Who Wants to Talk about Death?

I came across a picture in a video about how technology is changing our lives. This particular snapshot of a church message board illustrated the unhealthy relationship we can have with technology.  The message encourages passers-by to honk if they love Jesus, and makes the point that texting while driving is a sure way to come face-to-face with Him. That said, I couldn’t help thinking that this message relates to our industry in a different manner. 

This message is clever, in that it uses humor to talk about a subject that no one wants to discuss: death. But that’s why it works. The humor masks its directness. The unexpected punchline adds to its power. For those of us who are parents, I think it’s safe to say the same holds true when communicating with our teenagers. They will never listen to us when we preach, but when we get the message across in an unexpected way, it grabs their attention.

Most of the planned giving marketing I see tends to be preachy. After all, who wants to talk about death and other emotional subjects? Instead, we talk about why estate planning is so important.  And it is, but maybe there is a better way to get that point across. Maybe it’s time to take this serious topic and find “outside the box” ways to bring it up. Humor may be a marketing technique that our industry should take advantage of more often.