See how you can easily survey your membership by creating an online survey with Google Docs. [Read more…] about Association Tip: Survey Your Membership in Less than 5 Minutes
Are You Happy with Your Email System?
On Friday, one of the funeral home website provider’s servers went down and clients were stuck without their website being live, but more importantly their email had stopped – and going into the weekend without email was not a great way to end your Friday. Anyway, we were able to get both clients set up using Google Applications where you can use your domain name email accounts like “[email protected]” and operate them through the power of GMail.
Here is a short video on why I like and recommend Gmail over any other email solution.
Sign up for your Free Gmail Account
Sign up for your Google Apps (Standard)
(as usual, make sure that you are comfortable with the Terms of Service – I use both of these services)
If you need help to set up all of the Google Applications for your domains, please send me an email at [email protected] – you’ll be surprised how reasonable it is to get set up and get running in just a few hours.
Questions about GMail, Google Apps, or email? Please leave them below.
…Hepp
John Callaghan: 2010 Strategic Marketing Plan
JUST RELEASED! John Callaghan’s 2010 Edition of his Strategic Marketing Plan
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 book, “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?
Recently I convinced John to allow me to grill him during a LIVE 120-minute teleseminar!
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.
Now you can get the Book, Transcripts of the Interview, and the Recordings INSTANTLY – in download format!
89 Pages of Funeral-Specific Marketing Advice
and over 2.5 hours of recordings
(delivered immediately after you purchase below)
$147.00 Now Only $97
Save $50.00
Still Undecided? Have a Free Sample…
Here is the First Chapter of the Book
Here is a sample of the Interview
$147.00 Now Only $97
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Partial List of Questions that are answered on the Recordings
- 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?
Funeral Futurist Predictions for 2010
My two main predictions can also be taken as warnings. They are strategies being played out on the internet right now and will only become more of a factor in 2010 – not that they will harm your business dramatically in 2010 but they will start to slowly erode it (if you let them).
1. Virtual Funeral Homes. These are not completely virtual businesses but are physical funeral homes that are creating a virtual presence covering a larger geographically area or even “testing the waters” in a larger or new trade area. We have seen Cremation Societies reach beyond their traditional trade area and you will other websites catering to a larger area, but being headquartered in their established bricks and mortar funeral home. Some may see this as a warning while other may see it as an opportunity.
2. Online Call Poachers. You probably haven’t heard of this term, but I couldn’t come up with a better way to name this “new player” into funeral service. These are information and resource websites about funeral service. They provide helpful information to consumers, answering questions, and maybe even providing a directory of funeral homes. These were once thought of as helpful directory sites but as they continue to add more information to their websites, they will become “funeral information juggernauts” that will rank at the top of Google and the other search engines for funeral related terms – even local terms.
Some of these sites may charge for featured listings in there directories, but what will be inevitable is that they will start receiving first calls (as people hit the Internet for information upon learning of the death of their loved one). At that point, they hold in their hand a Call that could get passed on to whoever they want to give it to – in some cases the highest bidder. They will become the online equivalent of the minister or hospice worker who can steer a family to one funeral home over another.
I am not saying that all directories and resource websites will do this but some will. This form of Lead Capture – or what I call in our industry “Call Poachers” – is actually an Internet Marketing Strategy that I have seen be taught and used in other industries where these marketers become conduit for leads and then direct them to the highest bidder. For some funeral homes, they be happy paying the “finders fee” to these companies, while others may want to control the “virtual real estate” in their market by being the go-to source for funeral information in their area.
I hate to have a negative tone while looking into a bright future, but I just want to make you aware of what is happen in the “virtual” world around you.
What are your thoughts? Please share your comments below…
Robin Heppell is Key Presenter at OGR Fall Forum
VICTORIA, BC – Robin Heppell, CFSP, president of FuneralFuturist.com, will make two key presentations at the two-day 2009 Fall Forum offered by the International Order of the Golden Rule (OGR), the world’s leading professional association dedicated to making independent funeral homes exceptional.
Heppell’s first presentation, Innovative Technology for Your Business, will present top technology and Internet resources that will help attendees promote their funeral homes. They will learn how their website can become more Google-friendly, and how to use other Internet resources such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to market their firm. He will share case studies, examples and the step-by-step process enabling attendees to implement these technologies quickly.
Heppell’s second session, Technology Applications for Funeral Home Operations, will address the lack of guidance on how to use technology in funeral home operations. Attendees will learn how to use commercial applications such as Excel, PowerPoint and Photoshop more efficiently, and discover the free resource of Google Applications. Heppell will show how these and other applications can give independent funeral homes a competitive advantage.
The OGR Fall Forum is designed to help independent funeral service professionals learn the latest technologies and proven strategies for delivering unmatched client family satisfaction they can apply immediately to boost their market share and improve their bottom line.
The OGR Fall Forum is set for the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Nov. 8-10 along the festive River Walk in San Antonio, Tex. Register online at www.ogr.org.