May 2020

Page B8 MAY 2020 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 Brent Thomas joins Homesteaders Training and Development Team New Covid-19 Regulations Require Small or No Gatherings. Viewneral™ Allows Funeral Directors To Conduct Virtual Funerals, Wakes, Shivas and Memorial Gatherings From the Safety and Comfort of Home. COVID-19 INDUSTRY RESPONSE eCondolence.com™ and Shiva.com™ launch Viewneral™ CHICAGO,IL— eCondolence.com™ and Shiva.com™ announced the launch of Viewneral ™ the first interactive and collab- orative virtual funeral and memorial ser- vice that allows families and friends to me- morialize, eulogize, and celebrate loved ones from the comfort of their own home. Wein- stein Memorial Chapels in New York, Sol Levinson & Bros . in Baltimore and Chi- cago Jewish Funerals are early adopters of Viewneral™ and are currently offering it to their grieving families. “On an average day in the United States, there is an estimated 7,700 deaths, exclud- ing Covid-19 victims, and funeral directors and their clients need a personalized, yet safe way to conduct these end of life ceremonies,” says Michael Schimmel , CEO of Sympa- thy Brands , parent company to eCondo- lence.com™ and shiva.com™ . “Viewneral™ will never replace a hug that a mourner needs from family and friends, but during this time of social distancing this will allow loved ones to virtually gather to memorialize the de- ceased and support the mourning family.” With the help of a funeral director, a family plans the Viewneral™, invites those who will participate in the service includ- ing clergy and those making eulogies, and allows up to 500 guests to virtually attend, communicate condolences and more. Guests receive a link to the end-of- life event that can include a funeral, buri- al, wake, shiva or memorial service. For further support, guests also have direct ac- cess to send the mourners memorial gifts, sympathy baskets, food and other appro- priate items based on religion and culture. Schimmel says they created Viewneral™ in record time as the gathering regulations regarding Covid-19 continue to change. “We have a responsibility to help mourn- ers bury loved ones and receive comfort. Our industry partners are looking for fu- neral alternatives but they also need guid- ance on how to assist their clients who are grieving,” says Schimmel. Viewneral™ can be custom branded for each funeral home and is part of the eCondolence™ and shiva.com™ technolo- gy platforms that help funeral homes and cemeteries deliver a personalized and ap- propriate experience for mourning fami- lies at a time of loss. These platforms also provide critical educational information about religious and cultural customs, ap- propriate verbal and written condolence messages, suggested sympathy and com- memorative gifts, and health and well- ness safety measures. It allows the family to organize and communicate with their support systems about any specific funeral plans or aftercare sympathy needs such as contributions, food, or contributions. As part of the extensive Sympathy Brands portfolio, shiva.com™ and eCondolence. com™ offer a modern way to plan in ad- vance for end-of-life arrangements, coor- dinate for a loved one, or send meaning- ful and religious appropriate condolences. Sympathy Brands strategic partners in- clude best-in-class funeral homes, ceme- teries, insurance companies, non-profits, bakeries and caterers to make planning and fulfillment supportive, convenient and seamless. For more information please vis- it www.eCondolence.com, www.shiva.com and www.sympathybrands.com . WEST DES MOINES,IA— Homestead- ers Life Company Executive VP-Sales and Marketing Lyndon Peterson is pleased to announce that Brent Thom- as has joined the nation’s leading pre- need company as Assistant Director-Field Training and Development. “We are honored to have Brent join our training and development team,” shares Homesteaders Director-Field Training and Development Wanda Sizemore . “His extensive experience working with both consumers and funeral professionals provides him with the skillset required to connect the two and ensure success.” The training and continuing education Homesteaders offers for funeral professionals have grown exponentially over the past sev- eral years. Thomas will work with Sizemore to increase access to this valuable training to funeral professionals across the country. “I am excited to join Homesteaders be- cause of the company’s innovation and reputation for quality service. The integ- rity and character of the people that work at Homesteaders aligns with my passion for helping funeral professionals serve families,” Thomas states. “I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned through years of experience in funeral service to help fu- neral professionals develop the skills they need to serve even more families.” Prior to joining Homesteaders, Thomas spent 23 years in the funeral profession, in- cluding 17 years at Batesville Casket Com- pany . His award-winning experience as a business consultant, coach/mentor and stra- tegic sales leader is rooted in his commitment to helping families honor their loved ones. Homesteaders Life Company, a mutual company owned by its policy holders, is a national leader providing products and ser- vices to promote and support the funding of advance funeral planning and end-of-life expenses. Visit www.homesteaderslife.com to learn more. Keeper Launches Direct Email Marketing Platform, Keeper Direct TORONTO,ONTARIO— Digital memorialization solu- tion, Keeper , has launched a new addition to its cloud- based software suite, Keeper Direct . Keeper Direct is an email marketing tool enabling funeral homes and cem- eteries to design and send email communication to their families and entire community, directly from Keeper. Keeper Direct includes professionally designed email templates that can be modified or completely customized with text, images, videos, web links and more. No techni- cal experience or coding is required as the email building tool is simple to use with its drag and drop functionality. Keeper Direct stands out from other email market- ing tools on the market because it automatically cap- tures emails with every interaction on a Keeper Memo- rial page. Every time a funeral home or cemetery website visitor leaves a tribute message, shares an image, or inter- acts with an obituary page, their email address is captured and stored in Keeper Direct. This contact information can then be used to drive pre-need sales, send aftercare messages to families, sell merchandise and flowers, send holiday greetings, share special pricing, and more. “One of the biggest challenges in digital marketing is grow- vice listings and cemetery records search. We decided to take this activity and capture visitor information automatically. Other systems on the market like MailChimp and Constant Contact require plugins and integrations to capture email addresses, whereas Keeper clients do not need to lift a finger, let alone pay for another system, for even better results.” The goal of Keeper Direct is to boost sales but also im- prove customer satisfaction by improving communica- tion. Keeper Direct enables clients to send unlimited, large batches of emails using secure servers so that mes- sages do not end up in junkmail. Keeper is a digital memorialization solution for funeral professionals and cemeterians. Empower families to con- tribute to their loved one’s online memorial, add images, videos, tributes, guestbook, genealogy and more, directly on your business website. Keeper’s suite includes online memorials, interactive kiosks, website integration, walk- to-grave mobile app, email marketing, genealogy and more. For more information, visit www.mykeeper.com or call 1-844-970-7900. ing your audience,” asserts Mandy Benoualid , CEO at Keeper. “Funeral homes and cemeteries already re- ceive a lot of website traf- fic from obituary pages, ser-