We're looking for some creative ideas/success stories/scripts/presentations or anything that might help us approach the funeral homes in our local area.
Many Thanks,
Tom
Tom,
I've worked with only one funeral home in my career, and that was back in 1973-74, at the first station I worked at, in Springfield, IL. Although the radio advertising they did with me could fairly be characterized as "dignified," the principals had quite a sense of humor. (Perhaps that's a requisite in their line of work; certainly understandable.) They actually asked us to put together a spoof spot for them -- not for consumption over the airwaves, of course, but just for their own entertainment.
You might consider recording an open-ended, informal interview with them, asking them about the highs and lows of their business, what attracted them to the field, what stories might they tell about situations, people, or encounters that made a deep or lasting impression...in an effort to get them to reveal the human side of their business. Funeral homes/mortuaries/cemeteries are generally not popular topics of conversation, but this might provide your prospects with an opportunity to show themselves real.
Daily death notices/obituaries, if your station is willing to air them, offer a natural sponsorship opportunity for funeral homes.
Let us know what you end up doing for them!
Hi Tom,
I'll include your post in this week's newsletter, and I'm guessing our members will have some fresh ideas for you. But in the meantime, you might like to take a look at these past discussion threads on the subject:
Funeral Home Marketing: How to Advertise with "Sensitivity"
And a while back, I posted an article by sales trainer Paul Weyland (Are Your Clients Advertising Their Good Deeds?), and he had this to say about getting funeral homes on the air:
Funeral homes are typically horrible advertisers. They love talking about their new facilities, the fact that that they are family owned and operated, about their easy “lay-away” plan and that their “sons Ed and Rick both work here.” Their ads are about as exciting as, well, a funeral home.
But dig deeper (sorry), and you find that most funeral directors have dozens of great stories about extraordinary things they’ve done to help families plan extraordinary funerals. Recently I spoke with a funeral home owner who was a real empath. He told me stories about customers who led wonderful lives, but had small funerals because they outlived their friends and relatives. He said, “It’s a shame. People should hear their stories.” I said, “Exactly. So, why aren’t you telling these stories in commercials?” These commercials would make him sound sympathetic, empathetic and very special to living people with similar life stories. “At _______Funeral Home, we remember.”
Hope some of this helps - and I'd second Rod's request . . . please keep us posted!
Hi Tom -
Here's an approach that worked really well for Park Memorial in Edmonton. Instead of talking about themselves (or who died this week) they donate their airtime to promote community services, charities, non-profits etc. They get a wonderful community image and don't have to talk about death, dying, pre-arrangements or any of the usual uncomfortable stuff.
Anchoring the branding is a 'jingle'. Yes that's right, a jingle for a funeral home. It's classy, tasteful, elegant and heartfelt. All we sang was their name and slogan, no other lyrics. It reminds me a bit of the beautiful piano theme from "Forrest Gump".
Check out the enclosed mp3 samples for a specific example and also the musical 'template' they used for creating all their messages.
Geoff Bate
Imagine Words and Music Inc.
1-800-246-2446
Thanks Geoff
Hi Tom...Winnipeg has some surprisingly strong funeral advertising. One of the local homes here includes the words: "We believe that helping people through a difficult time is a service, not a business. It's a calling, not a job." and closes with "A celebration of a life well-lived."
There are a few ideas listed under funeral homes on the Outstanding Radio website. The "Reach For The Caring Hands" gentle jingle we did for Reinke Funeral Homes in Indiana (1995?) would need a little refreshing to make it more current, but it might make a nice consistent gently sung phrase at the beginning or end of each commercial.
Plus the last few seconds of the "From Our Family To Yours" music is gentle and caring enough to maintain the right emotion without overselling. (Once again, a 2011 version would be better.)
Hope this helps!
Peter
One idea, which is only good for the end of May, is to find out if they have a Memorial Day service. Then get the Grace Memorial Day vignettes to sell them. It works for me every year.
Note please that this series salutes Medal of Honor winners. At least one CEO in your area is dedicated to supporting these heroes. Find him and sell him the same package.
Thanks Joe.
Tom
Thanks much for the recommendation, Joe!
This could be something that works for you, when it comes to approaches with funeral homes- For years, we ran the same kinds of copy, you know the kind, "We're there in your time of need", However when a new family bought the local funeral home in our community, one of the owners, a very talkative lady, I basically just brought her into the production room, put a microphone in front of her, and asked her some loaded questions, to which I got great stories- we sat there for about 30 minutes, and it gave me material for an interesting perspective, almost like a testimonial-
Many thanks Rob.
Love to hear the spots
Tom
Here they are Tom
Thanks again Rob!
T
Awesome ads, Rob! Thanks for sharing these.
