So you're looking to generate more revenue for your local cremation services business. Where do you start?

Your website will rank better in local organic search results if you work to improve its search engine optimization (SEO), but while that's a valid strategy, it takes a while to kick in. It could be six, nine, or even twelve months before you see significant ranking improvement vs. your local competitors.

I recommend improving your SEO, but that's more of a long-term (or at least medium-term) strategy. In the short term, it's all about pay-per-click advertising, aka PPC. When it comes to bang for your buck, this tool is awfully hard to beat.

You get the benefit of immediately appearing atop search engine results pages (SERPs) on searches for cremation providers in your area. You can customize your ad on the fly to better attract clientele. And because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, there's no wasted money on old-school "impressions" or unqualified leads.

And the top priority for employing PPC, of course, is to do so on Google Ads. Sure, there are other PPC platforms — including Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Amazon — but you must always start with Google.

Google currently owns about 90 percent of search engine market share, so there's literally no point to starting anywhere else. Once you're up and running with Google, you can branch out further if you have plenty of marketing budget left over for PPC.

To that point, you need to be aware of recent upgrades to Google Ads (previously "Google AdWords"), specifically its Expanded Text Ads. Thanks to these changes, you really are getting far more bang for your buck.

The short version is that you now can include more text, and thus more information, in your cremation services ads. Prior to the change, you were limited to two headlines and one description line: a total of 140 characters (including spaces) to get your message across.
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By comparison, Google displays (at minimum) about 150–156 characters of text in meta descriptions, the summary you provide of your webpage content, which are designed to convince people to click on organic links to your site. You can see the challenge in having only 140 characters to persuade people to click on an ad.

But now you get an extra headline ("Headline 3") and description line ("Description 2"). Each headline allows for 30 characters. Descriptions used to be limited to 80 characters, but Google has since bumped that to 90 characters each.
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That's a total increase from 140 characters max to 270 characters in each ad (not including the "path fields" portion of the display URL, which indicates where the searcher ends up after clicking the link). When you put that extra text space to use, you virtually double the amount of info you convey without increasing per-ad spend.

Google reports that larger PPC ads tend to see click-through rates 15 percent higher than smaller ads. When Google last made a move to include more real estate in each ad, advertisers reported click-through increases of 20 percent. That means more people reading about what your company offers and landing on your website.

With that said, understand that the extra space won't always appear to searchers. Google's big on responsive design (web pages that display in a friendly fashion on any type of device or screen), and it practices what it preaches. That means ads display differently when they're viewed on mobile devices vs. desktop computer screens.

One way to accommodate disparate displays is to show a smaller version of an ad, which means truncating Header 3 and Description 2. So make sure you use those spaces for extra information that potentially drives more conversions and not for information that's absolutely critical to the meaning of your message.

With that in mind, how do you put the extra space to work advertising your business? First, consider how you can expand previous messaging to be more effective or clear.

Did you take out words (or use acronyms instead) in previous text ads? If so, you could put that text back in to ensure meaning is more readily apparent to those outside the industry.

For example, if you previously abbreviated "celebration of life service" to "COL service" or "alternative container" to "alt container," you might be able to spell out those terms for greater clarity.

Also, you could add another feature or benefit message in your ad. Your secondary messaging might include the availability of a large urn selection or assistance in arranging unique final dispositions.

Expanded ads make it possible to share more about your business with searchers at the first touchpoint. Leverage them wisely to increase traffic to your pages and generate more cremation revenue.

Conflict. Confusion. Controversy. Crisis.

Those are NOT the 4 C’s of effective messaging. Instead, those often are the negative ramifications of poor key message development. Think about nearly any life situation where there is conflict, confusion, controversy or crisis. Nearly every time, one root of the problem is failure to communicate important information.

We’ve all seen the results of bad messaging. People misunderstand a public policy because the explanation is laced with complex jargon understood only inside the Capitol building. Or, the reputation of a person or institution becomes woefully out of date because no one has made time to refresh the words they use to describe themselves. Often, bad messaging thwarts success when it comes to public awareness and reputation management.
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A fundamental component of any communications campaign is crafting effective key messages that support the organization’s overall goals and accurately convey information to the most important audiences. Simple, but far from easy to do.
The four C’s of effective messaging are:

• Clear
• Chosen
• Concise
• Consistent

Simple, non-ambiguous terms are best. The faster you make the main point, the better. And, if you can inspire the listener to imagine a mental picture of exactly what you have in mind, that’s fantastic.
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Consider President John F. Kennedy’s speech to Congress on May 25, 1961:

The immediate reaction to most must have been, “Wow!” And, to this day, Americans remember that it was Kennedy who proclaimed the United States would put an astronaut on the moon… and then in 1969 we did.

Think about how scientific jargon and bureaucratic language could have killed the inspiration of the moment if they’d crept in. What if the President’s speech had led with a recitation of complicated technological advances that would make space travel better? What if he’d talked for five minutes about metals, plastics, thermodynamics and aerodynamics? What if he’d waited until the end to mention that a human being would walk on the moon – and then come back to Earth?
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Highlight the gold nuggets of your messages distinctly and right away.

Employ well-chosen words and phrases that are unique to your organization, are memorable and distinguish you from others. You don’t want to sound like everyone else. So, identify words and phrases that are pinpoint-accurate, novel, and best describe you, yet are terms that your competition absolutely cannot use. Curate a collection of the most alluring words possible that stay true to your mission and purpose. Avoid the generic.

After facilitating countless messaging sessions for clients over the years, I can assure you that everyone is promising “high quality” products and services, “providing outstanding service,” and “excellence.” So many call themselves “the premier” organization in their field (some spell it “premiere,” but that’s a different conversation). And, it seems that every other organization will guarantee you they’re making an “impact,” helping you achieve “impact,” or even more cringe-worthy, they’re “impactful.”

Transform those overused words into bigger, aspirational ideas. Dare to be fresh and shake up the status quo.
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Well-chosen words also help you build and maintain credibility. If you’ve adopted messages that are true and unique to your organization, people will understand and believe what makes you special. You want to use charismatic words in a balanced way, so they convey enthusiasm without hyperbole and support credibility at the same time.

Use fewer words. The best key message sentences are short and pithy, packed with powerful words that speak for themselves. Concise language and writing always win the day. In today’s “click, click, click” world, it’s even more imperative to speak and write in shorter, more interesting sentences.

A “No Trespassing” sign is concise and clear, and the treacherous dune cliff behind the sign is consistent with the message.

Resist the urge to use a whole paragraph to explain each key message sentence. If the key message needs explaining, it’s not an effective key message sentence. Start over. Simplify. Break it up. Go back to your mission statement. Think about what a 30,000-foot view would look like. What is the one, simple point you need to make? Re-write the key message. Repeat with other key messages.

Boiling down the essence of an organization to three to five key messages is an ideal way to start. Organizations that communicate best do this. Those three to five key messages need to stand on their own with no propping up and no footnotes. Every organization can do this. Again, it’s simple, but not easy.

To some, three to five key messages may seem too constricting. Keep in mind that once you’ve crafted those overall messages, you may choose to write supporting key messages. However, those supporting messages are reserved for use only in situations where your audience – not you – wants more detail and supplementary information. Don’t foist unwanted words on people you are trying to engage. Be ready for them to tell you that they want more. Your supporting key messages also must use clear, concise and well-chosen language.

Whether you are the leader of a corporation, a nonprofit, an association or the United States of America, it’s your responsibility to ensure consistency of message. You and everyone else who speaks or writes on behalf of your organization must use your organization’s painstakingly-crafted key messages every time.

This consistency underpins credibility and builds staying power in brand identity and reputation. Message consistency also is paramount in internal communications and is a lynchpin of healthy corporate culture. I’m not endorsing robot-like recitation of scripts. Instead, the goal is that all communications use the key words and phrases of the organization. This leaves room for each speaker to adapt the key messages to his or her speaking style. And, it allows people to write about the key messages in ways that are consistent with the overall meaning.

Organizations that communicate best ensure that all representatives know the key messages and are well-practiced in conveying them. This starts with board members who spend time internalizing key messages, so they can present them to internal and external audiences to advance the goals of the organization. It continues with rigorous training for executive leaders and communications professionals whose jobs require them to define and explain the organization every day. And, many organizations ensure that every front-line professional is well-versed in key messages, so all of them can handle workplace situations in ways that support organizational goals and culture.

We PR types always preach that consistent messages and repetition are the hallmarks of effective communications. But can being consistent and repeating a key message become tired and boring?

How do you keep messages fresh and vital while still repeating them so that your intended audiences remember your main points? How do you strike a balance between repetition that builds strong brand recognition and repetition that makes your story so stale that people say, “Oh, no, not THAT again?”
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It boils down to one communications rule that may be more sacred than staying consistent with messages:

It’s always about the audience first. The best communicators formulate what they’re going to say based on their audience’s needs. Why should this group care about what I want to tell them? What’s in it for them? What words and anecdotes will best resonate with them? The way I perceive the situation is less important than how the audience will receive it, so how do I immediately hook their interest in my topic? If I tell the old chestnut story again, will this audience relish it or disdain me? Answering those questions before you open your mouth will make your key messages fresh and tailored to the audience and prevent you from boring them with old chestnuts.

SORT AND BALANCE THE CHESTNUTS AND MESSAGES
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The audience’s appetite determines whether your story is a luscious treat or a stale old chestnut. Before you address a group, understand their point of view and tailor your consistent messages to the audience’s needs. If they hunger for chestnuts, go ahead and tell those old stories that resonate best with them. If not, stay with the consistent key messages, freshened up.