Boost your insurance agency’s growth with the best digital marketing strategies. Let us discuss the best marketing strategies for insurance agents.
The global pandemic has brought about a generational shift in our lives. From remote working to how we access services, the world has changed in the last two and half years. We can easily divide the digital marketing industry into a pre-Covid and present era as the world comes out of the health emergency.
We have witnessed a shift to the digital-first approach in the last couple of years. Though businesses had been scaling their digital footprint before the pandemic, the pace of digitization has accelerated. The insurance industry is no exception, as we see insurance agents aggressively use digital marketing strategies these days.
A recent study by KPMG stated that 85% of insurance CEOs believe COVID-19 has accelerated digitization in operations. It has forced insurance businesses to embrace next-generation operating models. It is no surprise that lockdowns and strict quarantines forced people to buy and renew their plans online.
This changed customer behavior and the digital-first approach is here to stay. As an insurance agent, you must market your services digitally to stay afloat in the new world. The talk of digital marketing is easy, but how does one go about it? How do you achieve maximum visibility and engagement with your budget? In this post, we shall look at the best marketing strategies for insurance agents.
10 Best Marketing Strategies for Insurance Agents
Digital marketing for the insurance industry is all about targeting different channels. You must increase your campaign’s reach to stay ahead of the competition. Let us take you through the best marketing strategies for insurance agents.
#1 – Content Marketing
Content is said to be the ‘king’ in digital marketing, and you should proactively use content marketing to grow your footprint. Content marketing is among the best digital marketing strategies in this business. You are an expert in this trade, and content marketing lets you establish that expertise.
Content marketing has moved beyond the traditional realms of articles and blog posts. These are practical for your marketing campaign, but there are other things you must focus on. Videos, podcasts, infographics, and case studies help you earn the trust of your clients and bank on it.
These act as a hook in generating interest in your products. For example, explainer videos on Youtube or infographics can raise awareness about insurance and how people can reduce their liabilities. Follow this up with testimonials, case studies, and customer interviews; you have the perfect recipe for success.
A well-planned marketing campaign lets you repurpose the same content for different marketing channels. Create a well-researched blog and convert the same into a script for explainer videos on YouTube. Similarly, a case study can be the starting point for a podcast to educate your potential clients.
#2 – Search Engine Optimization
If you have a business website (which most insurance agents do these days), you must invest in Search Engine Optimization. SEO increases visibility on search engines and brings people interested in insurance to your website.
If you offer your services to a community or within a small territory, you need to focus on Local SEO. In this strategy, you aim to improve discoverability for local search results by adding location-specific keywords and registering with local business directories. This strategy drives local search traffic to your website, helping you scale up.
For the organic SEO campaign, you must publish unique and authoritative content on your website and third-party platforms. High-quality content is a key ranking factor on search engines and pushes your website up on the results pages.
#3 – Social Media Marketing
We don’t need to educate you on the power of social media and why it is such an essential cog in your digital marketing wheel. However, social media marketing goes beyond having a presence on all platforms and posting content randomly. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin can help you generate quality leads. You must choose platforms wisely if you lack the time or resources to run sustained campaigns on all these platforms simultaneously.
Create a social media marketing plan and decide the number of weekly posts on different handles. Understand the medium to create attention-grabbing posts. For example, Facebook is a great place to explain the benefits of insurance or changes in insurance plans. Instagram and Twitter are ideal platforms to announce new insurance plans and offers. You can use Linkedin to share case studies.
Users expect to be heard on social media, and you must respond to their questions, complaints, and comments in a proactive manner. It would be wise to run paid ad campaigns on Facebook and Twitter as these have a wider reach than your organic posts.
#4 – Pay-Per-Click Marketing
Paid search marketing or PPC plays a complementary role to SEO. While SEO drives organic traffic to your website, paid ads are your ticket to the top position on search engine results pages for relevant keywords. This program is simple – you bid for relevant keywords and set a budget for the campaign. The ad program charges you every time a user clicks the ad and visits your landing page.
PPC campaigns are an excellent means to market new products or services. You can run targeted campaigns to reach a niche audience based on their demographics, such as location, age, gender, income range, language, etc. The results with PPC marketing are immediate, and unlike SEO, you don’t have to wait weeks and months for higher rankings on the search engines.
Google Ads and Microsoft Ads are the two most popular paid ads programs for Google and Bing search engines. Similarly, you can also explore PPC ads on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and other social media platforms. A word of caution before you begin – insurance keywords are highly competitive and among the most expensive ones in PPC marketing. Hence, your campaign needs to be well optimized to offer you a good return on investment.
#5 – Email Marketing
When you get it ‘right,’ email marketing is among the best marketing strategies for insurance agents. It is the most cost-effective marketing strategy and offers you unmatchable reach. Not every prospect needs the same insurance plan or has similar needs. Hence, it would help if you focused on a personalized email marketing campaign. A thin line separates a successful email marketing campaign and emails that land up in the spam or trash folder.
Addressing a prospect as “Dear Customer” or, even worse, no address should be strictly avoided. Your customers like opening an email that reads “Dear Jane” or “Dear Michael.” Personalization is the first step to success with email marketing. You should personalize emails based on the prospects’ needs, the data you have gathered about them, and their behavior.
Marketing automation has made email marketing easy. Set up a drip campaign using an automation tool. In this, you send a series of emails to prospects based on their activity and intent. Offer free consultancy to people who read your emails and show high intent. You can also explore the nurture campaign strategy, where you send personalized emails based on their engagement with previous email campaigns.
#6 – Customer Referral Programs
Running a customer referral program isn’t easy in the insurance industry. Offering cash to existing customers for referrals is illegal in several states. However, you bypass these restrictions and run your referral programs. Instead of direct cash, you may offer gift cards to people who refer a new client or when the lead buys insurance. You may also try other creative means of rewarding clients, such as donating on their behalf to a charity of their choice.
# 7 – Marketing Using Review
Customer reviews are the best marketing tool. Remember the good old days of word-of-mouth marketing; marketing using reviews is its natural extension. Customers trust fellow customers more than what you claim about your services. Positive feedback and reviews can generate fresh leads for your business.
Encourage customers to write reviews about your services and share them on your social media handles, website, and other online platforms. Reach out to your happy customers asking for a review. Create a form on your website and link in on your email and social media posts to generate reviews.
#8 – Customer Loyalty Programs
Did you know it takes about 10x time and money to acquire a new client than holding your existing clients? Most insurance agents contact clients yearly during the plan renewal, and this low-touch model can be your Achilles heel in the digital world. Focus your energy on retaining clients and earning their loyalty.
Loyalty programs should be part of your digital marketing strategy. Charge less commission for your loyal customers and increase discounts with the length of the relationship. Organize free medical camps, webinars, and YouTube Live sessions for existing clients to make them feel special.
#9 – Affiliate Marketing
You know all about affiliate marketing, where you pay a small commission to a person or business that refers a client to you. It is among the most widely used marketing strategies for insurance agents these days. You can fix a commission based on the nature of the business it generates or when the lead results in a conversion.
This marketing model is beneficial as affiliates bring fresh leads usually out of your marketing network. Explore affiliate networks such as Share-A-Sale, FlexOffers, and Commission Junction, as these are known to generate new business.
#10 – Business Partnerships
As an insurance agent, you know all about business partnerships. You may have generated leads in the past from banks, brokers, automobile retailers, etc. Most of this would have been in the physical world or through phones. It’s time to follow the same model in the digital space.
From tying up with ecommerce stores or auto detailing firms, there are ample opportunities for you to explore. Partner with YouTubers who create content related to insurance, and you can generate tons of leads. On your part, you may offer discounted insurance plans for your partners or share a commission as in affiliate marketing to incentivize the relationship for your partners.
Final Take
To sum up, these marketing strategies for insurance agents can decide your fate in this fast-changing industry. By implementing these digital marketing strategies, you can generate fresh leads and enjoy your trusted clients’ loyalty.
Implementing these marketing strategies can seem overwhelming if you haven’t been active with digital marketing in the past. Many of these strategies may be new to you, and this is where we at Cyrusson can help. We are a boutique marketing agency specializing in marketing strategies for insurance agents. Our team manages ROI-driven campaign that boosts your digital presence and clientele. Get in touch with us to know how we can collaborate, and let’s discuss the digital marketing strategies for your growth.