Step 1: Start Scouting. Target Online Presence
Google analytics will track every metric you can imagine about your website visitors, including what page they came from, how they found you, and their age range. You can harness this information to drill down your outbound marketing.
Money spent to reach customers who aren’t in your demographic is wasted. This is one reason why Google Ads, youtube, and Facebook ads have decimated radio advertising. Google retains almost a 90 percent market share of the search engine market, so think twice before choosing bing or yahoo; there’s a reason “google” is a now a verb.
Using Google Ads is easy. You set your monthly budget cap, and you can pause or adjust it at any time. You only pay for results, so you don’t have to worry about getting the 3 a.m. radio slot.
To win clients, you must captivate customers and create such a strong brand that you’re the first agency to come to mind. This is no easy feat; it requires years of building relationships in the community, valuable social media posts, and referrals. Most importantly, you must relate to customers and capitalize on opportunities that competitors won’t.
Step 2: Plan. Use tools/strategies to grow
When you become an insurance expert, you spend years memorizing complex topics that few other people know. So one of the most valuable gifts to gain customers is to simplify confusing questions through engaging posts and videos.
Blog Ideas
Your first posts won’t be perfect. But you’ll learn through trial and error what’s important to customers. It’s vital to post content multiple times per week, if not every day. I would start with the basics: an article on 5 common mistakes people make with insurance, 5 ways to save money with insurance, etc. What’s a premium? How can a high deductible save you cash? I would write a blog post on each kind of coverage and when you need it: car, health, life, property, and umbrella.
Tell stories why good insurance matters. 62% of bankruptcies in the U.S are due to medical bills. Tell stories when insurance saves lives because protection only matters when you need it.
When is it a good idea to buy insurance through a company policy -vs- buying independent? If you’re healthy, exercise regularly, and eat well, you might be footing the bill for the 95% of your coworkers who are obese, chain smoke, and only eat fast food.
The strongest power you have is your client referrals. Reach out to past clients and incentivize them to sit down on camera, a podcast, or write to tell how you’ve changed their life. The more personalized, the better! Herd mentality drives many decisions, and new customers will flock to you if they see how you’ve helped others.
Post Types
Gamify insurance. Your views on social media are weighted by interaction with others, so you want as many likes, shares, and comments as possible. Write scenarios and have others guess whose liable, life insurance trivia, and offer an email to which customers can send questions for your future blog content.
Your posts don’t have to be insurance information that puts readers to sleep. Write funny content; life insurance isn’t only about death and dismemberment. Start a series in which “Life Without X Insurance agency.” A life in which you’re forced to deal with old insurance salesman in suites, who care about pushing policies you don’t need rather than caring for your family.
Here’s an excerpt:
You walk into the office with bare walls. There’s no receptionist, so you stand at the desk, calculating the chances that you’re going to die anytime soon. There’s no coffee, water, or music. After ten minutes, a man peeks out of his office and invites you in. At this point, you’re wondering if he’s even licensed. Do you even know anyone who uses his services? You sink into the wooden chair as the agent salivates as he sells a 25-year old whole-life insurance policy. “It’s a great investment,” he says, assuring you that it’s safer than buying stocks. When you ask him to explain what that means, he brushes off the question while texting on his flip phone. “Well, he’s going to be hard to reach,” you contemplate as you see his desktop computer. You end up signing over a monthly payment higher than you planned just so you can escape his creepy office, without really understanding what you just bought. “Hopefully it’ll cover an emergency,” you think as you leave.
Set up news alerts to stay updated on insurance. Use news hooks to draw people in and teach them what they need to know. Remember, you’re the expert. You can even reach out to local newspapers covering these stories and offer to be interviewed as an expert. This will build your client base and reputation. Even better, a regular blog and news exposure boosts your SEO.
Check out this blog post I wrote using the news cycle to drive my website traffic.
Step 3: Form growth benchmarks.
You need fast exposure.
You should make a Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Linkedin page. Connect with other insurance agencies and follow agencies that produce incredible content. Spent time every day answering questions on Quora and build your reputation as an expert. Take steps that other agencies won’t. Explain what coverage you use and why. Post pictures with your family (pets included).
Tell your employees’ “why” for choosing a career in insurance and tell horror stories of experiences you’ve had that drove you to offer better services. If you’ve decided to dedicate your scare days on this earth to an industry, you’d better tell a compelling narrative. Stand out from the agents who are in the insurance agency for the money instead of the results.
Millennials love transparency. Explain policies pricing and what you’re getting. Let customers know what products you’re making a huge commission on, and explain the pros and cons as if you were the one buying. Peace of mind shreds the “dirty insurance agent” stereotype.
Improve your website by studying interactions with customers (or almost customers). Most millennials prefer using websites over calling or showing up in person. Who’s visiting your page? Is there a certain landing page that has a high bounce rate?
Relentlessly research your competitors and dominate every facet in which they’re complacent. This means reading reviews, asking past customers, and continually bettering your business.
Tools
- Buffer: lets you schedule posts and analyzes how each one performs. Have a 1 p.m meeting? Just schedule the post the day before; Buffer will even suggest optimal posting times.
- Tweetdeck allows you to set alerts when specific keywords are mentioned in the news. Use these to stay on top of insurance news for easy blog posts.
Set “open twitter lines” in which anyone can tweet insurance questions. This will show up on all of your followers, yours, and anyone who retweets or likes it. - Slack: if you’re using email to run your team, you’re probably wasting a lot of time. Check out this alternative.
Growth Plan
Optimize posts by their platform. Facebook videos get higher average engagements than links. Tweet 21-70 times per week between 1-3 pm, post on Facebook 8-15 times per week from 1-4 pm, and spend an hour every day answering Quora questions. Monitor what works and tweak your strategies monthly.
You can automate posting, but you must interact with followers on social media platforms. Use Buffer Reply to aggregate mentions and comments, so you miss none, and you know your company’s reputation. Answer emails, tweets, and direct messages. Show how easy you are to contact, so consumers never have to worry about your response time when it matters most.
You don’t have to be a designer to make killer graphics. Use Canva to demonstrate your business is the highest quality.
Following this plan will kickstart your business’ social media game.