Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to Monument Matters, a podcast produced by the Monument Builders of North America for all things memorialization.
Each episode is an extension of our monthly magazine, MB News. Monument Matters invites everyone to listen and share. You'll find all of the episodes on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: I'm your host, Mike Johns, CM, AICA from the Johns Carabelli Company Cimarano Monuments and Flowers in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm also a past president of the Monument Builders of North America.
MBNA is a 118-year-old association whose mission is to define and promote memorialization in a viable, innovative and diversified way for its members and to enhance awareness of memorialization by the general public and the entire remembrance industry.
In that spirit of promoting memorialization, the MB and A Marketing committee is providing these podcasts as an extension of our monthly magazine MB News.
Each podcast episode features a discussion related to a magazine theme. Monument Matters podcasts invite everyone to listen and share. You'll find all of the episodes of our first season on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
Today and in the October issue of MB News, we will be discussing the PR toolkit created by the MBNA Marketing Committee. And with me today to discuss this toolkit are Brad Meyer, CM, AICA, from South Boston Memorials, and Christine Beaucamp, CM from Superior Monument Co.
Superior Monument Co. Period. Brad is MB&A's vice president of marketing and Christine is a MB&A marketing Committee member and chair of the MB News Editorial Advisory Board. Welcome Brad and Christine, thanks for joining the podcast.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.
[00:02:00] Speaker C: Thanks Mike. Nice to be here.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: It's great to have you guys.
So I'm excited to talk about the toolkit. In support of its strategic initiative to improve MBNA's visibility in the consumer space, the Marketing committee set a goal to empower members to promote MB and A and memorialization within their local markets, which is a big task.
So to support that goal, the committee has published a PR toolkit in the October issue of MB News.
So there's a little bit of background.
This isn't the first time MB&A has published a PR toolkit. Back in 1977, the Mitei program.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Also.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Known as Monuments Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and Evermore, was established. The Mighty program was responsible for placing countless articles in North American publications. Personal Moments is a booklet used by a member retailers, the Educators Kit, a series of marketing and sales manuals. But by 1993, the Mighty program was expanded, but everyone knew that there was still a need and when financially feasible, the North American Public Relations and advertising program should be continued.
So we do still have Examples of the original 1977 toolkit and the 1989 update that are available to members.
So, Christine and Brad, what unique challenges do monument builders face when promoting memorialization and their company?
[00:03:38] Speaker A: So I guess I'll start the big one. Is that just the nature of the industry? It's more than our fair share of small mom and pop operations. You have office managers, people that are trained in being office managers and being salesmen and being shop people and being installation people.
Rarely does marketing enter into the equation as far as expertise, so. And it's just been that way my whole life. You know, I am fourth generation memorialist. My parents never really did any kind of advertising. You know, they would have the occasional radio ad, occasional local paper ad.
When they did, often came from templates like you're referring to where we last updated it in 1989.
I know EGA has had promotional material of the sort, but it was always kind of the cookie cutter, fill in the blank, aimed at a local audience. And that was kind of the extent of it. This toolkit, the idea behind it is to almost hold the hands of companies like mine who realize they need to increase their visibility in their marketplace, and they see all the options out there and kind of don't know where to start.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Not just companies like yours, companies like mine as well. Christine, want to add to that at all?
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I would. I think that that's all right on. And then in addition, I would say unique challenges that we face are.
Are really just the oldest challenges, actually getting our message out into communities. The one that says, you know, monument builders are the people that are here for you to help you memorialize your loved one. I know that, you know, most people do this just once or twice in their life. We, of course, we want that generational business. But there, you know, there's so many people that walk in and say, I've never had to do this before. And, you know, where are they getting their information from in this day and age? Of course, people are reaching for their phones or getting online first and trying to find that information. So we can't rely on the old ways of doing things. And we have to sort of come into this new world of technology.
And it can be very challenging. I mean, we, of course, need to rely on our reputations, but then we also need to just, you know, be part of that world of full access.
So technology, I think, is probably one of our next greatest challenges.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think that, you know, as the world evolves and messaging becomes more and more important, we've had as an association, as we mentioned, we've had initiatives in the past, but this is not your father's media kit. Right. This is something completely new and innovative. So Brad or Christine, one of you please jump off and give me and the listeners an overview of what's included in the toolkit and how members can access the toolkit and its supporting material.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: So the what's in the toolkit? As I was saying, it's basically a step by step kind of process to increase your, your visibility in your marketplace. So it'll start out by defining exactly who your audience is. And these are all questions that, you know, it's laid out for you to kind of answer on your own. And once you kind of recognize your audience, it gives you options in order to, what you can do in order to put that plan into action.
And then as you go along, it'll help you assess how successful you're being.
It'll, it'll give you PR circumstances that you might not think of.
Step by step. Kind of exactly know the word. I'm looking forward, but problem solving. Problem solving is a good phrase. Yes, thank you. And it's one of those, it's things that you don't think of until you're in the, in the middle of a situation.
And it's just, there's a backstop in order to, to help you in these circumstances.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Christine.
[00:08:07] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I, I think that it covers a lot of really key areas for a monument builder. Understanding your company vision and its purpose is the place to start when you're thinking about marketing and so making sure that you understand who you are, what you want to say to people. Also understanding that customer journey. You know, we have this long sales cycle. We have the, everything is pretty much custom and unique. I mean, we've got a lot of, a lot of things to think about when we're thinking about that customer's journey and how we talk to them. Helping the monument builder find distinction between pr, marketing and consulting. So it gives us some definitions, it gives us some glossaries, it gives us some language. It does really help someone develop a PR plan with a step by step guide. It also has crisis communication.
So that's something that our old books, which I had our old books and they were great. There was lots of templates in there. They were formal letters to write and press kits and that kind of thing. When we had newspapers, that was very useful.
But now we need some of this newer information gathered together. That's what the toolkit has done. So back to crisis communication. I think is a really nice thing that's been added this time around.
And I just love all the checklists. I think that's my favorite part. It just really helps you make a plan.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: Absolutely. So I'd like to share just a couple of excerpts from the forward of the guide. All right. It starts. We are not, and most people really know this, but still, we are not in the business of selling stones. We are in the sacred profession of honoring life stories, preserving legacy, and helping families find meaning in their moments of grief. Wreath.
That is the essence of memorialization and who we are.
This toolkit was designed by the MBA Marketing Committee with single goal to provide every member company, large or small, urban or rural, with the tools to elevate their presence, reputation and relationships. It's fabulous. So the toolkit, as we said, is really comprehensive, which is great, but fabric 56 pages can also be overwhelming. So what advice do you have for someone getting started? Christine?
[00:10:32] Speaker C: Yeah, it really is designed to be a sort of take what you need type of toolkit. No matter where you're at now, whether you already have a good marketing plan and you need ideas to add to it, or if you're completely starting from scratch, it really is comprehensive in the way that you don't need to follow it page one through page 56, you can take what you need. Yeah, it's. It's kind of just a.
That, just that playbook of being able to jump in and find something that will be useful to you.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: We're also going to be rolling out kind of in NB News, putting some, some challenges over the coming months. You know, kind of homework for companies to do at home, following the toolkit. And then afterwards we'll kind of take polls of what worked for folks and, you know, perhaps even more importantly, what didn't work.
And this, and this will continuously be added to the toolkit. So this information will always be available. And as far as where you're going to find it, when it launches in October, it will be prominent on the Monument Builders website in the login page.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: Yep. You know, as they say, you learn more from your failures than your successes. So this toolkit, I think, builds on the lessons learned from other people's failures. So it helps the members get a leg up for sure. So some of the. I also highlighted a couple of the things in the toolkit and Christine, or, or Brad, if you want to comment just a little bit about them, one of them is assessing your image and reputation. Any thoughts on that?
[00:12:22] Speaker A: It's one of those things that I don't know if you really pay attention to it until something really goes wrong. And it's, it's kind of looking outside of yourself, trying to see how your surrounding public views your company views your work.
And it's, it's not something, it's something that's very important that I don't think companies probably do enough.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: It's not about getting the product out the door. So, yes, it's one of the last things I think we find bandwidth to deal with for sure. What about understanding the purpose of marketing and the customer journey, Christine?
[00:13:00] Speaker C: Understanding the purpose of marketing? Well, I mean, I think that again, it's just that if you don't understand it and you start reading through this toolkit, you're going to be overwhelmed. But I think that there are some really, there's just some really good advice in there to help you with that. So I mentioned the glossary and understanding the distinction between pr, marketing and consulting. I think that that's a good place to start if you're not sure what your purpose is. And again, maybe starting with your company vision and purpose.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Sure. You know, again, the toolkit is designed to help companies large and small. So I think one of the takeaways is you might not use everything in the toolkit. Right. There's things that are going to be that'll resonate with your company that might not resonate with mine. Right.
Improving your company reputation. That's. There's a whole section about that and how to do that. Things to look for. Here's a good one. Guidance for responding to negative reviews. I think we could all use a little bit of that because. Because oftentimes our first reaction is not our best reaction.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: Yeah. I think I'd add, if you're going to choose a couple of things to start with, I would say playing nice with Google is actually one of your best bets. So making sure that you have a very robust profile and making sure that people are finding you on the Internet is actually just one of those very first sort of PR things that you can do. And in addition to finding that feedback through Google reviews and working towards the negative things, there are things in this toolkit about how to use your good Google reviews to create your marketing wording. So let's say you've got a good Google review. You could take two or three of those words that was somebody's perception of your company and maybe even plug that into AI and say create five Facebook posts for me based off of these three things that this person said in a review. And AI is going to spit out, you know, week, a month or a year's worth of content for you just based on that one thing.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Awesome. Traversing the universe that is Google can be overwhelming for sure. We've had, we have ongoing back and forth with them because we have three locations and trying to get them to understand that it's all us. Even that little simple thing has been very, very complicated.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: I'd like to add too, that, I mean, yeah, we play nice with the Internet, but the other, the other thing that's in this toolkit is PR public relations, which is getting out into your community. And so there are suggestions there. And just talking to other monument builders, we know what works and that is jumping into chamber of commerce, jumping into, you know, setting up a booth at the Christmas fair and handing out candy canes. So there is that, that hometown element of being part of your community, not just talking to your community.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: It's like when I was talking about my parents. They never advertise. You know, essentially when they need us, they'll find us.
But that dynamic has changed. You know, it's. It's when someone needs a monument, you are the last one in the chain behind the cemeteries, behind the funeral homes. If they're providing monuments as well, you can, you need to flip the dynamic where you get out in front of that and establishing your public image early and often is how you do that.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a whole lot easier to become the go to person for all things memorialization if you're a part of that community. Right. If you're participating in your community, people are going to remember that and they're going to look to you when the time comes for sure. Another great part that we could all, I'm sure, use a little bit of help with and we all struggle with it from time to time. Crisis communication toolkit.
When things go south, what do you do?
How do you fix it?
What are the words? What are the steps? Another great thing to share with our members.
Absolutely.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: If nothing else, it's just a calming resource where you're not running around with the air on fire. It gives you a pathway, you know, to kind of navigate this situation as best as you can.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: But more just as important as creating those messages and plans and putting them into place is evaluating. Right. So there's a whole section about measuring your results, trying to determine what's working, what's not working. Another great section for sure. So those are kind of the highlights that I've just noticed. You know, don't get Me wrong. I have not read the 56 pages. I'm just. That was just from a quick scan of the index.
Christine, are there any points, any sections of this that especially resonate with you that you want to make sure that members understand are here?
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I think one of the things that I'm always considering due to the size of our company is whether or not to keep it in house or whether or not to hire an agency for this. And there is a section in regards to that, those pros and cons are in there discussing, you know, that how does that external company understand the very unique thing that we do. Am I the better voice or do I hire somebody out to do that? And one of the things that this toolkit has done was given me a little bit of confidence and that when I am or if I need to be ready to hire a company to do our PR and marketing, that I would feel good about handing this toolkit over to them and saying this is what monument builders are considering. This is the thing that we're thinking about because we all know that a PR company is going to want to put out a sandwich board with balloons on it talking about this, the weekly sale, and that's not us. You know, we do need to be careful with our wording. This is emotional and it's sensitive and I think sometimes we can forget that or, or maybe we're just not sure how to word these things. So depending on your capability and the time that you have and the budget that you want to put into it, you have to decide who's going to do it. And I think that, that the in house versus agency information in this toolkit is really going to help you figure that out.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Great. Thanks, Christine. Brad, what about you?
[00:19:49] Speaker A: For me, it was step one. Knowing your audience. I mean, if there's anything I've learned as a part of the marketing committee is the importance of defining your audience from step one. And this toolkit will help you do that. You know, not every locale is the same. The demographics are different.
You know, income is different, you know, community makeup is different. So defining your audience from step one and knowing where they go, where you know where to put yourself in order to be seen, I mean, that's half the battle from the beginning.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: Sure. Well, I'm not going to go through the entire booklet here, nor would I expect Brad or Christine. But again, there was a lot of effort placed into creating a 56 page book to help you members navigate this area of your business, which is often one of the last places Anyone spends any time, especially at the mom and pop level.
As I said, if it's not about getting it out the back door, it's almost impossible to find the time to deal with it. And I think that this toolkit helps you plan it out, gives you digestible bites that you can deal with even in that kind of environment. So I applaud MBNA and the marketing committee and our staff for putting this together because I really do believe this is one of the things that members, you know, members are always looking for, the roi.
Why should I be an MB and a member? Well, if you've seen this toolkit, that question has been answered in spades as far as I'm concerned. If you're a non member, I don't know what you're waiting for probably for this toolkit.
So join us.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: I'd just like to make explicit that this is free for all members and there will be an upcoming webinar that we'll go more in depth in the use of it.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: And I would say that. What's the price of membership today, Brad?
[00:22:08] Speaker A: To be an MB and a member, the cost is $715 a year.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: I would say this toolkit is easily worth the price of admission. So now that the toolkit's updated, how will the marketing committee continue working on the goal of improving MB and A's Visibility?
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Toolkit plays into this, increasing MBNA's image in the consumers. In the consumer's view, there will be a. The launch of a consumer focused website. When the, the point behind that is when a family is looking for a monument, it just gives them a road again, a roadmap in order to go about this process. As Christine said earlier, this is something that a family will buy once or twice in their lifetime and they come in blind.
So any way that we can help them through that process and then show them what, how an MBNA member can help them with their purchase where someone who is just providing tombstones cannot.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: The purpose of the marketing division of MBNA is sort of twofold, right. We want to make sure that the members have everything that they could need or want. So we're constantly taking suggestions, you know, if you, if anyone listening has ideas or watching has ideas of items that you would like marketing to think about, please always feel free to let us know and then join the committee. And join the committee. Yeah, for sure. So, you know, we're talking to our members and then we're also trying to spend, speak directly to the quote unquote consumer in that market. And so we just right now are sort of evaluating the ways that we could do that. You know, we've provided this toolkit, but maybe there are other items that we can provide to members that they can use directly in their marketing, such as, you know, can we make templates of Facebook posts and provide those to our members? You know, so we're talking right now about what kind of resources we can provide to the members. So it's always those two things that we're juggling.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: And any committee who is undertaking these kind of things for the members are always looking for input from the members beyond the committees. Because it's one thing to talk about the same concepts over and over with the same group of people, right? But what's really valuable is to get the perspective of the folks that don't generally participate and maybe better, right.
Why you're not participating.
So let us know what your need is so we can try to address it. Right.
[00:24:57] Speaker C: Also, success stories, Please everyone, share your success stories. Send us pictures of the boot. Right now we have a booth at a fair going on. You know, send those, send those in to mbna. We would love to be able to share your story in the MB news on our Facebook pages. Whatever we can do so that other members can applaud you and emulate you. Like, let's share our ideas. And MBNA always wants to hear success stories. So feedback is good both ways.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: So part of this toolkit will be a library of marketing materials. And that just plays into it, if nothing else, just for inspiration, seeing what other people have done, you know, as Christine, for a booth fair or maybe for billboard artwork or, you know, everything essentially runs through Canva now. You know, canva submissions. I mean, it's, it's nothing else. You can serve as inspiration just to get you started on your own materials.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Super.
So I think it's time now to draw our podcast to a close. So I'd like to thank our guests Brad and Christine and you folks who have taken time out of your day to join us the October issue of NB News as an overview article about the PR toolkit, which is also now online in the resource section of the MBNA website. So I encourage you to review this new members resource.
Reach out to your marketing committee if you need assistance, and if you have a topic you'd like to have covered in a future podcast, please leave a comment. So again, thanks for listening to monument matters. MB&A invites you to stay connected through Facebook and LinkedIn. If you'd like more information, visit www.monumentbuilders.org that's a great place to start.
If you're a monument builder and you are not a member again, what are you waiting for? I don't know.
So for mbna, I'm Michael Johns. Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen for comments and feedback. Please drop A note to infoonumentbuilders.org thanks again for joining.
Sam.
