While laying the ground work for our strategy for 2012 I was back tracking in my mind how much, and how quickly, this profession has changed since the launch of ConnectingDirectors.com in October of 2004.

When we launched ConnectingDirectors.com there were no other Funeral Industry publications online, funeral directors with email addresses (that were active) was almost unheard of. I talked with many many readers, who were among the first to join our email list, who created email addresses just to be able to sign up and many who had an email address, that they were never using, who started to look forward to daily emails from ConnectingDirectors.com announcing new article postings.

Just like email addresses were not used very much by funeral professionals neither were funeral home websites. I talked with many funeral directors who could not “buy in” to this “internet” thing as a permanent and value asset to their business. I could have funded ConnectingDirectors.com without advertising if I had a dollar for every time I was told “people want to read obituaries in the newspaper, not online”. Amazing this was just four years ago!

The few funeral homes who did have functional websites did nothing with them. The websites focused solely on historical information about the funeral home and pictures of the directors. Now funeral homes have websites that generate pre-need leads, focus on what is possible with a funeral service; websites packed with online memorial pages, lifelong online obits, tribute videos, and even sympathy stores.

In just four short years “most” funeral professionals have become fluent with email and text messaging. I have even talked with funeral professions who comfortably “text” orders for products to sales reps and industry suppliers. Funeral home websites are better than ever and funeral directors are realizing that embracing the internet can only help their business flourish and they are beginning to profit from relationships that have been built online with client families.

Year over year our profession has started to progress and embrace change more openly. This year I expect the change to be more rapid; and this is where many funeral homes will be faced with “life or death” situations. Embrace the change or quickly fade away.

I believe that 2012 will be a year, when looked back upon, will show a defined line that separates those funeral homes who embraced change and those who didn’t.

So, as this year begins I encourage you to be open to change. Look at the demands from consumers and provide solutions. Take a new approach to your marketing, don’t just do what you have always done. Market to consumers on their turf, embrace the internet and social media marketing.

Don’t do social media just because the other firm down the street is, do it and do it better, set the bar high, create a social strategy that will position you to capture the online space and make it impossible for your competitors to infiltrate your presence, it is completely possible and this is the year to do. This is the year that will define the great progressive firms from the stubborn firms.

This is your year to shine. This is your year, make it epic and have no regrets.

From ConnectingDirectors.com:

Starting a funeral home sounds like a piece of cake after reading this article from eHow.com. In just 7 simple steps you can be up and running. May be eHow.com should have talked with actually funeral professionals and funeral home owners when preparing this article! If you are interested they also provide links to articles that tell you how to: Run a funeral home, get a job at a funeral home, and how to sue a funeral home.

Starting a funeral home is not for everyone. However, this is a rewarding career and business. You will be helping people say good-bye to their loved ones by helping to arrange funerals. Funeral directors are usually highly respected individuals. You can help people grieve and give them guidance when it is most needed. It’s also important to listen to the survivors’ expressions of need and memories of their loved ones and offer them much needed support. If you enjoy helping people and planning events, you could make an excellent funeral director.

1. Choose whether you want to build your funeral home from scratch or if you want to purchase an existing funeral home. Obviously, buying an existing funeral home business would be much easier. However, if you want specific custom-made features, you should build your own funeral home. See more about building your funeral home in Resources.
2. Get educated. Mortuary school is a must if you want to be at the top of your game. You will learn how to embalm, transport bodies and coordinate a funeral service.
3. Take the Funeral Service National Board Examination (NBE). This is your license to become a funeral director. It is an exam that you will need to pass to begin working as a funeral director. Your school of choice will set this up for you on request.
4. Create a thorough and complete business plan to get money from a bank or investors to start your company. Even if you are doing the funding yourself, you need a plan. This will act as your map with every action you take toward your new business.
5. Become legal by hiring an attorney. You will need an attorney who has experience with the funeral home business to get the necessary legal papers, including legal contracts for your customers to sign. You may need to return to a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with funeral home businesses, so find a good one that you can rely on when you need her. Don’t just choose the first lawyer you see in the Yellow Pages. Think about your legal needs. Interview lawyers carefully, and pick the best of the bunch.
6. Buy your supplies. Now that you have bought your funeral home and become educated in mortuary sciences, you will need to find suppliers for your funeral home. You will need a supplier from which you can buy caskets, urns and other funeral home supplies. Find an affordable supplier from which you can get all of your funeral home supplies. You might need to find more than one supplier, but it is ideal to have just one.
7. Create a general price list for all of your funeral home’s services. On average, the traditional funeral, including viewings, embalming, transportation, cosmetics and professional charges, will cost the customer about $10,000, according to Newsweek.com (May 2009). Additional services may include cremations, obituary announcements, graveside funerals and paperwork assistance. You will need to have these on hand for potential customers and new customers. You are now ready to open the doors and start your funeral home.

Source

That said, Google+ cannot be ignored. One blatantly obvious thing Google+ has over Facebook is that it is directly tied to the most powerful search engine on the planet.

If your funeral home doesn’t have an official Google+ Page yet, now is the time to snatch one up. With Google+, the little +1 button will soon be absolutely everywhere — in display campaigns, various advertisements, on your website and even next to search results. The +1 button is the fastest growing social recommendation widget in history and is on over 1 million websites, receiving well over 5 billion impressions a day. But why does this matter in terms of Google+ Pages and your funeral home?

The +1 is Google’s way of tracking who all is recommending and interacting with your brand across the web. Think of it as the Facebook “Like” button. Soon, all the +1s around your brand will be connected directly to your official Google+ Page, anchored to your identity and allowing you to analyze data related to those +1 clicks.

Here is a link to download a free PDF White Paper from our friends at Disrupt Media Group that will walk you through setting up a Google+ Page for your funeral home:

Get it now!!: http://www.disruptmg.com/google-funeral-homes/

Add Hupp Stiverson to your “Circle” on Google+: https://plus.google.com/108851409346545438007

Google+ is Googles answer to Facebook, it is a social network that allows you to create Google+ Profiles (personal page) and Google+ Pages (business pages).

Google+ allows businesses to create pages and develop relationships with prospects and customers on multiple levels. Individuals can add a brand to a specific Google+ Circle, share a Google+ page with their network, and interact with the content posted by that company. For instance, users can +1 (or in other words, endorse) the updates a company publishes, leave comments, upload photos, and tag the brand in them.

An interesting aspect of this platform is that its Hangouts feature enables companies to engage with fans, prospects, and customers through video conference calls.

Video chat is definitely the element that distinguishes Google+ from other existing social networks. I think this feature could even play in to the evolution of pre-planning online. What if funeral homes held pre-planning education sessions online through Google+?

The new Google+ brand pages look similar to Google+ Profiles, except for the little square icon that designates that it’s a Page rather than a Profile. When users add a brand to their circles, it increases that brand’s follower count. This is simular to “Liking” a business page on Facebook.

Is creating a Google+ Page a MUST for your funeral home? This is a loaded question. Right now Facebook is much more important and much more effective for your business, but Google is putting a lot of priority into Google+ Pages appearing in search results. I think as some point Google+ will be a “MUST” so you should go ahead and get involved early!

You must have a Google+ Profile (personal page) to create a Google+ Page (business page).

You can sign up for a Personal Google+ Profile here: http://plus.google.com/

Here is a video guide to creating a Google+ Page for your funeral home: http://www.disruptmg.com/2011/11/set-google-business-page/

The afternoon was spent on the 50 Bird Sporting Clays course where Cody Stiveron took first place shooting 45/50 clays, Dwayne Fox and Marke Riffee took Second and Third place respectively. After the 50 clay course was complete the attendees enjoyed a cookout with food prepared by master chef Cody Stiverson.

For a full photo gallery of the outing see below:

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We feel the ultimate personalization is being able to completely customize the cover of a burial vault. Go beyond the stock legacy images and add photos of the deceased, pictures of their family, and images that will portray a story of their life and create a sense of true personalization.

Browse through the gallery below for examples:

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For more information about Custom Legacy images please contact our office: 740-454-9711

For more information and a Free 30 Minute Social Media review visit:http://www.disruptmg.com/funeral

Sometimes we dream/wonder about what we would like to be doing if not involved in our current profession. So we pose the question:

What Would You Be Doing If You Were Not in The Funeral Profession?

Please watch the video below, then share your answer.

To say that the fan base, especially when it comes to football, is fervent would be a massive understatement, and the fact that the school’s nickname is a nut turns the fervor into sheer poetry.  It should go without saying their passion is almost unrivaled — I wrote “almost”, SEC fans; save your emails— in the world of college football.

The latest proof of that?  Family members of an Ohio State fan recently decided to, as OSU fans are wont to do, bust out an impromptu “O-H-I-O”.  At a funeral.  With the dude in the casket serving as one of the letters.

In the description of the picture, the family wrote that the guest of honor was a”[l]ong time fan who was always the “I-O”, is forever the permanent “I”. Roy Miracle was shown in an OSU turtle neck that he loved, and holding the position that he loved!”

I may be in the minority here, and could care less if I am, but I have to say that that is totally… freaking… awesome.  Creepy?  Kinda.  Morbid?  Somewhat.  The eighth level of awesome?  Absolutely.

In fact, I can only think of one thing involving a corpse and tOSU that would be more awesome: dotting the “i” in Script Ohio.

(Tip O’ the Cap: Kegs & Eggs)

There seem to be two kinds of funeral home owners, those that don’t believe in social media, and those who have given social media a shot but quickly sank because they didn’t have a well laid out social media marketing strategy and plan, which has left them afraid and skeptical of the benefits of effective social media marketing.

Below are 4 of the most common reasons funeral homes are hiding and turning away from using social media as a component in their marketing plan:

They Just Don’t Get It

Many funeral homes are still run by owners who are stuck in their traditional (old school) marketing ways and they just don’t comprehend the engagement that occurs on social media sites like; Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube.

Fear of Bad Brand Management

This is one of the concerns I hear the most when talking about social media marketing with funeral home owners. They fear that using social media will place their business in an open platform and open them up to negative comments that will destroy their brand. There is also the fear that they will be held to a higher level of engagement that they won’t be able to deliver.

No Personal Time to Devote

Even though creating an effective social media marketing strategy can be done for a very small investment, implementing the strategy still requires someone who knows how to effectively use social media. Many decision makers do not have the time to learn and just don’t want to pay to have someone taught or hire someone already “in the know”.

Social Media is Just a Fad

The funeral home owners that believe this floor me. There isn’t too much to be said here, but these are some of the people who said the Internet was a fad as well!

If you would like more information on creating a social media marketing plan and strategy for your funeral home please email: ryan@disruptmg.com or fill out the Free Social Media Review form on www.disruptmg.com/funeral.

Here are a few links to some of the funeral homes and industry companies who have hired Disrupt Media Group to create and help implement their social media marketing strategy:

Craver-Riggs Funeral Home – http://www.facebook.com/craverriggs or http://www.twitter.com/craverriggs

Levine Memorial Chapel – http://www.facebook.com/levinememorialchapel or http://www.twitter.com/levinememorial

Wiefels and Son Mortuary – http://www.facebook.com/wiefelsandsonfh or http://www.twitter.com/wiefelsandsonfh

Advanced Audio Systems – http://www.facebook.com/advancedaudiosystems or http://www.twitter.com/AASfuneralTech

Wilbert Foundation – http://www.facebook.com/wilbertfoundation or http://www.twitter.com/wilbertfdn