November 2020

Page A14 NOVEMBER 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Scan QR for our website 1-888-792-9315 • mymortuarycooler.com Mortuary Coolers starting at $4,299 Order by November 23rd for delivery by December 31st Ebook Content Marketing for Funeral Homes Call today for your online ordering credentials 800-827-5151 Visit messengerstationery.com/holiday-remembrances to learn more 9121 Reach Out with ongoing support for the families you serve throughout the year As we approach the holiday season, we know things look a little different this year. While you may not hold a typical Service of Remembrance, reaching out to families is more important than ever. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. With a nice selection of Aftercare Gifts available, we can ship direct to your families so you don’t miss a beat this holiday season. LET US SHIP TO FAMILIES By Welton Hong Books can provide a great way to engage with potential clientele, especially if you want them to give you an email address so you can add them to your newsletter or marketing lists. An e-book sounds like a more valuable offer than a simple info graphic or blog post, so many people are willing to exchange their email address for the free download. If you want good results from this mar- keting strategy, you must ensure your e-book actually does provide value. What you don’t have to provide, however, is a tradi- tional book. The average nonfiction book you might purchase on Amazon or in a bookstore runs 40,000 to 80,000 words or more. E-books written for marketing purposes are very rarely this long. They tend to run between 2,000 and 10,000 words on average, with some ranging a bit higher depending on the purpose. You also don’t have to give away all of your knowledge when you create an e- book for marketing purposes. When an author writes a nonfiction book for pub- lication and it’s sold in a bookstore, the book is the service being sold. You’re asked to pay up to $30 or more for a hardbound copy, and readers expect that the book will convey everything the author knows about the topic at hand. But when you create a funeral home mar- keting e-book, you’re not asking anyone to pay for it. There’s an expectation that you will provide some information but not all the information you have. Afterall, the book isn’t the service you’re selling. Here are some tips for incorporating e-books into your deathcare marketing strategy to provide value to consumers without giving everything away: 1. Create checklist-style e-books and downloads. Checklists are among the easiest market- ing e-books you can create, but they’re ef- fective because they’re actionable. They provide people with a list of steps to take, decisions to make, or items to gather, and consumer’s like that kind of no-nonsense direction. That’s especially true when you’re dealing with something that can seem stressful or even mysterious to those who aren’t in the profession. Some examples of checklist e-books you could create for your deathcare firm in- clude: • Basic steps to preplanning • List of documents and information you need to preplan your final arrangements • Deathcare topics to discuss with your loved ones • A checklist for an interactive memorial service • A checklist for scattering ashes Checklist e-books tend to be short: about 2,000 words, sometimes even less. You also don’t need to go into great detail. You might simply provide the list with a few sentences about why each item is in- cluded. The idea is to leave it open for the consumer to contact you to take the next steps in putting the list into action. 2. Tell interesting stories that relate to your products. You can take an entertainment approach to your e-book, providing actual narratives and information related to your product. For example, a crematory might offer an e-book with a short history of cremation, interesting facts about cre- mation, and some informa- tion about why cremation is a good choice for modern readers. If you’re working on lo- cal marketing, you can cre- ate an e-book with interest- ing local burial legends or other information. For ex- ample, a funeral home in New Orleans might write about why the cemeteries there look different from those in the rest of the na- tion, and a deathcare pro- vider in Philadelphia might offer a short guide to historical gravesites in the area. How creative you can get with your e-book depends on your target audience and your own business goals. Ultimately, though, you do want to bring the topic back to a call to action for your services and products. In the case of an e-book about historical gravesites, for example, a firmmight end the book with some information on best practices for plan- ning your own final arrangements to leave a lasting legacy. 3. Provide a how-to guide that includes contacting you as one of the steps. Another common type of marketing e- book is the comprehensive guide. These are how-to books that guide the read- er through a certain activity. They might cover the same types of topics as check- lists, but these e-books tend to be lon- ger—5,000 words or more—and tell the reader how to accomplish specific tasks. Typically, one of the steps in the process is contacting a deathcare provider. For ex- ample, an e-book on preplanning final ar- rangements could include chapters such as: • The benefits of preplanning and who should consider it • What can you preplan? • How to create a budget for final ar- rangements • Gathering the documents and other in- formation required • How to choose a deathcare firm to pre- plan with • How to share plans with loved ones The goal of these types of guides is to demonstrate your authority and exper- tise so people are likely to call you when they’re ready to act. Are e-books a requirement for online marketing today? No. But when you use them correctly, they can set you apart from the competition and create high engagement with your target audience, which leads to higher conversion rates and revenues. Welton Hong is the founder of Ring Ring Marketing® and a leading expert in creating case generation from online to the phone line. He is the author of Making Your Phone Ring with Internet Marketing for Funeral Homes. For more information, visit www.FuneralHomeProfits.com . Welton Hong PO Box 5159 Youngstown, OH 44514 Fax 1-800-321-9040 press_releases@nomispublications.com www.nomispublications.com Send Us Your News!