Back in 2015, we wrote a blog post to educate funeral professionals on blogging and explain how a funeral home blog can benefit funeral homes. Still, not enough firms are taking advantage of this free opportunity to grow their business.
The term “funeral home blog” is more than just a buzz word. In fact, starting one should be the next move for your firm. Engaging with today’s consumers requires more nurturing than ever before and that means constantly giving people reasons to choose your business over the competition. While taking on more work and growing your task list may seem like a nightmare, blogging can actually lighten your load. That must sound crazy. But bare with me here as I walk you through the 6 essential ways a funeral home blog can help you dominate your service area. In addition, I will provide some tips that you can use to start today!
Become Easier To Find on Google
Search engine optimization is the best justification for your funeral home to start a blog. The more written content you produce, the more key search terms you can use and be found for. The chance of being found on Google literally increases with every word. For example, if you want to boost awareness about your cremation services, write a blog post about cremation services. It really is that simple and it is a great way for your funeral home to generate organic traffic to your website. And the best part? It is completely free.
Produce More Content For Your Social Pages
The main thing preventing most funeral homes from getting on social media is the work load. Producing content that is engaging, informative and entertaining is not only time consuming but it requires tons of attention to detail. A funeral home blog can give you the unique content you need to have a successful social media strategy and direct more visitors over to your website. If your write a couple of blog posts each month, put up some photos, share links relevant to your community and put your team out there, you will be active on social media networks before you know it.
Personally Connect With Families
There is nothing more important than building a personal rapport with the families in your service area and blogging is a great way to to establish these connections, especially because it positions your firm as their go-to resource when it comes to death care and what funeral home doesn’t want that title? Instead of wishing that people knew more about you or wondering how to convey certain thoughts and feelings, write it down and let people see! Think of it as a way to offer in-depth information that works as supplementary reading for your website, social pages and other marketing material. A good funeral home blog will answer the deeper questions, comfort the family and build trust before they ever pick up the phone to call you.
Answer Frequently Asked Questions
In addition to having a more personable online presence, a funeral home blog allows you to answer frequently asked questions. By providing people with useful information proactively, you are improving their experience with your business. The truth is, traditional FAQ pages are boring and offering answers in the form of a blog post will show that you are willing to go the extra distance to help the families you serve. Not only is it more transparent, but you will save time by getting important information out to the masses instead of one by one. Families will always have questions, so you will always have content ideas!
Let People Know What You are Up To
Have you made any upgrades to your facility? Hired new staff? Started offering a brand new product or service? It is important to always let families know what is new and exciting at your funeral home and a blog is a great venue for sharing news and updates with the community you serve. Because your funeral home blog will increase the visibility of your firm online, it will be noticeable for potential searchers that you are both active and relevant. Being in a busy industry, it will be no trouble coming up with things to talk about. Noticing a theme here?
Share Your Wonderful Experiences
Last but not least, use your funeral home blog to bring people behind the scenes of your funeral home. It may not be a good idea to make certain details of your occupation available, however, sharing some of the sweet, funny and heartwarming parts of being a funeral director is a definite must. It will help people understand your business and associate your brand with something other than death. If you do something to go the extra mile, receive great feedback or feel inspired by something, write about it. Showcasing the human side of your job is something needed in the death care industry and will be the difference for many of being the chosen funeral home, or not.
How To Get Your Funeral Home Blog Started
We always encourage our clients to be the FrontRunner, and truly lead their community and will gladly help you connect with more people. Ask us how to set up your blog today. The fun starts once it is up and running. Here are some tips and tricks to get started:
- Write down five of the most common questions you get from families. Then come up with a few key points for each and brainstorm how you could do more to help them understand the answers. Separate the questions and you will be a great starting point for your blog.
- Choose 4 important topics or services that you want to be known for. Then put them on a list. Then write down some ideas relating to each item. These will be great topics to cover! Not sure what your community is looking for on search engines? Check out this helpful blog post to see exactly what people in your service area are typing into Google.
- Keep an ideas notepad somewhere and write down any other potential post ideas. Remember, this is your funeral home blog. Talk about the industry, trends that you see or predict and share personal experiences. Before too long, you will find yourself with an overwhelming amount of stuff to write about.
- Do not feel pressure to write a feature length article every time you sit down at the computer. The average blog post is between 300 and 1000 words.
- Stay consistent. You do not have to follow a schedule, stick to deadlines or create any unneeded stress. That being said, make a habit of blogging and once you start, keep up with it!
- Let people know about your blog. Tell them to check it out, ask them for feedback and let them know that it can provide extra information should they require any. Think of it as a 21st century handout.
Blogging is not for everyone. However, having and maintaining a blog is an incredible opportunity to grow your business without spending a dime. All you need to do is share the experience of being a funeral director and provide people with information that will help them choose your funeral home over the guy down the street. Funeral home marketing is about connecting all platforms, your website, social media and blog. By working to cover all of these bases, you will be the authority in your community and create more traffic to your funeral home website. I invite you to give it a try, and if you have any more questions about how to get started, feel free to contact us!
Ashley Montroy, Marketing Director at FrontRunner Professional, has committed herself to helping funeral professionals understand and excel in today’s digital age. With a long-standing history in the funeral business and her father being a licensed funeral director for over 30 years; she grew up learning the family funeral business. Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton University and diploma from Algonquin College. Today, she continues to speak to over 15 state and provincial funeral association groups each year on funeral marketing in the digital age and protecting funeral firms online using experiences and examples from working with thousands of funeral homes in North America through FrontRunner Professional.
