Top 8 Marketing Strategies for Funeral Homes
This industry is a unique one, where clients do not actually want to use you and yet eventually will have to! Make it your goal to be the go-to funeral home where people can rely on your professionalism, compassion, and reliability. In this day and age, people go to the internet to research and contact potential funeral homes for either themselves (good for you pre-planners), or their loved ones who have passed. In any case, these are delicate and difficult times for people and providing a knowledgeable, safe environment where customers can get the exact personalized service they want is imperative.
#1. Personalized Funeral Home Services
One of the quickest methods of setting your funeral home apart from the competition is to create services which are completely individualized. Don’t let your funeral home stay stuck in the traditional, serious, expected services. In today’s media-driven world where everything is online and individualized, a little customization goes a long way. People strive for personalization in all arenas and a memorial service is no different. Customize the event, and allow the service to capture the personality and life of the loved one.
You can create these personalized memorial services in a way that demonstrates respect and honors the life of the individual in a somber way and yet also embodies the spirit in which the person lived their life.
Besides personalized services, many loved ones are seeking to secularize their event, rather than sticking with the serious, traditional religious services. While that was the tradition and common practice in the past, in today’s unique world, fostering a personal approach (which may not be religious) is most likely the best way for you to stand apart from the other funeral homes. This also enables you to provide exactly what your clients want.
#2. Funeral Home Introductory Video
In order to get your name out there and market your personalized approach and other services, a video commercial is the way to go. It’s beneficial to give a visual tour of your funeral home and outline exactly what services you provide so that in a very short minute, your clients know exactly what you offer. This video should be embedded on your website homepage and put on Facebook, YouTube, and any other online source you utilize.
#3. Best Funeral Home Websites
Advertise your personalized services and introductory video on your effective and efficient website. A website which clearly shows your service facility, what options you offer, reviews/ratings, location, hours, and all other business information is imperative. Direct links to call you and email you are also helpful. Blog posts and general information is also useful to include. However, that’s not all a website can do. It can give potential clients a glimpse into your company culture and vision. It can make them feel at home with postings from family and friends of clients, while making them feel secure with answers to their many questions.
Having a website which is functional and provides all the crucial information is wonderful and necessary, which can be accomplished while also providing elegance, ease, and comfort. Nuzunet Marketing can provide you with a website mockup to give you a website which does all this for you. Your website is your client’s first impression of you so make it count!
#4. Search Marketing for Funeral Homes
The best way of mastering the search is Google and Bing for both paid and organic searches, as most clients will first refer to their phones and Google when searching for a funeral home. Having a marketing campaign for PPC (pay-per-click) and SEO (organic) searches are imperative for your marketing success.
When you’re approaching clients who are ready to use you right away, PPC is the most likely solution, as it’s a direct-response approach. Your ads can rank at the top of the search results and you’ll pay for each click, so you’ll want those to count.
SEO or organic campaigns are best used for clients who are at the start of their search and are seeking information and what options are close by for funeral and memorial services. Your blog, website, and content are where you’ll pull in these clients, as they will learn to trust you through the information you provide. Additionally, the more content that you have, the higher you’ll rank on Google.
Utilizing Google My Business page is also an integral part of this approach. This is where your funeral home will be linked to Google maps for free which means you’ll appear in local searches. Keywords and phrases that are directly linked to what customers search will most likely increase your ranking. Customer reviews also help in this arena.
#5. Top Funeral Home Reviews
Your marketing success often hinges on reviews. No longer are reviews simply word of mouth approvals but now online reviews are everywhere. Reviews affect your rankings in Google, Google Places, Top Rated Local, Yelp, and Facebook. Most importantly, your potential customers base their decisions on prior customer feedback. A good review can land you a client while a bad review can scare away ten potentials.
The most effective positive reviews are testimonials. Place comments from real clients on your website and Facebook so that your potential customers can see all the positive things said about your funeral home. A surefire way to accomplish this is to exceed their expectations and ensure things go smoothly at their service so they don’t have to stress during an already difficult time. Once you have a satisfied customer, follow up with a request for a review and then splash that review all over your website and social media.
#6. Facebook for Funeral Homes
You can’t splash reviews on a social media account you don’t have. A crucial part of marketing your funeral home in today’s day and age is on Facebook. In one spot, you can capture an entire segment of potential clients. Not only can you advertise here but you can also have easy links from loved ones pages and memorial boards directly to your website. Obituary notices are often replaced by Facebook posts, so this is another way to reach potential customers.
Create followers amongst past clients and potential clients who have reached out. Offer positive, heartwarming messages and a video of the services you provide. Have easy links to your services, your website, and of course, include reviews on the page. This is a direct link to future clients through a free and social source.
#7. Content Marketing for Funeral Homes
Funeral and memorial services may be a brand new experience for many of your potential customers. They will need someone they can trust to provide them with information about the usual process, all their options, and potential pitfalls to watch for. If you become the expert on these topics for them, providing them with information while also gaining trust and beginning the sales steps with them, you’ve just accomplished content marketing. Utilizing your website articles, reviews, videos, newsletter, helpful downloads, brochures, and your blog are all ways to inform your clients about their options. You may need to include both personal and professional writings on related topics, using professional writers for longer, more informative writing, and your own experiences for your social media accounts.
This is your opportunity to become the expert and answer any and all questions your potential clients have, which will be many as they are likely new to this process. This may be where you use an infograph to provide a visual representation of the most important information they’ll need to know.
#8. Funeral Home Digital Marketing Support
This is where you call in the big wigs to help you in this journey. You can do a lot on your own but for truly effective online marketing, using a company like Nuzunet Marketing is going to make all the difference. If you already feel spread thin with all the duties related to your funeral home services, let the web marketing experts do this work for you. Additionally, using software which organizes information and data for you is helpful. We can walk you through every step of both online marketing and using evolving technology to your advantage. We can provide you with a free demo of the available software, as well as a website design and plan. Most importantly, we’ll also include a marketing plan that fits your needs and vision. Call Nuzunet Marketing today and become a top rated funeral home service near me.
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