Funeral Futurist | Robin Heppell

Host Your Own Funeral Home Radio Show through Podcasting

Although this might be pushing the envelope for everyone save the most tech-savvy funeral director, this is a cost effective initiative would allow a funeral home to start its “narrowcasting” marketing campaign. In the past (and into the future), funeral homes have used forms of “broadcast” media such as newspaper, television, radio, and bulk mailings for “top of mind” awareness.

Not to say that you should stop your broadcast efforts, but with people becoming “information seekers,” your web presence needs to be a deep repository of helpful information. To add to the volumes of text that a funeral home may have on its website, a library of multi-media files such as audio interviews with members of the community relating to end-of-life issues, would further position you as the expert in your industry.

Don’t get spooked about the word “Podcast” – just think of it as “Online Radio” – but if you want the technical definition, here it is . . .

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which, like ‘radio’, can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term “podcast” is a portmanteau of the name of Apple’s portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast; a “pod” refers to a container of some sort, and “cast” to the idea of broadcasting. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

Many industries that podcast, offer regularly scheduled “shows” such as a diaper company backing a podcast by a couple of moms discussing life with toddlers. Other industries that do not have repetitive sales cycles (like diapers) and are more like one-time sales with big price tags can use the power of podcasts. When someone needs to make a big purchase in a short amount of time, baby boomers and younger generations will become information junkies. They will engulf themselves with anything that they can get their hands on to make an informed decision on topics that they previously knew next to nothing about. Could that describe someone who just found out a loved-one died and doesn’t know the first thing about funerals?

How to Get Started

First become an information junkie yourself and Google “podcasting 101” or “getting started in podcasting” for steps needed to claim your spot as the leader of funeral information in your area. From those searches your will find out what you need for equipment, but don’t forget that you probably have a chapel with a microphone system and it is not a large step to tie in recording capabilities with the addition of a $500 computer. (As an aside, for those of you who do not have this set up yet, you could easily record every chapel service and furnish the family with an audio CD versus the cassette option.) You could also take the portable route with a recording device like an iPod or other portable media player with recording capabilities.

Plan your Show & Book your Guests

Make a commitment to having one interview every other month until you get to comfortable enough to have them more frequently. This is not to mean that these shows or interviews have to be the last Wednesday of the month at 4:00 pm. You can actually record some in advance and release them on scheduled basis. When you are thinking who you should interview, just casually ask the clergy on the drive to the cemetery if they would like to be a guest on your program. Also, at your next Chamber or Golf Club Executive meeting, pose the same question to a lawyer, accountant, hospice worker. If you are strategic about this, you can cover a variety of niche topics as well as build new (or deeper) relationships with these community leaders.

(My next “Funeral Home Radio” article will cover the 8 Community Leaders You Should Interview.)

Collateral Benefits

The person will brag to all of their friends that they were interviewed by the funeral home hence virally spreading your firm’s name and website. (Viral means word-of-mouth in Internet terms). Both they and their network will think of you the next time a death occurs.

In addition, you will get a huge boost in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. The benefits are two-fold, first the interviewee will link to your site (their interview) or you should suggest this to them. Second, by transcribing the interviews, or at least have a written recap with excerpts, this content should be included along with the audio file itself – remember, search engines love content.

This is your chance to be the leader of “Funeral and Related Information” in your area – the position is up for grabs so take it!

Hepp, Where Did You Learn This Stuff?

I would have to say that if it wasn’t for podcasts and my iPod we wouldn’t be having this conversation – because you probably wouldn’t know who I am.  Also, I wouldn’t have been able to learn about Websites, SEO, Blogs, Podcasts, and Internet Marketing.

My two mentors in the world of podcasting are Alex Mandossian and Paul Colligan.   If you want to short cut your learning curve on what podcasting is and how it can apply to variety of applications, you may want to consider checking out their Podcast Secrets preview.  It costs $99 and is worth every penny.  Even better news is that you can save $79 if you use this code: PC916 – so you will only have to pay $20.  If you are are interested, go here: >> Hepp’s Podcast Mentors <<

Are You Already A Online Radio Show Host?

Please share your experiences in podcasting or hosting your own, online radio show in the box below.

Also feel free to ask any questions that you may have about podcasting below. . .

. . . Hepp