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NFDA Recap

PFP President & CEO Quinn Eagan, HLC Senior VP -Marketing & Communications Dean Lambert, and PFP Executive VP - Sales & Marketing Craig Henry catching up in front of the Homesteaders booth at the Expo.

Two weeks ago, we headed out to Salt Lake City for the 2018 NFDA International Convention & Expo.  It provided us the opportunity to catch up with friends and partners in the industry, touch base with some of our awesome funeral home clients, and learn about what is new and exciting in the funeral industry this year. Read on for our NFDA recap on who we saw, what we liked, and what stood out to us while in Salt Lake.

 

Our friends at Homesteaders

Homesteaders Life has been our trusted funding partner for over 10 years, so it is always nice to catch up with them in person when we have the chance. With a warm and welcoming booth (and comfortable, too, with extra padded carpet! It was a nice touch, especially when you’ve been on your feet all day.), the Homesteaders team were some of the first familiar faces we saw as we walked the Expo floor.

We were able to catch up a bit and talk to funeral homes about the mutual benefits of working with Homesteaders and PFP.

 

Our Client Funeral Homes

Whether on the road at their funeral home, in our office, or at a convention like NFDA, it is always nice to see the client funeral homes we have the privilege of working with every day. Having  time outside of the busy routine of normal life in the funeral industry gives us the chance to discuss our partnership and ensure that our programs are working for funeral homes the way they were intended to.

 

Social Media on the Rise

We attended one of the educational sessions on effective social media strategies for funeral homes, and the attendance at the session alone indicated the high interest in social media today and in figuring out how it can best work for your funeral home. It was interesting to learn about the prevalence of social media in the public’s lives today in all age groups and all demographics.

Funeral homes do have a place in social media; the key lies in leveraging it effectively to achieve your goals, whether that be brand awareness or lead generation. Some will argue that Facebook is simply nothing more than a good PR tool to generate awareness of your brand for future calls down the road. While Facebook can do an excellent job at creating brand awareness, don’t discount it’s ability to generate leads, as well.

Stay tuned for a future blog post documenting a recent case study where we were able to generate over 25 leads for a seminar for one of our client funeral homes through Facebook advertising alone. It’s all about strategy, timing, and message.

 

Technology in general is BIG

While walking the Expo floor, we couldn’t help but notice the wide array of technology services available to funeral homes today. From apps that create online memorials of loved ones, to website creation, to webcasting funeral services, so many aspects of the funeral experience are being shared online. It’s an interesting concept but one that makes sense given the amount of time that people spend online today.

It will be interesting to see how far these services go over the next few years and how consumers respond to this new digital space. PFP is getting in on this rising trend with our new foray into digital preneed and social media. Contact us to learn more about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

 

Well, that’s a wrap for 2018! We’ll see you next year in Chicago!