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)
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.
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 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.
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?
Online search is the new yellow pages. Even older adults rely upon web search to find important information about healthcare, finances, travel and funeral options. With 75% of those who are age 70 to 74 relying on search, it is no surprise that the decision makers for many funerals, who are Baby Boomers or younger, rely almost entirely on searching online to find funeral resources. A key business decision is how to reach them using digital ads vs. SEO?
If you wonder whether healthcare marketing should focus on digital ads or organic SEO (search engine optimization), the right answer is often - "yes." Making a choice about how to prioritize ads in your healthcare marketing can pit your efforts to create the content required for effective SEO against digital ads. The digital ads vs. seo decision should be based on your current business needs, and balanced against long-term goals. Healthcare marketing, done well, can address both long-term and short-term business goals.
