Every industry can generate publicity … even death care!

At the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association’s (ICCFA) annual convention, I had the privilege of attending the ICCFA’s Sales and Marketing committee, consisting of high-level industry members, owners, operators and suppliers who donate their time to develop the marketing and sales programs for the association throughout the year.

At this meeting, it became clear that one of the most prevalent issues for the death care industry as a whole is that of publicity. Common questions I kept bumping into when speaking to some folks included:

• How does one create buzz?
• What qualifies as newsworthy?
• How can publicity impact my bottom line?

An executive vice president of a large conglomerate commented that his company had gone through three marketing and PR agencies which amounted to just about zero publicity. They recently lucked out with their new PR consultant but that the experience as a whole with the three prior outsourced marketing suppliers was very telling: most publicists do not seem to know how to market and promote the goodwill and outreach of death care operations. Death care professionals and senior managers, he added, don’t help the situation with their lack of knowledge in the field.

Needless to say, I was astounded to hear what I was hearing! As a marketing and public relations professional, these people are a publicists dream come true! How can the marketers and publicists that are working with these folks be striking out so badly? One funeral director whom I befriended during the conference validated the executive vp above. Her employer, a funeral home operation, had won a prestigious association award for an annual contest highlighting best practices and highly personalized memorial services. The winners were announced in January and each winner was subsequently sent an
ICCFA-authored press release each could use in their local or regional media. In speaking to this funeral director, she mentioned that she had sent over the ICCFA press release to their marketing agency but “they
hadn’t done anything with it.”

What?

I couldn’t believe my ears. I am being told that the marketing agency working for this funeral home operation—with more than ten locations so by no means a “rinky dink” establishment—did *nothing* to promote the award win to the funeral home’s community. The funeral director had no clue as to how to proceed. She is, after all, a funeral director and not a publicist. She spends the brunt of her time arranging and meeting with families. I offered to give her some tips and send some ideas via email and promised to follow up post-conference and see how she’s faring. She agreed to allow me to document her PR journey as she sets sails for PR waters unknown to generate some PR buzz for her employer. I will share her results in a future case study.

So we have senior level executives and now a funeral director. Next up … another award winner, this time a supplier. This supplier’s story with regard to her no-clue approach towards PR was fascinating. Hmmm…looks like she is in need of assistance as well. Her story is very interesting and I will unveil details in a future blog post. I will tell you, however, that she actually brought her publicist along to the ICCFA conference. That was a very interesting encounter. The long and short of it is that surely after some conversation, poking and prodding, I discovered many, many things were not being done to market her products more effectively. The supplier openly stated that perhaps she should hire me, to her publicists chagrin.

Yes, that was not a comfortable moment but actually, whether it had been me or someone else, if the publicist she or anyone hires is *not* doing an effective job, then perhaps it may be time to consider other options. Certainly, in this case, and in my opinion, a variety of ideas I shared with both the supplier and the publicist were each received with awe and curiousness. No, they hadn’t thought about that; and no…hadn’t even considered this or that at all! How did this conversation end? The publicist gave me his card and stated if I were ever on the market looking for work, give him a call. Nice guy. I may give him a ring in the future…looks like he and his clients are in need of my help.

Later in the convention, a fine presentation by Justin Zabor, a funeral director at The Zabor Funeral Home in Parma, Ohio, was given. It was about how to generate PR buzz and he had some very good points and fun, anecdotal examples related to his experience as a 2007 Men of Mortuaries model as well. Justin’s primary foundation for generating good PR: it starts with a press release. While I do agree a press release describing your event and event’s purpose, in general, is a key aspect of any PR campaign, the press release is by far not a stand alone item and not necessarily the official starting point to generating buzz.

I think Justin did a terrific job in highlighting examples and provided good “how to” approach. He is a fun and energetic speaker. But focusing on the press release as the starting point is not entirely complete. There’s a lot more to do prior to any press release being composed and distributed. Actually, I must at some point thank Justin for helping to inspire my upcoming book, “Death Care Publicity” which is due out later this year. In the book, I address the PR timeline to success exclusively for death care operations. More on this later…

In the end, the ICCFA convention validated many things for me personally and professionally. I believe there are many in this industry who are being completely under serviced and who need real-value marketing and public relations assistance. In my former life, I used to be an independent marketing consultant. I feel many factors are pulling me
back to independent consulting, primarily that I see a real void and need; and several folks have personally approached them and have asked if I can help them.

Not only can I help them … I genuinely WANT to help and I know I can. I can no longer ignore the call to service! The collective experiences as shared above, combined with other personal and professional factors, have now given rise to … the Death Care Publicist!

How can I be of assistance? Drop me a note …