Advertising is expensive. Plus, how do you even know if it works? Honestly, some will show obvious return on investment, but others will be hard to gauge. Some will cost you money, while some will simply take your time. Both are hard commodities to let go of, especially since the funeral industry is demanding so much of your time. Once, an obvious option was the newspaper. Granted, we cater to an aging population, but just look at the newspapers going out of business. Their readership is continuing to decrease and they are either being merged with other larger companies or going out of business altogether. One option here is to let the local paper know when you have a unique service that you are hosting. We see all the time where a funeral home serving a family is doing something out of the ordinary. Little boy with superheroes themed funeral, golfer who had memorial at the golf course, veteran with no family had huge attendance because the funeral home made it known. Don’t be afraid to put it out there. Let your obituaries be the talk of the town. I sadly admit that when I wrote them for families, a lot of the times I followed my usual layout and kept them simple. On the ones that I took extra time, I involved the family more and asked the right questions to better get to know the deceased. I wrote more meaningful interesting obituaries. Your community pays attention. Don’t think they don’t! Social media is a great place to spend some dollars. Facebook is a great way to let the community know what you are doing. You can do regular posts on what you are doing to serve families different than your competitor. There are tools to help with advertising an event, to get more “Likes” or followers or even “call to action” posts. Community Events are a great way to keep your name in front of your community. Veteran events especially are great exposure. Assist with putting flags on graves for Veterans day or wreaths for the holidays. Need help brainstorming? Call DECAIN and let us help. Click here for more information.

If your answer to the above question is “YES,” then you need to be asking yourself why. Don’t wait to address this as it could be that waiting will allow your competition to pass you by. If you have seen any significant drop, all is not lost, and you can still adjust and make your death care business remain relevant and competitive. No doubt the cremation rate has changed the business for everyone. How (or how you don’t) embrace it could decide whether you stay in business or not. In small rural America, the cremation rate is half that of larger areas. Do not be fooled by that, because it will catch up. If you have done things at your funeral home in the same way since your grandfather ran it, then likely you are not open to change. If your call volume isn’t decreasing but your revenue is, then you will probably still need to make adjustments. Let’s face it, you don’t want to be putting in the same effort for less money. There are things you can be doing to help stabilize the income your families generate. I have friends that own 20-30 call funeral homes and are still making a living, but they still have 20% cremation. I don’t think that will be true when their cremation rate jumps to 50%. At that point, they will face tough decisions. Do they want to work for less, sell to a competitor, or buy out their competitor? Other options include diversifying into other markets, such as a flower shop. DECAIN offers coaching to explore all of these subjects and will help your business create a plan to stay out in front of the issues. Call for a free initial confidential discussion. Click here for our contact information.