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Bill A Johnston Speaking Events

Bill A Johnston Appears On Undertaking the Podcast

Bill A Johnston Appears On Undertaking: The Podcast

Ryan Ballard and Brian Waters are Undertaking: The Podcast, an amazing funeral industry-specific program that now boasts more than 20,000 downloads per episode.

As the hosts share on their website: “Undertaking The Podcast is a way to alleviate the professional solitude and connect funeral directors despite our irregular schedules. It’s a place for us to discuss current issues, learn from each other, and hear from industry experts.”

On July 31, 2020, Bill A Johnston was their guest, and the topic was all about advertising for funeral homes on Facebook.

After Ryan and Brian discussed how Bill began working in the industry, the wide ranging conversation turned towards how Facebook works, organic versus paid advertising, and best practices.

Run time is approximately 41 minutes and 43 seconds.

Many thanks to Ryan and Brian for their time and talents! For more on their program, visit their website: https://www.undertakingthepodcast.com/

Connect with Bill A Johnston on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

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Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

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Facebook for Funeral Homes

What Is Facebook?

What Is Facebook?

Funeral Home Facebook Expert, Bill A Johnston explains what Facebook is and why it’s so important for funeral homes.

By advertising on Facebook as described in “How Facebook Works for Funeral Homes,” you’ll be able to persuade, inform, and remind Facebook users about how important your funeral home has been to the rich history of your community and how the people who work in your funeral home are passionately committed to providing valuable services to the families in your care.

At the turn of the 21st century, just about everybody got the newspaper. Early in the morning, delivery people brought the paper to almost every house and apartment. Newsstands kept the papers ready for sale in huge stacks. Restaurants sold them for 25 cents a copy out of metal boxes found at their entryways. The boxes had see-through windows displaying that day’s cover and headlines. If you stayed in a three-star or better hotel, the paper would be dropped in front of your room’s door, usually hitting the floor with a thud that would wake you up. In many cities, there was also an afternoon edition of the paper.

Newspapers were printed on larger-sized paper than you see today. And the papers were satisfyingly thick—especially the Sunday edition, which was filled with great news content, special inserts, and lots of advertising. Yes, it seemed like everyone got the newspaper, everyone read the newspaper, then everyone recycled their newspapers because recycling was common in 2000. Indeed, newspapers were everywhere, and everyone thought of them as the media of record.

By 2014, however, ad sales had plummeted to $16.4 billion, reflecting a major loss of readers. That’s a 75% decrease in ad sales and, no doubt, sales and readership are down even further today. What could be behind this amazing and dramatic decline, and why are today’s newspapers so small and thin? The availability of online news has contributed substantially to the circulation drop in printed news, and the ease of digital delivery has created strong new competition. However, the two milestones that have played the most significant role in the newspaper’s decline are the following:

1. The opening of Facebook to everyone aged 13 and older with a valid email address, on September 26, 2006.

2. The invention of the iPhone/smartphone, which was Time magazine’s Invention of the Year in 2007.

Enter Facebook

Today, everybody seems to have their head buried in their phone, calling or texting friends, reading content, listening to music, watching and making videos, taking and sharing pictures, playing games, and interacting with apps.

According to Andrew Lipsman of comScore, Inc. (Lipsman, 2017), the average person spent 2 hours and 51 minutes on mobile devices in 2017, and according to The Motley Fool (Levy, 2018), the average device user spent a whopping 41 minutes per day on Facebook.

Facebook is a free social networking website that makes it easy for users to connect and share with family and friends online. 

Back when the newspaper reached just about everyone, it was the indisputable leader in local media. Your funeral home may not have been happy with the cost of advertising or the costs to families who wanted their loved ones’ obituaries printed in the paper, but you had to admit that the newspaper was incredibly powerful, effective, and convenient.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have that power, effectiveness, and convenience available to you again but at much less cost? You do! It’s called Facebook. 

Facebook is your local newspaper.

By discovering Facebook’s role in the media mix and understanding how thousands of people living around your funeral home habitually read it multiple times a day, you will want to embrace the metaphor that Facebook is now your local newspaper. 

Year 2000 - Newspapers Peak

According to the Newspaper Association of America, the industry reached its sales peak around the year 2000, amassing $67 billion in advertising revenue in that year.

Here’s a partial list of the many things you would typically find in a newspaper in the year 2000—especially in a big, thick Sunday newspaper:

● World, national, state and regional news

● Weather

● Opinions and editorials

● Wedding, anniversary and graduation announcements

● Obituaries

● Comics and other sections devoted to humor

● Puzzles

● Gossip

● Sports

● Items for sale by readers

● Real estate ads

● And, most importantly, business advertising

Here’s a partial list of the things that Facebook users share on the platform:

● World, national, state and regional news

● Weather

● Opinions and editorials

● Wedding, anniversary and graduation announcements

● Obituaries

● Comics and other sections devoted to humor

● Puzzles

● Gossip

● Sports

● Items for sale by readers

● Real estate ads

● And, most importantly, business advertising

Note that the newspaper and Facebook lists are identical! 

People can access Facebook on various electronic devices. They can access it on their laptop and desktop computers and their tablets, but the most common delivery system is the smartphone. 

Do you know anyone without a smartphone? Maybe so, but it’s probably just one or two people.

Meet Bill A Johnston

Our President, Bill A Johnston, managed radio stations for 25-years, and was a pioneer in interactive media. He’s also produced national television ads for leading cable television providers, plus developed the proprietary Post and Boost software platform.

Bill began working in the Funeral Industry in 2016 with a core of accounts in North Carolina. It was there that Post and Boost discovered how Facebook works for Funeral Homes.

In October, 2019, the book and the service was launched at NFDA in Chicago. Post and Boost specializes in Facebook advertising, funeral home advertising, writing for funeral homes, plus television and radio ad production for funeral homes.

Bill speaks at funeral industry conferences and conventions, offers a few different workshop presentations that are available for CE credits and is dedicated to changing the way Funeral Homes advertise. Bill is available to speak at your next event.

CLICK HERE to schedule a meeting with Bill.

Connect with Bill A Johnston on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

Post and Boost Newsletter

Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

Categories
Facebook for Funeral Homes

Why Should Funeral Homes Give Facebook Money?

Why Should Funeral Homes Give Facebook Money?

Connect with Bill A Johnston on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Funeral Home Facebook Expert, Bill A Johnston explains why funeral homes should give Facebook money.

What if there was a medium that was absolutely perfect for a funeral home like yours? A place you could advertise that was reasonably priced and over time you saw real advertising results?

Well, there is.
It’s called Facebook.

Facebook is a free social networking website that makes it easy for users to connect and share with family and friends online. Facebook is also the best tool for cost effective, local advertising.

Why does Facebook work so well for funeral homes? Well, Facebook is a 1:1 medium. It’s personal. And funeral homes sell the most personal service ever!

Watch our video to learn more.

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

Post and Boost Newsletter

Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

Categories
Facebook for Funeral Homes

Mistake #1

Mistake #1

Are you thinking people are visiting your Facebook page just like they visit your website?

They don’t! People will go to your website to quickly and easily find an obituary because that’s one of the things it’s designed to do. 

Facebook is different. Facebook users are going to their Newsfeed and reading posts by friends and business pages like yours. Rarely do they go to your business Facebook Page.

We did a snapshot of 10 pages we manage with more than 1,000 likes and spending around $250 a month on Facebook advertising. For every one (1) person that visited a business Page, a “post” from the page reached 28 people. 

Said differently, in this study, more than 96% of these Facebook users learned about an obituary or their funeral home in their Newsfeed.

What do we do? 

The objective is to get in your ideal Facebook User’s newsfeed! We create posts that tell the story about your funeral home brand, your people, and your services. After creating target audiences, we boost those posts to the thousands of people who live around your funeral home.

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

Post and Boost Newsletter

Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

Categories
Advertising Principles

Do You Know How Advertising Works?

Do You Know How Advertising Works?

Connect with Bill A Johnston on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Bill A Johnston is a Funeral Home Facebook Expert and is available to speak at your next industry event.

As a 25-year veteran of the radio industry, I have vast experience in knowing how to make radio advertising work. It’s no different than any other form of mass media including TV, newspapers, and billboards. Every campaign should be properly written and adhere to Four Pillars of Successful Advertising (i.e., how advertising works).

Reach

You have to consider if the advertising campaign will reach enough people in the market that you serve. The key thought here is reaching a “critical mass.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 863.8 deaths per 100,000 population per year (National Center for Health Statistics, 2019), so if you’re an operator in a market where there are 100,000 people, and assuming about 30% of the market is in our target demographic of adults 55+, and assuming they make the majority of funeral purchases, then your universe is around 30,000 people. If you’re buying advertising that reaches only 5,000 people in the demographic, then this is not a critical mass because theoretically, within that group, there would be only 144 death calls. If your funeral home does 500 calls a year, then 5,000 would simply not be enough. A critical mass in this example might be at least 20,000. The key thought here is you should feel confident that the number of people you’re reaching on a regular basis is large enough to “move the needle” in the direction of advertising success.

Frequency

If the ad appears only once, it won’t be effective. In the old days of media, there was a “Rule of 3,” meaning that if you reached enough people at least three times in any given week, the ad would work. But today, when consumers are bombarded with 3,000 to 5,000 advertisements in a single day, the “Rule of 3” may not be enough. Still, it’s a great place to start. In the example in the “Reach” paragraph, if you reached 20,000 people at least three times in one week, that would be an excellent week of advertising.

Consistency

This is the second biggest weakness in most local advertising campaigns. Far too often, advertisers will use “try and buy” advertising. They may think, let’s try this for a month or two and see if it works. However, if you want to reach enough people enough times a week, your campaign must continue for several months or, in the funeral industry, several years.

Copy

This is the biggest weakness in local advertising campaigns—changing copy on a regular basis to keep the ad fresh. In my radio days, we used a “Rule of 40,” meaning that when an ad ran 40 times, it needed to be replaced with a different ad. Changing ad copy is relatively easy on radio, but not so on television because of production costs. Changing copy can also be done easily in newspapers, but it’s very expensive on billboards—unless you’re using electronic billboards.

This was an excerpt from “How Facebook Works For Funeral Homes” written by Bill A Johnston. Order your copy on Amazon today! 

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

Post and Boost Newsletter

Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

Categories
Facebook for Funeral Homes

Your Funeral Home Should Be Top Of Mind

Your Funeral Home Should Be Top of Mind

Connect with Bill A Johnston on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Does this sound right? You can meet with a family at the worst moment of their lives and you know exactly what to say, yet when an advertising salesperson asks you, “what do you want to say in your ads,” you don’t know what to say!

When I began writing Facebook posts for funeral homes, I felt just like you.

As a radio broadcaster for 25 years, I’ve written thousands of commercials. Yet when I was challenged to write three posts a week for six different funeral homes, I was overwhelmed. I remember having a conversation with a client where we were brainstorming “deathless topics.” That’s how desperate I was.

Then it hit me.

Funeral homes like yours provide an amazing personal service.

Think about it: a family surrounds a loved one for their entire life, and when they die, you are so trusted, you can enter their home, remove the deceased, help them begin their journey of grief, and then lead them into a celebration of life.

WOW!

So as I analyzed all of the posts I created for my six clients, I began to see a pattern.

I saw the “topics” we were writing about, from Funeral Director Branding and the benefits of being Family Owned, to Pre-Planning and Cremation Options.

Then I saw how Facebook users, when presented with a picture of one of my client’s employees combined with one of my topics in the newsfeed, responded. It was incredibly positive. So powerful. No apology (about advertising as a funeral home) needed.

A ha!

Our “a ha” moment was when we discovered Facebook users love their Funeral Homes, and the people who work in them. So much for deathless topics.

When we take pictures of you and your staff, combine them with our topics, then post them on Facebook, you will love what Facebook users in your community have to say about you, your funeral home, and your amazing staff.

It is so transformational and it happens every time. It would be an honor to do it for you!

Are you interested in becoming a new customer of Post and Boost?

We’d love to work with you! The absolute best way to get the information you need to consider whether this is the right opportunity for your funeral home’s advertising plan is to schedule an introductory appointment with Bill. 

We make it easy for every funeral home to have a Facebook strategy that rocks!

Post and Boost Newsletter

Keep up with the latest from Post and Boost by signing up for our monthly newsletter.