It can be hard to figure out what to do to actually help smaller local service companies, but it doesn’t have to be! Marketing agency owner and Fractional CMO, Robin Heppell, tells of the wonder and success that can be derived from working with specialized local companies, in particular, funeral homes. Learn about differentiating in a local area, managing your reputation with both long-standing customers and new prospects, and some ingenious ways to drive traffic to your website.   Takeaways:  It is crucial for businesses to be able to adapt to ever-evolving consumer demands. One good example of this is with fewer people going to church not, they are less likely to hold the funeral reception at a church, opening the door to funeral homes. As people have begun to move around more, there is less brand loyalty to long-established companies in many areas because many of the people living there are not originally from there.  When differentiating among local service companies, some of the biggest factors include the quality of service, the physical location of the business, and the price. It’s difficult to convey the quality and value your company provides through a price list on your website. For some companies, like funeral homes, a lot of the sales come from the emotional decisions of the customers which must be handled more tactfully. Being a Fractional CMO provides and structure and process that you don’t have as a consultant. As a Consultant, you have to work on whatever the client thinks the problem is. Whereas, as a Fractional CMO, you become the leader of their marketing efforts. Sometimes, it’s just as, if not more, important not to tell your client about certain tools than it is to introduce them to something new. As a Fractional CMO, you should tell them about things that will help them and keep them ignorant of things that won’t. At the outset of planning your marketing efforts, you must have a goal in mind such as increasing conversions, before you start thinking about channels and strategies. Find the strategies that best support the goal, once the goal is set.   Quote of the Show:   “I tell my clients, I'm going to tell you the latest things that you could be doing, but I'm also not going to tell you a ton of latest things that aren't going to apply, which could be a real time-waste on your end” - Robin Heppell     Links Twitter: https://twitter.com/funeralfuturist LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heppell/ Funeral Boardroom Website: https://www.funeralboardroom.com/ Funeral Results Marketing Website: https://www.funeralresultsmarketing.com/ Funeral Gurus Website: https://www.funeralgurus.com/ Call Robin: https://funeralcmo.com/call   Ways to Tune In Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC YouTube: https://youtu.be/W2ing0HCIxY