Digital Marketing For Insurance Agents

Insurance is a very “traditional” market, at least historically — one that isn’t often associated with digital marketing. Like so many things, though, the insurance industry’s marketing is evolving with the times. That means insurance marketing online is very important. Part of that marketing evolution involves a shift to social media, too. There are the usual digital marketing touchstones, of course, including SEO (search engine optimization) marketing, but marketing for today’s insurance agents also involves venues and market avenues you wouldn’t expect. Insurance marketing, in other words, is part and parcel of today’s connective social and media technologies.

These include social media, networking with insurance agency and insurance marketing agency representatives, and a host of other modern technologies that have become part of the digital marketing landscape. Insurance, and insurance agents, must evolve with the times to compete in this evolving market. The good news is that the transition doesn’t have to be difficult or painful. Marketing this way can even be enjoyable and fun.

Why Digital Marketing Matters For Insurance Agents And Your Insurance Agency

Digital marketing for insurance agencies is simply insurance marketing online, in the digital realm. In that it’s no more challenging than marketing in any other space, and many insurance agents may be just as daunted by traditional marketing as they are by modern online marketing. Digital marketing, however, presents some unique challenges.

For example, Facebook and other social media sites is the new “public square” for modern consumers. This includes countless citizens who, yes, need insurance. It only makes sense to reach out through Facebook ads and other social media marketing ads in order to reach that potential market. But most insurance agents and insurance companies have no idea how to, for example, keep a Facebook ad account running. They’re not sure how much to spend, they don’t know what strategies to employ, and they’re not always certain how to sustain these efforts.

Even the best insurance agent in the world, focused on delivering world-class customer service to that company’s clients, can stumble when it comes to marketing. The good news is, social media advertising specifically and digital marketing generally don’t have to be difficult. All you need are a few basic steps to get you started — and anything beyond that might be the purview of a qualified marketing agency.

Your Insurance Agency’s Website Matters

There was a time, in the early days of the Internet, when every company’s management asked the question, “Should we be on the Internet?” It may seem hard to believe now, but in the days before SEO and social media, when the typical marketing agency worked only in print and broadcast media, the Internet wasn’t a factor. Today, however, a company that does not have a website might as well not exist. Customers expect a web presence (and more and more, they expect a social media presence, too). Your website is a marketing tool and a marketing platform. To leverage this marketing, you need to think beyond the marketing and toward the websites usability. 

What this means is that a bad website can hurt an insurance agent. Your website should be clear, easily readable, and functional. It has to look professional while also allowing customers to find easily the information they want. Your website’s marketing means staying on brand and on message. Your insurance agency’s marketing plan depends on this marketing consistency.

So what information do customers want? Make sure your insurance agency’s website has clear, easily accessible descriptive information, contact information, and up-to-date ways to get quotes and other needed information. Don’t forget that a majority of users aren’t using desktops or laptops anymore, either. That means your comapny’s website has to be mobile-compatible. If your website incorporates a blog or other information, such as white papers, customer testimonials, and success stories, it must be kept up to date. Customers notice when the last post on your agency’s blog is from a couple of years ago, for example.

Social Media Insurance Marketing (Marketing Is More Than SEO)

Marketing is more than SEO. (Yes, SEO is important, but SEO is not everything). When it comes to marketing on social media, your choice of platform makes a difference, too. Facebook is very important for reaching your customers. As an insurance agency,  LinkedIn is more valuable for networking with other insurance agents. Twitter and Instagram are more for engaging with customers (which is also marketing your agency).

What makes social media useful, and the reason customers respond to it, is that it allows brands (including insurance agencies) to engage with customers. Social media is a way for people and entities to talk to each other, in other words. This means your engagement must be consistent and regular. If you put up posts or images and then never respond to comments on them, you’ll be the digital marketing equivalent of an “absentee landlord,” never attending to the material you put up. Instead, engage with your customers and your audience. 

Remember that especially where insurance marketing is concerned, you likely won’t build a gigantic audience overnight. There are ways to build your audience, including paid options (a marketing agency can help with these), but organic growth takes consistent, regular engagement and time. Start conversations, post images, ask and answer questions… all of these will help. Just don’t expect your online presence to explode overnight.

Just remember: You’re an insurance agency. Don’t try to be something you’re not, and don’t try to be the next “cute” or “irreverent” social media brand. Some companies have built a reputation on this type of digital media marketing, and there may be a role for this in insurance marketing, but generally, that’s not what customers expect from an insurance agency. What social media users do value most is authenticity. A company that tries “too hard” or tries to be something it is not will find that its digital marketing on social media isn’t serving its interests as much as it could be.

Email Insurance Marketing

Direct email marketing is an older method of insurance marketing that is almost taken for granted these days at marketing agencies. Not all email marketing is the same, however. If you use a marketing agency, and if you do your direct email marketing yourself, there’s one thing that you should always do: take advantage of modern tools. Most email marketing systems have a variety of tools you can make use of to maximize the benefit of your insurance marketing strategy. These include ways to predict when to send emails based on your email list’s behavior, to spam analysis tools that can gauge how likely your message is to get “spam filtered” by the recipient’s email system. Always take advantage of modern tools in order to maximize the benefit of your insurance marketing.

Something else to consider is that just because you have an established relationship with an email marketing service, doesn’t mean you should always stick with it. Not all email marketing systems are created equal. This comes down to deliverability. Especially if you have a very large email list, not all the messages you send are actually getting through to the recipients. Some marketing emails are “bounces,” which never reach a valid mailbox. Other marketing emails are spam-filtered out deliberately by the system on the other end. Sending masses of marketing emails will always be one of those activities that email systems watch for. Your marketing can be branded spam without a solid marketing strategy. That’s one of the reasons that working with a reputable email marketing service, and possibly employing a marketing agency, can make the difference in terms of results.

Digital Marketing Is The Present And Future Of Insurance Marketing

Digital marketing, and marketing in general (with our without a marketing agency), can be very intimidating. But your marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. A good insurance marketing strategy that is applied consistently can make all the difference in the world from a marketing perspective. Good digital marketing (and good insurance marketing) means applying sound marketing principles to the online world to help your agency. In this, digital marketing is very similar to traditional print marketing or broadcast marketing. 

But marketing is all about connecting your agency to people who need the services your agency provides. No amount of SEO (or activities similar to SEO) can make up for poor customer service. Ultimately, your marketing drives people to you (whether it’s digital marketing or more traditional marketing)… but then what you do with that SEO, that social media marketing, that digital marketing strategy, falls on you as an agency.

Marketing matters, but so does your agency’s commitment to fulfilling the promises made in that marketing. It’s less about SEO, social media, advertisements, and even mail campaigns, and more about saying what you can do and then following through on those promises. Digital marketing is the future, but digital marketing is also very much the present. It’s established and, if you don’t pay attention to its principles, your insurance agency will not enjoy the success it otherwise could be. Whether you use a marketing agency or some other means, your insurance agency deserves a solid digital marketing plan to support its efforts.