Clarity Funeral Homes Marketing Deck

Clarity Funerals & Cremation Marketing Plan Arianne Aguilar ---- Nathan Cunningham ---- Vivian Garcia Chanmealea Huy ---- Robert Lopez

TABLE OF

CONTENTS MEET THE TEAM……………………………………………………………………..……………...1 MARKETING BRIEF………………………………………………………………..……………..4 Background………………………………………………………………………………….……………..5 Situation Analysis………………………………………………………………………….……….7 Competitive analysis…………………………………………………………………..………..9 Target Market………………………………………………………………………...……………….13 Objectives & Strategies……………………………………………………..……….........15 MARKETING DELIVERABLES……………………………………………………..18 Advertising Strategy…………………………………………………………………………...19 Social Media Initiatives…………………………………………………………………...20 Print Advertising…………………………………………………………………………………..25 Direct Mail…………………………………………………..…………………………………………...26 Outdoor and Out of Home……...…………………………………………………...29 Experiential Marketing……………………………………………………………………..31 Radio…………………………………………………..………………………………………………………..32 Partnerships……………………………………………………………………………………………..33 PR Campaign………………………………………………………………………………………….39 MANDATORIES……………………………………………………………………………………...42 SEO……………………………………………………………………………………………………………....43 Tracking & Goals…………………………………………………………………………………..44 TIMELINE…………………………………………………………………………………………………...45 BUDGET………………………………………………………………….............................................47

MEET THE TEAM

Robert Lopez

Arianne Aguilar

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Vivian Garcia

Chanmealea Huy

Nathan Cunningham

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MARKETING BRIEF

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Company Background Undertaking LA is a funeral home founded in 2015 by Caitlin Doughty and Amber Carvaly Clarity and since then has been rebranded as Clarity Funerals and Cremation in June 2019. Caitlin Doughty remained the owner, however replaced Amber with new co-owner, Jeff Jorgenson. The services that were previously offered by Undertaking LA continues with Clarity, but has a more specific purpose of providing transparency with its prices, environmentally friendly and green alternative funeral services, and focuses on the family empowerment.

"We called our funeral home Clarity because the name captures what we offer– clear, straightforward options with transparent, affordable pricing. We never want you to feel like you’re being sold something you don’t want or need in your time of grief. This is a new type of funeral service, a collaboration between your family and our funeral professionals. We are here to guide and empower you, not speak over your needs and desires."

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Caitlin Doughty Ask a Mortician Caitlin Doughty is a funeral director and co-owner of Clarity Funerals and Cremation, formerly known as Undertaking LA. She is also the host and creator of Ask a Mortician, a YouTube web series about topics related to death, and author of known books such as the New York Times bestseller, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory."

"Caitlin Doughty, our co-owner and funeral director, has been working to change the funeral industry since 2008. As a nationally recognized expert on family-led death care and green death options, she is reviving older traditions that empower families to be more involved in their choices for funerals. Caitlin opened her ďŹ rst funeral home in 2015 and is proud of how Clarity Funerals combines traditional values with the latest technology to provide a compassionate, stress-free experience for our families."

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SWOT ANALYSIS W

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When someone dies, there are few alternatives available for people to take care of the remains and to bring closure outside without the funeral home industry meaning the business will always be expendable.

When it comes to “Ask A Mortician,” Caitlin creates credibility followed by a positive reputation which will lead to increased sales.

Gross margin generally high given that it’s a combination of both a product and service-oriented business.

Efficiency and cost savings provided by e-commerce shopping reducing revenue generated from merchandise sales. ○

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Funeral homes federally require to accept merchandise purchased online and through third-party sources making them unable to control this revenue stream.

Operating costs are high; full-scale facility means large monthly expenses.

Many people hold necessary licenses to operate as a funeral director or owner of a funeral home so there's a high volume of funeral homes.

Lack of social media presence, therefore a lack of communication of the services offered and the people they can reach to offer them.

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Establishing a niche in business to reach targeted demographic of consumers.

Specialized services with religious or ethnic elements will differentiate funeral homes.

Success of funeral homes often dependent on reputation in community – must maintain involvement within community to grow trust.

Using traditional memorials and burial services to market towards the senior population (baby boomers).

The death rate will continue to increase, continually generating business.

Develop off-site crematorium facilities because a single funeral home can only hand so many services a day.

Geographic expansion.

Highly lucrative as these businesses tend to be immune from negative changes in economy.

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Besides competition within 10-15 miles, there are very few threats as there is always demand for funeral services.

Outside memorial companies threatening funeral home merchandising.

Shifting cultural trends of alternatives to traditional funeral home services.

Potential decline of the death rate can unusually last longer than previous times.

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Competitive Analysis 1. Harrison-Ross Mortuary

2. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Crematory, and Funeral Home

Prices of services offered ● Direct Cremation with Memorial Service $2,989 ● Viewing Visitation $300 ● Funeral Ceremony $450 ● Memorial Service ○ $450 Reach ● Instagram: None ● Twitter: None ● Facebook: 69 followers, 421 check-ins, 63 likes Yelp Review Perception ● 3 ½ Stars ● 14 reviews ● Reviews a mix of one-stars and five-stars

Prices of services offered ● Direct Cremation with Memorial Service $2,970 ● Viewing Visitation ○ $500 ● Direct Burial ○ $2,195 ● Memorial Service ○ $550 Reach ● Instagram: ○ 35.8k Followers ● Twitter: ○ 11.2k Followers ● Facebook: ○ 69,629 followers ○ 238,196 check-ins ○ 69,125 likes Yelp Review Perception ● 4 ½ Stars ● 288 reviews ● Reviews overwhelmingly positive

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3. Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary Prices of services offered ● Direct Cremation with Memorial Service $3,980 ● Viewing Visitation ○ $525 ● Funeral Ceremony ○ $825 ● Memorial Service ○ $825 Reach ● Instagram: ○ 155 Followers ● Twitter: ○ 122 Followers ● Facebook: ○ 1,485 followers ○ 4,269 check-ins ○ 1,455 likes Yelp Review Perception ● 4 Stars ● 20 reviews ● Reviews generally positive.

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4. Clarity Cremations and Funeral Home

In Conclusion . . .

All four funeral homes offer parity services of cremation, burial, visitation and memorial services. However, Clarity has several competitive advantages, involving lower prices and services that offer a more intimate and meaningful send-off with respect to the environment.

Prices of services offered ● Direct Cremation with Memorial Service $2,690 ● Viewing Visitation ○ $500 ● Memorial Service ○ $525 Reach ● Instagram: ○ 21.6k Followers ● Twitter: ○ 6,270 Followers ● Facebook: ○ 11,506 followers Yelp Review Perception ● 5 Stars ● 1 reviews ● Positive Review

By not embalming the body with preservative chemicals that are carcinogenic, Clarity pledges to offer safe, green and sustainable practices. In comparison to the competition, while offering significantly fewer costs and the use of non-traditional forms of preparation of the corpse, the services provided by Clarity also considers how precious and meaningful the family's relationship to the loved one is, by providing services for the family to be more involved in the process.

Overall, Clarity uses a persuasive facet by exhibiting their good intentions of social responsibility and a cognition facet by presenting differentiating factor, such as natural burials and organic caskets.

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Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.

Haruki Murakami

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Primary Target Market With our objectives of educating about death and changing stigmas of death, we want to market to a younger generation of Generation X (39-54: born between 1965 and 1980).

They are a less active decision-making market but, frankly, they are getting older and will be the next generation in need of a funeral in the next half-century. The "latchkey generation" tend to be more ethnically diverse and better educated than Baby Boomers and are more aware of their environmental impact. Overall, they are individualistic, technologically adept, exible, and value work/life balance. They celebrate life due to their high ďŹ nancial status as children of the Baby Boomers.

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Secondary Target Market The current target market is the generation of older, wealthier people reaching the end of their mortality and who can actually afford funeral services. We want to shift the secondary target market to low-income families in the greater Los Angeles area. A majority of this demographic cannot afford to pay for a funeral, leaving them unable to access the services offered and vulnerable to severe debt, bankruptcy. We want them to be aware of the variety of funeral services that Clarity offers that they can actually afford more.

"People who can’t afford those services are left with the cheapest option: cremating their loved one’s remains and leaving it to a funeral home to dispose of them. Others may simply abandon relatives’ remains altogether, leaving it to coroners and funeral homes to pay for cremation and disposal."

The average cost of a funeral is $9000 to $10000 and can rack up to $20,000, where according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income for Los Angeles County was $65,006 in 2017. Given these figures, it's difficult for most people to afford the funeral services they deserve.

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Objectives 1. Further leverage and reposition Clarity to become more approachable and accessible to the target market.

2. Shift primary market from a wealthier and older generation to Generation X, transforming stigmas of death and American cultural expectations towards death.

3. Become an industry leader in funeral services as a progressive, environmentally friendly and green funeral home.

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Strategies Objectives will be achieved through extending brand awareness through speciďŹ c partnerships, interactive displays, events, social media initiatives, and overall promotion implementation.

Strengthen social media presence, increase awareness within the community, and transform stigmas of death as well as cultural expectations towards death.

Educate public about the processes that Clarity utilizes through speaking at community events, social media, and television.

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MARKETING DELIVERABLES

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Advertising Strategy Starting line/// PRINT, DIRECT MAIL, OUT OF HOME, RADIO REBRAND AND SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVES ...to leverage the funeral home's digital platform and increase engagement with general fans of Caitlin Doughty and the audience Next step/// COMMUNITY OUTREACH ...collaborate with our in-house charity (Dollars for the Deceased) to participate in community events to foster direct contact points with the prospective market of Gen X, including seminars by Caitlin Doughty NETFLIX SERIES ...entertain and inform the audience of the behind-the-scenes of the American funeral home industry, with insight to the environmental damage caused by the funeral practices WITH LUCY & YAK ...partner with a clothing brand that promotes similar sustainability and green efforts as well as creating wearable merch for death sentiment and acceptance, with proceeds going to low-income families to afford Clarity's services Finish/// MUSEUM OF DEATH POP-UP EXHIBITION ...yes, museums are still a thing! This pop-up exhibition at the Museum of Death will feature gnarly funeral home services of different cultures in world history with insight into the future of the funeral industry that is... Clarity ✨ PR: The Cherry on Top/// YouTuber Casey Neistat will perform a stunt dressed as the Grim Reaper, roaming the streets of Downtown Los Angeles to promote the conversation of "Let's Talk About Death" 19

Social Media Initiatives Foster strong brand relationship and position Clarity as the leading funeral home.

For Clarity, we believe that by interacting with the audience and informing them of the services that Clarity oers through a digital rebrand of the logo and website, Instagram and Facebook, Clarity can foster a stronger brand relationship with our local target markets of Gen X and low-income families in the Los Angeles area. Most importantly, Clarity will be positioned as THE brand in the audience's mind as the funeral home that is progressive and leading in the industry.

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Digital Rebrand We want to rebrand the digital appearance of Clarity to create a more approachable and friendly brand impression from a younger market of Gen X. The logo will look more modern, sleek and still professional, to reect Clarity's principles of being environmentally progressive.

LOGO NEW COLOR PALETTE

BEFORE

The old logo looked formal and resembled a medical-like logo.

AFTER

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Website BEFORE

AFTER

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Instagram Clarity's IG will feature informational posts, touching testimonials from families who have used the funeral services at Clarity and employees' meaningful and impactful experience working at the home. This will position the brand as forward-thinking and innovative when it comes to being environmentally sustainable, yet also thoughtful of traditional death practices to allow the family to take back control of what they want to do with and for their loved one's body.

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Facebook Using this platform will be greatly beneďŹ cial to our company as we’re able to share basic information about our services, easily share pictures/videos, target generation x easily, raise brand awareness, and most importantly engage with audiences and potential customers.

The 360 interactive ads will be a creative, interactive medium to engage an older audience that is already on a platform for the Gen X cohort.

Therefore, the 360 ads will thoroughly engage the audience, creating a positive brand impression. We understand that the utilization of Facebook 360 will make our content deeper, more interactive, and much more enjoyable, promising longer viewing times, more comments, and more action.

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Print Advertising 73% of Generation X read magazines, 60% take note of a magazine ad, and 51% take action after seeing a magazine ad. This is why we feel utilizing print ads would be more beneficial for our generation and would achieve engagement with consumers. We’d like to put our ad’s in the below magazines/newspapers as they have the biggest reach within Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times Magazine Los Angeles Weekly Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Daily News

With this we’re able to get higher ROI as people keep publications in their homes or businesses, re-reading them or sharing with others. It will also help us further strengthen trust and engagement as when people look through a magazine they are doing it at a time they designate for that purpose thereby making them more engaged then they would have been viewing the same ad on a digital device.

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Direct Mail Generation X is a very busy segment so we must capture their attention quickly. When sending mail we plan on utilizing a postcard format.

One side would be covered in artwork to prompt the receiver to keep or openly display it and the other side would have information about our company as well as the cause we support.

Infographics are also useful in terms of shareability as they’re whimsical style encourages readers to download, print, and display.

Accompanying stories support the infographics with rich, actionable content as well.

Email marketing is vital to our business as we’ll be able to segment our audience to ensure that the right leads are getting the most impactful information at the most effective times. For a younger cohort we’d primarily send them emails in regards to stigmas of death while with Generation X we’d send them info about our services and sustainability practices.

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Outdoor & Out of Home Billboard The billboards will be on Melrose for the Netix special, Behind the Grave, as well as a billboard on Fairfax Ave. for general advertisement of the funeral home. Both of these locations are hotspots for traffic and will capture mobile audiences.

Signage Clarity will be recognizable within the community, and the signage within a 10-15 mile radius would raise awareness of our message.

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Experiential Marketing Interactive Billboard Digital interactive billboard campaigns that play on interactivity have the ability to allow the generation x audience to connect their very own personal experiences and take time out of their day to make the effort to engage with our company. Our aim is to create an interactive billboard that will address the stigma of death and provide further knowledge on “Clarity” and why we stand out in the funeral industry. We will integrate face filters and face recognition into our billboard urging passerby’s to stand in front of it and see themselves aged. We feel that this would be a great way to break through the clutter of ads as well as a great way to have our advertisement be imprinted into the minds of consumers. Our goal with this is to deliver a design and ad that resonates with enough people so they’d want to post what they’ve seen on their own social media thus generating organic buzz.

We would stir shareability by having them scan a QR code in order to save their photo to their phone and prompt them to utilize our hashtag #letstalkaboutdeath

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Radio Advertising By using Jeff Goldblum as our voice over/celebrity endorser for this radio advertisement to promote the Netflix Docu-series, Behind the Grave, we expect his nonchalant tone while discussing the details of death and the unconventional procedures Caitlin features on her show to hopefully generate intrigue and lessen the discomfort of the thought of death.

Combining his quirky sense and light-hearted humor with the persona of Caitlin Doughty, the audience will use their imagination as to how this docu-series can entertain and inform them.

The use of “Morning Mood” as the intro music to the ad will create a pleasant tone so the listeners will look forward to it. A call to action made by Jeff Goldblum at the end will consist of the actor saying “Dying to know more? Series premiere starts September 30.”

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Partnerships Our partnerships consist of philanthropic community outreach events, PR stunts, entertainment mediums, and using public figures to endorse Clarity Funerals and Cremation.

Using famous YouTuber, Casey Neistat, with our PR stunt and famous influential actor, Jeff Goldblum, to endorse Clarity and be the voice of our radio advertisements we hope to reach a larger segment of our audience and create buzz. The use of YouTube, Netflix, and the Museum of Death allows for easier understanding and access to the information provided and messages we want to convey while reaching a larger audience.

With the collaboration of Lucy xYak, Dollars for the Deceased, and the seminar tour of California universities we want to increase brand recognition of Clarity while promoting the unconventional, yet fully effective process of natural burials and the omission of embalming to preserve bodies. The emphasis of community outreach gives our primary and secondary demographics a reason to cope with death differently.

We will be utilizing print, direct mail, radio, out-of-home media, and social media campaigns with specific hashtags to promote each collab we’ll be having

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Community Outreach Community events are incredible ways to shape our public image and increase awareness for our funeral home because Gen X emphasize families in their lives.

We’ll achieve this by focusing on our in-house charity, Dollars for the Deceased, for the funeral home to participate and sponsor community events. This will help us foster direct contact points with our secondary demographic of low-income families.

We’ll also be having Caitlin Doughty host seminars with universities across California in order to raise awareness of sustainability within the funeral industry and transform stigmas of death.

We want to have a greater presence in the general community in order to spread our ideas and set ourselves apart from other funeral homes. This will give us a competitive advantage in a saturated and static industry.

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Netflix Show Caitlin Doughty’s YouTube series, Ask A Mortician, will be extended into a four-part Netflix original series called Behind the Grave. This vlog-influenced docu-series would cover different aspects of the industry including the history of funeral homes, the process of preserving corpses, and preparing them for services up until the burial process. It will also provide insight into Clarity, addressing what makes this funeral home a potential leader in the industry. This Netflix series will have a lighthearted tone, reflecting Caitlin Doughty's personality and style of YouTube videos. This will help to break the Westernized stigma of death and instead bring light to the concept of celebrating death in a classy and respectful way.

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Episodes List Episode 1: About Caitlin and how she started her business Episode 2: Prepping of bodies (Her eco-friendly way of doing it at Clarity) Episode 3: Services with families: how her company is family-oriented and involved Episode 4: Q&A episode (Questions would be submitted by fans of her YouTube channel and will focus on her company)

We hope to reach more of our primary audience, Generation X, and the series will create hype and buzz for the later advertisement strategies of the pop-up exhibition and the clothing collaboration.

MUSEUM OF DEATH POP-UP EXHIBITION The Museum of Death will be hosting a pop-up featuring the traditions of death and the history of preservation rituals and procedures in world history. Caitlin Doughty will be present during the opening reception of the pop-up to directly educate and promote her home's use of environmentally friendly techniques that offer safer as well as inexpensive ways of offering treatment for corpses.

During the exhibit, Caitlin will have time to speak about her experience and her upcoming docu-series, Behind the Grave. Visitors of the reception will be encouraged to donate funds for the in-house charity, to be entered into a raffle where five winners will be awarded a signed copy of her latest book, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? The donations will help fund Clarity’s in-house charity “Dollars for the Deceased” which helps families in need of financial assistance who cannot afford the funeral services they need.

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Clarity's Wearable Advertising Clarity will collaborate with the clothing brand, Lucy & Yak, to create a clothing line where 20% of the revenue will go towards our in-house charity that oers free to low-cost funeral services for the secondary market, the very low-income families in the greater Los Angeles area.

Lucy & Yak's pledge for sustainability and transparency in every aspect of the production line reects Clarity's principles for honesty and being 'green.'

The collab will bring in a mature market for Lucy & Yak who characteristically respects green and sustainable practices. With wearable advertising, the clothing will also allow this older market to be able to promote death acceptance, shifting cultural expectations and conversations about death.

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PR Campaign To create media attention, Clarity will partner with YouTube content creator Casey Neistat to create a viral video and help bring awareness to Clairty’s goal on breaking the stigma of death.

Casey Neistat has previously created viral videos pulling in 2.7 billion views in total on his YouTube channel. In his viral videos much like “SNOWBOARDING WITH LAPD,” Neistat uses erratic public stunts to gain the attention of bystanders who then share their experiences onto social media. To wrap up his stunts, Neistat compiles footage to create a fun and entertaining video that is often times publicized in the local news.

In our collaboration, Neistat will appear as the grim reaper hovering around populated areas in Los Angeles. Throughout his journey, Neistat will interview the public asking jarring questions about death.

In this process, he will promote the message behind Clarity, encouraging people to confront their mortality.

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PRESS PRESS PRESS PRESS PRESS...

Clarity's innovative and progressive focus on green practices, family responsibility and honesty about prices will make the press on prominent news platforms such as New York Times, NPR, LA Weekly and LA Times. It will tout Caitlin Doughty's funeral home, Clarity, as the leading funeral home within the industry and position it as being the future of the industry.

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MANDATORIES

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SEO Analysis Through attempting to optimize keywords for Clarity we see that cremation and death are both increasingly searched.

Google wants to see high-value keywords but also semantic keywords.

Utilizing semantic keywords such as “green burials” or “green funerals” will help give Google more insight into what precisely we’re discussing regarding this topic and the level of depth we offer.

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Tracking & Goals

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ●

Total estimated number of deaths in California ○

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Average Number of Deaths Over 3-year periods ■ 2015-2017: 62,894 ■ 2014-2016: 61,076 ■ 2013-2015: 60,023 Deaths were higher than anticipated in the period.

Historical data would suggest that deaths in 2020 could be significantly higher than 2015-2017.

Cultivate a more active community ○

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Increase Funeral market share California Increase Conversion rate for social media leads ○

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Increase Media Impressions from PR campaigns ○

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How good are the leads from social media?

Grow Traffic from social media ○

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How many people clicked on lead-generation posts and participated in social media events?

Likes, shares, comments, mentions, and replies

For facebook-Number of posts, likes, and comments from community For Twitter-Number of participants and tweets per participant For Youtube-Number of subscribers, likes, and comments.

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How many people did our campaign reach through social media?

How many people are sharing and/or talking about our infographics or articles?

How many and who are the journalists talking about your company and whats the size of their following How many people are asking your company about industry-related questions?

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Increase lead-to-close rate

Timeline July 1, 2019

August 20, 2019

Community Outreach

Digital Rebrand & Social Media

September 20, 2019

September 30, 2019

September 2October 21, 2019 Caitlin Doughty Speaking in Seminars

October 15, 2019 PR Stunt

Print Advertising

Netix Series

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September 14, 2019 Outdoor & Out-of-Home Advertising Begins

September 15, 2019

September 17, 2019

Distribution of Direct Mail

Radio Advertisement

October 18, 2019

October 25, 2019

Lucy & Yak Collaboration

Museum of Death Pop-Up Exhibition

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Continue Social Media, Traditional Marketing, Speaking Seminars, and Community Outreach moving forward...

BUDGET Inbound Marketing

$112,000

19%`

Email Marketing

$25,000

4.3%

SEM PPC, DIsplay, and Social Media

$80,000

13.4%

PR, Off-Page SEO

$265,000

44%

Website

$52,000

8.7%

Traditional

$63,000

10.6%

Total

$597,000

100%

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fin.

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