The funeral home and memorial service industry is in a unique position when it comes to marketing.
It’s a service that everyone eventually needs while also being one many assiduously avoid. That leaves you with a range of potential clients with some even being relatively young but wanting to pre-plan their services, while other clients are family members dealing with an unexpected event, scrambling as they deal with funeral details, family arrangements and grief.
Memorial services have also become a far more varied product, with more desire for personalized services that often fall well outside the traditional. So, how do you accommodate for some many varied needs while communicating the core services of your funeral business?
Have an Awesome Website
Funeral home websites play an important role in both winning new business and providing services to existing clients. A funeral home website plays many roles, from salesperson to consultant to obituary publication. Social media also adds to the mix, leaving most funeral businesses with more communication channels than they can handle. However, an effective website will incorporate social media into their design to streamline clear and relevant information while being easily accessible to site visitors.
One of the biggest changes from the past is that most funeral homes publish obituaries on their websites. Obituary pages also become part of the memorial, where family and friends post images and share memories.
New, prospective clients gain a first impression of you on your website as they get information and view images of your facilities. Today’s website designs must be mobile responsive; you can expect more than half your traffic to be on mobile phones. A clean, functional design goes a long way towards persuading visitors you’re the best choice for them. Make sure your website is making an outstanding first impression.
Share Stories and Create Content
Funeral arrangements are something most of us remain ignorant about until a need either looms on the horizon or is suddenly thrust upon us. As new clients approach memorial service businesses, many need guidance on their options. You can earn trust, fill information gaps, and start the sales process for your funeral home all while providing information people need as they make their arrangements.
This is called content marketing. You can use your website blog, website articles, email newsletters, and downloads to inform and nurture prospective clients.
For example, many funeral homes offer a report on funeral pre-planning. This is usually a download that requires people to leave an email. From there, you can send a newsletter with advice, updates and links to your latest blog articles.
The challenge with content marketing is always creating the content. For mainstay content like a PDF on pre-planning, you might want to hire a professional writer. For more casual writings and things like helpful tips that you share on your blog, social media, and email, you can write it yourself.
Create a Welcome Video
You can get a lot of mileage out of a video commercial that introduces your services and gives a visual tour of your facilities. Seek out video production companies where professionals can guide you through the video process. Videos are wonderful investments and have a long shelf life and can be used, and re-used, on websites, social media, trade events and networking engagements.
Video is fast and effective marketing. In less than a minute, you can get your most important point across.
Use Facebook
Many funeral homes are finding that Facebook is useful for their marketing. First, because so many people are on Facebook today, posts work well as obituary notices. They are an easy way for family and friends to share the link to your page so people can add memories.
Funeral homes can also post on events (like Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day) to offer positive messages to their followers.
Facebook is a good place to put reviews, your video, and other business details. An increasing number of consumers check business Facebook pages before websites, and many of them will use messenger to contact the business. All of this is free, so it’s worth it to set-up and maintain your Facebook page.
With effective marketing practices. Most of these practices can be handled yourself, however, never hesitate to reach out to a marketing agency for support or questions. Do your homework and choose the right partners to help grow your funeral home business.
