Marketing Your Funeral Program Business – Part I – Brochures & Flyers

If you’ve completed the funeral program business start-up tasks we’ve discussed so far, good for you! That’s a lot of decision making, shopping and planning on your part, and a good sign that you have what it takes to be a success. To hold onto that momentum, let’s dive right in to marketing your business. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to start getting the word out is with attractive brochures and flyers.

Business Brochure and Flyer Design Tips

Think about brochures and flyers you’ve seen that have captured your interest. There were probably three key traits that caught your eye:

• Effective brochures and flyers have professional polish. Can you imagine someone asking you to create funeral programs after they’ve read a brochure filled with misspelled words, blurry photos and confusing language? In other words, would you do business with you, once you’ve read your brochure or flyer  If you plan to market yourself as a printing and design professional, your marketing tools MUST reflect your skills. Have someone else proofread your final draft and always preview a copy on the paper you’ve chosen before printing quantities.

• Attractive brochures and flyers are uncluttered. You may also have noticed that attractive brochures are easy to read, with uncluttered, well-defined sections. Using small print in long, unbroken paragraphs doesn’t work well for marketing. Make it easy for anyone to understand what you’re offering with bullet point lists and concise paragraphs about your products and services.  Break up sections of text with clipart dividers, borders or headings in a larger font. Make it as easy as possible for your potential customers to pick up your printed marketing piece and immediately understand what you have to offer.

• Effective business brochures and flyers tell customers what to do next. You’ve captured their attention—the next step is to tell them how easy it is to work with you. Show them clearly where to find your website, how to get in touch by email or how to call, depending on how you plan to work with your clients.

Your funeral program printing customers will need to know quickly how to contact you in their time of need. Help them from the beginning by making your contact information easy to locate as well as what to expect once they get in touch.

Final Tips on Brochure Design: The tips above apply to any printed marketing piece, whether it’s a trifold, three color brochure or a simple, black and white flyer. Use what you’ve learned about designing funeral keepsakes to create an attractive, easy to read marketing piece that reflects your skills and experience.

• The main purpose of designing a great brochure or flyer is to point potential customers to your online or storefront business. Begin to think about what local businesses are natural connections, places where someone planning a funeral is likely to visit—flower shops and funeral homes are two obvious ones. We’ll talk more in a later post about growing your network, but for now, do your homework on who you can talk to about leaving a supply of your brochures on display. Also, start paying attention to possible places to display your flyers—church bulletin boards might be a good place to start.

• Keep a supply of flyers and brochures with you as you travel. You never know who might allow you to display them, or when you’ll meet someone who asks what you do for a living. Always be prepared to hand them something to take with them. It’s amazing, with today’s internet, long-distance services how far you can reach with your business, by combining great printed marketing tools with your well-designed website.

As you prepare to start offering funeral program design and printing services, take the time to develop professional brochures and flyers. It’s an inexpensive way to let others know how you can help. Once you’ve provided professional and compassionate assistance, they’ll help grow your business by telling others about their experience.