Growth Marketing for Deathcare Part 2: What Are Growth Loops?

Last week we introduced the concept of growth marketing, a type of marketing focused on growing your clientele numbers, revenue, and overall business. Deathcare firms can tap into these efforts when they want to grow enough to open a new location, compete with larger firms, or just get more revenue on the books.

One of the main tools of growth marketing is the growth loop. Find out more about how you can create these loops for your deathcare firm today.

What Is a Growth Loop?

A growth loop occurs when you take the outputs of your marketing process and somehow convert them to inputs that drive more outputs. Okay, that’s a lot of marketing speak that’s meaningless on its own, so let’s explore an example.

You may have used or heard of Slack, a team messaging and communication app. Slack’s growth runs primarily on a growth loop that works like this:

• The Slack marketing team triggers an input. Someone does a Google search online for team communication tools, for example, and finds Slack’s website. They sign up, becoming an output of Slack’s marketing process.
• The customer engages in trigger activity too. That person invites their team and business partners to join them on Slack. At this point, the person is now creating input into Slack’s growth loop.
• That activity creates more outputs. Some of the people who sign up to collaborate with this person eventually create their own paid Slack accounts and invite other people to collaborate on different efforts.
• The cycle continues, resulting in constant growth.

Growth Loops for Deathcare

Growth loops for most deathcare businesses look a bit different, but you can foster them to help drive organic growth for your firm. Here are some examples:

• Google reviews. When a satisfied family leaves a positive review on Google or another website, that encourages other people to choose you for their preplanning or at-need services. That’s technically a growth loop, and it doesn’t cost you anything more than a little time asking for reviews.
• Preplanning referrals. You might create a process that lets preplanning clientele refer others, perhaps gaining a small discount or free upgrade on their own service by doing so. Referral programs are tried-and-true examples of growth loops.
• Follow-up cycles. Sometimes, the growth loop is less about bringing in new clientele and more about maximizing the value of the clientele you already have. For example, you may set up an annual check-in with early preplanners, knowing that their income and wishes might change as they grow careers or experience life changes. Such check-ins can lead to additional purchases that increase the value of each preplanning contract.