The guy to the right, Robin Heppell of the Funeral Futurist, and I recently spent 40 minutes discussing the future of the funeral industry and the Internet, and how the industry can use blogging to market services right now.

You can hear our interview on The Funeral Futurist website in a post titled, Blogging for Funeral Homes with Tim Totten.

After that interview, I also spent 15 minutes chatting with a gentleman from American Funeral Director Magazine (the one published by Kates-Boylston).

He wanted to discuss how funeral homes can use blogs to better connect with a community and a general funeral audience.

Here’s a super-simplified version of my thoughts on funeral blogging:

1.  Blogs are, at the very least, a place to practice your pitch and interaction with clients for free.
2.  A blog can be a free online obituary listing for your firm.
3.  Blogging reveals your true voice, which lets people see the “real you.”
4.  Blogging focuses your thoughts.
5.  Blogging can create a few evangelists or “true fans” who will help spread the word about you to the community.
6.  Blogging connects you to the tech-savvy members of your community.

For more, listen to the Funeral Futurist interview or check out an upcoming issue of American Funeral Director.

I had the most delightful interview with Connie Smith, the Sr. Vice President of Professional Development for the NFDA.

We discussed the upcoming convention, ways that the NFDA helps funeral homes and the biggest challenges facing the industry.  Check it out!

Interview with Connie Smith of the NFDA (12:44) 

They say that slow and steady wins the race, so I’ve been slowly adding to our rich collection of interesting podcasts.

Containing everything from interviews with successful funeral directors, advertising experts and consumers to short audio essays on topics like employee relations, community involvement and how to greet clients, our podcast vault is brimming with almost two hours of exciting, funeral industry content.

And we’ve got a lot more on the way.

Still to come:

Parts 3 & 4 of my interview with funeral home copywriter, Kim Stacey

Parts 3, 4 & 5 of my interview with Life Story Network Co-Founder, Herb Ayres

My interview with visionary businessman Ron Holt of Two Maids & A Mop

Audio Essay “Time to Make the Donuts”

Audio Essay “Spoon Feed Them”

and MUCH MORE!

And we took the suggestion of Candace of In Repose and have begun tagging all our podcasts with the total running time, so you can decide whether you’ve got time to listen to it.

To see a list of ALL our podcasts, click here or choose the PODCAST link at the top of the blog.

In this podcast, Herb Ayres and I discuss the role of pets in The Life Story Network of funeral homes, the way they utilize pet memorialization to cultivate other business and the importance of knowing who your client is.

Herb of Life Story Network - Part 3 (7:39)

PREVIOUS INTERVIEW PODCASTS:

Herb of Life Story Network - Part 2 (11:54)
Herb of Life Story Network - Part 1 (5:44)

Kim Stacey Interview:  Part 1 (11:03) 
Kim Stacey Interview:  Part 2 (13:30)

In this PODCAST, Herb and I discuss the beginnings of The Life Story Network of funeral homes and the aims of their business.

 We also discuss their consumer-driven website and the issues that plague most funeral home websites.

PODCAST:  Herb Ayres of Life Story Network - Part 2

It’s been awhile since I recorded this interview with Herb Ayres, but my regular readers will remember that in the last few weeks we’ve been busy making and selling quilted mortuary cot covers.

So here’s Part 1 of my interview with Herb Ayres for our MEET YOUR MAKER series.  I’d call this one “The Life Story Network Introduction” since Herb describes the network and tells us why it’s gaining such popularity.

PODCAST:  Herb Ayres of Life Story Network - Part 1

One of the bloggers I read daily, Mary Schmidt (a business developer and marketing troubleshooter), was recently told that 70% of blogs are read by only one person and that they’re a waste of time.

Pishaw!  (Or is it ‘pshaw’?)

I must be part of that 30% because we’re averaging almost 300 readers a day here at Final Embrace and I’ve created a TON of great new contacts I would never have met without this great tool.

Just to prove that my blog is not self-indulgent or without merit, I’m going to share some the things I’ve done in the past few weeks because of my blog:

Had an interview today with Herb Ayres of Life Story Network.  They have created a great network of funeral homes that all share the “Life Story Funeral Home” brand.  I’ll be bringing you more about them in the next few weeks.

Interviewed Kim Stacey (funeral home copywriting extraordinaire) about Yellow Page and website advertising.  We’ve posted podcasts of Part One and Part Two so far.

Recorded short podcasts for the site, stuffed full of all my overwraught opinions.

Received a complimentary print of the Colors of Honor display from Mr. Thomas Poolton.  He sent it because I’m going to exhibit it at the Independent Funeral Directors of Florida convention in June.  It really is exquisite.  You should get one for your own community!

Learned how to embed YouTube videos into the blog.

Taught a funeral director how to use a blog to store his online obituaries.  He’s now considering moving all his website information to a blog!

Researched memorialization products and found the amazing Pirolette made by Turn Your Head.

Sold over $1000 worth of quilted mortuary cot covers just because of the informative articles I’ve written for Final Embrace.  Of course, I’ve sold many more thousands of dollars worth of my great covers this month from other sources, but this one’s a good way to quietly push the really good covers that we make.  Hint, hint!

Found another sales rep for my quilted mortuary cot covers.  (If you want to be one, just drop me a line at finalembraceonline(at)gmail.com.  It pays a healthy commission and makes a nice side job!)

Discovered at least ten new websites that made me laugh, made me cry or otherwise changed my perspective.

So maybe blogs aren’t so self-indulgent or worthless after all.

Oh, and I corrected a lot of people’s grammar.  And I love doing that!

5/15/07
Ordering a Veteran’s Marker

5/14/07
When is a Funeral Home Broken?

5/11/07
Opening Doors Can Really Open Doors

5/10/07
Spreading the Joy

This is the second part of my hour-long interview with funeral industry copywriter Kim Stacey.

I’ve split the interview into independent sections.  In Part 1 we discussed yellow page advertising. 

Part 2 is a discussion about her services, her vision for funeral home websites and the way that funeral homes can use the internet in their marketing.

5/11/07:  Kim Stacey Interview:  Part 2

I had a great discussion with Kim Stacey (the great funeral home copywriter) about yellow page advertising, among other things.

Part one is a little over ten minutes long and reveals some of the things she’s learned after studying funeral home yellow page ads from across the country.

5/9/07:  Kim Stacey Interview:  Part 1

(Don’t forget Kim’s great offer:  2 free hours of consulting about your advertising and marketing materials.  That’s a $160 value!  You can call her at 831-338-0220. )