Funeral & Death-Care Marketing Campaigns

Updated: November 2026

Death-care brands win marketing by meeting families at one of two moments: the planning conversation years ahead, or the search made under pressure when a death occurs. Dignity Memorial, run by Service Corporation International, serves about 700,000 families a year and carried a $16.4 billion preneed backlog at June 30, 2025, per SCI's SEC filing. Meanwhile cremation reached 63.4% of U.S. dispositions in 2025, per the NFDA.

Contents

1. How does Dignity Memorial market pre-need planning?
2. Why do funeral homes now compete online?
3. What does the FTC Funeral Rule say about online prices?
4. How is the rise of cremation changing death-care marketing?
5. How did Recompose market a new kind of death care?
6. How do the three approaches compare?
7. What is the timeline of these developments?
8. What should a respectful death-care marketing plan include?
9. Frequently asked questions
10. Sources

How does Dignity Memorial market pre-need planning?

Dignity Memorial markets pre-need planning as a core part of Service Corporation International's model, which sells funeral and cemetery services both at the time of need and in advance. SCI's first-quarter 2025 filing says the Dignity Memorial brand serves approximately 700,000 families each year, either at their time of need or through prearrangement, and that at March 31, 2025 the company owned and operated 1,489 funeral service locations and 496 cemeteries. SCI's fiscal 2025 annual report describes it as North America's largest provider of deathcare products and services.

The financial case for pre-need is documented. The second-quarter 2025 filing says SCI's backlog of future revenue from trust and insurance-funded preneed sales was $16.4 billion at June 30, 2025, and describes preneed selling as a strategic opportunity to gain future market share. SCI's first-quarter 2025 investor presentation shows about $4.2 billion in revenue and $2.6 billion in preneed sales.

The picture is not one-directional. SCI's second-quarter 2025 earnings release reports that comparable preneed funeral sales production decreased 8.8% from the prior year, which it attributes mainly to the transition to a new preneed insurance provider in July 2024, and expects improved insurance production over time.

Why it works: In EPR's reading, pre-need planning moves the conversation to a calmer moment and builds a customer relationship before a death. It also gives the company a measurable asset, the backlog, which the filings track.

Why do funeral homes now compete online?

Funeral homes compete online because families increasingly start the arrangement process there. The Cremation Association of North America reports, citing NFDA's 2024 Consumer Awareness and Preferences Report, that 40% of consumers now begin the arrangement process online and 25.9% would prefer to make prearrangements online instead of meeting a funeral director in person, in its 2025 predictions post. One funeral provider's summary of the same study says just over 70% of respondents had visited a funeral home's website in 2024, up from 46% in 2016, per Cremation.green.

Website content is uneven, which creates an opening. The FTC's October 2022 announcement said a staff review found that fewer than 40% of the funeral provider websites it reviewed provided any prices online, per the FTC press release, and ConsumerAffairs reports about 24% of the sites had an itemized price list. The same CANA post advises that online preplanning forms, virtual tours of memorial sites and easy payment portals can make a significant difference.

What does the FTC Funeral Rule say about online prices?

The Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to give customers itemized price information, and the FTC has considered requiring it online. ConsumerAffairs notes the FTC established the rule in 1984. The NFDA's advocacy handout says the rule mandates a General Price List, Casket Price List and Outer Burial Container Price List, that penalties reach up to $51,744 per violation, and that the FTC's October 2022 advance notice covered seven areas, starting with online and electronic price disclosures.

The FTC published that advance notice on November 2, 2022 and later announced a public workshop on whether and how providers should provide price lists online, per its workshop notice. The NFDA opposes a rigid federal mandate to post prices online, per its FTC review page. A 2026 guide from vendor Parting Pro says no online mandate is in effect today, per its General Price List explainer, so providers should check the current rule before relying on it.

How is the rise of cremation changing death-care marketing?

Cremation is now the majority choice, so death-care marketers must sell memorialization as well as disposition. The NFDA's 2025 Cremation & Burial Report projects a 63.4% U.S. cremation rate in 2025, more than double the 31.6% burial rate, and says cremation will account for 82.3% of dispositions by 2045 while burial declines to 13.0%, with all 50 states and the District of Columbia projected to pass 50% by 2035, per the NFDA release.

SCI says it is responding. Its filings note that average revenue for a cremation is lower than for a traditional burial, and that it is developing memorialization merchandise and services that specifically appeal to cremation customers. Consumer interest is also moving toward alternatives: the NFDA reports 61.4% of consumers said they would be interested in exploring green funeral options in its 2025 study, up from 55.7% in 2021, per its statistics page.

How did Recompose market a new kind of death care?

Recompose created its category through policy, design and a membership model. Washington became the first U.S. state to legalize human composting when Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill in May 2019, per GeekWire, which also reported that Recompose had nearly 800 Precompose members who could make payments from $25 a month toward future death care in 2021. By 2025, GeekWire reported that 13 more states had approved the process and that Recompose had raised $22.5 million.

The company led with the environmental case. Its May 2019 funding announcement cites a lifecycle assessment estimating 1.4 metric tons of carbon saved per person, and MIT Technology Review put its price at $5,500 in 2020, much cheaper than most funerals. Recompose opened to the public in 2020, per Optimist Daily. The competitor Return Home reached more than 617,000 TikTok followers by answering questions about the process, per Mother Jones, which also reports California will allow human composting in 2027.

How do the three approaches compare?

The three approaches solve the same problem, how to reach a family around a purchase nobody wants to make, from different directions. The table summarizes the sourced facts.

What is the timeline of these developments?

The timeline runs from the 1984 Funeral Rule to 2025. The table dates each moment from its source.

What should a respectful death-care marketing plan include?

A respectful plan leads with clarity and service, not urgency. The steps below follow the pattern in the sources and are EPR's editorial synthesis. Use them in order:

1. Publish clear, itemized prices on the website, since fewer than 40% of reviewed funeral sites showed any prices in the FTC's 2022 review.
2. Offer online preplanning forms and payment portals, as CANA recommends, and keep a funeral director easy to reach.
3. Build the pre-need conversation as a calm, early offer, as Dignity Memorial's backlog shows.
4. Prepare memorialization options for cremation customers, who are now the majority.
5. Check the current Funeral Rule and state law before launching any claim or price change.

Sources

• Service Corporation International, Form 10-Q for March 31, 2025
• Service Corporation International, Form 10-Q for June 30, 2025
• Service Corporation International, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025
• Service Corporation International, second-quarter 2025 earnings release
• Service Corporation International, Q1 2025 investor presentation
• NFDA, 2025 Cremation & Burial Report trade release
• NFDA, statistics
• NFDA, the Funeral Rule: the FTC's proposed changes
• NFDA, FTC review of the Funeral Rule
• Cremation Association of North America, 2025 predictions
• Cremation.green, cremation and funeral service data
• Federal Trade Commission, FTC seeks to improve access to funeral service prices online
• Federal Trade Commission, public workshop on potential Funeral Rule amendments
• ConsumerAffairs, FTC wants to overhaul the Funeral Rule
• Parting Pro, your General Price List online
• GeekWire, Recompose raising cash
• GeekWire, inside Recompose
• Optimist Daily, Washington's first human compost company is open for business
• Recompose, funding round opens for sustainable death care option
• MIT Technology Review, Recompose
• Mother Jones, human composting startups

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