Protecting Your Company from Digital Disruption

(5 Minute Read)

What do Disney+ streaming, robotic automation and desktop video communication all have in common? We’re in an age of digital disruption. Entrepreneurs and savvy business owners alike are looking for competitive advantages and often find them in digital solutions. Your industry is no different with lots of disruption occurring now with even more to come in 2020.

What is Digital Disruption?

This is the effect of technology that changes the basic expectations and behaviors throughout our culture. Market disruption can cause whole industries to radically change and long-standing companies to disappear in very short periods of time.

Thanks for Those Who Care

To all of those who serve in health care, funeral care, therapeutic services, homeland defense and senior services, our community owes you a debt of gratitude for the selfless way in which you serve. Whether it is diagnosis or prevention, supporting families in the loss of someone they love, or protecting our communities or supporting our seniors, you make a world of difference. Our community and our nation would not be the same without you.

What Communities Can Learn from Dia de los Muertos

Your Reputation. Your Stars are in their hands.

For a funeral home owner, there is probably not an asset that is more valuable than the funeral home’s reputation. Yet, the emergence of social media has changed the way that people evaluate the businesses that they should trust for important family needs.

85% of Americans report that they trust online reviews more than what their friends or family say about a business. (Brightlocal)

Disconnected - How Your Website and Facebook are Costing you Business

You may think that just “having a Facebook page” and “a website that serves as a digital billboard” is enough to grow a funeral home. That approach might allow you to “check the box” about being online, but it will actually work against the growth of your business.

Marketing that Actually Empowers Sales - Smarketing

The longstanding tension between marketing and sales is no secret. One side (marketing) runs great campaigns and is disappointed by the way sales teams put those leads to use. The other side (sales) doesn’t think the quality of leads is high enough and responds to marketing generated leads with a less than enthusiastic attitude. Story Collaborative recently joined the elite group of “Sales Lions” after completing the transformative Pipeline Generation Bootcamp provided by our partner, HubSpot. We learned better sales-marketing alignment through smarketing.

High Performing Websites through Growth Driven Design

Who is your number 1 sales person? Your website.

A lot is riding on your website. What used to be an online support to sales has now shifted to become our number #1 sales person. How so? Consumers spend at least half of their time online before they talk with anyone in your business. The wrong choices on how you approach your website can have the same affect as firing your best salesperson, or closing your most profitable storefront.

Story Ecology

Story Ecology is the analysis and development of intentional strategies to bring health and vitality to the complex network of stories that surround every organization. The interaction of these stories, their impact on both the organization and the individual groups. Story ecology combines elements of cultural anthropology, communications theory, systems thinking from ecology, narratology and communications best practices to enhance prosocial values and interpersonal health in companies and nonprofits.

Should I be using digital ads?

6 Steps to Marketing Cremation Services without Becoming a Commodity

The pressure to compete on price is mounting, but consumers want services beyond cremation too.

Consumer groups and low-cost providers are making price a focus for cremation. However, when we marketing cremation services on price alone, we risk becoming just another commodity like everything else that you can buy online with a coupon or an "on sale now" tag.

What is a commodity? Something to be traded and purchased based upon price alone. Commodities are things for which a special description is unnecessary because the service or good is always the same. The market treats commodities as essentially the same, measured in a standard unit and interchangeable.

How do funeral homes respond to families concern about prices without allowing themselves to be shopped on price alone?