There are a lot of changes on the horizon for the funeral profession. Families as we’ve always known and served them are changing, in their values and in their funeral service requests. Cremation is rising at an even faster rate than many out there predicted. And even we, funeral service veterans, are transitioning out as […] Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Millennials Taking Over The Funeral Profession on funeralOne Blog. The Pros and Cons of Millennials Taking Over The Funeral Profession published first on YouTube via Tumblr The Pros and Cons of Millennials Taking Over The Funeral Profession
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Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is pleased to announce that more than 160 funeral homes have earned the 2017 Pursuit of Excellence Award. This award is presented by NFDA annually to firms that have demonstrated a commitment to raising the bar on funeral service excellence by adhering to strict ethical and professional standards and providing outstanding service to families and communities. To earn an NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award, a funeral home must demonstrate proficiency in key areas of funeral service, including compliance with state and federal regulations; providing ongoing education and professional development opportunities for staff; offering outstanding programs and resources to bereaved families; maintaining an active level of involvement in the community; participating and actively serving in the funeral service profession; and promoting funeral home services through a variety of marketing, advertising and public relations programs. Participants are also required to adhere to a Pledge of Ethical Practices. NFDA will honor the 2017 Pursuit of Excellence Award Recipients on October 30 during the All-Star Recognition Ceremony, which will take place during the 2017 NFDA International Convention & Expo, October 29 through November 1 in Boston, Mass. Information about the NFDA Pursuit of Excellence program can be found by visiting www.nfda.org/pursuitofexcellence. Registration and application materials for 2018 will be available in late-October 2017. Best of the Best Award Finalists Announced – NFDA Members to Select Winners After a thorough review, the Pursuit of Excellence Committee has selected the five finalists for the Best of the Best Award: NFDA members will, once again, select the recipients of the Best of the Best Award. After reviewing the finalists’ essays, association members will vote for the idea they think is most worthy of the Best of the Best Award. The three firms that earn the most votes will be named the 2017 recipients of the Best of the Best Award. The 2017 Best of the Best Award finalists are: Association members should visit www.nfda.org/pursuitofexcellence to read finalists’ essays and cast their vote. Voting for the Best of the Best Award closes September 8. NFDA Hall of Excellence Inductees · Lentz Funeral Home, Algona, Iowa 2017 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award Recipients Abels & French-Hand Funeral Homes, Grundy Center, Iowa NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 19,700 individual members who represent more than 10,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org. 2017 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Awards: Funeral Homes Honored for Excellence in Service to Families and Communities published first on YouTube via Tumblr 2017 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Awards: Funeral Homes Honored for Excellence in Service to Families and Communities Privacy is a right that everyone has, both during and after life. Facebook is just one company that takes this sentiment seriously. Facebook offers the option of a Legacy Contact. Every user has the option of choosing a trusted friend or family member to be in charge of their Facebook profile when they pass away. This Legacy Contact has limited access, however. They can change the profile photo, add a pinned message, respond to friend requests, and have your account removed. However, Facebook explains that this Legacy Contact cannot log into your account, change or delete old posts, remove friends, or read your messages. This goes for parents as well. Facebook’s Director of Global Policy Management, Monika Bickert, says “In a private conversation between two people, we assume that both people intended the messages to remain private.” Even with parental consent, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Stored Communications Act may still prevent the sharing of these private conversations. Facebook is focusing on the emotional impact of losing a loved one, and is showing that empathy for each user is a priority. Posts of a deceased loved one will still pop up on the ‘On This Day’ feature, but users will no longer be reminded of their loved one’s birthday or a need to leave them a message. More and more companies, like Facebook, are thinking and talking about the issues of empathy and privacy, especially after a loss, because nearly 2 billion people spend some aspect of their time on the app. Facebook is studying how the product is used, and how they can implement their sense of responsibility. How to Set a Facebook “Legacy Contact”You spend years building a social media presence, saving pictures and sharing memories. What happens to your Facebook account if you pass away? Facebook has a setting in its security options that allows users 18 and older to set up a “Legacy Contact” – a trusted family member or friend that can control parts of your account after it becomes ‘memorialized.’ Previously, an account would either be frozen, basically turning it into an online memorial, or would be deleted entirely. Your Facebook may become memorialized after several family members and friends report your passing. The account will then show the word “Remembering” just before your name. Next, the person you choose will have control of certain aspects of your account, such as writing and pinning a post to your profile, change your profile photo, and respond to friend requests. They will not be able to change or remove previous posts or read your messages. They can also delete your account if you wish. The legacy contact will also have the option to download a copy of what you have shared on Facebook. To set up a legacy contact, find your settings in the top right corner.Under general, click on Manage Account at the bottom.Type the name of the friend or family member you choose to manage your account after you pass away, and click add.Your legacy contact will not be notified until your account has been memorialized, or you can send them a notification right away. You can also to have your account permanently deleted instead.You also have the option to give this user “Data Archive Permission,” which allows them to download a copy of your sharing history.If you ever change your mind, you can go back in and remove your legacy contact.This is How Facebook Protects Your Privacy After You Die published first on YouTube via Tumblr This is How Facebook Protects Your Privacy After You Die Living and breathing social media marketing is a major blessing and a deadly curse. For us, it means always being ahead of the game. Leading a profession into the current state of marketing is a big responsibility. On one hand, there’s always something new to learn and try. However, not everything makes sense when it comes to marketing death care companies. We’ve watched many funeral organizations lose focus on strategy due to the bright and shiny nature of the new tactics that pop up. Tactics come in all shapes, sizes and value levels. Some are new features that are useful and others can be ‘shortcuts’ that ultimately lead us in the wrong direction. Recent conversations got us thinking, so we wanted to talk about some social media marketing mistakes we see death care companies make, and how they can fix them. 1. No Content StrategyWhenever we work with a new client, one of the first things they want to know is what we’re going to be posting. We explain that we first need to create a strategy to determine what we are going to post. There is a HUGE difference in posting content matched to a strategy and just posting content for the sake of posting content. The difference between the two is simple – a strategy is comprised of content pieces (we call these stories) meant to help achieve a certain goal related to the greater plan, while posting is publishing content just to have something in the feed for that day. Never post for the sake of posting. Ever. There are many so called ‘social media programs’ from companies in the funeral profession that just want to sell you generic content (grief and inspiration images, Preneed sales images, bible verses, special holiday images, etc). We recommend creating a content calendar that houses content directly related to the themes and goals you created in your strategy plan. Consider your content strategy a living entity that’s strict, yet also very flexible and can change with real world trends, like the solar eclipse (see below): A proper content strategy is key to every successful social media strategy. There are no shortcuts. 2. Poor Visuals and No VideoWith the rise of cinemagraphs, GIFs and videos, your social media visuals need to be high quality (on point) to be noticed. Every post needs to be a show stopper, like Wendy Peffercorn in The Sandlot. Not every funeral home has the budget to invest in hi-res photos and video shoots and you really don’t need to because there are resources out there like Pexels and Death to Stock Photo that provide high quality graphics for free (14 Free Stock Photo Sites). You can create some awesome content using free stock photos and doctoring them up in a platform like Canva. What about video, you ask?? A big concern funeral homes have is they can’t afford to hire someone to shoot video for them. Well, guess what. YOU DON’T NEED TO. Smartphones have become lifelines. You can video chat family, order from Amazon and watch all your favorite shows. Heck, I can practically run DISRUPT Media and ConnectingDirectors.com from my iPhone and never touch a computer! The evolution of the smartphone allows for content to be created anytime and anywhere. Download our FREE white-paper ‘How to Shoot Video on a Budget’ At the end of the day, your content speaks about your brand and your brand is what the consumer perceives you to be, not what YOU say you are. Don’t rely on content that isn’t visually appealing. Take the extra time and make sure you’re giving the peeps something that looks so great it’s finger stopping (you know, they stop scrolling…with their finger…on their smartphone)!! 3. No MeasuringWe firmly believe in providing as much data as possible to our clients. We call them ‘Buzz Reports” and they get deep! Every eyeball and click is measured. Typically, we start with the “meat and potatoes” or the basics like community growth, impressions, engagements and basic demographics. With this base data, we can then do a deep dive and start looking at website demographics related to social followers and start understanding Facebook buying signals to better understand the interests of the exact users our clients want to engage and who are most likely to preplan or call our clients in an atneed situation. We can use this data to create content that is more likely to push a Facebook fan down the sales funnel and ultimately into a Preneed lead. Unfortunately, when we partner with funeral homes or death care companies we find that they aren’t measuring results and if they are, they are measuring irrelevant data. When you aren’t measuring results, you don’t have a clear picture on how your social media efforts are impacting your business. And if you don’t have a content plan and strategy with goals, how do you know what to measure? See the problem, you gotta have number 1 to get to number 3. 4. No Facebook AdsA few years ago, you could use Facebook to reach thousands of people and drive solid website traffic without the need to boost content or buy ads. In 2017 having no advertising budget for social media can drastically suffocate your results. Regardless, Facebook is the most cost effective way on the planet to reach a targeted audience. Funeral homes who take advantage now will be getting in when Facebook advertising is massively underpriced and traditional marketing methods are grossly overpriced. Just look at the chart below that shows the CPM (or Cost to Reach a 1,000 people) of current marketing methods. Facebook is much more cost effective. But you don’t need to break the bank. As a social media agency, we’ve worked with funeral homes that have allocated as little as $200 per month in Facebook Advertising spend and have been able to generate positive ROI. Not having advertising dollars isn’t a deal breaker, however you need to set your own expectations that it’s going to be a long hard road to positive return on investment without it. On an average spend of $500 a month we have clients who bring in between $10,000 and $15,000 a month in sales from preneed leads generated through Facebook ads. I have said it before and will say it again, if you are not driving leads through Facebook, you are doing it wrong! If you’re reading this and feel like these points resonate with you, it’s time to get serious. You must treat Facebook marketing the same as any other marketing channel if you’re going to see true business value. Facebook marketing is massively underpriced and it’s not just good will marketing. You should absolutely be driving leads through social media. Schedule a live demo with DISRUPT Media: http://www.disruptmedia.co/demo/ About Author Ryan Thogmartin is a death care entrepreneur and the CEO of DISRUPT Media and creator of ConnectingDirectors.com. | Follower of Christ | Husband | Father | Entrepreneur | Host of #DISRUPTu! and #FUNERALnationtv | Lover of Skittles Watch FUNERAL Hustle: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkzmzds-VgOy_lT4ekLspCdQrxXqTxlEu 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.. 4 Social Media Mistakes Death Care Companies Are Making (and How to Fix Them) published first on YouTube via Tumblr 4 Social Media Mistakes Death Care Companies Are Making (and How to Fix Them) Unfortunately, the opioid epidemic isn’t much of a headline anymore. With over 100 overdose-related deaths everyday, we, as a country, have become desensitized to death and drugs. Funeral homes are charged with taking care of the final arrangements for those who have been taken from this earth too soon. August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). Although we are all aware of the overdoses that are creeping into our community, I urge you to consider using this platform to shed light on how heartbreaking this is from a funeral home’s perspective. Here’s a message from the IOAD official website:
To show support and solidarity on this pressing issue, IOAD has created images to upload onto your Facebook pages. We have provided a download folder for these images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rhfsedabp6gzek1/AACUNwCZq6JueJMRd1fUvYCva?dl=0 ConnectingDirectors.com encourages you to use August 31 to address this August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) published first on YouTube via Tumblr August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) At Carriage Services, we believe in the concept of “First Who, Then What.” We have learned that leaders, who attract and surround themselves with the best people, achieve great things. We believe in the Four E’s of Leadership—Energy, Energize, Edge, and Execute. If you can compete at this level, then our Company is for you! If you are looking to join an organization that believes in the power of people, then a career with Carriage is for you! Carriage Services is changing the face of the funeral and cemetery industry in the United States. Every day, the work we do is directed by the following five guiding principles:
Our Director of Supports are accountable for overseeing the operations of the funeral home(s) and/or cemetery location(s) in their region to support the growth of the business and Carriage’s overall mission.
Qualifications
Director of Support – Western US published first on YouTube via Tumblr Director of Support – Western US CLARKSVILLE,IN For Immediate Release – Express Funeral Funding recently launched a complete redesign of their website, providing the FASTEST. EASIEST.® access to everything Express! The new platform provides a sleek, leading-edge design, coupled with impeccable functionality and a comprehensive overview of the expansive services Express Funeral Funding offers. Learn the industry’s FASTEST. EASIEST.® three-step funding process, submit claims online, gain access to the Express Hub and calculate funding totals with ease. The new website also offers the latest Express news, featured industry publication editorials and so much more. The new website will be updated frequently with new service launches, industry and Express news along with events and press releases. Visitors are encouraged to explore the new website and to sign up for direct emails from the company at http://www.expressfuneralfunding.com/contact-us/. Express Funeral Funding Launches New Website published first on YouTube via Tumblr Express Funeral Funding Launches New Website At Carriage Services, we believe in the concept of “First Who, Then What.” We have learned that leaders, who attract and surround themselves with the best people, achieve great things. We believe in the Four E’s of Leadership—Energy, Energize, Edge, and Execute. If you can compete at this level, then our Company is for you! If you are looking to join an organization that believes in the power of people, then a career with Carriage is for you! Carriage Services is changing the face of the funeral and cemetery industry in the United States. Every day, the work we do is directed by the following five guiding principles:
Our Director of Supports are accountable for overseeing the operations of the funeral home(s) and/or cemetery location(s) in their region to support the growth of the business and Carriage’s overall mission.
Qualifications
Director of Support – Western US published first on YouTube via Tumblr Director of Support – Western US CLARKSVILLE,IN For Immediate Release – Express Funeral Funding recently launched a complete redesign of their website, providing the FASTEST. EASIEST.® access to everything Express! The new platform provides a sleek, leading-edge design, coupled with impeccable functionality and a comprehensive overview of the expansive services Express Funeral Funding offers. Learn the industry’s FASTEST. EASIEST.® three-step funding process, submit claims online, gain access to the Express Hub and calculate funding totals with ease. The new website also offers the latest Express news, featured industry publication editorials and so much more. The new website will be updated frequently with new service launches, industry and Express news along with events and press releases. Visitors are encouraged to explore the new website and to sign up for direct emails from the company at http://www.expressfuneralfunding.com/contact-us/. Express Funeral Funding Launches New Website published first on YouTube via Tumblr Express Funeral Funding Launches New Website Imagine riding motorcycles your entire life only to be driven to your final resting place in a boring old hearse. To put it lightly, that would be quite a let down. Tombstone Hearse & Trike has spent over a decade perfecting motorcycle hearses to attract the huge population of motorcycle enthusiasts. A funeral is about commemorating the life of a loved one. If every funeral was cookie cutter there would be no significant meaning behind having one. Tombstone Hearse & Trike has taken such a huge step forward in customizing funeral services. Since 2002, this innovative business has been designing tripod-motorcycle hearses to sell to funeral homes for private use. According to the United States Department of Transportation, there are over 8 million registered motorcycles. That is such a large population that was previously excluded in the funeral profession. This type of service will attract so much attention to your funeral home. How many funeral homes do you know that have a hearse like this? Isn’t that just a beaut? They take about eight to ten weeks to finish start to finish and come in a variety of colors. But, they create more than just works of art at Tombstone Hearse & Trike; they know how to have fun too. Jack Feather of Tombstone Hearse & Trike recounts one of his best experiences with the company.
I’m sure that’s a service Jack will never forget and that’s what this company is all about– The Tombstone Hearse and Trike; Because Nobody Takes Pictures of Cadillacs or Lincolns published first on YouTube via Tumblr The Tombstone Hearse and Trike; Because Nobody Takes Pictures of Cadillacs or Lincolns |
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