It's no secret that facility maintenance, staff salaries and licensing fees demand a large portion of your funeral home's annual overhead, leaving little budget for new initiatives. Fortunately, funeral home marketing doesn't have to cost a lot. Today's digital landscape rewards imagination and creative customer experience far more often than costly marketing campaigns. Not sure where to start? Discover five ways to improve your funeral home marketing on a shoestring budget.
1. Marketing through Aftercare
Aftercare is one of the first places your should look to implement a more cost-effective funeral home marketing strategy. You’ve already served these families, so you don’t have any initial investment in lead generation or fostering brand awareness. Plus, satisfied customers serve as compelling brand ambassadors.
Take a careful look at your current aftercare offerings. How are you reaching these families after their time of need? Consider ways you can build community among these clients. Try hosting a weekly social club, a monthly grief support group or an annual memorial service. By introducing families to one another, you’ll provide connections to others who are also experiencing grief while creating a community of brand advocates. As their relationships build, the value they place on your services will also increase.
2. Marketing through Sponsorship
As funeral professionals, you are likely familiar with sponsorship opportunities. You donate to the local booster club and your logo appears on the back of jerseys, in game-day programs or on a sponsorship banner. This type of funeral home marketing benefits your community, but it might not be the most cost-effective way to use your resources.
When I was growing up, my dad sponsored the local high school basketball team. Rather than a monetary donation, he offered up the funeral home facilities and technology once a month so the players and coaches could review game footage and enjoy a team meal. The financial investment was small: the parents provided the food and the team always cleaned up before they left. The return was significant: by opening the funeral home to those athletes, parents and coaches, my dad established comfortable relationships with some high-profile community members. He contributed in a tangible and memorable way rather than being one of many on a long list of small business sponsors. And, as an added bonus, he recruited some of the players to wash cars and help with lawn care.
Creative sponsorships like this have a more significant and lasting impact than simple monetary donations because they’re focused on building relationships. I doubt any of those players could list the logos on the back of their game-day programs. But, over a decade later, they still come up to my dad and talk about their memories of team bonding at the funeral home. That is the type of cost-effective funeral home marketing that truly pays off.
3. Marketing through ADVERTISING
Want to boost your funeral home’s visibility without a huge marketing budget? Social media ads are your answer. They’re cost-effective, easy to set up and perfect for reaching new potential client families in your community. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn allow businesses to create highly customized ads based on demographics, location, interests and even behaviors. This ensures that your messages reach the right audience at the right time. With engaging content, such as Instagram ads featuring comforting photos or Facebook ads with family testimonials, funeral homes can establish trust and offer guidance in a sensitive and compassionate manner.
One of the key advantages of social media advertising is its ability to generate leads and increase brand awareness quickly. Unlike organic posts, which take time to gain traction, paid social media ads provide immediate visibility directing traffic to your website. Features like retargeting ads allow funeral homes to reconnect with people who have previously visited their website but did not take action. By investing in well-crafted social media campaigns, firms can expand their reach, engage with their community and position themselves as a trusted and supportive resource during difficult times.
4. Marketing through SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
In the digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for your funeral home’s success. While traditional marketing still plays an important role, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures that your funeral home can be found by those who need your services the most — right when they're searching for you online. By optimizing your website for search engines like Google, you can increase visibility, attract more traffic and ultimately connect with families looking for your services.
As more people turn to the internet for answers, having a strong online presence ensures that your business appears at the top of search results related to funeral services. By researching and incorporating relevant keywords, local search terms and high-quality content into your webpages, you increase your firm’s visibility and help drive organic traffic to your site. This not only helps establish credibility, but also ensures that your business and services are found quickly and easily. By investing in SEO, funeral homes can strengthen their digital presence, help build meaningful connections with families and ultimately grow their business.
5. Marketing through Social Media
Too often, funeral professionals rely on auto-published obituaries to drive their funeral home social media content. While that’s important information to include on your pages, it’s not the only thing you can contribute to the digital conversation.
Social media is an essential marketing tool. Funeral homes can engage their community and build trust by creating meaningful and educational social media content that goes beyond traditional service announcements.
- One effective approach is short-form video content, such as “Ask the Funeral Director” question and answer sessions, behind-the-scenes tours of your funeral home or myth-busting videos about funeral planning, the preparation process or burial vs. cremation. These videos help humanize your business, educate consumers and encourage engagement from curious followers.
- When you participate in or host events in your community, you can double the impact of those events by posting on social media. In turn, this shows how you care for and engage with your community.
- Sharing uplifting stories — such as honoring veterans, showcasing community service projects or highlighting grief support initiatives — helps build a compassionate and approachable brand.
Looking for more ways to market your funeral home on a shoestring budget? Contact your account executive to get started.
