Insurance Agency Marketing Guide: For Growth & Survival
Updated February 23, 2024
Although inbound leads should be an important outcome of an Insurance Agency Marketing plan, from the initial startup, an optimized online infrastructure with authoritative content is necessary to provide the needed credibility for prospects to accept the agency as one that could meet their needs.
As you already know, consumers are increasingly using search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc….) Social Media (Face, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Tumbler, etc…) to find the products and services they want—not a Phone Book or ADs in a newspaper.
But what you may not know is how to design, create, and implement a comprehensive Insurance Agency Marketing plan for your insurance agency that will increase sales and profits–without busting your marketing budget. That is the ‘raison_d’être’ of this article–and the mission of MyBiz OnLine Services.
With a professional, step by step guide, and some Done-For-You services, Insurance Agents can now create an affordable Insurance Agency Marketing Infrastructure and manage their online marketing campaigns. Available NOW from MyBiz OnLine Services–Visit Insurance Agent Marketing Resources for more details.
The Insurance Agency Marketing Plan
By definition, a marketing plan is a written document that spells out the company’s goals, objectives, strategies and tactics to gain and/or continue a competitive position. A good marketing plan is really a living document that defines the actions your business needs to take in order to achieve certain goals. A good plan should align with your goals and define how you will reach your marketing objectives.
Proper planning is critical to the future of any business. When you have a marketing plan, you have a road map to help set things in motion and to continue tracking progress. This helps to insure that your agency resources are used efficiently for the services needed to meet the goals and objectives of agency.
Once your plan is in place, it is imperative to track and collect data to measure an accurate Return On Investment (ROI); without the data, the effectiveness of each activity is nothing more than a guess. Revisiting the marketing plan each quarter will also provide an opportunity to refine and adjust the activities as your agency products and services may change. As the industry evolves, so should your marketing components, tools, and processes. Visit How to Create an Insurance Agency Marketing Plan to learn more.
Insurance Agency Marketing Services: The Primary Components
What are the most important components of an Insurance Agency Marketing Services Plan? The exact nature of your business, a market analysis of your competitors, your marketing strategy and budget are a few items. Your marketing plan should be customized to meet your agency needs. Here is a brief outline of a few basic components and services.
First, a current marketing assessment should be conducted to establish a baseline for your agency. This helps us understand the agency’s current product and service offerings and if the current marketing activities, if any, are in alignment with business marketing goals and objectives.
The overarching concept of the marketing plan is to grow sales and profits through strategically planned activities. These components may include search-optimized content that ranks high and builds top-of-mind brand awareness, authoritative communications to establish credibility with your audience, a positive community spirit with public relation activities, and more. In summary, a successful marketing plan includes the proper creation, optimization, and distribution of appropriate content.
The Local Online Marketing Infrastructure
Building a solid online marketing infrastructure is imperative to the success of your online presence. Here we must take the time to strategically plan each level of the foundation so that the next level will be supported by the previous. The online marketing infrastructure includes many components and requires ongoing maintenance to further strengthen the infrastructure. For more details visit: Local SEO Audit Guide and Local SEO Pitfalls.
KEY COMPONENTS: Insurance Agency Marketing Services Infrastructure
1. Marketing Website Click Here to Visit One Learn More About an Optimized Website Learn More About an Optimized Web Page Click Here to Get One from Agency Revolution
2. Online Citation Accounts Learn More About Citation Accounts Use BrightLocal Citation Service
3. Social Media Accounts Learn How Setup & Optimize Social Media Accounts
4. Reviews/Testimonials Accounts Learn How to Get and Monitor Reviews with BrightLocal Grow, Monitor, and Showcase your reviews with Reputation Manage – the all-in-one customer review management solution.
5. Video Accounts (More Details Coming Soon)
6. Marketing Data Monitoring Visit BrightLocal for Data Monitoring Tools & Resources
Online Insurance Agency Marketing Services
1. Create & Optimize Online Marketing Infrastructure Your Website, Online Accounts for citations, content, reviews, optimized and linked properly for building brand, authority, lead generation (Search Engine & Social Media Marketing), top-of-mind awareness, and client centered relationships. Learn More About Local Search Optimization with the 2023 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey This is one of the most important resources for understanding how to optimize an online marketing infrastructure. The results of the survey are compiled from dozens of marketing experts. A must read!
2. Design & Implement Content Marketing Campaigns These are focused campaigns to market a specific product or service.The Content is the most important component of all marketing plans and comes in several flavors: (1) Authority Insurance Product and Services Content — for Search & Social Media Marketing (2) Local Social, Non-Sales Content — to be part of and to engage with the community (3) Appropriate Personal Content to build a personal relationship with clients and community.
3. Design & Implement Social Media Marketing Campaigns The various flavors of content are optimized and distributed to important social media channels–includes articles, videos, and audio files. The content is mostly Local Social, Non-Sales and Personal Content as mentioned in number 2 above.
4. Design and Implement Key Word Focused Communications Campaigns Often defined as only email marketing campaigns, communications of all types may be used to cross sell and inform current clients and to sell to prospects who have opted in to a communication channel.
5. Design and Distribute Videos Videos are a major component of the Content Marketing Campaigns–they too follow the flavors of content mentioned in number 2 above and for the same reasons.
6. Design and Implement continuous Referral Campaigns Agency growth is heavily dependent on continuous referrals and lead generation. Referrals have a higher conversion rate than leads from non-referral sources.
7. Design and Implement Organic Search Marketing Campaigns Organic Search Lead Generation is vitally important; Agency growth is heavily dependent on a continuous source of new leads.
8. Design and Implement Paid Ad Campaigns Optimized Paid Ad campaigns are an important component of the Focused Key Word Campaigns.
9. Design and Implement a monthly Agency Newsletter A monthly newsletter is one of the best ways to communicate all of the content flavors. A main component to build relationships.
10. Design and Implement Data Reports for Marketing Analysis The collection and analysis of marketing services data is necessary to know what is working, what needs refining, and to determine the Return on Investment of each component.
Offline Insurance Agency Marketing Infrastructure
1. Media Ads
2. Flyers
3. Network Groups
4. Community Involvement
5. Clubs and Organizations
Offline Insurance Agency Marketing Services
1. Design and Distribution of Media ADs — EDDM
2. Design and Distribution of Marketing Media
3. Design and Planning of Event Marketing
WOW! That is a lot of Marketing Stuff, and it is just an Outline. Do worry, keep reading.
Do-It-Yourself Online Marketing Guide for Insurance Agents
The Marketing Services mentioned above may surely seem to be overwhelming. What insurance agents need is a Professional Online Marketing Guide with step by step processes, that are easy to understand and to implement, with access to tools and resources—all for a great value that does not bust the marketing budget. I could not find one, so I have started the development of a Do-It-Yourself Online Marketing Guide for Insurance Agents. My primary goal is to keep the cost low, so I used Google Sheets to share and deliver the Guide content. The Guide will also provide access to copyright and royalty free images, marketing tools and resources, and written insurance agency marketing content that can be used and customized. MyBiz OnLine Services will also provide niche insurance content for marketing campaigns. Below is a brief overview of some of the most important online marketing components and optimization processes found in the Guide.
Initial Summary Online Presence Audit & Assessment
NOTE: The below Local Online Marketing Assessment is an example of how a professional marketing agency would audit a local online marketing infrastructure.
The assessment report for an IA addresses the seven most important components of a comprehensive online marketing plan. These components include the main ranking factors that Search Engines use to determine what priority order information is delivered when a search is requested for a key word or phrase. They also are the main factors that influence prospective consumers to make buying decisions. They are:
(1) Website SEO & Marketing Quality: The most important Google Webmaster Guidelines are followed. Website and Page SEO is set up with the equivalent recommendations of the YOAST WordPress SEO Plugin. CTAs are appropriate and placed properly.
Your Website and Blog are where prospective consumers learn about your products and services. It is here that most decisions are made. Although the sites must have useful content for current clients and prospects, appropriate content for search and social media marketing must also be a focus. Individuals are increasing searching for what they need and reading the reviews of products and service providers.
Recommendation: (1) Develop an optimized marketing website with a blog. See Example1 See Example2
(A) Pages with RAC and CTAs should be added that represent each of the products and services.
(B) CTAs for the most important products and services should be created and placed on all appropriate related pages.
(C) The Blog should include a sidebar with numerous authoritative website links to provide value added information for visitors; e.g.; please see Belcher Insurance Agency.
(D) Testimonials/Reviews should be available on the site.
(E) Reputation Marketing should be built into the site so that the agency can quickly control any issues.
(F) An easy to use Client Newsletter module should be integrated on the site.
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients, Build Brand Authority with community and search engines.
(2) Relevant Authoritative Content (RAC): The quantity, quality, and optimizations of Articles, Videos, Images, and Audio files published online, and the quantity and quality of Website Content, and the Website Visual quality.
This content is what search engines index and bring to search requests. To have positions (SERPs) on the first page of a search result, relevant, authoritative keyword, optimized content must be available on separate we in addition to owned websites and online accounts. For marketing purposes, all content should have links back to a Call-To-Action (CTA). As you create and publish more and more of your optimized content, the search engines keep it in their indexes; you will be building a library of relevant, authoritative information about your products and services readily available when searches are made.
The search engines also determine the content search page rankings by the quantity, quality, and relevancy of your combined content. For example, when a search is made on Google for a “Motorcycle Insurance” in Haysi Virginia Google searches its indexes for the most Relevant, Authoritative, Content (RAC) that contains the keyword ” Motorcycle Insurance ” and other related keywords near Richmond Virginia. If you have higher quality and more RAC than your competitors, your content is brought to the front page in the highest positions.
This targeted Content Marketing based on keywords is the foundation of a local online marketing campaign. We track the success of content marketing campaigns— Learn about BrightLocal SERP Ranking Reports
Recommendation: Create, optimize, and publish RAC with links to CTAs:
(A) Create a Marketing Blog site with CTAs to place RAC first for indexing.
(B) One Article per month in priority order of top revenue services & products
(C) One Marketing Video per month to compliment the article.
(D) Setup Social Media and Press Release sites for RAC syndication.
(E) Distribute snippets of RAC for promotion to Social Media Sites.
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients, Build Brand Authority with community and search engines.
(3) Online Account Listing Citations: The quantity of Directory and Search Engine Citations (Listings), Web 2.0 Accounts, Social Media Accounts, Article Directory Accounts, Video Directory Accounts, Social Bookmarking Accounts, RSS Accounts, and Forum Accounts; the Claimed Ownership & Level of Optimization of the most important Local Search Engine and Directory Listings.
NOTE: Learn more from BrightLocal Citation Services: BrightLocal Citation Services
Recommendation: Build Authoritative Citation Accounts (ACAs)
(A) Initial Setup or Clean Up of Fifty Main ACAs.
(B) Set up Ten ACAs per month
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your Call-To-Actions (CTAs): More Clients.
(4) Google My Business and Bing Places for Business Listings: Claimed ownership and Level of Optimization; for each location.
The local portals are the most important component of the Local Online Marketing infrastructure. Since Google is the most used search engine, the Google Plus Local Pages take top priority. A top position in these search results produces a high probability of a contact and a CTA conversion.
Recommendation: Optimize the Local Search Portals.
(A) These accounts would use the home address, since a physical address in required for most accounts and PO Box cannot be used.
(B) Obtain client reviews for the local portals; Google Plus as Priority.
Benefit: Increased number of first page and first local portal search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients, Build Brand Authority with community and search engines.
(5) Social Media RAC & Mentions: The quantity and quality of RAC and social mentions from authority social sites such as Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumbler, StumbleUpon, etc….
Recommendation: Add RAC and CTAs to Social Site offers where available. Syndicate all new RACs and CTAs on these sites.
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients, Build Brand Authority with community and search engines.
(6) Reviews: The quantity of reviews from review sites such as Google My Business Page, Bing, Yelp, Insider Pages, and others. Search engines are increasingly placing more emphasis on the number of Reviews for ranking. This is especially true with Google. Without Reviews on Google My Business and the primary website, ranking is greatly diminished. Also prospects use reviews as a primary factor in purchase decisions.
Recommendation: Create and maintain an Online Review Campaign that will increase client reviews on a continuous basis. Google Plus Local reviews are priority one.
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients, Build Brand Authority & Credibility with community and search engines.
(7) BackLinks: The Quantity, Page Rank Quality, and Relevancy of One Way BackLinks. These are links from other websites back to your website. They increase your visibility on the web, but more importantly, they allow the search engines to judge the Value or Rank of your site based on the Quality and Relevancy of these “backlink” sites. Press Releases, Social Bookmarks, and Online Accounts are excellent ways to build Backlinks.
Recommendation: Create quality, relevant backlinks.
Benefit: Increased number of first page search results for each service and product and more prospects finding and acting on your CTAs: More Clients and Sales.
Since we have limited space in this article, please visit Local SEO Audit Guide and Local SEO Pitfalls to learn more about the components and optimization of an online marketing infrastructure.
The Case for Out-Sourcing Some of Your Insurance Agency Marketing Services
Insurance Agents generally do not have the time nor the expertise to design, create, and implement all of the Insurance Agency Marketing Services that will increase growth and retention. And yes, more high-technology, software tools are required to execute all of the marketing components! (Many agents tell us that they have not figured out how to use their Agency Management System yet, “please don’t give me more software tools!”)
Although larger insurance agencies may have the resources to hire a marketing director and to assign some marketing activities to staff members, the cost is usually much more and the results much less than engaging the services of a professional marketing agency with a team of experts. For example, a quality marketing director with the education and experience to accomplish this feat, would require an annual salary between $50,000 and $75,000. The cost for other staff member marketing activities may cost another $20,000 per year. This in-house route may have a monthly cost of $4000-$6000 and will not have multiple marketing professionals with specialized education and training in the many different marketing area. Therefore, it is easy to understand that at some of the more technical and time consuming Marketing Services should be out sourced to the PROs. Doing so will save lots of money and provide a more effective marketing plan and greater sales and profit results–with a higher ROI.
Building A Search Engine Local Online Marketing Infrastructure
Writing Content, Blogging, Video Marketing & SEO
Creating credible, authoritative content is one of the primary activities necessary in building an online presence. Agents must provide optimized, Key Word content to the search engines and to prospects. The content needs to go beyond informing others that the agency offers a product or service, it must clearly be the best content available. To outperform competitors online, the content must be great!
Social Media Syndication
Social Media is a form of inbound marketing, that when used correctly, can capture leads by interest that already exists, rather than trying to generate new interest. If your content makes complicated insurance issues understandable, you can build trust with your visitors and potentially turn some of them into clients. Online marketing for insurance agencies works by creating useful content that prospects would want to find, and using that content to draw attention to your website, blog or social media page.
Online Advertising
Advertising efforts are designed to drum up new business, to find people that had not previously considered working with you and convince them why they should do so. Facebook offers a multi-level lead identifiers to choose from and you select your budget. According to a study published in AdWeek Social Times, when people want to find out more about a local small business — they check Facebook more than any other social channel by 62% over the others.
Monthly Monitoring, Assessment, and Reporting
To make certain the monthly activity maximizes ROI (Return on Investment). It is imperative to identify the key indicators that were more profitable over another, and eliminate the tactics that did not generate leads or activity. At the home front, the most important question to ask callers is, “How did you hear about us?” This answer will give you the information needed to identify which advertising dollars are most effective, where to focus your efforts and more. Here are a few basic tracking categories:
- Cross-sell
- Client Referral
- Business Referral
- Online Business Directory
- Citations
- Blog/Newsletter/Website
- Facebook Ad
SUMMARY
The long term success of your insurance agency may well depend on how well you design and implement a marketing plan. Without a plan based on defined marketing needs and data, your agency will most likely loose prospects and clients to agencies that do have an optimized plan.
Things are changing so fast that you would quickly find yourself falling behind when the next updates come around. The best method is to focus on getting in front of your audience with great content all across the web and in turn finding ways to get feedback. With a Do-It-Yourself Insurance Agency Marketing Guide and some Done-For-You services, you can build a professional online marketing infrastructure that will give your Agency the Authority and Credibility necessary for prospects to find and choose your agency for their insurance needs.