One of the questions I get asked most often as a funeral marketing specialist is how do you market a funeral business? Long gone are the days when adverts in the local paper and yellow pages was all the marketing to needed to do.
Whether you're a funeral director, celebrant or another type of funeral business, these days, a multi-channel approach to marketing is required to ensure you are continually increasing brand awareness of your business with families in your local community, and you are visible in Google when the time comes that a family needs a funeral.
Our proven approach for marketing a funeral business is based on more than 13 years of experience of marketing in the funeral industry.
1.Being visible in Google when a family needs a funeral.
As a funeral business it’s important to be visible at the point a family needs a funeral. Most people now head to Google and search “funeral director near me” or “what to do when someone dies”, so you need to make sure your business is ranking on the SERPS (search engine results pages).
So you need:
PPC (pay per click) advertising to list at the very top of the page.
A Google Business Profile that is actively managed to rank in the Map Pack of 3.
And an SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy, which requires both a technically excellent website and to be continually updating your website with relevant content.
2. Increasing awareness and recognition of your business with people who will need a funeral in the future.
But as you know, when families search on Google, the search engine results pages list your business as well as local and national competitors, so you also need a marketing strategy that increases awareness and recognition of your business. The aim is to become a top of mind funeral business.
To achieve this you need:
Social media marketing that is engaging and connecting with the people in your community that will need a funeral in future.
Local paid advertising and sponsorship that is continually running to build your awareness and recognition over time
Community engagement, which many funeral businesses are really good at. To build those connections and trust in your business.
3. A website that works hard to convert visitors into phone calls
When a visitor lands on your website, if they don’t quickly get the feeling of reassurance that you’re going to look after them. If they can’t see the people who will help them. If they don’t quickly find the information they are looking for. If it’s too slow to load or looks outdated, then they will quickly leave your site and go to a competitor. It’s all so easy to do.
It’s so important to give your website the same attention that you give to the look and feel of your funeral home and cars and the same care and attention you give to a client in real life. Because if the experience on your website isn’t exceptional, they are less likely to pick up the phone and become a client.
4. To deliver exceptional client service to generate loyal customers that also become advocates
I get told all too often by funeral directors that this is all they need to do to attract new clients. Deliver a good service and rely on word of mouth.
However just relying on word of mouth is a risky strategy when many other funeral directors are investing in the modern marketing strategies above as well as getting clients to recommend them online, and the reasons to ask clients for a Google Review speak for themselves:
81% of consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses
54% of consumers except to see a star rating of 4 or above
74% of consumers expert to see more than 20 reviews for them to even consider using a business
5. Compassionate marketing The tone and sensitivity we need to use in marketing a funeral business is quite unique. Funeral marketing isn't about selling, but it is about building connections with local people in a way that attracts their attention to a topic that most people find difficult to talk about. Funeral directors and celebrants have a real opportunity to become thought leaders and educators in their local community to encourage conversations about funerals so that when a death does occur in a family, everyone is better prepared for it, and the process of arranging a funeral can be made that little bit easier.
Avens Marketing is a funeral marketing specialist. We help funeral businesses with our simple and caring approach.
Comments