As the funeral profession’s leading voices, the co-hosts of Funeral Nation TV Ryan Thogmartin and Jeff “The Funeral Commander” Harbeson announce the creation of Hurricane Harvey Funeral Director Relief Fund. The fund is for funeral directors and their families that have suffered loss as a direct result of Hurricane Harvey. “I am personally aware of a funeral director that has been devastated with the loss of their home and I’m certain there are others that need FN help. As a profession, we always take care of others on their worst days, it’s now our responsibility to stand in the gap for our people during this tragedy” says Harbeson. The mechanism to collect the donated funds is provided by Treasured Memories in West Virginia, free of any charges or fees. President Jimmy Altmeyer and his team have graciously offered their platform with no fees to help fellow funeral directors. The collected funds will be administered and by the Texas Funeral Directors Association as they are intimately knowledgeable of the situation on the ground. Every dollar will go directly to help funeral directors and their families. “I’d like to personally thank Jamie Meredith of C&J Financial for his ground work of helping Jeff and I to connect the different participating organizations to get this much needed fund launched” says Thogmartin. Watch Funeral Nation TV episode #86 premiering Friday, September 1st as the FN crew opened the fund with a $500 donation and challenges every funeral home, vendor, provider, and individuals to donate. To donate, visit the Hurricane Harvey Funeral Directors Relief Fund Facebook page or www.tmcfunding.com. About The Funeral Nation TV Show The Funeral Nation TV show is an internet broadcast approaching its second year of bringing up to date news along with commentary, interviews, Spotlight on a Funeral Director, and the infamous WTF (What the Funeral) segments with viewership of over 20,000 in over 80 countries weekly. The FN show is the brainchild of Ryan Thogmartin, the funeral profession’s leading social media expert and Jeff “The Funeral Commander” Harbeson, the leading voice of innovation on the battlefield of funeral industry innovation. Hurricane Harvey Funeral Directors’ Relief Fund published first on YouTube via Tumblr Hurricane Harvey Funeral Directors’ Relief Fund
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DISRUPT Media, the social media strategy and management agency, has announced the introduction of DeathCareJobs.com. The platform is powered by ConnectingDirectors.com, which has thousands of visitors each day. The introduction follows testing with several funeral homes and funeral service companies. “Many funeral professionals say they face talent shortages and have issues filling open job positions since there is not a great solution available for identifying and recruiting candidates,” explained Ryan Thogmartin, CEO of DISRUPT Media and the architect of DeathCareJobs.com. “We want to better connect employers and job seekers in funeral service through a new initiative, DeathCareJobs.com.” Funeral homes and funeral suppliers can place a 30-day job listing on the site for under $200. And during their start up, the introductory cost is only $79. Another useful aspect of the site is that it’s “self-service”, allowing funeral professionals to place their ads at their convenience. “Gone are the days of posting a help wanted ad on a large global employment website like Monster or CareerBuilder,” stated Thogmartin. “On DeathCareJobs.com, funeral homes and funeral suppliers understand that their positions will be placed on a targeted site where their openings will likely be viewed. Job seekers know that they will only see jobs in the funeral profession, saving them time spent sifting through countless jobs that are not related to their field on the larger, global sites. “ At the present time, the site is in its infancy, but will soon be a resource for job seekers as well. As such, it will be more than merely a place for job seekers to upload and post their resumes, but rather will have the ability to pair candidates with open positions from employers on the site. “For more than six years, DISRUPT Media has been at the forefront of all things related to the world-wide web in the funeral service space,” commented Thogmartin. “Our DeathCareJobs.com website is the latest offering and we are excited to now bring it to market to the funeral profession.” About DISRUPT Media: DISRUPT Media is a full-service creative agency built for the now. We partner with death care companies to drive deep rooted brand loyalty and measurable leads through social media. ConnectingDirectors.com is the leading online daily publication for death care professionals with a reader base of over 45,000. For more information, call DISRUPT Media at 800-215-2713 or visit the website at www.deathcarejobs.com. DISRUPT Media Announces the Launch of DeathCareJobs.com published first on YouTube via Tumblr DISRUPT Media Announces the Launch of DeathCareJobs.com Article provided by: Joe Weigel, Weigel Strategic Marketing I speak with many people in funeral service all the time; even when I’m not “on the clock”. On occasion, the subject of public relations and publicity comes up and commonly it turns out that many of these folks have a basic misunderstanding of the relationship of PR to marketing and social media. If fact, some highly regarded funeral professionals confuse the two subjects altogether. PR is the fuel that runs your digital marketing campaign. Among the many benefits of incorporating a comprehensive earned media program into your online marketing efforts is that it creates all-important credibility by:
PR does what marketing cannot do. If done right, it saturates every media channel so that your digital marketing program can be executed without the emotional barriers that inhibit families from calling, or doing whatever else you want them to do. To be blunt, if those emotional barriers are removed, your social media can work better. Everyone wants their online marketing to take the firm to new heights, but PR should be there first to ensure that your marketing efforts don’t go to waste. What that means is that PR lays the foundation, so that people are more receptive to and will better respond to your marketing efforts. PR properly done creates credibility for your company, services, and products as well as creating a sense of familiarity with your firm or company. Being well known and perceived = people listen to you. Once you have those things in place, the content you create in social media can get through much more easily to your families. PR makes marketing much more effective and thus increases your results. Joe Weigel is the owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing, a communications firm focused on the funeral profession that delivers expertise and results across three interrelated marketing disciplines: public relations, branding and communications. You can visit his website at weigelstrategicmarketing.webs.com. He also can be reached at 317-608-8914 or [email protected]. Public Relations Should Precede Marketing published first on YouTube via Tumblr Public Relations Should Precede Marketing FrontRunner today announced the advancement of the executive team. Since its inception, FrontRunner has been led by the company’s visionary Founder/CEO Kevin Montroy, along with family members and a loyal group of exceptional staff. The advancement moves Jason Truesdell to company President, Ashley Montroy to company CMO, and Jules Green to company CEO. Kevin Montroy will continue as the Founder/Chairman. This move is designed to continue to accelerate the growth of FrontRunner as a company. With the move of Kevin to Founder/Chairman, it will allow him to focus solely on the innovations of the company and leave the day-to-day operations to Jules Green, Ashley Montroy and Jason Truesdell, all long-term employees and family members. “Stephanie Reid (Montroy), Ashley Montroy, Jules Green and Jason Truesdell have become the face of FrontRunner and have been instrumental in attaining the unprecedented growth of the company over the past five years. They are highly capable and dedicated to continuing the high standards and focus on helping funeral service. FrontRunner has always been about family, whether it is our family, our staff’s family or our clients’ families. I couldn’t be more proud of them, or more excited for their future and the future of our clients with so many developments and innovations coming up at FrontRunner”, cites Kevin Montroy. Ashley Montroy, Frontrunner’s new Chief Marketing Officer will continue to lead the corporate marketing team and accelerate the client marketing services division which has now grown to over 15 employees. “By providing an in-house focused and integrated marketing approach with Social Media, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and video marketing, the results are stunning. Compared with a fractured approach of funeral homes running with five different technology companies and three different marketing companies, having everything working as one integrated strategy it truly making all the difference in the growth of their company. The days of ‘build it and they will come’ being sold by less reputable website providers has long passed and firms that sit idly under this belief are quickly seeing their market share decline. In fact, if a funeral home only has a single website as part of their online strategy, they are already losing” says Ashley Montroy. “The addition of Paul Orlando, former Marketing Director of MKJ Marketing and co-founder of Adfinity, to the marketing team raises the bar even higher and helps reinforce FrontRunner as being one of the fastest growing full marketing agencies serving the funeral profession”, concludes Montroy. Stephanie Montroy is heading up Kingston Webworks, a web-based solutions provider outside of FrontRunner, focused on serving both the local community needs and FrontRunner client needs with their business ventures outside of funeral service, further reinforcing a single integrated approach to help clients excel in all aspects of their businesses. Stephanie will also look after the funeral supplier segment of the death care market for all of their technology and marketing needs. FrontRunner is a client focused Technology and Marketing integrated solutions company designed to exceed client’s expectations when it comes to innovation, service, support and business growth. To learn more about FrontRunner or get a personalized walkthrough of all that FrontRunner can do for your firm, call 1-866-748-3625 or visit them online at 1FrontRunner.com. FrontRunner Professional Advances Executive Team published first on YouTube via Tumblr FrontRunner Professional Advances Executive Team Disclaimer: WTF = What the Funeral No matter what color, race, or religion, humans all have one thing in common: we all die. There are so many varying customs in regards to what is done with our bodies after we depart from this world. It doesn’t get too crazy within the Western Hemisphere; we just stick to cremation and burials. But maybe our customs are just normal to us because it’s all we know. Take a look at some of these strange (to us) practices from around the world. Cut Off Your FingerIn West Papua, New Guinea, the women of the Dani tribe would have a finger cut off as a sacrifice for a deceased family member. When a loved one dies, a woman from that person’s family has a string tied around her finger to cut off blood flow. In 30 minutes it is cut off and thrown into a fire. Although this practice is now outlawed, the evidence can still be seen in older women of the tribe. Sex, Murder and FireScandinavian Vikings held elaborate ceremonies when their chief, or leader died. They would be buried with swords, weapons, food, drink and even women. A woman, sometimes multiple, would be sacrificed to serve the chief in the afterlife. Some women would even volunteer to do this. The thrall would be given intoxicating drinks and have sex with the men of the village. Then, on the day of the ceremony, she would be brought to the man’s ship, murdered and set on fire alongside the chief. Burned AliveSimilarly, in some Hindu-practicing regions women perform self-immolation when her husband dies. The wife would throw herself into her husband’s pyre and burn alive. That’s the original ride or die. Burned into BeadsIn South Korea, death beads are a popular trend. Companies take the cremated remains of loved ones and turn them into beautiful beads to display in homes. Buried in a TreeThey are way ahead of the times in Cavite when it comes to a green burial. When people become terminally ill or know that their end of life is near, they pick a tree in which they wish to be buried. The tree is hollowed out and when the person passes away their body is placed inside the tree. Blindfolded in a ChairIn Benguet, the indigenous people dress and blindfold their deceased loved one and sit them on a chair outside their home with their arms and legs tied. The village performs a ceremony which releases the spirit to heaven. It’s hard to imagine walking by a scene like that in the U.S. Hanging CoffinsIn China and the Philippines, hanging coffins can be seen on sides of cliffs. Coffins are placed on wood planks protruding from the mountainside or placed in small caves. The bodies were laid to rest here for a few reasons. One being that the bodies are closer to heaven this way and another is they are away from animals that would disturb them. Resting eternally there is one thing, but the people that have to carry bodies up there is a whole other story. That has to be one of the scariest jobs. Some of these traditions have survived for generations and probably considered off the beaten path on what we consider “normal”. Share your experience with customs that are not widely practiced in the comments below! 7 WTF Funeral Customs From Around the World published first on YouTube via Tumblr 7 WTF Funeral Customs From Around the World BROADVIEW, IL, August 25, 2017 – In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Pierce Duotronic embalming machine, a gold-plated Duotronic is being raffled with proceeds going to the Wilbert Foundation charity. With the winner drawn at the upcoming National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) expo in Boston, MA, raffle tickets are currently being sold by Pierce representatives and a limited number will also be sold at the NFDA show. The Wilbert Foundation is a non-profit 501(3)c organization that provides pediatric chaplains with resources to help children cope with the trauma of sickness, grief and death. Working with the Pediatric Chaplains Network, the Wilbert Foundation sponsors grief training for professional chaplains hired into pediatric settings. The Foundation also provides Bertie Bear Kits that aid chaplain interaction with families and provide children with a package that opens into a playhouse for the Bertie Bear stuffed animal and filled with other helpful tools such as a journal and white board for children to express their feelings, a puzzle, stickers and coloring book that help normalize the children’s activities. “We feel this is the ideal way to commemorate this milestone,” said Lance Ray, COO and Executive Vice-President of Pierce. “A gold-plated Duotronic ties into its Golden Anniversary while giving funeral professionals an opportunity to support a golden cause.” The Duotronic was introduced in 1967 as an innovative embalming machine using a pumping system to dispense fluids compared to the standard gravity process in use at the time. This innovation was further established by the two-speed electronic gauge control that gave embalmers much-improved flexibility in handling different cases and situations. This control system gave the product its name with “Duo” signifying the two speeds and “Tronic” taken from electronic. Pierce invites everyone to come to The Wilbert Group booth 3061 at the NFDA expo to see the gold-plated Duotronic as well as to purchase a raffle ticket to benefit a worthy cause. The winner will be drawn on Tuesday, October 31, at 2:00pm, coinciding with a wine-and-cheese reception in the booth. You can also contact a Pierce sales representative or call 800.527.6419 to purchase raffle tickets now. 50th Anniversary Gold-Plated Duotronic Embalming Machine to Be Raffled for Charity published first on YouTube via Tumblr 50th Anniversary Gold-Plated Duotronic Embalming Machine to Be Raffled for Charity The problem with cremation is that it’s difficult to see it as romantic. Burial has ritual – ritual is romantic. It also has pristine crafted wood caskets, elegant headstones, and connection to place. It’s beautiful. Burial rituals have been mentioned in pop music throughout the last century and across genres. This includes John Denver’s Forest lawn (1970) Gwen Stefani’s Snakes (1993), 2pac Shakur’s Teardrops And Closed Caskets (1999), and Bob Marley’s Wake Up and Live (1979). These songs use the symbols in burial rituals, like gravestones and caskets, to talk about death. There are two reasons that cremation has been lacking in pop culture references. First, cremation has been (until the last decade) a non-consensus practice in U.S. culture at-large so singing about it is socially risky. The second reason that cremation lacks love from pop music is that it’s incredibly difficult to create an optimistic vibe (or even just “not violent” vibe) around a practice that burns your pets, friends, and family into tiny grey matter which is then returned to you in a bag like magic. In burial, we see the process, but in cremation, we imagine the process. Cremation isn’t empty, though – It’s a different breed than burial. It’s decided, rapid, passionate, and clean. Cremation is about defined conclusions, essence, and closeness. And it’s just beginning to develop a unique cultural sentiment along with it’s own rituals and souvenirs like urns, scattering, and cremation jewelry. It took burial rituals centuries to develop. While listening to the radio in my car last week, it occurred to me that cremation just got a big break. DJ Khaled (yes, the pop superstar) just bestowed on cremation what it has been lacking – sex appeal. Death, Sex, and #ClubLyfeImagine for a moment that you’re in a Miami dance club packed with 400 sweaty intoxicated bodies rubbing in sync on each other while seemingly loosing clothing with each song. DJ Khalid’s Crazy Thoughts comes on and the crowd begins to sing along with the featured rapper Bryson Tiller… Ayy, uh huh, uh huh, I heard that pu**y for the taking I heard it got these other ni**as goin’ crazy Yeah I treat you like a lady, lady F*** you ’til you’re burned out, cremation Yup. Cremation just got mentioned in the most memorable summer song of 2017 which hit #1 in U.S. Dance Club Charts, #1 in U.S Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Charts, and #1 and on U.S. Rhythmic Charts. The word “cremation” stands proudly product placed in the Wild Thoughts lyrics with the likes of D’usse Cognac, diamonds, Usian Bolt and The Jets. Hell Yes. Let’s dissect that stanza to extract what Tiller is REALLY saying about cremation. The subject is a single attractive woman who isn’t easily impressed. Tiller says he knows how to attract her… by treating her well. Additionally, he suggests he has an immense amount of stamina during coitis. He is going to have sex with her until she is really really really really tired. On the surface, there is an obvious reference comparing “burned out” to the fire of cremation. But by placing the subject of cremation in the context of that stanza, Tiller has created more depth. That final line takes the way we make new life, by “f***ing,” and places it just four words from how we depart from the world, “cremation.” Additionally, this is a brilliant wordplay taking the momentum built with the previous lines about feeling excitement in a new passionate relationship and extends those feelings until death (cremation) or… till’ death do us part. This is a heartwarming romantic reference to extended love, care, desire, closeness, and satisfaction. These feelings are immensely important because they represent the emerging brand image of cremation in our culture. How Product Placement Just Burned BurialProduct placement is everywhere in modern culture and has been particularly popular in hip-hop. Pop-culture embrace can have a massive impact on a company or idea. Bloomberg reported that in the last 3 years some of the most popular brands were Ferari, Xanix, Jordans, and Henessy. And the top brand in pop songs? Rolls-Royce, who last year celebrated its second-highest sales numbers ever and there is no doubt that being hip-hop’s favorite toy helped sales. It’s impossible to determine the financial impact that cremation’s appearance in Crazy Thoughts will have on the death care industry and certainly no one paid DJ Khaled for it be placed there… (Matthews…???) We do know that paid product placement in a music video can cost around $150,000 (according to hollywoodbranded), but most song lyric placements are just artistic choices by the artist. That dollar figure is irrelevant though because… can you really put a value on future millennial funeral planners watching Bryson Tiller say “cremation” 311 million times on YouTube? Congratulations cremation – you’ve emerged from puberty and lost your virginity in the same summer. Cover Illustration: Kyle Platts (via bloomberg.com) DJ Khaled’s New Hit Song is a Major Milestone for Cremation published first on YouTube via Tumblr DJ Khaled’s New Hit Song is a Major Milestone for Cremation A Gauntlet type week! FUNERAL hustle explores a thriving business in Charleston, SC filled with very talented and ambitious employees and owner. The rest of the week is filled with on the road meeting and in office meetings all before making the journey out West to Spokane, Washington for the Washington Funeral Directors Association conference! YOU SEE DIFFICULTY, I SEE OPPORTUNITY | FUNERAL hustle 011 published first on YouTube via Tumblr YOU SEE DIFFICULTY, I SEE OPPORTUNITY | FUNERAL hustle 011 Similar to the way travel websites such as Expedia and Travelocity have allowed travelers to create trips that are economical and custom-made, Funeral Home Finders lessens the difficulty of losing a loved one by making funeral planning easy, personal, and affordable while also providing a local specialist who can assist with the research process. This service will always be free. Funeral Home Finders (https://funeralhomefinders.com) is a dynamic new resource founded by two Houstonians, Tommy Kherkher and Kenneth Akiri. It is the only website of its kind in the funeral industry and will revolutionize the way families plan for the death of their loved ones. When a family experiences a death, the process of planning a funeral adds to an already emotionally taxing situation. Funeral Home Finders will ease that burden. Similar to the way travel websites such as Expedia and Travelocity have allowed travelers to create trips that are economical and custom-made, Funeral Home Finders lessens the difficulty of losing a loved one by making funeral planning easy, personal, and affordable while also providing a local specialist who can assist with the research process. This service will always be free. This one-stop-shopping website has several benefits:
It will be interesting to see how this site plays out and what the relationship between Funeral Home Finder and the funeral homes will be. If you remember back last month on FUNERAL Nation Jeff and Ryan, interview the CEO of a similar company, Funeralocity which launched earlier this year in the Atlanta market. Houston Tech Co. Launches Expedia For Funeral Homes published first on YouTube via Tumblr Houston Tech Co. Launches Expedia For Funeral Homes It doesn’t seem likely but one Japanese company is trying to make it happen. The idea of a robot replacing a funeral director doesn’t seem like something that could every happen. According to the website Replacedbyrobot.info, there is only a 20% chance that a robot could replace a human funeral director. But don’t tell ‘Pepper’ that. Pepper, a Buddhist priest for hire at funerals, is a humaniod robot created by SoftBank Group Corp. Chanting sutras in a computerized voice while tapping a drum, the robot was on display on Wednesday at a funeral industry fair – the Life Ending Industry Expo – in Tokyo. Nissei Eco Co., an unlisted plastic molding maker, wrote the chanting software for “Pepper”, which was introduced by SoftBank Group Corp. in 2014.
In Japan robots can serve as companions, helpers for the elderly, entertainment bots and even sexual partners, and now as a Buddhist priest for funerals. In the good old US of A we spend our time freaking out about cremation and trying to find ways to slow it down. Could you image if you had to compete against robots too? In Japan a robot priest is almost 6 times less expansive than a human priest. Maybe we should look into robot funeral directors as a way to make death more affordable!!! (Just kidding). Images: SoftBank Group Corp. Could Robots Replace Funeral Directors? published first on YouTube via Tumblr Could Robots Replace Funeral Directors? |
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