Funeral Home Marketing: John Callaghan on the Hot Seat

You’ve heard of John Callaghan, haven’t you?

To refresh your memory, he’s one of the industry’s top speakers on funeral home marketing.

In his new book, “2009 Strategic Marketing Plan for Funeral Service Professionals” he reveals how funeral homes should market in during tough economic times.

Why am I telling you this?

I’m telling you this because I convinced John to allow me to grill him during a LIVE 120-minute teleseminar on January 30!

It actually went for 2 1/2 hours.

We talked for just over an hour about his book and then we tackled dozens of questions that the attendees submitted.

You can read a partial list of questions below.

86 Pages of Funeral-Specific Marketing Advice

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If you follow John’s recommendations, you will save money on advertising, get better results with your marketing, and overall, Attract More Calls!

…Hepp

Partial List of Questions

• Could you discuss the use of tasteful humor in funeral home marketing?
• Telephones, yellow page ads – How do you set yourself apart?
• How do I market my firm against the “low price firm” in the market place?
• What are your thoughts on marketing during tough economic times? Is it actually a time when you can get more bang for your buck, attract a wider audience etc?
• How do we use permission marketing in funeral service, especially with the increasing use of online guest books and internet communications with our customers?
• With a downtown location and smaller parking area, how do you compete with funeral home not downtown and more parking area?
• What is the most effective advertising in a small rural community? Should we sponsoring and attending community events, sponsor information seminars, weekly newspaper ads, local magazines etc?
• Are there new words in the death care language that are more acceptable to the public?
• What kind of ad and or marketing should a funeral home do in response to a cremation society’s direct mailing piece that they continue to do in our community?
• When asked why our funeral home was chosen, my family follow up surveys reflect that I receive 0 calls from advertising. How should I interpret this?
• How do you get the message out to Hospice that there are many more options for a family other than direct cremation?
• What would the best way to market a second location in the next city with two corporate competitors presently operate there?
• How do you determine what are the most effective strategies?
• When conducting market research in my area, what are some good sources for Secondary data or information regarding the opinions and buying preferences of ANY of my target markets?
• I’m in a small market. How do I attract more calls, when it appears, my competitor has more money for unlimited advertising?
• How can I get people out of the mindset that cremation means no viewing?
• I’m losing market share to a new funeral home, How can I combat an upstate with a better location?
• If we have a web site, what are the best strategies to make certain that someone using a search engine, such as Google, will see our listing at the top of the results list? Are there other techniques that can be used in addition to the “keywords” that are embedded into the pages of the site?
• What is the best way to counteract, “I want the cheapest funeral?
• I am an independent operated firm in my town with two other firms who are corporate run, what can I do in ads to beat them as competitors?
• What medium is the best advertising in a conservative area?

Newsletter – April 2008

Welcome to the Future of Funeral Service Newsletter!

The April newsletter is here. It has been an interesting couple of months and I have a lot to share with you. If you feel that someone else could benefit for this information, please feel free to forward it to them.
If you are not a subscriber, click here for your own copy: Sign Up Today!

Please see below as I am hosting a free demonstration for PreneedReferrals.com on Weds., April 9 and see how you can start to get preneed leads from referrals and also from after care families – again, it’s time sensitive so register today!

Also, I would love to get your feedback – leave a comment on the website or just reply to the email. Thanks again, Robin Heppell.

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Featured Article: Case Study – Online Video for Funeral & Cemetery Promotion
In preparation for my presentation at the ICCFA Annual Convention in San Diego, I am conducting a live Case Study on how to use online videos to promote your services and your website. I have selected three terms to rank for – two are geo-targeted, one for a funeral home and one for a cemetery – both in my home town.
Read more >>

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Ask the Futurist: Green Funerals and Green Burials – Are you Ready?
I have been studying the topic of GREENING FUNERAL SERVICE closely and to start I want to point out that there are varying shades of green. It is not “All Green” or “No Green” – funeral homes and cemeteries can slowly incorporate GREEN into their operations. From the outset, there seems to be three areas of focus.
Read more >>

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Hepp’s ‘Net Picks: Marketing Experts see the need for Funeral Homes to use New Media
Marketing Over Coffee: I listen to this podcast religiously. Christopher Penn and John Wall will keep you up to date in marketing with “New Media” and the featured post is where they talk briefly about New Media and funeral service. You will also get tips on Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, Blogging, and Podcasting – I mean “Online Radio” Read more >>

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Do You Agree with Hepp? Are Memorial Societies Obsolete?

With a more educated consumer and with a wide variety of funeral service providers, the business model of a Memorial Society is obsolete!
Read more >>

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Future Sneak Peak: Free Demo of PreneedReferrals.com: Weds., April 9
Preneed Referrals is a funeral-specific website that I have created as a resource for funeral directors and cemeterians to put the power of “Send Out Cards” into your preneed marketing and family follow-up – after care – programs.
Read more >>

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Funeral Futurist Radio: Blogging for Funeral Homes with Tim Totten
On this show, Cot Covers creator, Tim Totten of Final Embrace shares his experiences with creating and maintaining his blog and discusses how funeral directors could benefit from creating their own blog.
Read more >>

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Funeral Futurist Tutorial: Using Excel: Track Funeral Totals and Averages
This tutorial will demonstrate how to use Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheets to track your calls by service type and have a running total and up to date averages in your various service offerings.
Read more >>

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Funeral Futurist Newsletter April 2008

Don’t Miss Another Month – Subscribe to the Newsletter!
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Marketing Experts see the need for Funeral Homes to use New Media

Marketing Over Coffee: I listen to this podcast religiously. Christopher Penn and John Wall will keep you up to date in marketing with “New Media” and the featured post is where they talk briefly about New Media and funeral service. You will also get tips on Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, Blogging, and Podcasting - I mean “Online Radio” Click Here

Free Demo of PreneedReferrals.com: Weds., April 9

Preneed Referrals is a funeral-specific website that I have created as a resource for funeral directors and cemeterians to put the power of “Send Out Cards” into your preneed marketing and family follow-up – after care – programs.

“Get Preneed Leads”

Send Out Cards is a service that allows you to send greeting cards via the mail – these are physical greeting cards that are placed in a bright, white envelope, and a postage stamp. Even though you do not touch these cards, they are written in your own hand writing and with your own signature. Sound too good to be true?

See The Replay:

Preneed Leads with Preneed Referrals

What will be covered in the demo:

For Funeral Homes:

• Create multi card campaigns to get referrals from preneed clients
• Create multi card campaigns to follow up with at-need families “Greeting Card After Care”
• Send bulk (but personalized) invitations for preneed seminars or holiday memorial services

For Cemeteries:

• Send follow up card with families after monument has been installed
• Send seasonal and holiday reminders to subtly promote floral sales
• Create multi card campaigns to get referrals from preneed clients
• Send anniversary card

For Vendors and Associations:

• Promote upcoming events or new products or services
• Send thank you cards to clients and support staff
• Send cards of congratulations for clients and members

Plus there are many other general uses for this system. I look forward to having you attend the online seminar. Leave a comment below or email me if you have any questions.

Proactive Funeral Director, Jan Nichols of Bay Gardens Funeral Homes in Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario says:

Using Send Out Cards for my Funeral Home is part of my Best Practices! I use it to follow up with families, to send thank you cards, and I send a card to every job applicant following the interview.

NOTE: This online seminar is a 2 step process:

• Log on via the Internet to watch the demonstration
• Call the phone number to listen

Preneed Leads with Preneed Referrals

Watch the Demo

Green Funerals and Green Burials – Are you Ready?

I had the opportunity to attend the “Going Green Symposium” at the ICCFA Annual Convention in San Diego. It featured Darren Crouch of Passages International Inc. and www.EarthUrn.com; Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council, Tim Rivera of Rivera-Hanlon Funeral Home, and Michael Kelley of KZF Design.

This 2.5 hour session was very enlightening about Green Issues and Funeral Service. What I hope is that funeral directors and cemeterians look at the “Green Movement” as an opportunity to further serve their client families and not as a threat – we didn’t embrace cremation in the beginning, let’s not make the same mistake again.

I have been studying the topic of GREENING FUNERAL SERVICE closely and to start I want to point out that there are varying shades of green. It is not “All Green” or “No Green” – funeral homes and cemeteries can slowly incorporate GREEN into their operations. From the outset, there seems to be three areas of focus.

• Green Operations: from an operational and building standpoint, how well are you doing your part for the environment – terms that you will be exposed to “Carbon Footprint” and “LEED” – this is what Michael Kelley spoke on
• Green Service Options and Green Products: from using non-formaldehyde embalming solutions to using refrigeration or dry ice; allowing families more participation with the body and with the service – some of which you already offer – can be seen as green options; environmentally friendly products that are made from renewable resources and are biodegradable – this is what Darren Crouch talked about
• Green Burial: this is not an exclusive option and it should be considered an acceptable choice meaning that types of disposition available are cremation, entombment, green burial, and interment – this is what Tim Rivera and Joe Sehee shared

One thing that was evident was that Joe Sehee and the Green Burial Council are not evil – they are reaching out to the funeral industry and want to educate and partner with willing firms that want to embrace green burial as an alternative – not necessarily a replacement to traditional disposition. Sehee and Rivera have worked closely together in New Mexico and serves as an example of proactive funeral director / cemeterian exploring new options for his client families.

I had the chance to interview Joe Sehee for Funeral Gurus:

NOTE: Another thing that was chiming from the Rivera – Sehee joint presentation was that GREEN DOES NOT NECESSARILY EQUAL CHEAP!

This session – The Going Green Symposium – created by the ICCFA was very educational and enlightening (don’t worry, as my personal choice, I still want traditional burial at Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria). Linda from ICCFA mentioned that they recorded the session and will make it available for purchase – I feel that it will serve as a great introductory course – Going Green 101.

This list is nowhere complete and nor am I an expert in Going Green. I will though continue to disseminate information to the funeral profession so that you can be more informed and be proactive in being able to serve your families who want these options – because if you don’t, your current (or new) competitor will!

Funeral Costs – What I Didn’t Get to Say

I had the opportunity to be on the Seattle NPR Weekday radio program this morning. The show was hosted by Steve Scher with guests, John Eric Rolstad of the People’s Memorial Association and Char Barrett of A Sacred Moment who performs home funerals. The show covered three main topics: Embalming, Cremation, and Funeral Costs. If you want to get the gist of what is happening in the Pacific Northwest, I would recommend that you have a listen to the program.

To listen to the Replay visit: “Funerals on Weekday at KUOW 94.9”

A couple things that weren’t mentioned but should be noted. The home funeral movement I feel is appropriate for those families wanting something private and under the ideal conditions. Dry ice might retard decomposition, but I would question if the family was prepared to deal with purge, urination, defecation, or the more unpleasant things that funeral directors have quietly looked after like tissue gas and maggots.

I give credit to Char for carving out a niche that she is serving – her website is informative and the families that she looks after will be the benefactors of her passion. Her website is: http://www.ASacredMoment.com.

When it came to funeral costs, John, from the People’s Memorial Association, referred to its price survey of funeral homes from western and central Washington state. He stated that there is such a wide range of prices for similar services – 300 to 400% compared to other industries that are 10 to 20% citing Target, WalMart and Costco. Unfortunately, it was the top of the hour and the host, Steve couldn’t see the disappointment face when I was unable to expand upon funeral costs – but this is what I would have said:

John is referring to commodities – things that do not have a qualitative differentiation in a given market. Funeral services couldn’t be further away from a commodity. The flaw in their survey is that they have requested a stripped down service to try to compare apples to apples. What aren’t considered are the differentiation factors like the level of service, the location and quality of facilities, and time frame and number of transfer staff dispatched to a residence, to name a few. Also, not considered in the price survey are other items such as DVD tributes, online memorialization, facilities, equipment, and knowledge of creating and facilitating events that are very personalized.

A more relevant comparison would have been to look at other service / experiential oriented industries like hotels – Motel 6 vs. Crowne Plaza or McDonalds vs. Seattle’s El Gaucho Restaurant – and oh, what about a cup of coffee? I am not saying that one has to choose the most expensive, but not everyone is shopping purely on price. Research that I have seen indicates that only 17 to 22% of consumers are truly shopping on price but the majority of consumers are value shoppers.

“With a more educated consumer and with a wide variety of funeral service providers, the business model of a Memorial Society is obsolete!”

Memorial Societies were formed to give people the opportunity to choose a simpler, less expensive option. A generation later funeral homes are either serving specific niches or offering a wide range of service options. Now with so many different choices, families can get whatever service they want. Just as funeral homes 50 years ago assumed that everyone wanted “traditional” funeral services, Memorial Societies should be aware that not everyone wants the cheapest! For someone who wants the absolute cheapest, I would forgo a Memorial Association membership fee and compare prices – save your 25 bucks.

It is a consumer-driven market so only those funeral providers who cater to what their community wants and what they are willing to pay will survive – if they are too expensive or too cheap they won’t.

I would like to thank the host, Steve Scher and the producers, Sage Van Wing and Katy Sewall of KUOW for inviting me as a guest on their show. I would invite comments from Char, John, other listeners, and my readers and fellow funeral professionals to continue this conversation.

Final point: I believe that any dialogue that serves as a catalyst for the general public consider how they would like their last wishes to play out is a benefit to them, their families, and to the funeral industry.

Case Study – Online Video for Funeral & Cemetery Promotion

In preparation for my presentation at the ICCFA Annual Convention in San Diego, I am conducting a live Case Study on how to use online videos to promote your services and your website. I have selected three terms to rank for – two are geo-targeted, one for a funeral home and one for a cemetery – both in my home town. The third is for a more general term for my new service, Preneed Referrals. I have created images for the search terms so that the text doesn’t get picked up by the search terms and skew the results.

* denotes graphical image of the video

* denotes graphical image of the video

* denotes graphical image of the video

Notes and commentary

March 16, 2008: Within 6 hours Revver videos were ranking very high in Google and Blip TV was in the middle of the pack for P.L. on the 1st page:

• B.P. in Vic: # 1 Revver
• F.P. in Vic: # 1 Revver
• P .L.: # 3 Revver; # 6 Blip

March 17, 2008: Yahoo videos appeared on Yahoo near the top. AOL Videos (not sure how they got their hands on the videos) but who cares as they started ranking in the middle of the first page. Still no sign of YouTube & Google Video and the search spiders must sleeping at MSN.

March 20, 2008: Revver fell as quickly as it rose. AOL videos are in their place. Interesting that the destination website pages are climbing in MSN but not the videos. I guess they accept the link power from the descriptions in the videos – Always remember to use http:// with your URL.

March 23, 2008: Still no sign of YouTube, but Google Video is starting to appear. MSN Live Search seems to be hard to crack – good thing that over half the people use Google. Speaking of Google, in all cases, videos gradually climbed up the ranks into the Top 10. I will leave the final date open for awhile and then see how long the videos stayed in the top SERPs.

May 5, 2008: YouTube has not only arrived, but it is at or near the top on the first page on Google. Also, all three search engines filled out over the month especially MSN’s Live Search. All three search terms dominate the first page of Google with at least 50% of the results. In particular, McCall’s has 70% of the “Funeral Planning in Victoria BC” results including #1 through #4.

June 30, 2008: A few results have slipped, but YouTube is dominant.  One thing that I noticed was other Funeral-Related videos that I have uploaded to my accounts were becoming the “Indented Result” which could be the cause for some of the results being pushed down.  Time to upload a second set of related videos – check back soon!

Please ask your questions or leave your comments below about this case study. Is there another topic that you would like me to tackle?

Blogging for Funeral Homes with Tim Totten

On this show, Cot Covers creator, Tim Totten of Final Embrace shares his experiences with creating and maintaining his blog and discusses how funeral directors could benefit from creating their own blog. Click the Play button at the left of the silver bar > Read more

Using Excel: Track Funeral Totals and Averages

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheets to track your calls by service type and have a running total and up to date averages in your various service offerings. Read more