I'll remember it for the rest of my life, I was 9 years old and in grade 4. When suddenly, out of the blue, my best friend and I were called down to the principal's office for copying each others work. That was the day that I experienced the sting of the principal's "strap" on the back of the hands for the first and last time. I remember explaining to my mother that night that we weren't cheating, we were collaborating. She didn't buy my excuse either. How strange. In the academic world copying is a huge sin, even worse than a dangling participle.
But in the business world it's pretty much an accepted practice. In fact, many start up companies have grown to huge corporations by copying the industry leaders. Sadly, when it comes to advertising your funeral home you have to be VERY careful about copying. Let's say you copy an ad from your direct competitor in town (the one that you love to win a call from). They happen to create a great ad that you like and you decide to copy it. DON'T DO IT! Always remember the #1 golden rule of marketing, if all things are equal the deciding criteria is price.
So by copying your direct competitor you have told the market that you're the exact same as your competitor therefore the deciding criteria is price. Do you want more price shoppers? If so, you've succeeded. Many funeral home owners try to solve this problem by purchasing a "professional looking" ad from one of the funeral industry ad agencies. Unfortunately, these ads are just copies upon copies upon copies. Plus they are filled with same old overused phrases (courteous, caring, professional, blah blah blah). The end result is that ads like these send a message to the public that every funeral home in the entire country is the exact same. It's a downward spiral that's dragging the entire industry down with it! There are a lot of factors working together to create the price shopper problem. Copying each other's advertising is not the only cause but it definitely contributes to the problem.
At the start of this newsletter I mentioned that some companies grow by copying others. Yet now I'm saying that copying is killing the funeral home industry. So which one is right? Actually, both statements are right at different times and in different situations. Here's a rule of thumb that I learned from my business mentors years ago.... If your industry is rapidly expanding, an easy strategy is to copy the leaders and grow with the industry. For example, back in the 1990?s Dell copied IBM's personal computer and grew into a huge corporation. They eventually overtook IBM and became the leader in the PC market.
But if your industry is not expanding or if it is contracting, you have to stand out in the crowd in order to grow...and copies never stand out in the crowd! The best example of this strategy is Domino Pizza. The founder Tom Monaghan had a fairly unimpressive pizza delivery service until he came up with the concept of "30 minutes or less or it's free". His competitors didn't offer that guarantee so he stood out in the crowd and grew a multi billion dollar empire. Now back to the funeral industry. This industry is definitely not in the rapidly expanding phase so copying each other will not secure the future of your funeral home.
In 2009, it is critical that you find a way to stand out in the crowd. Create your own uniqueness, market it to your local community, and let them know that you represent the future of the funeral services profession. As the poet Robert Frost said Two roads diverged in a wood And I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.
Click here for more funeralsuccess.com funeral home marketing advice
John Callaghan
Chief Marketing Strategist
FuneralSuccess.com
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