Page A6 December 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A BECKLEY,WV— On October 22, 2022, the Melton Mortuary and Cremation Center hosted its first annual Trunk or Treat event with the whole staff dressing up in their favorite costumes to host the event. Looking for an alternative to door-todoor Halloween travels, gobs of families joined the staff at Melton for the event. To add to the excitement and remind everyone where they were, the By Welton Hong I tend to drill down on the granular aspects of deathcare marketing in this column, but sometimes it’s good to step back and take a big-picture look at the fundamentals. You can contract with marketing companies and techsavvy promoters to help you out, but if you’re not fairly familiar with the actual tools they’re using, there’s a risk that they’ll take advantage of you. It’s a terrible idea to spend a whole lot of money with a financial advisor if you don’t have any idea how the stock market works or what an annuity is. And no one should buy a smartphone without any understanding that iPhones and Android phones work in totally different ways. Similarly, you shouldn’t be throwing money at anyone claiming to be an “internet marketing expert” if you don’t know the first thing about internet marketing! That’s like buying a car without knowing how to fill your gas tank or check your oil. You need to know the basics—otherwise, you could get burned. To make sure that doesn’t happen, please review these three online marketing fundamentals: 1. It All Starts with Credibility If you’re the absolute cheapest burial or cremation option in your market—you already know your place in the market. You’re going after price shoppers, plain and simple. But that’s not a realistic plan for most funeral home owners, especially those in highly competitive markets. You would need bargain-basement prices to undercut everyone else in price, and those small margins require massive quantity. Also, you already know how shockingly low some direct cremation providers set their prices—and that some try to make up for that with various hidden fees. So, you’re probably not the cheapest option for burials and cremations in your market. This means you need to attract online clientele by bolstering your credibility. Credibility takes lots of forms, but essentially, I’m referring to how legitimate your business appears to online visitors. Having lots of testimonials bolsters your credibility. So does having plenty of positive reviews on online platforms. You also generate plenty of credibility by having a robust About Us page with plenty of information about your business, plus pictures of your staff and (as appropriate) your facilities. Finally, you gain credibility by generating citations, which are references to your business elsewhere on the internet. 2. Conversion Is the Critical Website Component In online marketing-speak, conversion refers to the process of turning an online visitor into an actual lead—and ultimately, a client. Your website could generate a ton of traffic, but if the people visiting it (either for preplanning or immediate need) don’t convert, it’s essentially useless: All you have is a bunch of window shoppers. A conversion could be as simple as the visitor filling out a contact form (typically for preplanning) or calling your business (typically for at-needs). To generate conversions, your website needs to have a clear call to action (CTA) on each page, inducing visitors to convert. Other big conversion generators include mobile-friendly navigation (a site that works just as well on smartphones and tablets as on desktop computers) and including lots of original content—another issue I’ll elaborate on below. 3. Content, Content, Content — of Every Kind Most likely, the last thing you want to think about for your funeral home website is producing a lot of content. Why would you? You’re in the deathcare business, not running an online blog. You want to place your focus where it belongs, on the day-to-day operations of your firm. I get it. But here’s the truth: You need plenty of content. Focus on the Fundamentals Powerhouse Marketing with Welton Websites with lots of strong, original content massively outperform others in every metric. And that’s true of every industry, whether you’re repairing bicycles, repairing roofs or providing funeral services. To Google, the line of work doesn’t matter. Everyone’s treated the same. Having lots of content on your website improves your online marketing efforts in numerous ways: Search engines factor website content heavily into your search engine optimization (SEO), giving you higher rankings in organic search results. Content also is a major factor in both generating more conversions and producing higher average margins for services. When you use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising—paid ads on search engine results pages—you’ll also get much more bang for your buck if your site has lots of original content. Content isn’t only written text—it includes images and video, so don’t be shy about including both. You can also outsource for regularly updated written content (blog posts) on a variety of subjects both directly and indirectly related to death care. But before worrying about blog posts, start by ensuring your site’s pages are comprehensive and fully detailed with lots of great information about your specific business and about burial and cremation in general. 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 www.vischerfuneralsupplies.com R&S MARKERS FREE Sample Upon Request CREATE CUSTOM TEMPORARY GRAVE MARKERS FOR AS LOW AS $5.25 EACH PHONE: 561 .963.4732 EMAIL: INFO@RSMARKERS.COM WWW.RSMARKERS.COM AMRA INSTRUMENTS Researched, Developed and Patented by Funeral Directors Research,Inc. visit www.amrainstruments.com for links to our Supply Chain Partners ™ ® Melton Mortuary and Cremation Center hosts a Trunk or Treat Event for the Beckley, West Virginia Community funeral home’s hearse was open for kids to crawl inside assisted by a staff member wearing a Jason mask! The fire department sent over a firetruck and ambulance as a source of candy distribution as well as other local vendors including Sunset Memorial Park. After the kids (and parents) collected their goodies, the film Beetlejuice was shown in the chapel and was enjoyed by many as they watched and ate popcorn. Several members of the staff dressed up as characters from the movie including the lovely red-haired receptionist Patrice and Charles Deetz’s character, Jeffrey Jones. “This was something we all really wanted to do just to have fun and also give families an option for a true family-time event” commented Renee Duncan, general manager. Roscoe Collins, crematory manager added “we all had such a fun time and I really think all the families enjoyed it and I’m already thinking about next year and more things we can do.” This will certainly be an event that Melton Mortuary plans to keep going for many years to come. Melton Mortuary and Cremation Center in Beckley, WV is owned by Capstone Services Group. They are an owner and operator of quality funeral homes and cemeteries with locations in Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana and Oregon. Capstone Services Group is fortunate to be in a financial position where they do not have to borrow from banks or other lending institutions and are completely debt free. This allows them to continue to invest in the businesses they own and more so in the staff and employees who are the key to each location’s success. Reach out to Richard Lee at 407-2575024 or visit www.CapstoneFuneral.com for more information. Save on Shipping! DIGITAL DIRECTORY Available Download instantly at www.NomisPublications.com
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