CONTINUED

6. Create Engagement – Many times online review pages can become active social communities where consumers leave reviews and keep coming back to see if others have made comments on their reviews or to simply see what other consumers have to say about the business in general. For funeral homes, this can create a social community of engagement that allows families to form an attachment to both the firm and the other families as well.

7. Allow Families to Do Your Marketing for You – A handful of positive online business reviews is worth a great deal and can offer your funeral home benefits that a simple marketing campaign can’t. They are like micro marketing campaigns that keep working long after the online review has been posted, giving a constant positive image to potential families and creating a continual brand awareness that benefits the firm for the short term and the long term.

8. Provide Content for Future Marketing EffortsInstead of telling families your firm is great, have families that you have served speak for you, which is more effective in building trust. You can take advantage of positive online reviews and use them in a variety of ways to increase trust and boost conversions. For example, they can be posted on your website, featured in a print ad, or shared on social media – once you have received their permission.

9. Generate More Reviews – When a business, product, or service has already received reviews online, it encourages others to leave their feedback. Just the appearance of several reviews appears to be enough to give folks the confidence to add their views on that business. It is a new form of online ‘crowd behavior’ that psychologists are still working on figuring out!

10. Help Attract Employees - Thus far, I have concentrated on reviews as they relate to families. But what about your staff; how do your online reviews impact them? Having a professional, talented, and loyal staff is crucial to any business’s success, but especially a company in funeral service. Individuals looking for a job will most likely research a company and its reputation on websites like Glassdoor before applying. Your own funeral home’s reputation not only influences families’ decisions but also your future or current employees’ actions.

Businesses must always prioritize acquiring the best talent possible. After all, research has shown that a bad hire can cost at least 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings, a costly mistake. And keeping good talent in this tight job market is crucial. If your reputation is stopping the best talent from applying to your business (and driving your best employees away), you might not even realize how your funeral home is suffering.

Conclusion

Most funeral homes think about online reviews and an online reputation strategy only when they find that their business has drastically dropped. They start to investigate the matter only when they find a drop in their calls. Regaining the momentum may not be easy when your business has reached such a stage. Implementing an online reputation management strategy in advance is the best thing to avoid such a negative situation. A good strategy will help build trust and credibility for your funeral home. As you are well aware, having the trust of your families is very important to the success of your funeral home.

Knowing how your families and employees are talking about you is the first big step. Looking for ways to improve your reputation is the next one. By ensuring your business has a reputation management strategy, you’re not only making sure your families love you but also your current and future employees. And loyal employees are worth much more than their weight in gold.

An online reputation management strategy can help mitigate the damage done to your brand by negative publicity to a certain extent. The more effective your online reputation strategy is the better for the growth of your funeral home. That is why you should be implementing an effective online reputation management strategy for your business without further delay. It can help to increase calls and take your funeral home to the next level. An effective online reputation management plan is ideal to maintain the good name of your firm in the long run.

Now more than ever, it is vital to be aware of how your firm is perceived in the community. By watching how people talk and doing what you can to make things right, you can enjoy a better reputation online. Careful reputation management does not just help protect you from negative reviews. It can also improve your funeral home’s profile and help you continue to thrive.

As Ben Franklin once said, "It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” Remember his words the next time you question the value of online reviews and an online reputation management strategy. FBS

Joe Weigel is the owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing, a communications firm focused exclusively on the funeral profession that delivers expertise across three marketing disciplines: public relations, branding, and communications. Visit his website at weigelstrategicmarketing.webs.com and can be reached at weigelstrategicmarketing@gmail.com.