The 6 Elements of Compelling Funeral Marketing, Explained

With COVID-19 hitting our industry pretty hard, it’s good to build a solid foundation of online funeral marketing to attract potential families.

Now more than ever, families are going to find your funeral home online, so here are a few ideas to let your funeral home shine with your funeral marketing:

1. A clear and concise goal

Before you start any funeral marketing efforts, have a clear goal in mind. Are you trying to educate your potential customers? Increase your revenue? Increase pre-need leads? Get really clear with your goal, and let that be the foundation of your funeral marketing efforts.

Read More: 17 Baby Boomer Statistics That Will Change Your Funeral Marketing Forever

 

2.  A wealth of knowledge on your client families

Building a solid client persona is truly the only way your marketing is ever going to break through with your potential families. Your persona will want to include important elements such as: 

  • Demographics (about them)
  • Their challenges & pain points
  • Motivations & desired outcomes
  • Obstacles (to the desired outcome)
  • The value your solution provides

 

Once you have all of these elements in place, your funeral home can begin to build a message that communicates in a meaningful way how your products and services offer value to families. Starting from this wealth of information will give you lots of clues about how you can help improve their lives.

Check out this article on how to build a solid buyer persona at your funeral home.

 

3. Wide open ears (for listening)

All modern day marketers will tell you that marketing is 2 things: listening, and storytelling (we’ll get to that next). After building some solid buyer personas, it’s time to get online and see what kinds of things your families are saying about funeral service, or even your funeral home in general. 

Here are some ways to deeply listen to your families:

  • Read reviews about your funeral home, your competitors, and the industry leaders
  • Use forums like Reddit and Quora to research questions people are asking about funeral service
  • Interview your client families who have really enjoyed their experience with you to find out why in a deeper way
  • Keep your pulse on the latest news on funeral service, using search terms like “Death Positive Movement” and “Funeral Industry Changes” on Google 

 

4. A damn good story

First your client families want to be heard, and then they want to feel that your message is resonant with their needs. They want to know you understand their challenges and pain points, and how you’re here to help them. How can you do that without talking at them? Through the art of storytelling.

Humans have used the art of storytelling for ages to communicate in simple terms some of the most complex messages and lessons. Stories can help explain, with a sense of emotion and connection, the value your funeral home offers your families. And it works. For example, Apple doesn’t use technical jargon to explain how great their technology is. Instead, they focus on the emotionally-driven benefits for their users. 

For the ultimate guide to storytelling in marketing, check out this comprehensive guide from Hubspot.

Funeral marketingSOURCE: Hubspot

 

5. Real, meaningful relationships

I remember a long time ago, a smart businessman once telling me “business IS relationships”. And he was right. At the heart of most successful funeral businesses out there, there are usually a lot of real, meaningful connections and relationships. I also remember a phrase “A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush,” which basically says if we focus on the customers we do have, we won’t need to reach our hands out for more. 

This is especially true in funeral business. Client families like being able to rely on a funeral home they trust for generations. So offer them that long-term, meaningful relationship they’re looking for. Send them holiday cards, invite them to community events, and educate them on the questions they have. 

 

6. A website that does the heavy lifting

The way your funeral home website functions and looks is, arguably, AS important as the way your funeral home functions and looks. It is your digital funeral home, and it should feel that way to your potential client families. Gone are the days where websites are just a static advertisement. Now, a successful funeral home website should be a living, breathing (pun intended) service for your families. 

Pro tip: If your website remains static and not the most valuable resource in your funeral marketing toolbox, contact our Funeral Success Specialists a call so they can guide you on creating a compelling funeral home website boot. Click here or give them a call at 1-800-798-2575.

 

Funeral marketing is a marathon

Finally, please remember that funeral marketing is a marathon, not a sprint! With a little patience and persistent effort, you’ll slowly create a nice revenue-generating marketing machine within your funeral home. 

If you want to dive deeper into funeral marketing, check out some of these recommended reads: 

 

What else makes your funeral home marketing compelling to client families? Tell us in the comments below!

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  1. Grant McGuinty

    The read on 17 Baby Boomer Statistics was most interesting and helpful Tremendous research
    that funeral directors can benefit from. The shortcoming of most directors in Canada is that there is very little taught about marketing and advertising strategy. So much focus is put on embalming skills, legislation, anatomy and physiology, et al. It is not reflective of today’s changing market. There are way less embalmings. Funeral students should be taught more about educating the consumer. They are not taught how to interact and listen to families I don’t remember one class at Humber College in Toronto where I sat down and did a mock funeral arrangement.. Maybe one day the education system will catch up to the industry, a.k.a. the consumer.

    Finally, I just wanted to politely point out one of your headings appears to be incorrect.
    Funeral Marketing isn’t a marathon, should read Funeral Marketing Is A Marathon,
    .The headline does not match the first sentence in your story.
    Best of health to staff at Funeral One