Online Reviews A 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 for the long term. number of reviews appears to be enough to give folks the confidence to add their own views on that business. It is a new form of online ‘crowd behavior’ that psychologists are still working to figure 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. The funeral profession is not immune from reviews and how they impact the firm’s online reputation. 8. Provide Content for Future Marketing Efforts Instead 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, be featured in a print ad or be 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 seems to encourage others to leave their own feedback. Just the appearance of a 12 www.ogr.org | Summer 2020 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 firstyear 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
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