value="showall" /> <param name="menu" value="true" /> <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> <param name="salign" value="" /> <!--[if !IE]>--> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/square.swf" width="250" height="250"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/square.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <param name="play" value="true" /> <param name="loop" value="true" /> <param name="wmode" value="window" /> <param name="scale" value="showall" /> <param name="menu" value="true" /> <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> <param name="salign" value="" /> <!--<![endif]--> <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflash"> <img src="http://www.adobe.com/images/shared/download_buttons/get_flash_player.gif" alt="Get Adobe Flash player" /> </a> <!--[if !IE]>--> </object> <!--<![endif]--> </object>

Animated Web Banner

Copy the code below:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="468" height="60" id="ai-2011-invitation-banner" align="middle"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/banner.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <param name="play" value="true" /> <param name="loop" value="true" /> <param name="wmode" value="window" /> <param name="scale" value="showall" /> <param name="menu" value="true" /> <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> <param name="salign" value="" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <!--[if !IE]>--> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/banner.swf" width="468" height="60"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.alpha.org/invitation/banner.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <param name="play" value="true" /> <param name="loop" value="true" /> <param name="wmode" value="window" /> <param name="scale" value="showall" /> <param name="menu" value="true" /> <param name="devicefont" value="false" /> <param name="salign" value="" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <!--<![endif]--> <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflash"> <img src="http://www.adobe.com/images/shared/download_buttons/get_flash_player.gif" alt="Get Adobe Flash player" /> </a> <!--[if !IE]>--> </object> <!--<![endif]--> </object>

What if I want to produce my own publicity?

Our aim is to make it easy and cost effective for you to be able to promote your course. All the artwork is freely available in the downloads section of our resources page.

If you are using your own concept and wish to use the Alpha logo, the artwork and guidelines (please read before use), are also freely available in the downloads section of our resources page.

How might we incorporate prayer?

Many churches engage in week-long prayer before their Alpha course begins. Have you organised a prayer event for your course? Visit the Prayer for your course page for more information. 

What am I forgetting?

Training – Scheduling in team training is crucial to ensuring the most comfortable and encouraging experience for your guests. It is also a great time to pray and envision the team.

Why not bring your team to the Alpha Conference at Holy Trinity Brompton where they will receive full training and catch the vision for the new Alpha term.

Or attend Accelerate, your local 1 day Alpha Conference.

For more information on Training, visit the Training the Team page.

Stay Connected

Contact

For information on any of the above, or to share all you are doing to promote the Alpha course in your area, please contact the Alpha UK Invitation team, we'd love to hear from you!

Email:ukinvitation@alpha.org Telephone: 0845 644 7544