Google has long been juggling two different customer bases with competing priorities: Advertisers vs Consumers.

Advertisers use Google as a marketing company. But most everyone else uses Google as a search engine to find answers to their questions.

In other words, Google makes money by helping advertisers reach consumers, but it simultaneously needs to meet the needs of its search engine users and not overwhelm them with unwanted solicitations, or it risks losing the very users that advertisers are paying to reach.

Marketing a funeral home has several inherent challenges. How do you sell something people resist thinking about? Plus, there’s a real fear of offending potential customers by reminding them of grief and mortality. This concern is well-founded as we live in a society that believes profiting off others’ misfortune is immoral, making marketing funeral services feel, at best, delicate.

Yet if you’re looking to grow faster than 4% CAGR, marketing is essential. But, how can you promote your services while respecting these sensitivities?

If you’ve ever wondered whether there is a difference between marketing and advertising, you are not alone. Over 10,000 people asked Google this question last month alone.

And the answer is?

Not quite.

Don't stop pushing the car. Don't just cut your marketing budget willy nilly. As I shared with you, I want you to spend as little on marketing as humanly possible. But if you cut it all out, you will lose all momentum and it will be incredibly difficult for you to rebuild the progress, the progress that you have made.

Some connection always beats no connection when it comes to services.

How do you effectively market to those who do not currently want or need what your company has to offer?

In the absence of an emotional connection, people always choose the cheapest price.