October 2018

Page B4 OCTOBER 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B For funeral and cemetery suppliers, business has never been more isolating. Often ideas are done in a vacuum. What you know is only what you know, which limits how far you can go. IMSA membership can change that. We’ve brought together some of the top industry experts to offer our members free one-on-one advice on marketing, business planning, legal issues and more. We also bring to our members insightful business-boosting webinars, meaningful trade resources and networking with other IMSA members. All this for just $175 a year. We’re the only association serving all funeral and cemetery suppliers. Because what’s good for the suppliers is good for the providers and that’s good for the families. IMSA. Supplying opportunity. Who Supplies the Suppliers? IMSA members now get free consultation with Dan Katz & Rolf Gutknecht of LA ads, Jake Johnson of Johnson Consulting, Ryan Thogmartin of Disrupt Media and Poul Lemasters of Lemasters Consulting. www.IMSA-Online.com “We are thrilled at the reception to the idea,” says Mrs. Disotell. “And, thanks to those who have been using them over the past year, we have been able to answer the call for some companion products, like a funeral direc- tor’s Thank You Note for the family bag, an Anniversary Card for aftercare and an oak leaf sticker, to offer a child a good first experience in a funeral home setting.” Oaktags LLC Launches Nationally at NFDA Convention Oaktags ® on suit Pinning the lapel Ruthann Brown Disotell CLINTON,NJ —It has been a year since the soft launch in New Jersey at the NJSF- DA Convention. Now, Ruthann Brown Diso- tell, along with her hus- band Tom, will be exhib- iting in Salt Lake City and nationally introducing oak leaf memorial pins, known as Oaktags® . “As a supervising funeral director in a Jewish estab- lishment, I witnessed the ease of friends entering the funeral home. They didn’t need much direction in accomplishing their goal. The ones they were looking to console, could be found wearing kreah ribbons. That little black ribbon made such a difference. And then… I became en- vious of that ribbon. There was nothing like that for non-Jewish families,” ex- plained Ruthann. It was a while before an idea came to mind that was non-sectarian and gender- neutral. The family tree! Yes, the mighty oak in- spired this token that not only identifies the griev- ing to the public, but also introduces the family to the funeral director and staff. And after the funer- al is done, the family has a keepsake to wear in memo- ry of the one who fell from the family tree. Mrs. Disotell is a grad- uate of D allas Institute of Mortuary Science and has been a licensed funeral di- rector for 41 years. She is also owner of Celebration of a Lifetime, where she serves as a life celebrant for funeral homes in the great- er New Jersey area. She can be reached at info@ familyoaktags.com. The Oaktags® can be found at NFDA’s Convention Expo near the front of the room at Booth #2603. (800) 4-HEARSE FuneralVan.com 4 more info visit: Funeralocity names LA ads as its Marketing Agency NEW YORK,NY— Funeralocity, Inc has selected LA ads as its new marketing agency to promote its online service con- necting consumers to local funeral homes. The agency is responsible for leading the marketing program, which will include print and online advertising, videos, pub- lic relations, social media and trade shows. “We’re very excited by the outside-the- box thinking and the work LA ads has done for others, and in particular, they understand funeral marketing intimate- ly,” said Funeralocity CEO, Ed Michael Reggie. “It’s very challenging present- ing our value proposition to a profession that typically embraces traditional ways of doing things. But to be sure, change is ahead, and who better to call upon than an agency that brands themselves ‘Agents of Change’?” With the help of LA ads, Funeralocity has already launched a new landing page for fu- neral homes to learn more about the emerg- ing comparison-shopping marketplace and to sign up for its “Excellence Provider” pro- gram. Funeralocity will roll out an all-new trade show booth at the NFDA Convention in Salt Lake City. Social media will be in partnership with Disrupt Media . “We couldn’t be more honored than to work with the visionary minds behind Fu- neralocity,” commented Dan Katz, presi- dent of LA ads. “Ed Michael and his team spent over three years working with the top minds in the funeral profession and finess- ing their program before launching the site. As Dan Isard likes to say, ‘They’re the real deal!’ Which makes our job easy…and fun.” The agency says the new business-to-busi- ness marketing program will focus on edu- cating funeral providers on the need to step up and be a player in the new marketplace already accustomed to sites such as Yelp, Zil- low, Expedia and Carvana. “The number of ‘undecided’ families is rapidly growing, according to research,” said Reggie. “Because of their mobility and lon- they’re shopping for funeral services in ways their parents didn’t have to.” Funeralocity was launched in 2017 as the solution for funeral homes trying to increase business in the new age of online compari- son shopping. Its board of advisors includes some of the top names in the funeral pro- fession, including Dan Isard, president of Foresight Companies in Phoenix, AZ; Doug Gober, founder of Gober Strategic Capital in Kenner, LA; Ernie Heffner, pres- ident of Best Life Tributes Funeral & Cre- mation Care in York, PA; Mark Krause, president of Krause Funeral Home in Mil- waukee, WI; Michael S. Schoedinger, pres- ident of Schoedinger Funeral & Crema- tion Services in Columbus, OH; Douglas Wagemann, president of Cochrane and Wagemann in Roseville, CA; and Jeffrey S. Wages, president of Wages & Sons Funeral Homes and Crematories in Lawrenceville, GA. For more information, visit www.Fu- neralocity.com/FH. Originally founded in 1991, LA ads, located in Northridge, CA, provides full-service ad- vertising, media, public relations, and online marketing. Since 1994, it has been serving the funeral industry, both business-to-con- sumer and business-to-business, in all media. The company is well known for its unique “Dare to be Different” approach to funeral advertising. Past and current clients include Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortu- ary, NGL, Sich Caskets, Dodge, Passages International, Arbor Memorial Services, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks & Mortu- aries, various diocesan Catholic Cemeter- ies, Greenlawn Funeral Homes and Cem- eteries, Indiana Memorial Group, Airway to Heaven, Trust 100 and NorthStar Me- morial Group. For more information, visit www.LAadsMarketing.com . ger lifespans, fam- ilies have far less frequent contact with local funer- al homes and so ONE STOP SHOPPING for new and used professional coaches and limousines