10 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CURRENT OR PROSPECTIVE MARKETING COMPANY

It’s no secret successful digital marketing takes time and planning. Funeral professionals encounter obstacles ranging from lack of time to budget considerations to limited marketing experience or know-how when planning their digital strategy. Add in the ever-changing digital landscape and it can make for a big mountain to climb. That’s why many funeral homes and cemeteries often look for a marketing professional or agency to do all or some of their marketing.

However, some firms find choosing the right partner a bit daunting and aren’t even sure what questions they should ask when interviewing prospective marketing partners. We crafted this list of questions to help people identify which partner is right for you, your firm, and your goals. Answers to these questions before you hand off your digital marketing to an outside marketing company will help you understand just what you’re getting into.
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If you’re in the process of choosing someone to handle your marketing, or if you are working with someone already, you likely know three things for sure:

1. You want to stick to a budget with no surprises.
2. You want your marketing partner to do what you need it to and understand not every firm is the same.
3. You want good value for the money you spend or good return on investment (ROI).

Use this list of questions during your next meeting with a current or potential marketing agency to help you evaluate what you are getting when you partner up.

1. Can I get a comprehensive list of what I get for the monthly fee or any one-time fees?

This answers the big question: “What am I getting for my money?” You want to know exactly what you’re expected to handle, and what your marketing company is taking off your hands. The more clearly your marketing company can explain what they need from you, what the next steps are, and what you can expect from them, the greater chance they will be the right fit for you.
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For instance, will your marketing company provide you content but you need to post it? Or do you need to provide content and they post it? How often do they post? Once you get a comprehensive list of items included with the service, consider asking the follow-up questions below.

• Which of the items on your list are one-time actions and which recur?
• How often do recurring items happen (monthly/quarterly/yearly)?
• Are there additional fees for website hosting?
• Do you limit your ad budget for Facebook or Google ads?
• What are the penalties for early termination with the company?
• What content, images, logos, posting, admin access, or other information do you need to provide to the marketing partner?

There are no right or wrong answers here. You just want to have a clear understanding so you can better assess what you are getting for the money you pay. Our experience is that fewer surprises lead to happier relationships. Once you have the answers, you can better analyze if the prospective marketer is a good fit for you.

2. Can you explain these items in terms I can understand?

Once you get the terms, make sure you understand what they mean. If you don’t understand the marketing jargon being used, your marketing company should be able to explain it to you in a way you can understand.

What you’re looking for here isn’t an MBA in a 30-minute phone call, but transparency. Is your prospective marketing company willing to spend a little time helping you understand? Do they understand themselves or have someone on staff who does? Can they define terms you don’t know? Give appropriate analogies to help you see what they mean? Talk about the process you will go through with them? Help educate you on how everything works?
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You want to see a willingness from the marketing team to help you understand, especially at the beginning of the relationship while you are building trust with the partner.

3. What short-term gains can I expect once I start using your service and what is your strategy to get me there?

When looking at overall business health, it’s important to have short-term and long-term goals for your firm. A short-term goal is something you want to accomplish today, this week, this month, or even this year. Your short-term goals should help you reach your long-term business goals.

Do the short-term objectives and tactics fit with your long-term plans? For instance, does the short-term plan enhance your brand, help you get ahead of the competition, build your reputation (or at least not detract from it), etc.

Be sure that the gains your marketing company says it will provide fit with your business goals. No need to have a preneed strategy if you’re not interested in more preneed growth, for example.

4. What long-term gains can I expect and what is your strategy to get me there?

Long-term goals require time, planning, and an effective strategy. Be clear with your marketing company on what your long-term business goals are. Then ask what gains you can expect in the long term that support those goals. As mentioned above, your short-term objectives should help you reach your long-term ones.

If you are unclear about what your business goals are, what marketing goals you should have, and what gains you can expect based on the strategy and tactics used, ask your marketing company to help you. Most marketing companies have plans or offerings that include strategy sessions to help you tease out what you want for your business and know how to create a marketing strategy to help get you there.

5. What data tracking do you offer and how do I access it?

You’re looking for transparency from your marketing partner. You should know exactly how posts are performing, how the company is checking, how you can check, and who will be answering your questions about the results. You’ll want to know how that performance directly relates to your business results.

You’re not looking for “perfect” results here; there’s really no one “perfect” result. You do, however, want to see how the efforts are performing and be able to see the results yourself to determine what’s working and what’s not.

6. Who owns the email domain, website domain, and content?

Why do you want to know this? Because if you decide to part ways with a marketing company in the future, you need to know what’s yours and what’s theirs. If you own the rights to your email and website domain, then you can make future updates to them on your own or through a future marketing or website provider.

As for content, if it’s a reputable company they should have a solid (and legal) method of obtaining images for your content. No sketchy shortcuts here. And they should be able to tell you what content you get to keep if you end the partnership and which content is theirs.

Like your email domain and website, there are several reasons you want to know what sort of access you have to your content. For starters, if the marketing company is custom-creating your content, can you still use it after your contract expires? Say they create a post to promote your 2021 event and you want to use it again for the 2022 event, are you going to run into trouble reusing the posts they created for you, or is that content all yours? There’s no right or wrong answer, just look for a clear response so you are aware of the process.

Next, when running lead ads, will you have access to the contacts collected, or is there an extra charge for contacts? You might also ask if the marketing company keeps or sells the contacts collected. You want access to those leads and their contact info, so be sure to address that question.

7. How much work does your plan require on my part or from my staff?

As mentioned above, you need a clear understanding of what your marketing company is taking over and what you still handle. You should also find out how much time they need from you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. We recommend you cover this upfront so there are no surprises.

Every marketing company or partner is going to need some of your time for things like collecting logos, access to websites or Facebook pages, strategy setting, content approval, and more. Just like onboarding an employee, an upfront commitment is required but will pay dividends in the long run.

The key here is to gain an understanding of how much time that will take. Note that more time may be needed at the beginning of the relationship as you and your marketing partner get to know one another. Don’t be afraid to ask if this time requirement will decrease over time or remain consistent.

8. What is your onboarding and customer service like?

Onboarding isn’t an overnight process. It requires time and effort from both you and your marketing company. Investing your time and effort with the right company will ultimately result in more preneed contracts, at-need business, and an established online presence.

Onboarding takes time, but your marketing partner should have a process. Be sure to ask how long they estimate it will take. You may be in a time crunch or you may have all the time to launch your online strategy; find a marketing company that can provide what you need in the time you need it.

Once you know your onboarding timeline, ask about their communication process. Find out:

• Who will be managing your account and what method/how frequently they’ll be in touch?
• Will they work around your hours?
• If you run into any issues, will they be available 24/7 or is that extra?
• What is the average response time from their support team and how will your needs be prioritized over other firms?
• Will there be ongoing support when you need training for new staff members?

What kind of customer support can you expect? Depending on your preferences, you can choose to work with a marketing company that sends check-ins and reports or with one you interact with daily. Those options and more are out there, just ask so you can choose what works for you.

9. Do you have an internal team that creates my website, Facebook posts, and other materials for my funeral home or cemetery, or do you outsource these things?

Selecting an agency that has in-house experts across their service offerings is a good idea for a few reasons. You have someone in-house to collaborate with and you can maintain a consistent relationship with less of the “relearning” that happens than with one-off workers.

Some marketing companies use freelancers and that’s ok! As long as there is an in-house expert to help you when you need something immediately addressed.

10. What security practices do you follow to keep on-file payment information safe?

With all the ways personal information can be stolen online, you want to be sure your marketing agency is handling digital information securely. During your next meeting with your marketing company ask these questions to ensure any personal information is kept safe:

• Is there PCI (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council) compliance including a list of requirements for PCI certification that serves as a standard and checklist in keeping personal and sensitive information secure?
• Is there an SSL Certificate & TSL (Transport Layer Security)? This is security for when your data is in transit and used to secure websites, e-mails in transit, files, remote network logins, and remote databases?
• What encryption does your company use? Encryption is when a company stores your card number, it uses an encryption key that turns the information into an incomprehensible cipher, a mathematical technique for scrambling information.
• What about HIPAA compliance? Companies under this regulation will need to implement technical and procedural controls to protect this information and perform risk analysis on risk and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI.

Don't settle - before you hire a marketing agency find out who they are, what sets them apart, and how they plan to help your firm grow. We know selecting a marketing agency to work with can seem both intimidating and overwhelming. We hope this guide helps you confidently select the right marketing company for you.

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You can find more useful resources and information by visiting the Funeral Innovations website and blog under the resources tab: www.funeralinnovations.com.

Want a chance to chat about these topics and more? Alex McCracken, Funeral Innovation’s VP of Sales, joins the Crucial Conversations Series to discuss how to reach people digitally no matter where they are, from preneed to aftercare. On Wednesday, April 14, he’ll be joined by other experts to facilitate conversations on Pandemic Lessons on Preneed and Aftercare, learn more here. Registration is free for CANA Members and just $15 for non-members, and includes 1 hour of CE from the Academy.
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Not a member yet? Check out more benefits of joining CANA and learn why our association keeps growing: goCANA.org/WhyJoinCANA

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Alex McCracken is VP of Sales for Funeral Innovations Funeral Innovations and brings over a decade of experience helping companies achieve their goals using his software knowledge and in depth business model expertise. Alex’s career has spanned technical and sales positions ranging from digital mapping to consumer drones to the service industry. His passion for helping customers succeed has proven successful across every industry he’s served.

In his free time, Alex enjoys fishing, rafting, snowboarding, traveling, pole vaulting, and any adventure he can find in Colorado and beyond.