I received a broadcasted mass e-mail last Thursday inviting me to tune into the newest podcast for our profession.  This one was titled “The Graveyard Shift” and was promoted by Passare.  It is probably good and informative, but I’ve also been invited to listen to a podcast that originates from Great Britain with the same title — “The Graveyard Shift”.

 

Two podcasts with the same title carries home my point that there are lots of opportunities to get news, opinions, and advice from the Death Care world in which this blog — “Funeral Director Daily” is one of them.  It’s a lot different from when I started in the business and the arrival of the monthly National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) official publication of their member magazine “The Director” was an eagerly awaited arrival.

 

Related — Here is a link to the Passare Graveyard Shift podcast

 

John Naisbitt in his early 1980’s best-selling book Megatrends predicted that the world would soon pass into what he called the “Information Age”.  His thesis, especially for the United States was that we had been through the Agricultural Age, the Industrial Age, and the invention of the telephone entered us into the technology age of which we were still in during the 1980’s.  His prediction, and I think it has came true, was that we would soon enter the “Information Age”.

 

His belief was that “information would become very valuable”, that we would pay for it like never before, and that our technology would make it widespread and easily accessible. . . . Not like having to go to a library or somewhere similar as was the case for a couple of centuries prior.

 

I think we have reached that point. . . and we have reached it in the funeral and cemetery business.  It does create a world where “caveat emptor” is necessary however.  “Caveat emptor” is Latin for “Let the Buyer beware”.  I also believe that in a world where anybody can distribute information that is a pretty important thought.

 

No longer do we simply have NFDA proof-reading articles and fact-checking those articles, as they did in the decades-old “The Director” magazine before they are distributed to America’s funeral businesses.  Today, we have scores of information sources distributing their thoughts to us all in a world where there is more information distributed than ever before and nothing is fact-checked.

 

I’m old enough to remember when we received, at least what we believed was “fact-checked” news at 6 pm every evening on television and in the newspaper every morning.  Surveys tell us that in the United States, very few people under the age of 50 get their news in that fashion at this point in time. . . . . and, how they get their news is in more of an opinion setting — such as podcasts or blogs.

 

You don’t have to look any further than the emphasis that has been put on the latest presidential contest and how campaign news was sought. . . It was almost all social media — TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, and the like.  And now, we have even more of those political types starting podcasts to inform people because they have seen them successfully work and move markets.  Or, in the political world — votes.

 

I think Death Care has two branches of news, opinions, and marketing to formulate.  One branch is easily seen in the vendor and practitioner side of the business — that is podcasts and publications that serve the practitioner with knowledge and in some capacities “plug” the vendor.  Quite frankly, Funeral Director Daily fits into that category as a blog publication.  There’s lots of others in this lane — both in podcasts and in blogs or journals.  It’s up to the practitioner to recognize if the authors of such podcasts and/or publications have the knowledge, reputation, worthwhile advice, and value to be worthy of their time in listenening or reading.

 

The other branch that I see is that of “Marketing’ by Death Care consumer providers.  I think it is a real new world out there on how your future consumer clientele will choose your funeral home/cemetery and how once they choose you will pick the services that you offer.  Your future clients are now also part of Naisbitt’s “Information Age” and are looking to you for the information about Death Care that they need to make decisions.

 

And, just as funeral providers have to filter their “caveat emptor” situation, so do your potential clients.  How you tell them what you do and how believeable that you can be in that situation will make a difference in your business in the future.  It’s an area where “Reputation” will mean everything going forward to help with this belief.

 

It’s my opinion that, just like incumbent politicians with name recognition, legacy family owned funeral homes have a great reputational advantage  —  if you wonder about the “new consumer” and if they will choose your firm, now is probably the time to find the right marketing partner for you to connect via social media and other avenues with these people.

 

Because every day the start-up operations or the acquisition-company owned firms in your community are trying to use their expertise to pry these clients away from you.  Again, in my opinion, doing nothing won’t help your cause.

 

Related — It’s probably pretty likely that Welton Hong and his team at Ring Ring Marketing can help your funeral home be heard “Loud and Clear” in today’s Information Age.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Evergreen Cemetery is adding major transformations.  Video news story and print article.  WCJB TV- Gainesville (FL)
• A truly wraparound service.  Local Matters (New Zealand)
• Fanagan Funeral Service eyes new acquisitions in Dublin.  Business Post (Ireland)

 

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