By Lauren Schwenker, Digital Sales Manager

As a funeral professional, you probably have many questions about how digital marketing can help you grow your business.

Which platforms should you be on? What kind of results can you expect to see? What are some of the most important metrics to measure, and what do terms like click-through rate, organic reach, impressions, and conversions actually mean?

There are a lot of mysteries surrounding digital marketing, and I’m here to provide clarity! Here are three digital marketing mysteries solved.

Mystery #1: What do certain marketing terms mean?

In the digital marketing world, there’s a lot of technical jargon that can cause confusion to small business owners and operators such as funeral professionals. Some of these terms can be useful to know and provide clarity on your results and return on investment for your digital marketing dollars.

Here are a few of the most significant terms to understand:

Organic reach: Organic reach describes a result you get for free. Organic means the social media platform chose to show your marketing to a user at no cost to you.

Impressions: The number of times that your ad appeared. This could mean that your ad appeared multiple times to the same people over a period of time. This is a good metric to measure brand awareness.

Clicks: Any clicks on your ad or post. Not necessarily a link click.

CTR (Click-through-rate): The rate at which people who saw your content clicked on the link in your post or ad to take action.

Engagement: Any action taken on your post or ad – clicks, comments, shares, etc.

Conversions: Actions taken after the user has clicked on your post or ad. This could be a phone call, filling out a lead form, etc. Conversion settings need to be clear. Conversions could be page views or scrolling on a page. Be clear about which conversions you want to see!

Conversion Rate: The rate at which people saw your ad and then actually filled out a form or called.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimizing your website so that search engines like Google put your website higher on a search result list.

Learn more about marketing terms in our Digital Marketing 101 eBook.

Mystery #2: What do the numbers mean?

Sometimes, digital marketing companies might show you impressive numbers, such as 10,000+ impressions or reach. But there is often a lot of lack of transparency surrounding how those results actually impact your bottom line or your goals for digital marketing.

Looking beyond the numbers, it’s important to make sure you are reaching the right audience. Those 10,000+ impressions? They may have been primarily 20- to 30-year-olds who live across the entire state. Not exactly your target market. Make sure your digital marketing team understands your target market parameters and sticks to them.

For example, with most of our clients, we target ages 45+ in a 5–10-mile radius around the funeral home, depending on population density. This ensures that money isn’t wasted on marketing to the wrong target market or using the wrong keywords.

Mystery #3: What is my return on investment (cost per result)?

Every business owner needs to know that when they invest in marketing or any other area of their business, they should be able to expect a good return. How will you know if you are getting a good return on investment if you aren’t clear about your goals first?

When working with an agency or digital marketing partner, be crystal clear about your goals for digital marketing. Here are a few to start with:

• Do you want preneed leads?
• What is your goal for how many preneed leads you want throughout the quarter or year?
• Do you want to increase brand awareness?
• Do you want to be at the top of Google results for certain search terms?
• Do you want to grow your at-need call volume?

Sharing your goals will help your digital marketing team focus their efforts and your dollars where they need to go. Once your goals are clear, the numbers provided to you in reports should make a lot more sense.

A few key results we look for and report to our clients are:

• Preneed leads and sales
• At-need phone calls and clicks through Google search
• Brand awareness and reach through Facebook and YouTube

Once your goals for digital marketing are established, you can easily measure the effectiveness of your marketing by looking at results, whether those are on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Questions to ask yourself about your marketing strategy

To assess your marketing strategy and make sure you are headed in the right direction with your digital marketing efforts, ask yourself these questions:

Is my marketing strategy reaching the right people?

Make sure that your primary target market is defined so that your ads don’t show to people who are not interested in your services.

Does my marketing provide real value to families?

Shouting your name out over and over again in a crowded marketplace gets old. Instead, ensure that your marketing strategy includes providing value to families, such as education and engaging content your audience enjoys.

What is my ad money generating? Do the results match your goals?

Make sure that you have are clearly communicate your goals to your marketing partner. Understanding where and how your marketing dollars are being spent helps you make sure your money isn’t being wasted on conversions or goals you have no interest in.

If you’d like to learn more about digital marketing options for your funeral home, feel free to email me at [email protected]