You feel like you're doing everything you can to market your agency.
You're on social media, have a website, invested in paid ads, and regularly send out emails.
You're putting so much time and effort into growing your business and can’t understand why you’re not seeing the results that you expect.
But before you start looking at a new marketing tactic to deploy, get back to basics and make sure you’ve dialed in the two most crucial elements you need to grow your insurance business.
Use These Two Things to Grow Your Insurance Business
If you want to achieve marketing success, you’ve got to start with a strong foundation.
The two most important things you need to get more leads online are:
- Modern, mobile-friendly website
- Documented marketing strategy
1. A Modern, Mobile-Friendly Website
Businesses no longer live in a strictly ‘word-of-mouth’ world.
Yes, your happy clients are very likely recommend your agency to friends and family, but that is just the first step. In today’s technologically-advanced world, you need a website. And it needs to be good.
Is your website making a good first impression? A winning insurance website will check off the following boxes:
Incorporate a Modern Aesthetic
Websites today are what business cards were to the ‘80s – the face of your business and your 'first impression'.
What does your website say about your business? Is it communicating to potential and existing clients that yours is a professional agency – that you’re up-to-date and well-organized?
You might be surprised to learn that consumers are turned off by a disorganized or out-of-date site. Even worse, a bad website design can lead to distrust.
A modern, updated site instills trust in prospective clients, an essential first step into converting a website visitor into a lead.
Mobile-Friendly
In today's world, having a website that looks and functions properly on screens of all sizes is essential.
Responsive web design ensures that – no matter what computer or mobile device is used – your website will display and function the way that it's supposed to, ensuring that visitors won't abandon ship.
Imagine you go to a site searching for something. It doesn’t display properly on your smartphone and is difficult to use: are you going to stick around?
Users shy away from websites with:
- hard to read font
- links crowded too close together
- videos that don’t function on mobile
A site that is hard to use and view will not only turn consumers away from your website, but it will also make your agency seem unprofessional and outdated.
Make sure your site is easy to view and use, regardless of the screen it’s being opened on.
A modern, web-friendly website is the home base for your digital marketing activities. But you can’t start implementing tactics like social media marketing, email marketing, or PPC ads without the next essential tool in your marketing toolkit….
2. A Documented Marketing Strategy
You need to be strategic when pouring your time and resources into your digital marketing efforts or you won't get the results you're after.
Why Utilize a Marketing Strategy?
Think of a marketing strategy as a map to get to your ultimate destination: Return On Investment.
Marketing success is dependent on having a solid plan in place.
A documented marketing strategy will help identify where you want to go while keeping you from detouring along the way.
46% of executives interviewed attested that a lack of well-planned strategy is the largest roadblock to achieving their marketing goals.
It’s not enough to have your marketing strategy in your head, by the way. Truly successful marketers have a documented plan that can easily be referenced, shared with others, and updated as needed.
How to Create a Marketing Strategy
A well-documented marketing strategy will identify the following:
- Your specific goals and objectives
- Your ideal audience & the problems you can solve
- A clearly defined value proposition
Identify Your Goals and Objectives
Begin with the end in mind when creating your marketing strategy. What are you trying to achieve?
Instead of choosing vague goals like 'increase revenue' or 'get more leads' outline SMART goals:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time-specific
'Increase lead database by 150 new prospects in the next quarter' is an example of a SMART goal that includes all five all these elements.
Who is Your Audience & How Can You Help Them?
Ask yourself which clients tend to bring you business, come in regularly, or refer you to others. Maybe you have a specialized niche or have a specific market you prefer.
When determining who your audience is, be sure to be very specific about your clients':
- location
- age, gender, and income
- daily routine
- online habits (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.)
Once you know who your audience is, figure out what their pain points and challenges are.
Know the problems facing your ideal client and you can position yourself as a trusted authority who helps them solve their problems.
Successful marketing isn’t advertising your services to the public, it’s finding a way to show that you are the solution to your target audience’s problems.
What Makes You Unique?
- What makes you uniquely qualified to solve their problem?
- How do you stand apart from the competition?
- What is your specialized your niche?
- What makes you qualified to be their business of choice?
Consumers are constantly inundated with messages advertising money savings or fast service, which is unlikely to appeal to your ideal audience.
Get their attention by determining why your audience should choose your business over that of a competitor's and proving that your agency is the solution to their problems.
Make sure that all the time and energy you’re pouring into growing your agency is being directed toward efforts that can help you achieve your goal.
Ready, Set, Grow!
There are so many different marketing tactics available to help you grow your insurance business. But randomly choosing which ones to implement and hoping something works is inefficient and costly.
Before you start investing in email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, paid ads, SEO services, and more, be sure you’ve got a solid foundation in place. Start with a modern, responsive website and a documented marketing strategy, and you’ll be on the right path to find more leads and get more clients this year.