Need help for unusal promotional ideas

J

jemmi

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HI, this is a difficult request - we would like some promotional matierial for Funeral Directors - to remind them to post details with our site when they are placing notices in the papers, radios etc.
So it would have to be dignified, useful and memorable -- oh and not too dear either as we are only new !!

hope this is in the correct forum, thanks
 
Hi Jemmi,

I seen your recent question also posted on boards.ie. Is this new business idea just a replication of funeralannouncements.ie? If not, how does it differ? If it is essentially the same, maybe you could find out how such competitors promote their business?
Is reminding Funeral Directors to post details with your site the only way of obtaining this information?
 
Hi Ivory,
i can appreciate that people might just assume we are the same as funeralannouncements.ie but we have far more to offer.

1. we have approx 60 - 80 deaths every day announced, where it may take funeralann up to 6 days to have these details.

2. we have various facilities whereby the public can send condolences, pledge to charity, e-mail a friend, view a photo of the deceased etc

3. we have taken a holistic approach to the whole subject of death and dying in ireland, - we don't just publish death notices, however it is a major draw to the site. we also have legal, financial and practical advice and links to charitable orgs and counselling services.

This is turning into a sales pitch, sorry! the truth is we feel we are providing a very useful and dignified service and we just want people to use it - it is all free! We also want the funeral directors to post us in the same way they do the other (paid) media outlets.

aside from funeralannouncements, there are no mainstream org's who we can copy in relation to promotional items - i just think a keyring or usb stick is a waste of money.

sorry for the rant ivory, and thanks for the reply!
 
That's no problems, I was just trying to understand the whole process and whether there were alternatives to having funeral directors contact you directly. I would question who else would have immediate knowledge of deaths i.e. how immediate is the deaths registry updated and how easy is it to obtain this info? If you could elimate or reduce the dependancy on funeral directors for information/updates, you would reduce the need for such widespread marketing/awareness campaign.
Is there any related add-on service that the funeral director requires that your business can provide... that would encourage more of them to contact you directly with this information.
 
good ideas ivory, and we have gone through a lot of these possibilities already. we could use a secondary medium like the radio except we prefer to have it in written form - but you are right and we'll have to think along these lines.
 
The best place to start with such questions in the hope of them being answered is maybe with the funeral directors themselves?? Funeral businesses could potentially be enticed by such services/products (I'm guessing) as wreaths/bouquets, mass/memorial cards, suit dry cleaning, car valeting etc. Maybe your business could do something in this area for them perhaps... I dunno, just some ideas I was throwing out there!?
 
Ivory, might take you on as a consultant .. nay, guru!!

We actually cover our costs by linking all related services , such as florists, cards, headstones etc in our services directory. And we have a private area just for the Funeral directors too - but the idea of dry cleaning suits and valeting are great, going to try and see if we could use this as some sort of promo for us. thanks again - really like these ideas, way better than a key ring!!
 
That's no problems, gald I could be of some help. You will also find that funeral parlours are a kindof "closed shop" i.e. there's only a few main ones in Dublin and very few family run businesses remaining. Most funeral parlours have auxillary products and services such as caskets, headstones, grave-digging etc. It would be interesting to see what kindof takeup there would be with support services which they could provide to the bereaved family/relatives? Also, events such as a death require a lot of management with regards to organising the wake (if one takes place) to advertisements, contacting friends, relatives and family etc. Perhaps there are other avenues which are explorable (both for you and the funeral directors) in order to help monetise your business.
 
We have been going around trying to meet the Funeral Directors, and in the main they have loved the idea. The problem is that they have enough to be doing without having to make additional calls, faxes or e mails. Even though it is totally free, it is only pressure from the public which will make it work. We hope to have the Funeral Directors at least aware if someone asks about the site, and that in time they just get into a habit of forwarding to us too!
 
Sounds like a technology offering could be the answer here so i.e. if Funeral Directors are over-burdened with making multiple calls, emails and faxes to the same sources each time a death is recorded, why not make the whole process easier... offer them the option of making one transaction with all the relevant details which will go to all the relevant sources (of their choice) via optional mediums (if required) including you!!

- It optimises the time the Funeral Directors spend
- It guarantees that you will receive notifications immediately on all transactions commited by Funeral Directors
- It could also be an additional source of revenue for you and your business!!

This can easily be implemented through software and all parties win in this instance!!
 
Ivory, you won't believe me when I tell you that we actually went down this road - I still think it may be a runner, but the whole issue of accountability in the case of an erroneous notice. Also the papers would be loathe to take the notices from us, as we are effectively the competition to a very productive cash cow!

The way you suggest would mean us acting as a hub, receiving from FDs and disseminating to all mediums as instructed. There could be a problem at deadline times as a lot of the papers require the info, [if e-mailed] an hour BEFORE they stop taking phone calls?!!

I really appreciate your thoughts on our business though, and it took us about 8 months to come up with some of them - so I'm kind of jaelous too!! If you come up with anything else please give me a shout - really amazed at how quickly you have grasped the whole business and impressed at your creativity. Thanks!
 
Thanks for the nice words Jemmi. I'm not sure if you understood my proposed solution. It is that your business provides the funeral director with the technology to make his life easier i.e. when he receives notification of a death and has a number of sources to contact, he simply uses xxx solution which ye have provided him with which will, once all details are completed, contact the sources as chosen by him from a predefined (yet expandable list) via fax, email and phone (this could be a phonecast delivered straight to a voicemail inbox). The advantage to your business providing such technology to funeral directors is that
- it guarantees you notification at the same time the other sources receive it
- all accountability issues lie with the funeral director
- your business has no further work to do i.e. your eBusiness is not providing a web service whereby ye notify all the relevant sources.... you are not acting as a hub/portal.
- it opens up further options to other various revenue streams

Problems like this are not new so no point in reinventing the wheel here... solutions such as this certainly exist if it's a solution that would be acceptable.
 
Hi Ivory, great idea - and i think it would work perfectly for e mail and fax, but would there not be too many variables for a phone service [which many Funeral Directors use] ie would it run along the lines of press button 1 to fwd to the indo...press 33 for LMFM?

If you know of anywhere that could advise on such a solution, please let me know.
Thanks
 
Well not really, I was thinking of getting the funeral director to simply enter some details in on a web document/form, similar to the details that would be entered on a death cert but obviously with additional info such as removal/Mass times, special requests etc. Then he chooses from a pre-defined list, which sources he would like this info to go to and he can add in addittional sources as he would like and just submit it (once to all sources), that's it!! How best to implement this solution over the phone medium just requires some investigation... there are options available for email to fax, fax to email, phone messages to text, phone messages to email etc.

A small case study may help define options and requirements for such a project. I don't think it would be that expensive to develop and/or implement a small simple solution but then again, there are many unkown variables such as;
- "What (technology) would the Funeral Directors be comfortable with using, as opposed to their normal/more usual methods (Phone)?"
- "How should this solution be implemented - Hardware/Software/Web Service?"
- "What is the easiest way to implement this solution so that it's a low-maintenance application?"
- "What are the short/medium term costs involved in your business investing in such a proposed solution?"

Just some food for thought. All options described are just off the top of my head so some research maybe required to determine how viable an option this is for you in this specific instance.
But the alternative (marketing and promotion) could work out expensive and maybe a bad return on investment.
 
To get back to your orginal question about promotional material for funeral directors.

The question you have to ask yourself is Why would they be interested in using your service. What is in it for them or there customers?

I know very little about the industry so the benefits of your service to funeral directors is not very apparent to me.

Ivory's idea of providing technology / service solution of placing these notices in the traditional media is a good idea.

If you have enough directors signed up you can get some decent economies of scale (one call to a radio station - 15 notices etc) which may also be of benefit to the media outlets as it cuts down on the admin they need to manage it?

Anyway, best of luck and let us know how it goes for you.

Cheers
Fintan
 
Yes, you are correct, Ivory has pinpointed the major reason why Funeral Directors are disinclined to use the service - ie it is an extra hassle. However, as has been already pointed out, it is an opportunity for us to help solve a problem for this group.

We have lots of benefits for the F Directors, within their protected area, we have a buy and sell area, listings of suppliers, services etc. And the benefits they can pass on to their clients is obvious.

Thanks for all the feedback - a lot of food for thought, and I do agree that the communication issue might well be the best "promotional tool" we could have.
 
When you break this problem down, it's not specific to this specific sector i.e.

- You want to promote your business to a group of informants who are your prime source of sensitive information
- This group of informants already have large overheads with regards communication in this area so it's highly unlikely they will add to their large overheads when there's no apparent advantage to them
- You have the option of easing their overhead and optimising their time by providing a simple communication tool which at the same time benefits and promotes your business
- The informants have to be persuaded to start using this communication tool, therefore, useability, low maintenance and ease of use is of prime importance

It seems to me that this problem has surely been solved by various solutions in many areas worldwide... time-consuming part is sourcing the most simple correct solution.

To help you in this quest, can I suggest you use the following online services
- Google Answers, Yahoo Answers
- Do a search for relevant tagged keywords on technorati and copy the RSS feed of the resulting search results to Netvibes where any new articles with the associated keywords you have entered will be constantly updated

You should have no end of relevant articles depending on the keywords you are associating your search with! I use Technorati, Del.icio.us and Netvibes all the time so it's a lot easier and far less time consuming to obtain information on specific areas of interest.

Best of luck Jemmi!
 
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