Let's face it - keeping up with changing family preferences is tough. More families are turning away from traditional funeral elements. They want more technology. They want to connect online. All this means you have to think of other ways to serve them.

But where should you start?

While it looks a little different for each funeral home, there are a few steps you can take to identify your approach, come up with new ideas, and then try them out!

First, you need to identify your mindset to change - how do you react to it? Do you resist it, or do you rise to the occasion? The more honest you are with yourself, the better.

Then, come up with a plan and think about how you can apply new and innovative ideas at your funeral home.

Take a look at how one funeral home followed these steps to find new ways to connect with today’s families:

Innovation in action: Getting people to come to a cemetery with no one to bury

Sunset Memorial Park in Albuquerque, NM, wanted to increase brand awareness and draw people to its cemetery. The challenge was how to get people to come to a cemetery with no one to bury. Sunset Memorial Park teamed up with brand agency McKee Wallwork + Co. to find a unique solution. While researching, they discovered that 1 in 5 families had cremains in their homes that they had never scattered or placed anywhere.

Sunset Memorial, with the wrong mindset, could have easily created marketing materials and a campaign around selling more urns. Instead, they created an event called Scatter Day. Sunset Memorial Park opens its cemetery to the public and allows anyone to scatter their family’s ashes there. They now attract over 1,000 people a year.

Because they approached the problem with an innovative mindset, they had a major impact on their community and the families that were given a chance to grieve and give their loved ones a final resting place. As a result, the Sunset Memorial team has received national recognition, and hundreds of funeral homes across the country take part in their own Scatter Day in their communities.

In this article, we’ll talk through 7 ideas you can use to improve your funeral home’s ability to adapt to industry changes, anticipate families' needs, and increase brand awareness.

7 innovative ideas to try

#1: Get to know today's families

Connecting with fellow funeral directors can be one of the best ways to find inspiring ideas. Capitalize on your time 

Families are much different than they were 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. Many family members now live in different states rather than in the same town, and technology has become a main form of communication.

And their preferences for funerals have shifted as well.

So, if you continue to relate to families in the same way you always have, you might overlook a large group of them.

In 2021, Directors Investment Group (our parent company) and McKee Wallwork (a market research firm) joined forces to conduct the largest funeral consumer study in the nation. The study identified 7 unique types of funeral consumers, each having their own set of views and preferences toward funerals. Read about each type in this article, and get to know today's families so you can meet their needs in the best way possible.

#2: Think outside the box with community events

You can open your funeral home up to the community by hosting, sponsoring, or participating in different events.

Sunset Memorial got creative with their Scatter Day event of event that and was able to involve an entire community.

How can you think outside of the box for your next event? Start by thinking through the next local or national holidays and how you can create value for your community or participate in an event with other funeral professionals. Plenty of funeral directors speak at local events about preplanning or coordinating with other end-of-life specialists.

Check out these examples of community events from our friends at ASD that can help inspire your next event. >>>

#3: Position existing services in a different way

We’re not suggesting you change everything or make your whole staff try something new. Start small. Ask your most change-conscious funeral director to incorporate new ideas and methods to see what resonates the best with your families. Here are a few suggestions:

• Bring up one unique idea that you’ve never done before in your next arrangement conference, such as ways to personalize services or a creative memorial offering for a cremation.

• Try a new script when talking with families about cremation. For example, when a family requests cremation, respond with “What kind of cremation would you like?”, rather than just checking a box. Making a small change like this can give your team the chance to talk about the value of having a service, even if the family plans to cremate.

• Offer a new way to connect with families online by using technology like Passare’s Planning Center.

#4: Offer new services

Are there services you’ve never offered before? We’ve heard of one funeral home offering a photographer to families. This sounds like an odd thing to suggest to a grieving family, but there are typically 3 reasons a family gathers: weddings, reunions, and funerals. For some, a funeral may be the first time an extended family has all been together in years. Offering a photographer may be fulfilling a need that the family didn't even realize they had.

Another creative offering is photo restoration services. For example, a family might want to use a cherished photo of their loved one for the service or in printed materials, but the quality of the photo may be poor, or it could be damaged. Some funeral homes employ staff members who specialize in creating new images that accurately reflect the loved one or restoring old photos when possible. Or you can always consider outsourcing this service.

While these types of services may seem outside your usual offerings, providing them can demonstrate your commitment to going above and beyond for families.

#5: Elevate your social media presence

Social media is an easy way to promote your funeral home’s brand and build connections with families, staff members, and others online.

But building (or growing!) an online presence through social media can be a daunting task. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

• Add variety to your pages by posting different types of content. One idea could be taking photos at remembrance and community events to build awareness of how your funeral home is engaging with the community.

• Celebrate staff members online to build comradery amongst your team and boost your workplace reputation.

• Work with a social media management service to get the content you want, reach more families with your posts, and grow your following.

Check out more social media ideas you can use at your funeral home in this article from Funeral Directors Life >>>

#6: Connect with the next generation of funeral service

The key to finding high-quality staff members to work in your funeral home is to connect with mortuary students early. We’ve heard from several young funeral directors, that even if they weren’t a part of a family business, they may have gotten involved as early as high school. Giving people the opportunity to get in the door early can foster that love of the funeral profession that seems to be missing. This might mean you have to do a little more training, but if you can get plugged into mortuary schools early there seems to be a pretty good chance of finding high-quality job candidates.

Check out these tips to start building connections with the next generation of funeral service:

• Enter your funeral home in a school career fair to get students interested in funeral service early.

• Offer internships where students have the opportunity to learn from you and your team and develop their skills.

• Provide a scholarship or grant for future mortuary students.

If you’re looking to hire and want to spruce up your work environment to meet the needs of younger employees, check out this article and find 4 things Gen Z wants in the workplace. >>>

#7: Use technology to be more efficient

When it comes to connecting with families, many of the ideas above are effective. But sometimes, starting from the bottom can be the most beneficial. Think about your back-end processes for a moment.

Are they inefficient? If so, they could be stealing from the time you could be spending with families.

By implementing the right funeral home software, you can reduce time spent on tasks such as data entry, paperwork, or case organization, allowing you to spend more time with families.

Better yet, add technology to your processes that offer ways for you to connect with families online when needed.