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Resurrecting Funeral Directors Association Membership

The Challenge

The Arkansas Funeral Directors Association (AFDA) works to establish, cultivate, and promote programs and policies that strive to mark the passage of life with dignity and instill high standards for ceremonies that are sensitive to the special needs of those who survive.

With approximately 300 funeral homes in the state, and membership currently at about 80 members, the Association was exploring ways increase statewide membership, while retaining and increasing engagement with its current members. A membership of 150 funeral homes was the desired goal. While cost of membership is often the reason given for those who decline membership or renewal, the association also wanted to explore ways to promote the value of the membership itself.

The Solution

CustomXM, a North Little Rock, Arkansas direct mail and print provider, proposed a concentrated effort to promote the value of membership in AFDA in conjunction with their upcoming 2015 Annual Convention. Because of the small existing membership and potential membership population, we recommended the following:

  • A direct mail campaign consisting of a well-organized and visually attractive brochure. This piece highlighted member benefits and included the conference event schedule, as well as member testimonials. The brochure would feature an incentive offer that reflected a substantial savings for members if they acted before the registration deadline.
  • The brochure mailing also included a well-organized registration form encompassing membership renewal and the conference registration.
  • A series of personalized postcards followed the brochure mailing. The postcards highlighted membership benefits and the available training opportunities. The same call to action incentive was also included in these direct mail pieces.
  • A segmented email campaign was launched just before the incentive offer expiration which targeted A) non-members and B) existing members thanking those who renewed early, and asking them to attend the conference and training. Lastly, an informative email that included the conference schedule was sent to the entire database prior to the registration deadline. All emails contained a link to the AFDA website with event information and links to a downloadable version of the registration form.
The Results

As a result of the campaign, AFDA membership reached new levels and the conference had a record number of attendees. Jeff Smith, President of the Arkansas Funeral Directors Association had this to say:

We had a record crowd this year and exceeded our projected attendance for the banquet, Thursday and Friday Continuing Education, and increased membership 20%.
Thank you! Your creative work with our efforts yielded great results.

How Do They Do That?

I’ve always been a fan of magic.  Houdini, David Copperfield (the magician, not the book), Criss Angel (sort of) – the art of the illusion has always fascinated me. And if you are like me, a very good magic trick doesn’t always have to “wow” you, but it does need to leave you wondering – how do they do that? And once you figure it out, it’s like “oh yeah, why didn’t I think of that?”

Our upcoming Lunch & Learn on Wednesday, July 25th will showcase a little bit of magic as well.  The ABCs of Marketing Magic Made Simple, presented by Paul Schaller, may not mesmerize you with smoke and mirrors, but my guess it will still certainly have a “wow” effect.

Paul is the president of ABC Financial Services in Sherwood, AR. Over the past 20 years, he has guided ABC through the evolution of targeted, one-to-one marketing by implementing customized solutions to secure, enrich and maintain client relationships. This leadership magic has made ABC Financial the country’s largest provider of financial and marketing services for the health club industry.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I do point out that ABC Financial Services has been a client of ours since about 1998.  While our partnership has enabled ABC to take advantage of the one-to-one marketing technology, it has been the dynamic vision of Paul Schaller to make marketing magic when it comes to growing customer relationships.  I invite you to come hear more next Wednesday as Paul shares his magic.

You can register now at IntegratingMedia.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.

 

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Paul Strack, CustomXM

@pstrack

Welcome to 2010, the Rebirth of Print

Welcome to 2010, I think this is going to be a very good year compared to the one we just made it through. Few have had a worse year however than the print industry. Which is why I am a little surprised to be here writing this for CustomXM. See I grew up in the digital age, marketing directors like myself have basically killed print. In developing my skill I embraced the computer monitor, and swore off paper. I met Paul Strack from CustomXM and found some of the neat things he was doing merging technology with printing. I quickly realized that I was wrong to abandon print all together. Print is not dead, print is in the process of being reborn. The print we knew 10 years ago is dead, in it’s place however is something much better. 

This blog will serve as a mix of things to help you understand this new reborn print industry. I will focus on some tips that I’ve been able to pick up, ways to enhance marketing through print, some case studies that Paul will share to show how other companies have utilized print, and some behind the scenes views of the print shop. With this my hope is that through a better understanding and some strong examples you will be able to enhance your marketing.

A first of the year post would not be complete without a list of New Years resolutions, so here are mine for marketing:

1 – Step outside of the box and do something completely radical to market my company.

2 – Give back as much marketing insight (both success and failures) as possible.

3 – Enhance the tie between my print marketing and online marketing.

4 – Find some way to incorporate dimensional printing.

5 – Find a better way to utilize social media as a communications tool.

So those are the areas I plan on focusing in this year. Why not drop a comment and share some of yours, I’ll even give the best few a very awesome 2010 CustomXM calendar featuring local photographers like myself.

-Greg Henderson