Page A6 September 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A www.vischerfuneralsupplies.com By Welton Hong Welcome to the final part of this two-part series about growth marketing. As I explained last month, growth marketing is a type of marketing that’s becoming more prevalent across all types of industries. Born of growth hacking, which refers to measures startups and software companies take to grow quickly, growth marketing focuses on driving success through better customer relationships, increased loyalty, and loops that inherently grow your business. Now let’s dig into the remaining two elements of growth marketing: North Star Metrics A North Star metric is the clever name for a single key performance indicator you can use to guide the growth of your firm and understand whether the business is healthy overall. This growthmarketing term gets its name fromPolaris, the North Star. For centuries, sailors and other explorers used Polaris as a guide in the northern hemisphere. The bright, easy-to-locate star helped them navigate across vast seas, oceans, and plains long before GPS was even a dream in some modern inventor’s mind. If you know anything about historic navigation techniques, you know that people couldn’t rely solely on the North Star. They also used various constellations and a complex series of measurements and math to guide them. Deathcare firms, then, can’t drop all their other data in favor of a single North Star growth metric. Instead, they should identify a metric that helps them find their way to success while also using other KPIs. Choosing the right North Star metric is the first step. Look for a metric that: • Applies to all your clientele, products, and service lines • Is within your control as much as possible • Can be measured—easily if possible • Can be measured within time boundaries, such as per day, week, month, or quarter, so you can compare success as you grow Once you identify a North Star metric, find ways you can work to improve it. Doing so usually improves your services and processes, resulting in positive impacts to other metrics too. If you’ve missed our other posts in the four-part growth marketing series, go back to find out more about how growth marketing works and how deathcare firms can use growth loops to increase conversions and revenues. Using Emerging Channels Emerging channels are new opportunities for marketing or connecting with consumers. They might be truly new channels, such as the app Clubhouse in 2021, or new features on existing channels, such as Instagram Reels in 2020. In some cases, emerging channels are well-established platforms that have not been used in a certain industry. For example, Discord is a voice, chat, and video app that people use for a variety of purposes, including building communities around specific topics. For the right deathcare firm, Discord might offer growth opportunities. However, the platform isn’t currently being used for this purpose on any type of scale, making it a potentially emerging platform within the industry. Should Deathcare Firms Invest in Emerging Channels? The benefit of adopting emerging channels early is that you can connect with new audiences before the channels become oversaturated and highly competitive. The biggest downside of investing in emerging channels is that you’re often acting as a pioneer of sorts, which can be a gamble. Growth Marketing for Deathcare: Additional Elements Powerhouse Marketing with Welton Given those factors, deathcare firms must carefully consider the potential risks and rewards when investing in emerging channels. First, ask yourself what the business purpose is. You shouldn’t try to show up on all possible channels just to do so—you need a reason for adopting a new channel. For example, if you’re expanding your audience and want to attract younger preplanners, you may start investing in TikTok. It’s also a good idea to take it one channel at a time. Take small steps for reduced risks to test channels and then invest more time and resources as you see results. Adopt one new channel at a time, growing it to success or discarding it as not viable, before you move on to another channel to reduce the chances that you overextend your resources and are ineffective on all channels. And if you don’t have the resources to adopt new channels now, don’t worry. You can practice growth marketing on existing channels too, and it’s better to have a few channels that work well for you than dozens of channels that don’t. Welton Hong is the founder of Ring Ring Marketing® and a leading expert in creating case generation from online to the phone line. He is the author of Making Your Phone Ring with InternetMarketingforFuneralHomes. Formore information, visit www.FuneralHomeProfits.com. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columnsonline at ZIONSVILLE,IN— On Friday, June 24th at Flanner and Buchanan’s Zionsville, IN funeral center, they served the Jill Canady family through her daughter, Kaitlin Brockman. Kaitlin prepared her children for her mother Jill’s, aka “Grammy’s,” passing. This was evident as six-year-old (now seven) grandson, Benjamin, honored his Grammy in a way that touched everyone’s heart. While Kaitlin and her husband went in to see their mother just prior to the visitation, A Heartwarming Flanner Buchanan Story Benjamin with Grammy Benjamin, dressed in a suit, stood patiently by the door greeting every person who entered and thanked them for coming to see his Grammy. When fourth-generation Flanner Buchanan owner Bruce Buchanan came through the receiving line he said, “Hi, Benjamin Brockman, I am Bruce Buchanan.” Benjamin greeted him with a handshake and a smile as he did everyone who entered. Buchanan then said, “Benjamin do you know what we have in common? My initials are BB, and your initials are BB.” Impressed, Buchanan proceeded to name Benjamin an “Honorary Guest Relations Employee” for the day and gave him his own name tag. According to Buchanan, “I was immediately struck by how composed and mature he was for such a young boy. Benjamin’s action of greeting every visitor brought a relaxed tone to the funeral, which helped all of the family and friends relax and better share their stories. His grandmother got an incredible send-off.” Benjamin also received a certificate and a $25 Visa gift card. Kaitlin thanked them for the kindness they have shown her family during the time of her mother’s passing and Benjamin thanked them for the award and gift card. Bruce Buchanan thanks Benjamin and gives him a name tag as an Honorary Guest Relations Employee. News Funeral Home & C eme t e ry onl ine Your Rea l Source . Anywhere . Any t ime . @Nomis.Publications Like
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