I recently read an article from the Watertown (South Dakota) Public Opinion newspaper and it reminded me of how we marketed our funeral home in the days prior to internet and digital marketing.  We always looked for anywhere where we would have a chance to visit with people — especially on a one-on-one basis — to tell of the values of what we did.

This article tells of the Crawford-Osthus Funeral Home and their booth and speaking engagement at the area’s Winter Farm Show.  What a great idea!!  If you are from what’s known as “Flyover Country” or better known as rural America where winters can be long and many farm families have their downtime, what a better idea than to “go to them” during that time period. . . . And, it appears that is what Crawford-Osthus Funeral Home did.

Even, better for the funeral home, their participation drew an article from the area’s newspaper that allowed them to put funeral service in a positive light.  Here’s a link to the newspaper article.

The article also reminded me of my idea of when and where you should market your funeral home.  The basic answer is “always market” and market “everywhere”.  Now, it is true that you cannot be everywhere at once nor most funeral businesses do not have bottomless checkbooks to fund marketing.  However, the basic concept of marketing where your potential consumers are at is good advice.

And, who knows where that may be.  Sometimes you just have to look at the obvious to find those places.  Take for instance the funeral home I operated.  We looked at funeral businesses as being a “profession” and being “dignified” in our approach to customer acquisition.  However, over the years those definitions can change.

Looking to new venues for advertising can be very rewarding.  The story I will share with you is that when my youngest son was about 5 years old he wanted to go to the local stock car races at our county fairgrounds.  I was not a big fan but ended up taking him and we continued to go on Saturday nights until the conclusion of the racing year.

Now, the stock car racers and fans in my community were many of the dedicated blue collar workers who used our funeral home in a high proportion.  However, I didn’t get to know many of them well.  However, when I went to the races with my son I had a chance to visit with lots of the fans.  They were somewhat surprised to see me dressed in blue jeans and a golf shirt. . . normally only seeing me in my suit and tie.  It created a great environment for me to visit with potential clientele.

Going even farther, I noticed that every car had sponsors.  I inquired to one of the drivers that I knew what it would cost to advertise on his car.  At the end of the day, Anderson Funeral Home had small sponsorships on several cars.  With each of the cars, we had our logo and name put on the back bumper.  We continued to do this for several years and built a real rapport with the stock car community. . . that I would argue led to increased brand awareness for us.

So, remember. . . “Market Everywhere and Always”. . . .

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Colorado House passes bill for inspections of funeral homes, crematories.  Colorado Politics
• Legislation seeks to clarify who decides what happens to the dead in South Dakota.  Mitchell Republic (SD)
• A day in the life of a Funeral Director:  What exactly do they do?  Eastern Daily Press (Great Britain)
• Alternate form of cremation proving popular.  Video story.  25-ABC Waco (TX)

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