If I’ve heard it 10 times, I’ve heard it 10,000 times. Death care professionals leave this as a comment on ConnectingDirectors.com everyday!
Being dignified in the funeral profession has been a standard that funeral homes and funeral directors have strived to obtain for years. But who decides what’s dignified and what’s not? There’s not a checklist funeral directors complete to reach the status of “dignified”, there’s no pamphlet sent out with a set of guidelines, but there are consumers.
Consumers control the market by deciding what services and brands they are interested in. There are new trends and innovations every year, therefore the market is constantly changing. Funeral homes cannot get caught up in let their personal opinion define what is dignified or distinguished in today’s market. Consumers are looking for brands they can relate to and connect with. When death care companies turn their nose up at a little fun all it does is drive consumers away; I mean, come on, who would want to do business with someone that doesn’t have a sense of humor? A no fun zone creates a stiff environment that makes people uncomfortable and it plays to all the stereo-types consumers have formed about death care professionals.
People do business with people: relatable, engaging and fun people.
Just as an example, one of our clients at DISRUPT Media goes live on Facebook every Friday and visits a local business. This is an awesome way to get involved with the community and make the staff more approachable. So, one particular Friday, a woman from the funeral home got laser hair removal done on her mustache on Facebook live. Other funeral homes made comments about how that is not dignified and how they just could not believe someone in the industry would partake in such foolery. But guess what. That video out performed any organic content we have ever produced by 100 times. Over 22,000 people engaged with that one video. Stepping outside of the box did wondrous things for this funeral home. This is the kind of content that consumers are interested in and engage with and we have the numbers to prove it. Let loose.
Have fun on social media. Create lasting relationships within your community and
keep disrupting. That will get any funeral home a lot farther than being trying to define being dignified.
