What - are you nuts?
I have a client who is a funeral director. (Yes, they need to market too! :) ) When I started working with him, he was spending LOTS of money on pre-packaged advertising vehicles - like print and television ads. The ads were well done - but they didn't represent him and in his community, his potential clients wanted to know and trust their funeral director.
I suggested that we drop the boxed ad campaign and turn to something more personal - like a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type of column on death and dying.
The column was immediately successful because people wanted to know more about funerals and about grief - but it's a hard subject to broach in most situations. The column expanded to include stories about some of the people in the community - the dedication of the "church ladies" who always made the funeral lunches, the wisdom of the clergy and the burdens that are carried by the widows and widowers who sit alone mourning once the last cassorole pan has been returned and their friends and family have gone back to their lives. The columns were filled with humor, tenderness and honesty - at every visitation or service, at least one person would come up to him and comment on his column.
Then, about eighteen months ago, something magical happened. A little squirrel adopted their funeral home. The funeral director bought nuts, corn, feeders and a squirrel house for his new fuzzy friend and he started to write about"Buddy," the squirrel. He wrote about being completed enamoured with this new friend. He wrote about Buddy's antics and the ever increasing family of squirrels that now resided at the funeral home. People in the community responded like never before - he found that guests at visitiations would show other guests where Buddy's feeder was located. People would drop by the funeral home with gifts for Buddy. Buddy even began his own Facebook page. Everywhere in this small community, people would stop him and ask about Buddy.
This funeral director has ended up with a number of new clients directly because of Buddy and many more because of his columns. He is amazed that merely writing a column would create the change in his business that he has seen. But the explanation is simple - people got to know him and trust him, and when you are in a service business that is as personal as the death of a loved one, those are the two greatest commodities you can offer to your clients.
I have a client who is a funeral director. (Yes, they need to market too! :) ) When I started working with him, he was spending LOTS of money on pre-packaged advertising vehicles - like print and television ads. The ads were well done - but they didn't represent him and in his community, his potential clients wanted to know and trust their funeral director.
I suggested that we drop the boxed ad campaign and turn to something more personal - like a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type of column on death and dying.
The column was immediately successful because people wanted to know more about funerals and about grief - but it's a hard subject to broach in most situations. The column expanded to include stories about some of the people in the community - the dedication of the "church ladies" who always made the funeral lunches, the wisdom of the clergy and the burdens that are carried by the widows and widowers who sit alone mourning once the last cassorole pan has been returned and their friends and family have gone back to their lives. The columns were filled with humor, tenderness and honesty - at every visitation or service, at least one person would come up to him and comment on his column.
Then, about eighteen months ago, something magical happened. A little squirrel adopted their funeral home. The funeral director bought nuts, corn, feeders and a squirrel house for his new fuzzy friend and he started to write about"Buddy," the squirrel. He wrote about being completed enamoured with this new friend. He wrote about Buddy's antics and the ever increasing family of squirrels that now resided at the funeral home. People in the community responded like never before - he found that guests at visitiations would show other guests where Buddy's feeder was located. People would drop by the funeral home with gifts for Buddy. Buddy even began his own Facebook page. Everywhere in this small community, people would stop him and ask about Buddy.
This funeral director has ended up with a number of new clients directly because of Buddy and many more because of his columns. He is amazed that merely writing a column would create the change in his business that he has seen. But the explanation is simple - people got to know him and trust him, and when you are in a service business that is as personal as the death of a loved one, those are the two greatest commodities you can offer to your clients.
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