I’ve sparked a bit of a controversy amongst a few readers with my post, Tim and Robin Discuss “Funeral Home Blogging”. While some of my readers were busy discussing Robin Heppell’s beauty, Spencer took me to task for suggesting that funeral homes could benefit from blogs and not focusing on the need for a regular website.
Dale quickly lept to my defense and reminded Spencer that funeral homes can do good work with both a website and a blog. He even pointed to his friend, Brian Hanner at Geib Funeral Home who has both.
So which is it? Are blogs great for certain funeral directors or are they a waste of time? Can a funeral home operate without any connection to the Internet? Or will such a firm shrivel up and *poof* cease to exist?
I’ll offer my opinions here, but I caution you to take even my suggestions with a few thousand grains of salt. Every time I hear someone offer insight in to the future of anything (but especially technology) I’m reminded of those supermarket tabloids that endlessly herald new year’s predictions from some quack astrologist, with the requisite Nostradamus clipart and tales of upcoming death and destruction.
“There will be a huge earthquake in late November that kills 100,000 people!”
“Balinese woman will give birth to the Anti-Christ!”
“Major U.S. investment firm will go bankrupt, company sold for pennies on the dollar to maverick cult leader!”
Seems no one has a crystal ball that clearly predicts the future. So why do we all like to make such predictions? Because it’s fun!
So here’s my take on technology and the funeral industry.
The Internet is HUGE. Absolutely mammoth, with billions upon billions of websites webpages touting everything from wigs for cats to organic burial.
And the Internet isn’t just about selling products; sites like MySpace and Facebook attract millions of visitors each month and have become, for the youngest among us, the #1 destination on the web. Fact is, while many of us used to hang out behind the gym to catch up with our friends, kids today hang out just as much on their friends’ MySpace pages.
I can already hear the phrase “So what?” coming. And I can agree, to a point. Does it really matter that kids today use the Internet to keep in touch with their friends? Don’t older generations still make telephone calls to stay in touch?
Of course they do, which means funeral homes are perfectly safe from technology changes, right?
Consider, for a moment, the way an elderly person, a middle-aged person, a 30-something person and a 20-something would get a message to a friend living in another state:
ELDERLY: Write a letter on paper. Stuff it in an envelope and mail it. Might call, if it’s important, but won’t want to spend money on long distance call.
MIDDLE-AGE: Pick up the phone. Or fax a letter. Or email.
30-SOMETHING: Call on the cellphone (many 30-somethings have dropped their home phone line). Instant message via Internet. Send an email.
20-SOMETHING: Text from cellphone/mp3 player/video player. Send instant message on Internet. Write post on MySpace blog. Send friend request on MySpace. Check out friend’s Facebook account.
To serve elderly or middle-age folks, you’ll just need a phone and a mailing address. And while the more progressive ones might want to send you an email, most older folks think a computerized message is too impersonal and not appropriate for important communications like funeral arrangements.
But when 20- and 30-somethings routinely use cellphones and text messages to break off a relationship, shop for a car or propose marriage, we have to take notice.
Does this mean that funeral homes should run out and get the latest, greatest technology, just because the kids have it?
You can answer that for yourself (hint: NO).
But it does mean that the day is quickly approaching when those 20 and 30 year olds will be deciding which funeral home to use for dad’s service or grandma’s memorial. And they don’t pick up phone books anymore.
An article by Jennifer Bingaman, from the Indepedent Florida Alligator (University of Florida) describes the death of phonebooks for the university crowd:
Andrea Booher owns a phone book, but she never uses it.“It’s a waste of paper,” Booher said.
The 20-year-old aerospace engineering student said she usually uses the Internet when she needs to look something up.
In response to another online article, titled Please Stop Delivery the Phone Book to My House, David says:
I cannot believe advertisers actually still pay to be in it…I would think that throwing my money on the ground with my company named typed on it would be more beneficial to them!
This trend would suggest that funeral homes need at least some presence online, in an Internet Yellow Pages perhaps?, to reach the younger crowd.
But how does anyone search the Internet for a funeral home? Do they go to a Yellow Page website? Or do they use a search engine like Google or Microsoft Live! or Yahoo!?
In my opinion, funeral homes need to control their online advertising the same way they control their off-line advertising. And while funeral homes often cede a lot of control about the way their yellow pages ad looks or the exact structure of an ad in a church bulletin, there’s a lot more control to be had over the look, feel and content of a website.
Of course, this still fails to answer the question: Does a funeral home need a blog or a website?
So my answer is maybe/maybe not.
Stumped, aren’t you?
To put it more simply, it really depends upon the funeral home.
You should know that I also don’t think every funeral home needs a yellow pages ad. And many funeral homes have billboards that don’t work for them. Still others sponsor little league teams when they shouldn’t, while others have an email address they don’t need.
Fact is, many funeral homes can’t even figure out the basics. Ever seen a truly hideous brochure for a funeral home? I have. More likely, you’ve seen a bunch that are boring.
Brochures, newspaper ads and flyers are meant to be exciting, like Sunday brunch. Imagine you dress up in your finest clothes, drive down to the local lakeside inn, pay $20-40 each for a scrumptious brunch and find out that the buffet line features nothing but cream-of-wheat, oatmeal and grits.
You’d be disappointed, right?
The same thing happens when a potential client opens your brochure and sees clunky writing, dark and boring pictures of chairs in your funeral home and a history of you and your firm where they were expecting to find out what you can do for them.
How can we expect that firm, the one that can’t even figure out how to design an effective brochure, to create and maintain a moderately-successful website designed to bring in customers, not scare them away.
Here’s a disappointing experience I had lately: Searching for contact information for area fire departments for a special project, I got frustrated clicking through page after page to find phone numbers, addresses and email addresses for the organization which had created the website. In some cases, the contact information was buried three or four pages into the site, with specific clicks on each page required to reach the next blockade.
Funeral home websites are usually just as bad, with multiple clicks required to get to the “Contact Page”. Even worse, many of these sites are built by high-priced web designers.
But back to the main point: Do funeral homes REALLY need the Internet?
If they want to succeed in the future, they do. Of course, using the Internet means figuring out HOW to use the Internet. Otherwise, spectacular failures lie ahead.
More on this later, as our readers continue to discuss how important both blogs and websites can be in the industry today.
April 1, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I think it bears repeating that a *bad* funeral home website is probably worse than no website at all.
April 1, 2008 at 4:10 pm
QUOTE: Funeral home websites are usually just as bad, with multiple clicks required to get to the “Contact Page”. Even worse, many of these sites are built by high-priced web designers.
———
That is one of my pet-peves—-the Contact Page should always be either one click from the main page, or the contact info needs to be included on the main page.
I believe that some Funeral Homes just use email to send the Obit to the local and state Newspapers. Email is another useful tool if used correctly.
Spencer
April 1, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Well, I still think Robin Heppell is absolutely gorgeous.
I think blogging is a good idea, too.
April 2, 2008 at 7:03 am
Howdy:
I enjoyed most of this blog, but wonder where the figure referred to here: “The Internet is HUGE. Absolutely mammoth, with billions upon billions of websites touting everything from wigs for cats to organic burial.” comes from?
According to this site boutell.com/newfaq/misc/sizeofweb.html there are actually less than 100 million web sites in the world right now, though there are billions of pages, yes!
I also take a bit of offense (not really, but I must say something) about thos “high priced” developers.
I build, among others, entry level sites of up to 7 pages to provide for the client what I term as a “Yellow Pages” presence for them on the web. This provides the client with a site that gives visitors immediate access to contact information, is registered with all major search engines, uses appropriate meta tags, is tested on all major browsers, and I do this for $299.00 from my site Solid-Gold-Websites.com.
Cheers,
Bill
April 2, 2008 at 10:02 am
I believe a “bad” presence on the Web is better than no presence at all. Whether Funeral Homes utilize a consumer friendly website or not; they all must be educated on how to effectively drive targeted traffic to it. A Funeral Home website is effective when it reaches, shopping consumers and they convert those consumers into clients. Funeral Homes who allow consumers to plan and pre-arrange funerals from their living room will have a distinct market advantage in the coming years.
April 2, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Okay, Tim: Your reader apparently want to know, and it’s time to spill the beans. Don’t keep these ladies guessing: Is that Heppell guy single? I can’t believe the reaction that picture got!
April 2, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Jose said, “I can’t believe the reaction that picture got!”
Neither can I. I hope that all this hysteria over Robin Heppell’s appearance doesn’t detract from his message.
April 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I’m with you Bill! One thing that leads people to think there are billions of websites is Domain Tasting…thankfuly that will soon be over and will only seem like a bad dream.
Spencer
April 2, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Tom Keesee said, “I believe a “bad” presence on the Web is better than no presence at all.”
I heartily disagree.
Growing up in the business, I was always told that how you present yourself in public is a reflection of how you conduct your business. Walk around in wrinkled, shabby clothes,drive around in a dented, dirty car, fail to mow the lawn and let the paint peel on the building, and people will assume you put as little effort into your work as you do in your appearance.
The same is true of our websites. I’m assuming everyone who has taken a look at the website of the Geib Funeral Home (http://www.geibfuneral.com/) was impressed. They probably assumed that he runs his business quite professionally and families like the work he does. He certainly looks like he knows what he’s doing.
If his website was full of spelling and grammar errors, broken links, and cheesy “under construction” icons, would you still experience that same gut reaction?
Even on the web, you get one chance to make a good first impression. I’d say its better to wait on a website until you can get it right, than to put yourself out there just to say you did.
As far as blogging, I think that really depends on the skill of whoever that responsibility would fall to. If you have directors on staff who write well, and write easily, then by all means, incorporate a blog into your site. If spelling and grammar aren’t really your thing, then perhaps a blog isn’t the best idea.
April 3, 2008 at 9:19 am
[…] Posted by finalembrace under Funeral Marketing, Grammar In my last post, Do Funeral Homes REALLY Need the Internet?, I went off on a tangent about the kind of funeral homes that DON’T need the […]
April 4, 2008 at 10:21 am
Michelle is 100% right in her assessment however the “Bad” I was referring to was directed at ease of navigation and placement of contact page, ( as mentioned in the article) and I in no way meant to imply spelling and grammar errors, broken links, and cheesy “under construction” icons, are acceptable. My apologies
April 7, 2008 at 10:33 am
[…] from February and March, and have made a startling discovery: The subject of my last long post, Do Funeral Homes REALLY Need the Internet?, was the subject of a challenge over at Business and […]
April 18, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Imagine the surprise I got while surfing through the Final Embrace blog to find… my blog referenced. (Gulp)
I thought that a little context would be helpful for those of you debating the “blog or website” topic.
I believe that every business needs a website. It is the modern phone directory for Americans of all ages who have a computer squarely plopped in their kitchen, or bedroom.
For consumers, selecting a funeral director is about relationships. I think for those in funeral service who want to be positioned online and in their community as a provider of responsive, knowledgeable and a nurturing brand of funeral service, that a blog is a perfect compliment to an existing website.
We know that much of the traffic generated on a funeral home’s website is destined for online memorials and obituaries. My hope was that the blog would capture the interest of visitors to the site.
Knowing as well that the visitor to our site has most likely come from another funeral home website, or newspaper obituary listing, that we have to make an excellent impression, or we will be toast in the mind of the consumer.
For the record, we receive about 460 unique visits to our website daily. The top destinations from our tracking software:
1 online obituaries
2 contact us (yes – it is the link in the
top left of the page for EASY/QUICK location)
3 blog
4 Why Choose Geib
5 What to do when death occurs
6 Employment with Geib (note that we are not always seeking applicants, but this does give shoppers another place to peek behind the curtain, and gain an understanding of the culture that we endeavor to maintain.
7 Geib Pet Crematory
8 Geib In Touch (Our community outreach and aftercare calendar of events)
While I can’t point to many additional calls that the blog has secured, it’s early… and like most advertising, will never be cited by consumers as the reason for choosing their funeral care provider.
The blog gets its highest traffic on Monday’s – when all of the working folks return to the office and catch up on the web surfing they didn’t care to do on their own personal time.
Content is posted on about any day that ends in a 2 or a 7 – to ensure a fresh topic with regularity.
Don’t expect readers to get involved on such a public blog. The questions I receive are often personal, and not the type of thing that writers would want to sign their name to on the internet.
Do expect to promote your site – and the blog as part of the site.
Finally, Remember thy audience. These are future/potential customers. It is not the space for blowing off steam, or compromising the integrity of funeral service. I usually resist the temptation to post on personal topics, but made an exception when my daughter was born in October… we reside in a small enough community that news of that nature is welcome – and humanizing. If you visit the blog, click on the “It’s a Girl” thread to see me in scrubs, holding a precious little gal, and beaming… Watch out Rob Heppell
Good Luck Future Bloggers!
April 21, 2008 at 8:30 am
[…] Posted by finalembrace under Email Response, Funeral Marketing In a recent post, titled Do Funeral Homes REALLY Need the Internet?, we mentioned the funeral blog of director Brian Hanner of Geib Funeral Homes in Ohio. Brian read […]
July 22, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Looking at your segmentation of age groups, it is important to note that that list will easily be obsolete as the generations move forward. Even though I am 27 now, I will most likely be using more technological devices as I grow older. Our parents, and their parents, were using the technology that was available to them – and they stuck with it. What will that list look like in 5, 10, 15 years?
You need to plan for this today, as that list won’t resemble your target audience forever.
Here is a good link with some food for thought: http://www.bestkungfu.com/archive/date/2008/03/aging-and-accessibility/
It talks about many of the same things, how technology has aged, and how the different generations adapt and use technology.
January 2, 2009 at 10:05 am
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