Critical Funeral Home Marketing Channels: Facebook and Email

“Location, location, location” might be the mantra of real estate, but it’s also a good message for marketers. Where you advertise products or publish your message has a direct impact on your ROI.

For funeral home marketing, Facebook and email are both still viable channels. But one might be more stable than the other.

Facebook: A Giant Fumbling
Facebook’s long ride to the top ended over the past couple of years, but no one knows if the ride just goes downhill from here or has some surprises up ahead. What marketers do know is that people aren’t signing up for the social platform at the same rate, and many are abandoning it or only checking in a few times a week or month.

Funeral homes following these trends likely realize they should diversify into other channels, especially if they rely heavily on Facebook. One good piece of news for marketers today is that people over age 55 still use Facebook regularly, keeping the platform useful for connecting with this key demographic.

Email: Tried-and-True Digital Marketing
Email may be the “grandad” of digital marketing channels, but it still gets the job done. In fact, email generates the highest average ROI of all digital marketing efforts at an impressive $38 return for every $1 spent.

But funeral home marketing in 2019 and beyond calls for high levels of customization and personalization, so you can’t just set and forget your email lists. Leverage software tools to segment your lists so you can send the most relevant messages to each group. For example, you might send one type of email to families who already used your services and another to those who previously signed up for information about preplanning.

Personalizing messages with automation tools can also lead to better email marketing performance. Personalization improves click-through rates almost 15 percent.

Don’t Take Our Word for It
Just because Facebook is trending down or email marketing is performing well for others doesn’t mean it will (or won’t) work for you. Funeral home marketers should test the waters of various channels, tweaking marketing campaigns to find the best way of communicating with and converting potential clientele.