Quarterly Newsletter

May 2013

Introducing the Next Generation Obituary

Transform Your Online Obituary Strategy

  

Since our start in 1998, Legacy.com has been committed to innovating the obituary category, paying close attention to the needs of our newspaper partners. With that spirit, we challenged our team to reimagine our online obituary product. 

 

We asked ourselves: how can we bring new value to our media partners? How can we continue to make the category engaging and relevant? How can we best position our partners for the future? 

 

Introducing Legacy.com's online obituary for the next generation. Come closer to readers with a dynamic, new online experience. Come closer to funeral home partners by featuring their brand and promoting their services.Come closer to honoring memories like never before.

 

The Next Generation Obituary is designed to transform your online obituary strategy and take your obituary category to a new level. It's not just incremental; it's transformative!  
 
Click here to watch our introductory video.
  

  

  

We are happy to note, the Chicago Tribune and Star-Telegram have already successfully launched the Next Generation Obituary product in their market. We are currently welcoming several other newspaper affiliates to the program. Join the Legacy.com team for an upcoming webinar to learn more on how this revenue-generating product can transform your online obituary strategy. Sign up at the link below.  
If you are unable to join the webinar, contact your Affiliate Manager at [email protected] or visit http://sales.legacy.com/ngo/.
Sharing Success Stories
Winning Strategy with the Local Spotlight Program 

 

The Local Spotlight program is a premium online obituary product that offers many of the same features as an editorial obituary.  The program is designed to help families feature their loved one in a special, highlighted section on the newspaper obituary homepage. In addition to prominent placement, the obituary features no advertising  and helps generate funeral home pre-planning leads, traffic to the funeral home  website and flowers revenue.  The program is set up to offer newspapers large revenue and profit potential. We would like to share one of those success stories.   

 

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Name:  Natalie Benitez

Title:  Obituary Specialist

Newspaper:  Arizona Republic 

Bio: Natalie has been in the classified department for 35 years, 12 of those years with obituaries.  

 

 

"I love what I do. Everyone thinks it's a morbid job but it's not. You are out there helping others. I love my customers. When I get excited about a new product like Local Spotlight, they know it's something I believe in."

 

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What drew you to the Local Spotlight Program?

My supervisor came across an email about the program. I didn't know much about the program but said if you give me a chance, I will find out more. I contacted our Affiliate Manager, Dennis Wilson, who walked me through a demonstration. I'm not computer savvy. Dennis was able to answer all my questions and show me where to click. I saw the potential. I liked the product and I knew funeral homes would like it. I thought...I can sell this!  

 

How did you push it out in your market?

I knew Local Spotlight was a big opportunity for me. I really felt this not only benefitted the newspaper but also funeral homes and the customers. I have been a part of this community for a long time and built relationships with the funeral homes. When I get enthusiastic about a new product, they get enthusiastic. Just like me, most of my contacts are a bit older, not computer savvy, they don't have time to read through stacks of papers. So I took the time to walk them through the product. I did all the demos myself and did them over the phone.  

 

Best Practice:

Building a relationship is very important.  The obituary category has been through many different phases; keeping in contact with funeral homes and building a rapport has been the key to our success in rolling out new products. They know me personally.

  

Results:

Funeral homes in the market are taking notice and now calling us about the program. Funeral Directors see how it is working for their competition and they want in. The program is bringing in more revenue and an increased awareness.

 

Tip:

Don't be afraid!  There is no such thing as a dumb question. Our Affiliate Manager happily answered all my questions. If I wouldn't have spent that time talking with him, I would not know as much as I do about the program.  

The Power of an Obituary  
A Daughter's Amusing, Loving Memory of Father Goes Viral
 

Social media is a critical part of Legacy.com's overall strategy.  We understand the importance of social media and are dedicated to continuing to bring the most advanced products to our media partners.   

We saw just how powerful social media can be when Mississippi man Harry Stamps died and his daughter wrote a funny, loving obituary for The Sun-Herald.  Here are a few excerpts:  

  • "As a point of pride, he purported to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life."  
  • "He loved to use his oversized 'old man' remote control, which thankfully survived Hurricane Katrina, to flip between watching The Barefoot Contessa and anything on The History Channel."  
  • "He particularly hated Day Light Saving Time, which he referred to as The Devil's Time. It is not lost on his family that he died the very day that he would have had to spring his clock forward. This can only be viewed as his final protest."

After the first few readers shared this clever obituary on social media, the shares and views snowballed until, within five days of its publication, it had been viewed more than half a million times. Stamps's Guest Book, with almost 3300 entries, is our most-signed Guest Book of 2013 to date. 

 

Many readers sharing the obituary called it "the best obit ever." It's certainly one of the greats. 

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IN THIS ISSUE
Next Generation Obituary
Sharing Success Stories
Power of an Obituary
iAnnounce
Webby Award
Memorial Day Resources
Quick Links

 

  

Legacy.com Acquires European Online

Obituary Leader  

 

Legacy.com recently acquired Web Announcements Ltd, the parent company of iAnnounce,
the European leader in online obituaries and family announcements. The combined company will have partnerships with more than 1,300 newspapers around the globe, from Legacy.com's base in North America to Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Stopher Bartol, CEO of Legacy.com, said,

"Customers of both Legacy.com and iAnnounce will be the winners from this merger. " iAnnounce CEO Alex Stitt is also pleased with the merger: "My team is thrilled to join the team at Legacy.com." 

 

This acquisition strengthens our newspaper network and benefits all of our newspaper affiliates. For more information,  or email  [email protected].
 
 

 Webby logo 

LegacyConnect Wins
Webby Nod 

  

 For the second year in a row, 

LegacyConnect has been selected as an Official Honoree in the Webby Awards' Social Media category. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15 percent of all work submitted for a Webby, which the New York Times calls "the Internet's highest honor."

 

This designation puts LegacyConnect in a category with Tumblr's Storyboard, and on the heels of Official Nominees like Pinterest and HBO. Judges this year included David Bowie and Arianna Huffington. 

 

Nearly 1 million people each year turn to LegacyConnect for  grief support through articles, discussion groups and expert advice. 


        

Memorial Day   Resources   

  

As we come closer to the Memorial Day holiday, we want to remind you of our Memorial Site for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The site includes memorials for service members killed in action, as well as those who died after serving. 

 

In addition to an obituary and guest book for each service member, the site features a group guest book for all who served. We also have Memorial Sites for the Vietnam War, Korean War, World War I and World War II.  These sites are co-branded with your newspaper name and include:

  • Social media sharing features.
  • Links to related sites honoring groups like Army Veterans or Purple Heart recipients.
  • Daily updated content.
We have also created online ads to promote the Memorial Site to your readers in the days leading up to Memorial Day.
  
Click here to download artwork.  

 

For any questions contact [email protected]

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