Writing a newsletter
Writing a newsletter to send out to your favourite Funeral Director can be a great way of communicating with your wider audience, generating new business leads and showcasing your writing skills.
If you’re sending a newsletter out to new Funeral Directors with whom you may not have worked before, it can help to introduce yourself to them without necessarily knocking on their door.
Funeral Directors, or the Arrangers themselves, can have a pretty long queue of new celebrants approaching them for work, so using a newsletter to get your face and name on their desk can be less intrusive than simply turning up unannounced.
And you may even find, as I did, that they look forward to reading your printed newsletter over a cup of tea. One of my Funeral Directors is an ex-teacher, so she appreciated the work of producing a well-written, professional newsletter. She would savour it every month when it arrived on her doormat.
A synonym is the word you use, when you can’t spell the other one.
Let your creativity shine, and use your newsletter as an opportunity to show off your writing style.
How you use your voice on paper and in the chapel is an integral part of being a celebrant. So let it sing out in a newsletter and let the FD know the calibre of writing your families can expect.
I use Grammarly to help with my script writing, giving me valuable variations or synonyms.
Why use beautiful when you can say fabulous?
paper or print
Printing and postage cost can be prohibitive
Even if you choose to get a colour photocopy, at £1 for a double sided A4, plus £1 postage; you’ve got an expensive mailing on your hands.
Sending your newsletter out by email can be very tempting and much cheaper.
You might think people won’t read an email newsletter; it’ll go in the bin with all the others and, by and large, will go unnoticed.
I found the best way was to print out and post newsletters to my key Funeral Directors. I desperately wanted to work for the local or highly regarded ones, the big hitters in my area who seemed to get all the plum jobs. That would account for about ten copies, so that was £20 a month I’d be spending.
And for those slightly lower down my rankings, I would email it to them and see where it landed. The email recipients were so high on my list, so if it fluttered past their radar, it wasn’t too much of an issue.
Content ideas
Once you’ve decided who to write to, then it’s time to wow them with your content!
Don’t let being stuck for something to say prevent you from sending out newsletters!
Inspirational quotes can hit the right note. You might happen to say the right thing at the right time.
Use it as an opportunity to discuss any training courses you’ve recently completed in the field or CPD workshops you’ve attended, even if it’s the regional meeting of your governing body.
There are some outstanding books to be read, from romantic love poems to read out in the chapel through to the spiritual care we give to our families. Find a book you like the look of and write a short review. This helps demonstrate your understanding of the myriad aspects of funeral care and, of course, could lead to other avenues of work.
Run a prize giveaway! This is an excellent way of getting feedback and interaction from your newsletter readers. One of the celebrants in my Facebook group gives away chocolates and flowers to winners of competitions or puzzles. Guess the most requested exit music, for example, or download a simple crossword puzzle.
Why not share your insights on topical matters and other news related to our field? Death and dying matters, doula training or end-of-life care have a wealth of activity; even Death Cafes have taken off since the pandemic. Chat with other professionals in symbiotic fields of work and share their thoughts with your FDs.
Make it fun. If you want a little light-heartedness, a suitable cartoon joke can often give your newsletter some fun rather than all being doom and gloom. Don’t forget even Funeral Directors are real people, and we can all enjoy a suitable joke at the right time.
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