We're long past the day when funeral homes, cemeteries
and crematories can ignore the Internet. Learning to market via this
medium is vital to ensure your company's 21st century profitability.
Taking full advantage
of Internet marketing
by Robin Heppell
Heppell's blog
Heppell's Web site
(Editor's note: This article is a brief excerpt of a workshop at the ICCFA 2007 Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entire presentation can be purchased on audio CD by calling the ICCFA at 1.800.645.7700. Price: $18 for members, $28 for non-members)
There is a large knowledge gap with Internet marketing. Some of you have had Web sites for years and are looking for pointers to fine tune them, while others may be seeking more basic information on how to build a Web site and begin your e-marketing efforts.
I'll start by taking a look at cemetery and funeral home Web sites, covering the most important features for each. Then I will reveal important tips for using e-mail effectively. Finally, I will teach you ways to collect e-mail addresses and conduct your e-marketing campaign with electronic newsletters and other Web-based services available to you and your clients
Basic Web site considerations
Choosing a domain name
The first step in creating a Web page is selecting a domain name. Try to select a "talking domain name," one that is short, easily remembered and to the point. It should be as close to your official business name as possible, without being too lengthy. An example is www.yourfuneralchapel.com.
Designing your Web site
Now that you have your domain name, you can start designing your Web site. The look and feel of your page should resemble the rest of your branding efforts. Be consistent!
You have two choices in Web site design: custom-built or template. Custom Web sites are built from the ground up, usually with the help of a graphic designer. Although building your HTML pages this way takes more time, its advantage is that it can be built exactly how you want it. Also, custom-built Web sites receive higher search engine rankings, which can ultimately draw more traffic.
Template Web sites have their benefits as well. They are preformatted sites that allow you to insert your logo and choose from a variety of designs and colors. They can be built quickly and can be easily edited without the help of a graphic designer.
Cemetery Web sites
The following are key elements for your cemetery's Web page:
Photo galleries
One of the best ways to promote your cemetery grounds and give visitors a positive first impression of your company is to incorporate photos onto your Website. For an example of well-done Web site photo use, visit the home page for Royal Oaks Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.
GPS for cemeteries
One of the more advanced services some cemeteries now offer is to map out GPS coordinates for individual graves. A suggestion for cemeteries who offer this service is to take it one step further and insert those coordinates into Google Earth, a free virtual program that maps out the earth and shows aerial images of cities, houses and land around the world.
Webcams
Webcams are quite inexpensive and they have wireless capabilities. You can strategically put these throughout your cemeteries, and have an area on your Website where people across the world can go and look over the grounds of the cemetery.Worcester County Memorial Park has a Web cam.
Funeral home Web sites
Now we'll switch to some of the key elements of a funeral home Web site:
Online obituaries
The number one drivers of traffic for funeral home Web sites, bar none, are online obituaries and virtual memorials.
At McCall Brothers, we also download all the virtual tributes that people have submitted, print them off on our memorial folders and give them to the family during our aftercare appointment. The families are always appreciative and surprised because many of them were not even aware of all the tributes that were on the Web site.
Testimonials
Take all the testimonials you keep in that big photo album in your foyer and scan them in so that the actual written testimonials are available on your Web site for visitors to flip through.
Online preneed form
Make prearrangements easier by posting your funeral home's preneed form on your Web site. As a result, you will likely draw more traffic to your site and will see an increase in business prospects.
Other advanced Web site features
For those of you looking to incorporate some advanced features to your Web site, video tributes and funeral director online chats are two excellent ways to get people involved and keep them coming back for more.
Online pricing
If your company is a discounter or a low cost provider, then it is absolutely necessary to have your prices online, because low pricing is your competitive advantage. However, the benefits of online pricing apply to even the most expensive cemeteries and funeral homes. Advertising your prices on your Web site gives people confidence in your business and assures them you have nothing to hide.
Educating the consumer gives you a competitive advantage. Here are a few ideas for setting up the pricing section of your Web site:
Include descriptions of your packages and educate visitors on the benefits of using your services.
Create informational pages that will serve as resources for visitors. Examples taken from the Web sites of non-discounter funeral homes and cemeteries include these titles:
"How to Compare Prices"
"10 Reasons to Call Us"
"Pricing Strategy"
Incorporate a comparison grid, similar to that which appears on the back of software boxes, with columns ranging from "basic" to "premium."
Create a pdf/printable version of the price information, so that people can easily download, print and study it.
Make your Web site known
Create a press release
Once your Web site is live (or had a significant feature added), the next step is to publicize it through press releases. Avoid using the term "brand new Web site," because people will wonder why it has taken you so long to get one.
Instead, use terms such as "new and improved," and focus on the features that make your Web site different from those of competing businesses in your area.
Update your listings
Remember to advise all local, national and regional organizations to update your listing in their directories and Web sites. This includes cemetery and funeral associations, the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce and other local businesses.
Marketing with e-mail
E-mail accounts
Who are you promoting with your e-mail account? Your Web site? (Example: robin@funeralfuturist.com) Or your ISP/Web mail? (Example: funeralfuturist@gmail.com).
Switch to your own domain name; it gives you more freedom and flexibility because you are not tied to your Internet Service Provider. Also, it allows you to advertise for your own company, rather than a multi-million dollar Web mail company such as gmail, AOL, Yahoo or hotmail.
E-mail signatures
E-mail signatures consist of text or graphics automatically attached to the bottom of all outgoing e-mails. They can be personal messages, contact information or privacy disclaimers.
Many companies recommend standard signatures that include name, position and contact information, but there is a lot more you can do with them. E-mail signatures can be used to convey information or promote your company's services and products.
Collecting e-mail addresses
The next question you need to ask yourself is who you want to market to and how you plan on collecting e-mail addresses. There are two technical terms for obtaining email addresses: collecting and harvesting.
Harvesting is the method spammers use when they pull e-mail addresses off of Web sites, having no prior connection with the targeted recipients. Unless you want to be labeled as a spammer, avoid using this technique. Instead, you want to "collect" email addresses, and there are many ethical ways to do this.
Of course, there is always the old-fashioned way of collecting email addresses-just ask! When handling arrangements, how many of you, whether you work at a cemetery or funeral home, have a field on your computer program or a space on your arrangement file that specifically asks for an e-mail address?
I know of some businesses that have been using the same arrangement form for decades, since before the Internet even existed. I think it's safe to say there is no space for an e-mail address on their forms.
In today's day and age, the majority of people who enter through your doors have access to e-mail. Ask them for their e-mail addresses, and whether or not it is their preferred method of communication. If it is, you need to communicate with them that way.
Remember, that does not give you the right to start e-mailing them all the time. Just as you would do when communicating over the phone, you need to build up a rapport with your contacts.
Confirming e-mail addresses
Three terms you need to know if you're considering e-mail marketing are "opt out," "confirmed opt in," and "double opt in."
"Opt out" is when people are automatically placed on an e-mail list, and are later given the option to be taken off. It is a form of negative marketing, because people have to uncheck a box or unsubscribe to take themselves off the e-mail list.
Though this method is legal, it is not recommended, because people may feel they were tricked into subscribing and will view your company as a spammer when they start receiving e-mails.
"Confirmed opt in" is when a person asks to be subscribed to a mailing list, either by checking a box or entering his or her e-mail address. A confirmation e-mail is sent to the person's e-mail address thanking him or her for signing up and giving the recipient an opportunity to unsubscribe by clicking on a link. If the person does not take the necessary steps to unsubscribe, he or she will be kept on the list.
"Double opt in" is the most secure method of e-mail marketing because it ensures that a person cannot sign up someone else. First, the person must ask to be subscribed to a mailing list, by either checking a box or entering his or her e-mail address. As with the "confirmed opt in" method, the person will then receive a confirmation e-mail.
The difference is that the confirmation e-mail requires the person to take another step to complete the subscription process, such as clicking a link saying "Yes, I did subscribe to this, and I am confirming that now." If the recipient does not verify the subscription, that e-mail address will not be added to the list.
Double opt in is the most ethical way to acquire e-mail addresses, and it has now become the industry accepted practice.
E-newsletters
There are many cost-effective and easy-to-use e-mail marketing tools available online that can help you to custom build your own e-newsletters. The three most popular ones in the e-mail marketing industry are Constant Contact, Vertical Response and My Newsletter Builder. All of these are geared toward helping you create your professional-looking e-newsletters with minimal difficulty.
Pictured to the right are three newsletter samples I created. As you can see, the one on the right, created using Constant Contact, is not only the easiest to work with, it is also the most appealing. It gave me a lot more options than the other two programs and made it simple to add and drop pictures.
The one on the left, created using My Newsletter Builder, is a little more plain, but also turned out well.
The one in the middle was created using text, rather than HTML. Though its outward presentation is not as appealing as the other two, text e-mails are more likely to get through spam filters, and therefore have a better chance of being viewed.
Be sure to give your subscribers the option of viewing the text version or the HTML version of your newsletter. This will increase the chances that the targeted recipients can receive and view your e-newsletters.
Finally, another e-newsletter option is to convert a previously-printed newsletter into pdf format and send it out as an attachment. I would only recommend this method if you are just starting out and are trying to test the community response to your newsletter. PDFs lack the flexibility and many options that HTML or text documents provide.
Viral marketing
Most of you are familiar with the terms "buzz" or "word of mouth." Someone tells a friend about a product, that friend tells two other people and so on. In the realm of Internet marketing, this is called "viral marketing," and can include anything you pass on toa friend, such as links to videos and blogs and forwarded e-mail jokes.
Following are some ways you can facilitate viral marketing.
"Send this to a friend" buttons
An easy way to incorporate viral marketing into your Web site is with "Send this to a friend" buttons. These buttons allow visitors to share Web pages or obituaries with friends simply by entering in their e-mail addresses.
CNN included a button with James Brown's obituary notice allowing visitors to share the notice with their friends.
Tip for funeral directors: After making arrangements with the family, explain to them that you will be sending the obituary to the local newspapers and you also will be posting it on your Web site. Then send the family a quick e-mail with all the information on it, including time and date of the service and visitation, and other pertinent information, including the link to the online obituary.
The family can then send it to everyone in their address book, who will likely visit the obituary site, and tell some of their friends. Many of the friends and family members viewing the obituary will likely want to send flowers, so make sure your Web site has the ability to take orders.
Blogging
Blogs, short for "Web logs," are becoming extremely popular as an online outlet for news or commentary on a particular subject. These personalized online journals encourage readers to interact by leaving comments.
Blogs can serve as a place for your company to upload information, news, press releases, events and frequently asked questions and can be used in conjunction with your cemetery or funeral home Web site.
A blog gives you the opportunity to comment on things happening in your area, a famous person's funeral or the review of a funeral-related book, just to name a few possibilities.
To find out more about how you can use blogs as a value-added service, visit my blog and read the January 6, 2007, entry.
Podcasts
As iPods evolve and become more complex, people are finding even more uses for them. Originally designed strictly for music downloads, they are now being used to download photos and audio/video files known as podcasts.
You can create your own podcasts and post them on your Web site for people to listen to. If you do this consistently enough and sign up for an Apple iTunes account, people all over the world can subscribe to your podcasts.
You may wish to start by interviewing local clergy, hospice workers, grief counselors, lawyers, estate planners and other people in your community. For more information on creating and subscribing to podcasts, visit the Apple Web site.
YouTube
YouTube allows you to easily upload videos, which can then be sent to friends or placed in your blogs or Web sites. YouTube makes it easy for you to upload video tributes, promotional videos and other videos to your site by giving you an HTML code that you simply need to insert into your Web site.
MySpace
A social networking site used mainly by members of Generations X and Y, MySpace offers us another opportunity to take funeral services to a new level. More than 100 million people have MySpace profiles, and it was last reported that if MySpace were a country, it would be the 11th largest in the world.
How is this relevant to our profession? When a young person dies, often his or her MySpace profile turns from a social networking page to an online vigil, a place where friends go to upload condolences, personal memories and well-wishes. Frequently television news stories covering a young person's death will show the victim's MySpace page and some of the tributes left by his or her friends.
As cemetery and funeral service professionals, we have little control over this portion of Web 2.0, but that does not mean we cannot be more aware. From now on, when making funeral arrangements for a young person, ask the parents if their son or daughter had a MySpace page. If so, ask them if there is any appropriate content on the profile page that can be used to make the funeral service even more personalized and meaningful. You can even do the research yourself by searching for the person's name on MySpace and reading the profile.
What else is out there?
Google Calendar
For those looking for online calendars, Google Calendar is one I have found to be very useful. I use mine for all of my speaking engagements and trade shows, and people can look at my calendar to find out if I am available for a certain day or week.
You can use it to schedule interments or chapel times so that when scheduling an arrangement, you simply have to log in to find out what days and times are available. To sign up for a Google Calendar account, click here.
Linked In
As a business-oriented networking site, Linkedin allows people to maintain a list of contact information of other professionals and local businesses. This is what many people are using in place of a Rolodex when they need a florist, lawyer, accountant, etc.
Flickr
Flickr allows users to upload photographs, store them and share them with friends.
In closing, I hope I have given you some new ideas on how to reach the 70 percent of people using through Internet through Web 2.0. We have covered so many topics, but all it takes is one idea for that light bulb to go off in your head, and inspire you to try something new.
I want to challenge you to try one new thing and see how it works out. E-mail me with your response, and if you allow me to, I will publish it in my blog, along with some commentary.
We are all in this together, and can help each other advance in our Web site use and other online ventures.
Copyright ICCFA 2007
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