Memorialization and personalization The idea of funeral memorialization and personalization is not a new concept— many insightful funeral professionals have encouraged individuality when planning meaningful memorable funeral tributes. As death care progresses, funeral professionals face the constant demand to personalize an individual’s service and to set it apart from all others. The purpose of funeral memorialization and personalization has undergone major transformation and is no longer about just laying the deceased to rest but about celebrating the person’s life and individuality. The result is an outpouring of unique services reflecting the hobbies, passions, and interests of the deceased, essentially turning the funeral into an event. Planning a loved one’s last rites can be a difficult process, involving a magnitude of emotional stress. Without guidance, the myriad of decisions, options, information, and opinions surrounding the funeral arrangement process can seem exceedingly overwhelming during an already complicated time. Funeral professionals who seek to keep up with industry trends must adopt new ways of thinking as they offer guidance, advanced options, and unique ideas. Displaying the deceased’s personal items, such as a golf putter, fishing rod, football, hand-knitted throw, or favorite hat, in and around the casket or urn is an effective and powerfully symbolic method to tell the story of the decedent’s life and is just one way funeral professionals can individualize a service. Personalization permits services to take place at a location significant to the deceased and/or their family, such as a park, a lake, the woods, a restaurant, an athletic field, on a boat, the beach, or the home of the deceased—wherever there is meaning for the family in remembering a loved one as they knew him or her in life. Technological impact on funeral service The funeral industry, one of the world’s oldest professions, faces the challenge of using old procedures in a new age. While other industries have kept pace with technological indicators and have shifted with consumer demands, some believe the funeral industry is among the last to emerge into the 21st century because so much of the process is steeped in time-honored practices and tradition. It’s often been difficult to usher the clients and staff into a new age as well. In years past, when many funeral professionals began their careers, the business of death was simple, and the funeral industry was represented as a sensitive, hands-on business with high emotions. Moreover, for funeral professionals whose traditions and techniques have been handed down from generation to generation, embracing emerging technologies can be challenging. However, most of today’s entrepreneurs are forward-thinking professionals who are reshaping death care’s evolution. The digital face of the funeral profession can no longer be ignored. Technology impacts all aspects of funeral service. It impacts how families research their options and resources, and how they reach out and connect with funeral homes. It’s even impacted the way we memorialize our loved ones after they are gone. It is critical for funeral homes to adapt to digital trends, or they risk losing families to competitors who have already made the digital transition. These and other consumer demands reveal the need to revolutionize a once solemn industry ensconced in tradition to a fuller one, that adds value to life celebrations. Today,
Studies show that the most successful funeral businesses rely on word-of-mouth recommendations and testimonials to increase brand awareness within their community. Those first-person endorsements are often the tipping point for undecided client families when the time comes to select a funeral provider—a majority of endorsements come from personal experience. In fact, branding experts estimate that word-of-mouth recommendations influence more than half of today’s purchase decisions. Encouraging family members and friends to provide special letters and photos, along with other items of significance, can initiate the grieving process. More importantly, encouraging the family to become involved in personalizing the deceased’s memorialization sets the funeral professional apart from competitors. As traditional funerals decline, today’s funeral professionals realize that their firms’ long-term survival and consumer satisfaction are measured by more than the strategic placement of treasured objects. Even though some personalization may exist in the tangible elements, they do little in reaffirming the bond between the deceased and the living. Memorialization and personalization are the culmination of a truly unique service that brings together the deceased person’s life and those still living, leaving a lasting impression. Personalized funerals are classified as “good” funerals by industry standards because they create effective grieving opportunities with safe boundaries for expressions of loss. These funerals or memorials not only look different than traditional funerals, they feel different because of the strong emotional connection experienced by the survivors. the internet and computer software programs can make things much easier for business professionals. A forward- thinking business owner who invests in the latest computer network system and a fully integrated customized mortuary management software program, along with social media, a professional website, and other online networks, can expect to increase efficiency and effectiveness exponentially in administering all aspects of their business. Those who are embracing technology will have visually engaging, informative, and interactive sites. Many funeral homes are further utilizing all the internet has to offer, including additional online advertising, online directory listings, pay-per-click advertising, and participating in social networking campaigns and online streaming. Travel is one of the biggest obstacles families face in attending a loved one’s funeral service. Families are often spread out throughout the United States as well as other countries, making it difficult to travel on short notice. For those unable to make it to the service in time, a streaming video of the funeral can solve the problem. By capturing the service on film and making it available online, you can provide an invaluable service to families. Streaming video funerals not only allow those unable to travel to participate in the service, they recapture lost moments and facilitate healing for family members who attend the service but are too grief-stricken to remember significant parts.
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Book Code: FTX1626
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