This is the sympathy business. On a regular basis, we’re expected to offer up our condolences, well wishes, and sympathy.
 
But empathy, a word which often gets confused for the same thing, is even more important to our success. Sympathy is defined as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune.” Empathy, on the other hand, is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” In short, you can be sympathetic without being empathetic. But empathy will make you not only more effective at caring for the bereaved, but at managing your business.
 
The classic “burial-or-cremation” dichotomy is illustrative of this point. Even those who know better often let our language betray the misunderstanding that there are essentially only two kinds of people in the world: the conservative, religious, pro-burial traditionalists; and the liberal, postmodern, pro-cremation rebels. While it’s perhaps a step in the right direction to understand that not everybody wants the same thing, it’s not nearly a step far enough.

The reality of how the modern American — your customer — sees the world and your business is far, far more nuanced. McKee Wallwork’s proprietary research methodology, IDEALS®, asks thousands of people across the US hundreds  of questions on their Interests, Desires, Emotions, Attitudes, and Lifestyles to discover market Segmentation. This psychographic segmentation research conducted by my firm has shown seven segments that people statistically sort themselves into, and each is much more complicated than a simple preference on burial or religion.
 
For example, if I were to tell you that a heavily tattooed atheist was about to walk through your door to make arrangements, you might have some assumptions about that individual. But the 14% of the population who my firm has nicknamed “Free Spirits” (the most likely segment to have tattoos, and the most likely to identify as atheist) is also the most likely segment to have posted condolences on your firm’s website, the most willing to talk about their own funeral plans, and the least likely to express opposition to a viewing (that’s not a typo). In many ways, the individual you’re liable to write off as a direct-cremation loss is actually highly interested in what you offer.
 
Or, while 40% of the market (a rapidly shrinking number, by the way) is what you might call a traditional funeral consumer, roughly a third of that group is motivated primarily by the quality, and even status symbol, projected by the funeral; another third is motivated by local ownership; and another third is motivated primarily by religion. These three sub-categories look very similar (in life and on paper), but confuse them at your own risk, because the reality is they will prioritize very different needs.
 
At the other end of the spectrum is who we call the “Distanced and Decided.” These are the classic cremationists, but our research revealed an interesting nuance: community size (household size, proximity to family, frequency of communicating with family) seemed to be a driver in these folks’ decisions just as much as politics or religion. In other words, they’re prone to cremate primarily because they don’t believe anyone would come to their graves. This kind of insight reveals how our profession is impacted by societal and cultural shifts, and how new products and services will always be needed, tailored to evolving subcultures.
 
Or, consider the youngest segments planning funerals. They split statistically into two camps: one, the “Resolute Rookies,” are more removed from death than perhaps any group of people in human history: they don’t know anybody who has ever died, and they think they can avoid the whole business as a result. But another cohort their same age is a funeral director’s dream: they understand that funerals are for the living, represent a post-Boomer pendulum swing back toward tradition, religion, ceremony, and viewings, and represent perhaps the most affluent category in recent memory who is ready to spend on funerals (long driveways and long bills).

The point is this: there’s no silver bullet, and while there is value in letting go of the “all-things-to-all-people” concept that is a burden and a distraction to your business, there’s even more value in thinking really intentionally about empathy. When we look closer than the simple choices and assumptions, we’ll be able to venture a guess at not only what people are asking for, but why. And when we do that, we can lead them toward the considerations and options that not only make for good business, but good grief.
 
We don’t have to be a profession or a business. Our success will only come insofar as we do both. And the better we become at listening, looking deeply, understanding motivations, and seeking to provide people with what they really need (as opposed to what we think they should ask for), the more successful we will become — both as business owners and as servants to hurting families.

The death care business and advertising have a tenuous relationship. Part of it is not merely a scarcity mindset, but a scarcity reality: when my ad dollar can’t grow the market and has questionable likelihood of growing market share, I have to wonder if there are better investments. And, especially in an environment where the words “inflation” and “recession” (let alone “post-COVID slowdown”) are inescapable, many firms are looking for places to save a buck or two.

While fearfulness doesn’t make for good management, preparedness does. Business owners are (and should be) thinking about how to batten down the hatches should the need arise. Even if it all comes to nothing, it’s good to have a plan.
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In my firm’s quarter-century, our clients have frequently been faced with the need to trim their ad budgets during tough economic times. The solution ain’t what it used to be.

There was a time when I coached clients to stay the course. For years I’ve told a story about a friend who owns a local cigar shop. In 2008, during the Great Recession, he invested heavily in his company, moving into a larger location, opening an affiliated lounge, and expanding his inventory. Looking back, he says that if he had taken a defensive stance, his business would have faltered instead of growing as it did. I’ve used that as an illustration of why it’s a good idea to maintain or even increase your marketing budget through recession. But here’s the rub: my friend didn’t invest in promotion. He invested in his place.
Place is an often-neglected pillar of the four Ps of marketing, but it’s as much a part of marketing as the other three. Ad agencies tend to focus on promotion — paid advertising and its cousins — to the exclusion of all else. That’s like tying two arms and a leg behind your back, especially when you’re trying to squeeze every return you can out of limited marketing dollars.

Consider this: would you rather get a thousand people to check out your business, only to discover that it’s run down and outdated, or have ten people engage with it and be instantly impressed by what they see? Advertising has its role, but it’s only one aspect of a well-rounded marketing plan.

This is especially true these days. Place is a high-ROI investment, and in 2023 it goes well beyond the physical. It includes your digital footprint as well, and for most funeral homes that’s a strategy that is far underleveraged.
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Why? Because we tend to think of marketing as a funnel. Begin at the top, the thinking goes, and cast a wide net to a large number of people, hoping some fraction of them engage with you. Then work to convert some fraction of those people. Then do your best to keep some fraction of those people as repeat customers. Digital strategies that focus too heavily on AdWords and SEO are simply applying this old thinking to new tactics.
But it’s hard to make that math work in our favor.

Our lowest hanging fruit is the customer base we keep (by the way, this applies to staffing, too, which is important to note during a labor crisis). The more we focus on building our offerings around it, the stickier (and more successful) we’ll be. Thus, we should begin at the bottom of the funnel, focusing on retention before all else.

​Only then should we move up a level, to conversion. Is your physical space attractive and conducive to winning new customers? Is your website relevant and effective to those who are unfamiliar with you? Are your products and services priced correctly? These are questions more of strategy than spending (though the one should follow the other). Better to reach fewer people who will all become fans than to reach more people who will be disappointed.

Assuming those two are in order, next up is engagement. This is where the digital-as-place strategy comes fully into play. Say you’re a retailer. People might come into your store ready to spend, or they might just be window shopping, but either way, they’re checking you out and trying to decide if what you offer is what they need. Their behavior in the digital universe is no different. It’s not a place to cut corners, nor is it a place to design around your own tastes, preferences, or ego.

Everything you do to engage prospective customers, online and off, should be carefully calibrated to their interests. Imagine if a retailer managed its storefront the way the average business manages its digital outreach: “I don’t have time to think about it right now,” or “We tried banner advertising five years ago and it didn’t work,” or “Yeah, I don’t understand that stuff, but we hired Kayley to handle it for us. She’s a Millennial.”

Here’s where you should also be wary of impressive-but-vague promises of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vendors. I’ve had numerous clients tell me they have a vendor who handles SEO for them, but I have yet to hear any of them articulate what’s actually happening or what return they’re getting for their investment. SEO is only one piece of your digital space, alongside UX, Google My Business, content development, social media management, programmatic advertising, and more — in the same way that a physical building is comprised of plumbing and framing and roofing and electrical. Without a general contractor and a blueprint, the specialists won’t give you the space you’re hoping for. In the same way, every component of your digital presence must be coordinated around a unified objective, prospect profile, and brand identity.

Finally, working our way up to the top of the funnel, there’s attraction. If you’re forced to cut advertising in the face of a recession, this is where to do it. The obvious caveat here is if advertising works, a brand that neglects it does so at its peril. But in a moment of austerity, if you have to cut something, it’s better to prioritize, and cut first the places you will feel it last. Still, that doesn’t mean you won’t feel it at all. Cuts to an advertising budget are not without consequence.
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If you are not investing in building awareness and preference for your brand, awareness and preference will decline. This is especially important to remember because the nature of these declines makes it easy to convince yourself they’re not happening. There’s usually a lag of at least one or two years, which is why you will run into people at a coffee shop who tell you they just saw an ad you haven’t run in six months. Eventually, however, the lag catches up with you, and your company will feel the impact. Still, that’s a very different thing from saying you can’t cut spending. Even though there are plenty of reasons not to, cutting your attraction budget might still be the right thing to do if your company is on the ropes.
The most important thing during challenging economic times — at any time, for that matter — is to ensure that your brand’s house is in order. To reference the familiar parable, retention and conversion are “big rocks” that must go into the jar first. And they usually go hand in hand with your place, both digital and physical. Advertising is important, but it’s the sand that goes into the jar last — if you put it in first, you won’t have room for the other investments. Start at the bottom of the funnel and work your way up.

Do you know your clients or customers? Do you know exactly what your brand represents to them? Are you executing with excellence? Are your internal dynamics healthy? If a casual observer visited with your executive team, would they believe that your leadership is aligned and confident? If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” or even “I’m not sure,” that’s the place to start (here’s a  tool  to help you quickly and efficiently find out).

It’s tough to do surgery on yourself. Some of these decisions are best made with the help of professionals. But it’s even tougher to go under the knife of multiple surgeons at once. Marketing is an increasingly fragmented discipline, with dozens or even hundreds of specialists each representing their viewpoint of the world. That’s why having your own viewpoint — and an integrated marketing strategy that delivers on it — is vital. Without it, you will be continually tugged here and there and nothing will have a chance to work.
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Rather than a blanket cutting strategy (10% reductions on every line item), it’s vital to make the right cuts, in the right places, so as to minimize the long-term consequences. Handled properly, the effects of a temporary reduction in your advertising budget can be offset by improvements down the funnel. By prioritizing and aligning your efforts, it’s possible to weather adverse conditions and emerge stronger than ever.

Over the Christmas holiday, I joined a few million other Americans by watching the second season of Netflix’s The Crown. We in the USA have an odd fascination with the British monarchy, reliably gobbling up anything related to the UK’s Royal Family.

The differences between our two governments can be simplified as form and function. The UK has a Prime Minister to govern (function) and a sovereign to serve as a living symbol of the country (form). The American Presidency rolls these two jobs into one.
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But Americans, ironically, divide the two components when it comes to business. Hiring is one of a company’s most impactful decisions for its brand, but is made by one of its most insulated and quantitative departments. Like every election, every hiring decision impacts the corporate brand. So, it’s high time marketing and HR got together. After all, Americans talk a lot about qualifications and experience, but we tend to vote for the candidate we’d rather have a beer with. Below are a few arguments for “the special relationship” between Marketing and HR, inspired by both sides of the Atlantic.

Your audience sees your employees as brand ambassadors, even if you don’t. Americans are less comfortable with pomp and spectacle than our British cousins. That’s why we can’t quite get our heads around the monarchy. We can understand hiring for experience, but hiring for image seems downright undemocratic.

But image—even spectacle—are sometimes exactly what a brand needs. From Branson to Bezos, some of the world’s most successful executives are masters of show business. At every level, your brand will be judged by the people you send into the room to represent it, both internally and externally. Even if you keep him away from clients, that hire with savant-like expertise but abysmal interpersonal skills will take his toll on your company’s culture and morale. On the other hand, the individual with an innate ability to inspire might just be able to learn the technical details.

It isn’t lonely at the top. Like the monarch, CEOs and celebrity spokespeople are the faces most carefully selected and cultivated for their ability to inspire. But commoners change history too. Executives and paid actors don’t have the only—or even the greatest—impact on a brand’s value. I can’t name the CEO of Home Depot, but I can tell you all about the terrible customer service I received last week.

Ritz Carlton understands this. Their “ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” mantra has helped the brand become synonymous with the very best in hospitality and dining. Compare that to the night shift at Holiday Inn: instilling form versus function at every level makes all the difference.

People failures are brand failures. The Crown’s sophomore season dove into the scandals that have plagued the royal family, providing another important lesson for marketers and HR pros: The best spokesperson arrangement in history can’t protect you from the spokesperson. Tiger Woods went from brand gold to brand anathema literally overnight. The Most Interesting Man in the World, one of the most successful campaigns in advertising history, was ultimately toppled simply because an actor wanted to retire.

It’s never wise to put all your eggs in one basket. If every hire is an investment in your company’s brand (and it is), then it’s wise to diversify that investment. A brand embodied by lots of faces means less disaster when one of them screws up or calls it quits.

Good form can enable good function. Repeatedly in The Crown, the precocious queen broke with tradition to influence world events, armed with nothing but her signature grace and eloquence. While her classically-trained advisors wanted to stick to traditional diplomatic channels, they were always left in admiration when she achieved what they were unable to.

Don’t underestimate the hard results of soft skills. Does that sales role really require industry expertise, or do you actually need a masterful relationship-builder? Which would you rather have at your front desk: the consummate hostess or an MBA?

When you’re desperate to hire someone who can do the job, remember that “the job” almost always includes representing your company—whether externally or internally. That goes beyond a résumé, a degree, or a certification. Too many front desks and front doors are manned by the most disengaged, disinterested person in the company. It can be helpful to think of those positions in terms of how much charisma they require, not how little technical ability.

You likely won’t have the luxury of hiring purely for ceremony, but putting Marketing in HR’s seat for a moment might yield some fruitful discussions—and might help you build a brand worthy of kings.

Deathcare has experienced a transformation in the last three years. It’s been intense – and grueling at times – but the future is bright and full of opportunity.

Over the past decade I’ve been in deathcare, I’ve seen trends solidify right before my eyes. Obviously, the pandemic moved the needle quite a bit. I can’t honestly say I was quite sure of what was going on while it was happening, but with hindsight, as with most things, it all made sense.

After such a chaotic time, what trends did I most want to learn about? I wanted to dive deep into the changes in customer expectations around online arrangements and see how firms are implementing technology to help serve all of their families better.

When Tyler Yamasaki (CEO of PartingPro, an online arrangement tool and case management system) and I delved into the data from his company on, we learned a lot by analyzing customer behavior during the pandemic. We saw what shifts cemented as a trend and presented these changes at length at CANA’s 2023 Cremation Symposium and The Secrets Behind The Most Successful Online Cremation Businesses episode of The Direct Cremation Podcast we co-host.

​Now, while it’s cool to learn that “Bob” is the most common first name entered into PartingPro’s decedent database, it didn’t really give us any insight into the industry changes we were hoping to track. Nope, for that we had to look at other data – mainly data centered around consumers’ willingness to work with providers online.
What we found was…interesting.

The biggest changes we found were in customer willingness to complete online arrangements and do forms online.

Here’s a look at the increase in arrangements during that period.

You see a huge spike right in March of 2020. Well, there’s no surprise there! But the surprise is that the levels never went back down to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, it’s holding a new line of support at about double the levels we saw pre-pandemic – and clearly look to be trending upward from there. I think this step-function change is here to stay and reflects the huge increase in all e-commerce trends in the economy at-large. Companies were forced to adapt to online management systems and this shows that the implementation of those systems is here to stay.

Now, I’ll admit that this spike doesn’t tell the whole story. At that time we’re looking at, there was a large increase in overall deaths, given the presence of COVID-19, so we had to dig a little deeper.

We needed to break down the cases into two cohorts: those who completed arrangements online and those who completed arrangements in person. What Tyler found was that prior to March 2020, about 33% of arrangements were completed online – a very respectable number in my opinion. After March of 2020, that jumped to 66%. The proportions completely flipped!

It’s hard to say how much of this change is attributable to funeral home staff pushing online arrangements versus a family’s proactive choice to start and complete online arrangements. I think it’s a combination of both, but I was curious to see if there was any data that would give more insight into customer behavior itself regarding online arrangements. Luckily, Tyler had an answer for me.

Tyler shared that prior to March 2020, about 11% of imminent and at-need cases were completed through online arrangements. He asked me to guess what that percentage jumped to after March 2020. I guessed that it had doubled, at least. I was wrong! It rose to 16.3%. Admittedly, I was a little upset I was so wrong. I had been doing so well on Tyler’s data quiz at that point I had a lot of confidence. However, after some reflection, I had two takeaways:

The entire conversation with Tyler really showed how important tech is to a funeral business in a post-Covid world, but it doesn’t mean that technology’s goal is to make us cold and uncompassionate. Technology is just a tool, and good tech implementation simply allows you to meet more customers where they are and free up your team’s time to deliver for those families that need the most attention and compassion.

While many things have changed in our profession over the past few years, there’s one thing that has not; deathcare consumers still want and need professional guidance in making appropriate end-of-life plans for their loved ones. That’s good news for funeral service professionals and just one of the findings of new consumer research I look forward to sharing next month at CANA’s 2023 Cremation Symposium.

The new primary research, conducted late last year on behalf of Foundation Partners Group, involved more than 1,000 online survey respondents and dozens of focus group discussions with consumers who have planned a funeral over the past five years. The results paint a clear picture of the evolving wants, needs and preferences that drive the deathcare choices of today’s families. Understanding these new consumers, and the similarities and differences between different segments, will be key to successfully managing funeral service businesses in the future.

From the thousands of data points collected, we isolated key insights that help us answer two key questions about the needs of modern deathcare consumers:

1. How do consumers interact with deathcare providers now and what do they want in the future?
2. How should we change our messaging, services, products and channels to meet consumers’ needs?

One important finding is that focusing on spending alone is too simplistic. While families may differ in income levels and intended spend, consumers do not select deathcare providers based on economic factors alone. Providers who focus on price, fail to take into consideration the key needs and motivators that drive consumer decision-making.

We found two key factors that are most important in determining the best service style and fit for contemporary consumers. There are unique attitudes and behaviors that drive the ideal deathcare experience for each segment.

The first is the level of support they desire during the planning process. Do they want to do all their planning in person or are they fine working with us via phone, web and email? Do they want to keep it simple or create an elaborate event guided by tradition and ritual?

The second is the level of personal involvement. Do they want a funeral director to hold their hands and walk with them every step of the process? Or are they confident in their ability to create experiences that honor their loved ones on their own?

Based on these varying desires for support and guidance, we divided consumers into three distinct segments and gave them descriptive labels that reflect their attitudes and behaviors. Understanding these different consumer mindsets and decision factors will help us to better understand the best ways to connect with them and support them in a way that builds trust.

During my session we will explore each of these groups in more detail and zero in on the core needs that are universal across all segments. And we’ll talk about the evolving role of technology in deathcare and how thoughtfully integrating technology can improve the consumer experience.

We’ll also share direct comments from consumers regarding things that would have made their experience better to create a roadmap to success in the future.

I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas!

There’s been a revolt against hiring for cultural fit. Business Insider says it leads to a homogeneous workplace. The Harvard Business Review calls it a “misguided hiring strategy” and says to stop doing it. Forbes even published an obituary for the concept, saying it’s “fraught with bias.”

With all due respect, they’re wrong. Companies will always have a culture, and culture will always be set by the people you hire. If you’re not actively building a healthy one, you’re passively building a sick one. But the antidote for bad culture is to build good culture—not to pretend you’re building no culture at all. My worst hiring mistakes (and I’ve made doozies) have come when I’ve forgotten culture and hired for something else instead. Determining cultural compatibility is tough to do and tougher to do well—which is why only the best have mastered it.

A shibboleth might help.

The word “shibboleth” comes from an Old Testament story about the Ephraimites, who devised a test after they were infiltrated by an enemy tribe. Anyone who couldn’t say “shibboleth” with the local pronunciation exposed himself as an imposter. Today, the word is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning.” A business who knows itself well will establish certain ideas and concepts that are central to its identity, but meaningless to the outside. Your best hires will be the people who recognize and share your excitement for those concepts.
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Here’s the really good news: establishing a shibboleth for your company will allow you to better focus your business, invigorate your team, and increase diversity. Here’s how:

The hard part—and the real importance—of a shibboleth isn’t finding someone who recognizes it, it’s picking one in the first place. To say exactly who fits your brand requires first understanding your brand. And most companies don’t. But that’s exactly why finding a concise articulation of your identity is such an important exercise: it requires the clarity that is essential for you to succeed.

Former IBM CMO Abby Kohnstamm put it this way: “The larger the company, the greater the importance there is to get to a clear, simple brand idea. Ours became a rallying point for the entire organization. It shapes the culture, it shapes business decisions, and it shapes behaviors.”

Think about that. A single litmus test against which a firm can evaluate everything. Every hire, every new product decision, every investment opportunity, aligned to a single idea. You know exactly what the most successful brands are about, because they’ve put in the sweat equity to figure it out for themselves. You can’t afford not to do the same.

It’s the second half of the definition of Shibboleth that’s really important: “usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning.” My firm, which specializes in advertising for stalled, stuck, and stale brands, has helped hundreds of companies find the essence of their identity. Usually, the identity we land on seems boring to outsiders—it hardly ever ends up in ad copy, and nobody outside the company ever knows about it. But that’s why it works: if you get it, you’re attracted to it. And if you don’t, you’ve already disqualified yourself.

The idea Kohnstamm (not to mention IBM’s 380,000 employees) was so excited about? “Solutions.” Not exactly a revolution. But solutions to business problems were what IBM’s customer wanted, and that’s what drives IBM. “Solutions” is a boring word to which IBM gave its own special insider meaning. So it became something that IBM employees could get excited about, because it provided a way of articulating what makes them special. And if solving problems isn’t your thing, you’re probably not what IBM is looking for.

Like a family in-joke, the whole point of a shibboleth is that the world doesn’t get it. It’s for you, so that when the going gets tough, your team can remind each other why they’re here.

The worst backlash against “culture fit” is from the people who assume it’s discriminatory. Patty McCord, former Chief Talent Officer from Netflix, argues that “culture fit” is shorthand for ‘people just like us.’ It’s a fair concern, and the practice can be abused that way. Weeding out anything feels a bit discriminatory, so it’s easy to assume that if we all have to agree on culture, then we’ll suffer from groupthink and bias.

But in fact, the opposite is true. Every hiring decision is inherently discriminatory. You’re picking one person out of thousands. If you have to discriminate, it’s better to discriminate on the right things. And mathematically, you’ll have the broadest talent pool if you discriminate on only one thing.
An organization that lacks a single point everyone can agree on isn’t diverse, it’s divided. On the other hand, the organization who can pinpoint the single concept that defines it has actually opened the door to the most diverse company (and thinking) possible, because it’s eliminated all other incidental or unintentional barriers. You can hire any age, race, background, or expertise, because none of those things are what define who you are.

In my own firm, we have a former realtor in our media department, an ex-political-consultant in accounts, and a psychology major in strategy. Our creative director will tell you that recent hires he’s made from outside the agency world have been a lot more successful than those he’s poached from other agencies. The reason those particular team members have panned out—even as seasoned agency pros have come and gone—is that we’re inspired and unified by a single idea. If we can all agree on that one thing, then we can bring diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and strengths to the table in its pursuit.
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To modern businesses, like the biblical Ephraimites, sifting out those who are not committed to your cause is a matter of life and death. It’s worth taking the extra time to make sure you’re doing it right. And when you do, you’ll stop wasting time on guesswork about whether a person, partner, or project is a fit—because you’ll know who you are.

How can you engage your employees' purpose to improve their performance and retain them? Eric Layer will share proven research and strategies from inside and outside the funeral business during his Keynote session — sponsored by National Guardian Life Insurance Co. (NGL) — at CANA’s Cremation Symposium this February 8-10 2023!
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Join Eric and others to share ideas on re-energizing passion and purpose in funeral service. This year, the event is focused on staffing efficiencies and retention with a host of experts to discuss. See what we have planned and register to attend: goCANA.org/ignite
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This post originally appeared in the McKee Wallwork Insights blog in April 2018, reprinted with permission.

Pop quiz: What do the following questions have in common from a digital marketing perspective?

• How does cremation work?
• How much does cremation cost?
• What are the steps for preplanning a funeral?

They're all great, keyword-rich subheading options for cremation and funeral care marketing blogs. They're also all things people might type into search engines.

But the answer we're looking for is that each of those questions shows up in a featured snippet such as "People also ask," "From the web," or "Other sites say" when someone searches Google for related keywords (such as "funeral cost").

Perhaps you've heard of featured snippets in general or "People also ask" questions, but you might be wondering: What are those other snippets? And why is Google always changing the layout of the search engine results pages?
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Let's take a deep dive into Google's new feature snippets testing and what it means for deathcare marketing.

Also called "answer boxes," featured snippets are short pieces of content Google takes directly from web pages to display in search engine results pages. For Google, the goal is to provide the searcher with as much relevant information on the search page as possible.
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For example, as of the writing of this piece, The Annuity Expert held the featured snippet for the search "how much does a funeral cost." Google displays the following text in the answer box, along with the URL and link to the page the content came from:

On the same search engine results page, Google presents a box with "People also ask" questions—queries it deems the searcher might also be interested in. For this search, some questions included "Is $10,000 enough for a funeral?" and "What is the cheapest funeral cost?"

For cremation services and other deathcare firms, these snippets and boxes provide another way to show up organically on the first page of Google search results. If Google thinks you provide the best, most relevant answer to a specific question, it scrapes your content to include on the page along with a link to your site.

You can show up in the answer boxes even if your page doesn't rank in the top 10 results for that keyword. Even better, you can show up in the top 10 and in an answer box, providing you more presence on the first page and an increased likelihood of winning the click.
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Having other ways to land on the first page of Google is great news for businesses that provide cremation services. Three-quarters of people never click past the first page of search engine results, so if you're not on page one, you're probably not getting seen or driving organic traffic.

Snippets and answer boxes are such good ideas, Google is trying out more of them. Throughout early 2022, the search engine has tested "From the web" and "Other sites say" features.

• From the web: This feature presents a box that gathers a handful of answers to a query from what Google deems are top pages. On average, the collection includes two to five results from the web, presenting 20-25 words of relevant content from each page and a link to click on. So far, when "From the web" answers show up, they replace the featured snippet.
• Other sites say: In other cases, Google keeps the featured snippet but appends an "Other sites say" section to it. This gathers three pages that also address the question or topic and presents a short content snippet (less than a sentence) along with links to the pages in question.

Both boxes provide searchers with more choices that Google has deemed highly relevant and potentially high-quality.

For cremation service businesses, these new tests are mostly good news. If Google moves to regularly providing more link options in answer boxes, that's more real estate on page one of the search results.
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Of course, if you already own a featured snippet, this change comes with a small bit of bad news: You'll have more immediate competition for the click. If Google rolls this change out over all pages and keywords—including those related to cremation—anyone driving traffic with featured snippets might experience a drop in traffic.

Many marketers and SEO firms make the mistake of focusing exclusively on Google properties like answer boxes. They tailor all their content to win the featured snippets, and when Google makes a change like this, a lot of their work must be rethought.

As a deathcare firm engaging in digital marketing, you should never load all your eggs in one basket. Is there value in asking relevant questions and answering them with short, concise paragraphs? Absolutely. Users love this, because it helps them scan content for exactly what they need (which is why the FAQ page remains a popular format). And if your answers win you an extra link on page one of Google results, even better!

But avoid writing content just to win answer boxes. Google's move to add more links to those properties dilutes the power of them, and you can diminish the quality of your content by focusing solely on these things.
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Instead, stick with tried-and-true content marketing best practices:

• Write relevant content. Think about the keyword and the intent of the searcher, then answer it with your content.
• Write high-quality content. Make sure your content is easy to read, includes good information, and is grammatically correct.
• Write useful content. Create content that is actionable or helpful for the reader. If you're targeting "cremation preplanning," write about the steps people should take and the benefits of funeral preplanning specific to cremation. Don't simply define cremation preplanning and leave it at that.

While you're creating great content, look for ways to organically include answers that Google might pick up for snippets. "Organically" means that the questions and answers flow naturally with the content you're creating as opposed to the content coming from a desire to write a featured snippet.

Putting high-quality content first—even above the latest Google change—supports long-term digital marketing success.

Below is a sneak peek at the keynote presentation for CANA’s 2022 Cremation Symposium, titled Storytelling for Funeral Service. If you haven’t secured your attendance, you can register here

​Storytelling as a marketing tactic has been buzzing around the industry for a couple of decades—especially since the Internet, and its ability to reach more people more often, became ubiquitous.
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But when asked to define storytelling, marketers often hem and haw. They hail it as the Next Big Thing in Business Development, but then fall back on cliches and misunderstandings. They mistake “branding” or “customer experience” for storytelling.

So let’s define our term right off the bat:

We could fill a book describing the benefits of brand storytelling. Among the chapter titles in that hypothetical book:“Storytelling is as Old as Homo Sapiens”

• “Storytelling Improves Memory”
• “Storytelling is How Kids Learn Things”
• “Storytelling Reveals the Things All People Share in Common”
• “Storytelling Boosts Oxytocin (the “Bonding Molecule”)”

All good reasons for your funeral business to spend time identifying and crafting great stories. But I want to briefly discuss an additional reason to tell your tell, which is brilliantly put by Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling:

Nearly all human behavior is driven by emotions. When we feel something, we respond—sometimes consciously, often not.

When a potential customer approaches your funeral home, they are in a heightened state of emotion. They’re either planning a funeral for a loved one (feeling grief) or pre-planning their own funeral (feeling nervous or sad).
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A great story can help them sort out—even if just to a small extent—the wild mix of feelings they’re dealing with. The alternative is far less effective. . .

The opposite of storytelling is “making claims.” This is what most businesses do:

• “We care about you.”
• “We will treat your loved one as if they were our own.”
• “We are 15% less expensive than our competitors.”
• “Our customers report having an excellent experience working with us.”
• “Last year, we helped more families in our state than any other funeral home.”

True or not, a “claim” is a mostly ineffective way of attracting attention and converting that connection into business. Why? Because when the human brain encounters a factual claim, our rational, conscious brains switch on in order for us to determine whether we believe the claim. Even if we believe the claim, we have moved out of our emotional selves and into our logical selves.
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Put more simply: If you want to persuade someone to do something, such as hire you to conduct a funeral, you want them feeling, not thinking.

In 2000, a global study suggested that the average human attention span is 12 seconds—i.e., we devote 12 seconds of conscious focus on a new piece of data until our minds move on to the next thing.
In 2013, another study reported that our attention spans had plummeted to eight seconds.

Twelve to eight seconds in just over a decade—what could account for that? You know, of course: the explosion of Internet technology, computers in our pockets, Instagram, lightning-fast broadband connections—all of it. Never in the history of our species have we had so little time to try and communicate so much.

But there’s good news. While you have very little time to connect with strangers, you have:

• More ways to find customers than ever before
• Technology and social media platforms galore on which to tell your business’ story
• Analytics to help you target your messages with hyper-specificity
• Designers who can make the ordinary beautiful and the beautiful unforgettable
• The Internet

Every time you set out to promote your funeral home, keep this refrain on repeat in your mind: I have eight seconds. I have eight seconds. I have eight seconds.

Once you have their interest, it’s time to tell your story. Here are some cornerstones of brand storytelling. We’ll discuss some of these in more detail at the CANA Symposium, but here’s an advance look.

1. Acknowledge the Customer’s Context: Create stories for every conceivable context, starting with the two most obvious ones we discussed earlier.
2. You Are Not the Hero: Your company is not the hero. The hero is your customers. When you craft stories, especially online, put your families front and center.
3. Find Your Adjective: Don’t just jump to something obvious, such as “compassionate,” and be done with it. Dig deeper.
4. Emphasize the Stakes: For a funeral home, the stakes often boil down to this question: What will happen if a person hires a different funeral home?
5. Invest in Storytelling: You don’t have to break the bank to tell good stories online. But you might need to spend more than you are right now. Invest in top-quality content now, reap the benefits for several turns of the calendar.

Hope to see you in Las Vegas in February! For more marketing, branding, content and storytelling tips, check out the Mighty Citizen Blog.

Andrew shares the stage with presentations from experts across the profession:

• Angelique Simpson of Matthews Aurora will talk about Creating a Culture of Trust at your business.
• Rolf Gutknecht, co-founder of LAads, will show you The Most Important Part of Cremation Marketing: The Message. A panel of practitioners sharing their results will follow.
• Lacy Robinson will help you with Embracing the DIY Consumer.
• Chris Cruger, CEO of The Foresight Companies, talks Business Ethics: How Ethical Behavior Plays a Vital Role in Funeral Service and Consumer Satisfaction.
• and CANA’s own Barbara Kemmis and Jennifer Werthman help you with Retaining and Engaging Employees Through Story.

Your funeral business has many stories to tell. How do you find them and tell them so that they set you apart and grow your business?  Join Adrew Buck and CANA for the 2022 Cremation Symposium February 9-11 at The LINQ Hotel + Experience in Las Vegas. Visit goCANA.org/CANAconnect to see what else we have planned for the event and register to join other innovative thinkers from across the profession. Session sponsored by Batesville

Earlier this year, our Foundation Partners marketing team embarked on a three-pronged research project to better understand the online habits of the post-COVID deathcare consumer. After conducting hundreds of online surveys, one-on-one interviews and focus groups, we partnered with CANA in November 2021 to present the results in a webinar entitled, “How Consumer Attitudes Toward Online Deathcare are Changing.” Our presentation team included Sally Camm, whose firm Astound Commerce conducted the research, Luke Frieberg, president of eFuneral, Foundation Partners’ Vice President of Marketing Scott Ankerholz and me.

Our panel of digital marketing experts shared five broad consumer trends impacting deathcare and outlined steps you can take today to stay ahead of the curve. If you missed it, no worries; simply click here to watch the recording and download the slidedeck.

After hundreds of surveys and conversations, five key trends emerged that are impacting the deathcare purchase journey.

1. WELLNESS
Consumers are increasingly focused on wellness, which encompasses not just physical but mental, spiritual and environmental concerns as well. As a result, younger consumers (under 45) want to engage in a different, more positive conversation about death and deathcare. In general, they have a broader definition of death preparedness than previous generations. Instead of who will get what, the conversation is more about how they can have their affairs in order — emotionally, spiritually and relationship-wise — so they can enjoy their lives now and ease the burden on family members.
With this in mind, you may want to expand your preneed marketing efforts to include younger families. Additionally, your services don’t have to stop after memorialization or permanent placement services are done. Today’s families appreciate aftercare services, like grief support, assistance obtaining death certificates and other “concierge” services that help them navigate the myriad of tasks required to close the affairs of a loved one.

2. INDIVIDUALITY
As the focus on religious funeral services wanes in the U.S., families are opting for services that celebrate the life and uniqueness of the individual. Nearly a third of consumers who completed our online surveys reported that religion did not factor meaningfully into how they considered making funeral arrangements. As more funerals become joyous occasions and celebrations of life, we have the opportunity to unleash our creativity to help families say farewell to loved ones in style. This will create new revenue streams as we reimagine funeral services.

3. TRANSPARENCY
During our in-person interviews with both at-need and preneed consumers, 95 percent cited transparency as one of the major reasons for their choice of a deathcare provider. In their 2020 Funeral and Cemetery Consumer Behavior Study, The Foresight Companies found that 75 percent of consumers said they want pricing available online and will not do business with providers who are not transparent. Fifty-two percent said they will ONLY do business with companies that provide online pricing options.

But these consumers are not just looking for price transparency; they also want process transparency. Why? Because process transparency puts them in charge and, during the highly stressful at-need time, it allows them to maintain some semblance of control when their lives have been changed forever. Consumers have become accustomed to tracking their online transactions and their expectations during the deathcare journey are no different. Deathcare providers who can offer up-to-the-minute notifications of things, like when loved ones will be cremated and when those remains will be ready for delivery or pick-up, will have an advantage over their competition.

4. OMNICHANNEL SERVICE
Today’s consumers want an integrated, seamless journey across digital and physical experiences – online, by phone and in person. While recent consumers of deathcare services report that in-person remains their preferred method of arranging, we saw a greater willingness among those who have not yet purchased to turn to online arrangement options.

Luke Frieberg shared a case study in which an eFuneral partner encouraged families to review their options on their website before the arrangement meeting. Some of these families completed their purchases on the website, while others came into the arrangement meeting with more clarity around their decisions. Of those families that completed their purchases online, 93 percent upgraded the casket generating additional revenue. Overall, the cost of arrangements made online were 20 percent higher compared to purely in-person meetings and resulted in additional revenue. The firm also reported that families were more relaxed and that funeral directors had a better experience when meeting in person after providing this online option.
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5. TIME STARVATION
Time, and the lack of it, was a primary concern in our interviews, particularly among the at-need consumer. At a time of high stress, especially during COVID, consumers look for us to remove the friction from the decision-making process and to do it in a timeframe that suits them. One of the key ways consumers save time is by doing online research themselves to narrow the selections before they call. Our online cremation consumer survey also showed that both cremation users, and non-cremation users, value the convenience of online arrangements and the ability to browse options on their own terms. Both consumer groups reported that they were either “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experience.

Courage. Discipline. Integrity. The values and skills that veterans have honed over the years align well with funeral professions. From funeral directors and crematory operators to cemetery managers and maintenance and grounds crew or financial advisors to insurance sales, there are a wide variety of funeral career options available to veterans of all backgrounds and interests.

When asked to name their top business challenges, owners of funeral profession businesses rank finding strong employees at the top of the list. This is an especially urgent need during times of crisis, such as a pandemic, when the ‘service’ part of the funeral profession really shines. Caring, competent, mission-driven employees are needed now more than ever.
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But how to engage, recruit and hire more military veterans to careers in the funeral service profession?

The latest NFDA Member Needs & Satisfaction Study asked funeral professionals what they see as their greatest business challenge over the next 5 years. Nearly 57% of respondents feel their greatest challenge will be availability of qualified personnel. Data shows that workforce concerns have been increasing over the past several years among all segments of deathcare.

In contrast, every year more than 220,000 military service members transition out of service in search of another career. In fact, as of January 2021, the US Veteran unemployment rate was nearly 5%. There are well-trained military veterans looking for meaningful work.

A funeral service career can be closely aligned to the many skills that veterans have gained during their military service. Their commitment to getting the job done, organizational skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, and overall strength and rigor are admired by funeral businesses. In addition to applying the valuable skills they learned during their service, an interest in furthering their education and acquiring new talents makes veterans top-notch, coveted workers.

Veterans exhibit the qualities needed to be successful in the funeral profession: A high level of trust and resilience. A desire to serve others. The ability to work well in extreme situations. Mission focus and advanced teamwork skills.
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Journey to Serve is a free marketing resource program that works to attract veterans into careers throughout the funeral service profession. We aim to help you hire for positions in funeral homes, crematories, cemeteries, advance planning, business-to-business sales, suppliers to the profession, and all levels of support roles.

​When recruiting veterans, it is important to acknowledge the unique skills they bring to the workforce. Understanding the best ways to help veterans make the transition to funeral service will help them become valuable members of your team. Funeral professionals can accomplish these goals by leveraging the free, comprehensive Journey to Serve toolkit: a hero video, customizable print and digital ads, social media posts and radio spots and podcast ads, presentations and slide decks, FAQ messaging guidance, a career comparison chart, a customizable chart flyer, blog posts, quizzes and more.
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For veterans, the resources from Journey to Serve demonstrates how skills align, what educational opportunities and resources are available, and the chance to hear from other veterans who have made the transition. As an extra incentive, the Funeral Service Foundation and the ICCFA Educational Foundation will award two $5,000 academic scholarships to military veterans to help offset the costs associated with pursuing a career in funeral service and deathcare. The annual scholarships are equally funded by both organizations. A third scholarship, the Hunter M. Harbeson Memorial Scholarship, will provide $2,500 in academic support to a qualified veteran.

Employers wanting to offer placement through the GI Bill Apprenticeship Program must contact their local state certifying official to start the process, which includes creating a comprehensive training program that will teach the skills necessary for the veteran to become successful in their position. This may include classroom training in addition to hands-on experience. The program can help veterans transition into a civilian job by creating a mentoring environment. As an example, Merendino Cemetery Care utilized the program and found that it changed their organizational culture to a mission-focused approach, which was beneficial to the entire company. Read more about one veteran’s own personal journey to serve below.

​U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORP AND MERENDINO CEMETERY CARE

One of the hardest days of her life was the day she said goodbye to her one-year-old son at the airport as she was leaving for South Korea for an entire year. After learning how difficult it can be to say goodbye to those you love, she made the tough decision to leave the military and focus on family. Thereafter, she became a 911 operator for 21 years. She also served in the National Guard and Army Reserves while working full-time. She was the first-ever female commander of the Lincolnwood American Legion Post #1226.
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Today, Daisy is the Midwest Branch Manager at Merendino Cemetery Care, where she oversees grounds management for 15 cemeteries. She works out of the Chicago branch, where she manages a team of five. She has a great trusting relationship with her team, which she attributes to skills learned during her time in service. “You have to trust in your leaders. I trust them, and therefore the trust is returned,” Daisy explains.

​Hiring veterans makes good business sense.

They are focused on mission accomplishment, and can continue their Journey to Serve by helping the families in your care.
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Our goal is to make your job of finding qualified personnel easier by offering free resources to help you communicate with veterans and recruit them to your open positions. The Journey to Serve toolkit of customizable marketing materials will help you target the right audience efficiently and effectively.

Veterans Day is our opportunity to thank and show support for those that have served. Journey to Serve is a new program aimed at recruiting military veterans to careers in funeral service. Launched in 2021, the program is a joint initiative of the Funeral Service Foundation (NFDA’s charitable arm) and the ICCFA Educational Foundation. The Funeral Service Association of Canada has also co-sponsored the project.

The largest philanthropic organizations in the funeral profession have come together to help the profession face the challenges of finding and hiring qualified personnel. We hope you will take advantage of the tools provided at www.JourneyToServe.com to find your next great hire.
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Journey to Serve provides free resources to the profession to help recruit veterans into meaningful work in all aspects of funeral service. On October 19, 2021, Journey to Serve was approved by the Department of Defense as a web resource on Military OneSource. This is a giant win for Journey to Serve, and means that the program is now front and center for service members preparing to transition out of their military careers.