This newsletter will be short because it won’t take
too long to make the point…
Back in March of this year I sent out a newsletter
with the title of “How to Market Healing”. That
newsletter was very well received and I had a lot of
very positive feedback.
First and foremost I want to say that I absolutely
believe that you are in the healing business. You are
helping families heal during one of the most difficult
times they will ever face.
However…
You should NEVER market yourself as being in the
healing business. Actually you could…it just would
not help you grow your business.
Here’s why…
One of the keys to marketing is to understand the
thought process that is running through the head of
the person you are trying to reach. We call this the
marketing conversation.
To be successful as a marketer you have to tap into
the conversation that is going through someone’s mind,
get their attention by touching a specific problem
that they have, and get them to take a small step in
your direction. The key is to understand the entire
conversation so that you know which problem to touch
on at the right time.
Now consider the at-need or near-need family that you
are trying to reach with your marketing…
Do they want healing? Does that solve a problem that
is part of the conversation that is currently running
through their mind?
No!
Healing will be part of a future mental conversation
but is not part of their current conversation.
Consider the 5 stages of grief; denial, anger,
bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
It’s human nature to only look for a solution to a
problem once you have accepted the fact that the
problem exists. Grief is the same way.
When you are marketing yourself as a healing business
you are only connecting to the person who has accepted
the death and is ready to emotionally move on.
At the time of the loss of a loved one do the family
members want to “move on”?
No, they are emotionally numb.
In the grief process they are somewhere between denial
and depression. Anyone who is already at acceptance
did not have a very strong bond with the deceased and
that person is probably not the decision maker in the
arrangement room.
Even if the death was expected and the family has had
plenty of time to accept the inevitable, healing will
not connect with them.
The reason is that the death event triggers another
cycle of grief. They may have expected it for years
but when it finally happens they will slide right back
into the cycle again. They will move past denial and
anger pretty quickly but they will stop in depression
before getting to acceptance again.
Where the healing marketing message would work is in
your after care programs. After the funeral is over
and the person is struggling to get back to their
normal life, they will want healing but in the
meantime it is not part of their mental conversation.
The reality is that you do provide healing to the
family. But you should never lead with the healing
message if you want your marketing to attract more
calls.
Enough said on this point…I was starting to see some
funeral homes using the healing theme in their
marketing and felt I had better speak up now before
every starts following their lead.
