If you’ve been in the insurance industry for any length of time then you know that there isn’t always a direct correlation between the amount of marketing you do and the sales you close in a week. You don’t get one sale for every phone call you make or flyer you send, which means you don’t get an immediate return on your marketing dollar.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you get no return—obviously marketing works in the long run or it would not be done. So how, exactly does marketing work if it doesn’t generally result in an immediate sale?

Taking Up Brain Space

Marketing of any kind works by placing your business, your service, and you in the minds of your potential clients. Your radio ads, direct mail pieces and follow-up calls all work to carve out a space for you in the subconscious of your prospects. Then, when they actually have a need for your service, they remember you from your tireless marketing efforts and, hopefully, call you.

Of course, some marketing efforts work better than others and some are viewed by prospects as annoying or pushy. That’s why finding the right marketing method is important.

Marketing with Newsletters

One of the easiest ways to stay on the minds of your prospects without being relegated to the “annoying and pushy” column is to send those who opt in a regular newsletter. Newsletters work in two ways:

• First, they are a form of marketing that is not considered pushy, urgent or invasive. They get the word out about your business but do not aggressively ask for a sale.
• Second, newsletters are valuable on their own as sources of information. Most marketing pieces do not have any intrinsic value. They are simply tools to create sales. Newsletters teach readers about the insurance they own, inform them about different types of insurance they may not have considered before, and can help bridge the gap between insurance as an intangible product and the tangible needs it can fulfill.

When you send a newsletter to your prospects you not only get the benefit of a consistent marketing effort that keeps you and your agency on the mind of your prospects, you also create value within the relationship that increases the likelihood of your prospects calling you for their insurance needs.

It’s time to enter the 21st century, even if you have to do it kicking and screaming; and by that, we mean it’s time to get a Twitter account. Wait! Before you start thinking that Twitter is only useful for finding out how Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s relationship is going, you need to understand just how great Twitter could be for your insurance agency.

Twitter is one of the quickest and most effective ways of connecting with millions of people and developing a relationship with them. Sure, you aren’t going to become BFFs (uh, that’s Best Friends Forever in case you were wondering), but you can create a personable agency identity and sew the initial seeds of your relationship with millions of people who need insurance. Continue Reading »

In case you haven’t heard, the internet is making waves in insurance prospecting. Not only is it widening your network of referrals and prospects but it can put you in touch with an entire generation of uninsured individuals that rely on the internet for much of their shopping and researching.

In 2010, these are the web marketing trends you need to get on top of:

• An agency website

• A blog

• An electronic newsletter

• Email marketing

• Article marketing

• Online networking

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Online community forums

Let’s take each of these methods and look at them individually.

Agency website: A well written, informative agency website does not need to be complicated or expensive. Be clear about your message, write with personality but keep it professional, keep the content updated and make sure it has a call to action. Contact information should be easy to find and the site should have some SEO to bring in more traffic.

A blog: A blog is a great way to deliver timely information to your prospective clients and develop a stronger relationship of trust with them. Be sure to update the blog regularly, allow it to have personality without being unprofessional, and keep the content easy to read and applicable to the topic.

An electronic newsletter: Newsletters increase your authority and professional image. They also create a great means of staying in contact with prospective clients without badgering them with incessant telephone calls and mailers. An electronic newsletter should look professional, have pictures and interesting articles that help readers learn about different types of products they might need. It should be easy to sign up for and easy to stop receiving.

Email marketing: Email marketing campaigns are another great way to promote yourself and your services and they cost less money than traditional mailers. Be sure to create a consistent message with a call to action that is not too pushy. Be sure to include contact information and any applicable deadlines.

Article marketing: Article marketing, the process of writing articles and placing them on websites like Ezine, helps to widen your exposure and bring more links in to your website. Be sure to create helpful articles on evergreen topics.

Online networking: Online networking, through sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and various online forums, is quickly becoming a popular way to snag a whole new generation of busy prospects. Be sure to let your personality show when networking online and NEVER just shout your message and leave. Just like in-person networking, you must be a resource and interact with others. If you were at an in-person networking event and just stood in the middle of the room shouting about your insurance products, everyone would think you were insane and nobody would become your client or refer you to potential clients. The same will happen with online networking. Another tip—be sure to network with your clients or people who are the gatekeepers to your clients. Networking with other agents might not be the best use of time.

The first step in developing the print portion of your marketing campaign is to determine what print items you want to have. Leave behinds? Postcards? Brochures? Seminar materials? Here is a list of some of the materials you can include in your marketing arsenal:

• Letterhead

• Envelopes

• Sales flyers

• Business cards

• Blank cards (for thank you notes)

• Address labels

• Newsletters

• Calendars

• Brochures

• Post cards

• Business reply cards

• Seminar materials

  • Notebooks

  • Handouts

  • Invitations

Things to remember when developing your print materials:

• Keep the design and message on all your print materials consistent with your website, social networking efforts, blog and other marketing elements.

• Make sure you have a call to action on every sales piece. If your sales materials don’t compel your prospects to take the next step—and tell them what the next step is–then they are not doing their job.

• Don’t ignore the details. If you spend the time and money on a uniquely designed letterhead featuring a similar design and color scheme as your website, etc. then don’t stick it in an ugly envelope that doesn’t match. If you must get envelopes designed to match your letterhead, don’t put a gaudy white address label on the front of it when you mail it. Pay attention to all those little details that can begin to chip away at your message and branding.

• Keep your information…informative. When you send a newsletter to your prospects and clients on a regular basis you become more than an agent—you become an educator, a journalist, an advocate and a resource. If your newsletter is lacking in quality writing and information then you are just another person trying to take up room in your prospect’s mailbox.

• Keep your message clear and concise. No one wants to read a paragraph of writing on your business card that outlines your entire business philosophy. Keep your message on small items concise and to the point. Generally, a tagline works best because it is no more than one sentence and can fit on all print and web marketing materials.

• Show your value. Let’s face it, there are other agents competing in your area for the same clients. As far as your client is concerned, you all start out on a level playing field. Each of you is licensed, combs your hair and dresses up real nice. You have to send a clear message on all your materials that explains why you are different from your competition and why you might be a better choice of agent.

2010 is coming whether you like it or not—is your marketing plan ready? Are you ready to make all the changes you need in order to unleash a full-scale marketing attack on your unsuspecting prospects? Are you ready to bring your website, blog, print marketing materials, local branding and social networking together into a total marketing plan? Have you thought about how to tie your branding in all these areas together? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our 4-post Quick ‘n Dirty Marketing Plan series.

This week we’ll talk about all of the elements you need to decide on BEFORE you start developing your marketing items so that everything is tied together and sends the same message while establishing and strengthening your brand. Next week we’ll cover getting all your print stuff ready for 2010. On the 24^th, we’ll talk about your online presence and in our final post on the 31^st we’ll talk about other ideas to create brand awareness.

The Key to Effective Marketing

In order for all three points of your marketing attack to be completely effective, they must have a unified message, theme and style. Your goal is to cement the qualities of your brand into the minds of your prospective clients and referrers and to be seen as a trusted, consistent authority.

In order to maintain this consistency in all your marketing efforts there are some preliminary steps you must take:

1. Develop a tagline or slogan that will be used on all your marketing and networking items. Your tagline doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but it must sum up what your agency and service is all about. Some examples of taglines include:

“You’re in good hands with Allstate.” –Allstate

“Don’t leave home without it.” –American Express

“Reach out and touch someone.” –AT&T

“What’s in your wallet?” –Capital One

Chances are you knew the companies behind most of those taglines before we told you. That’s because their taglines work, they say something about the companies they represent and they are used on every single print, television, internet and radio marketing effort the companies make. And yours must do the same.

2. Create a logo for use on your online and offline marketing. A logo makes your company or agency instantly recognizable. Think about the Prudential rock, the Hartford stag and the Budweiser crown. Just like your tagline, the logo you create should be simple, representative, meaningful and present on all your visual marketing materials.

3. Decide on a style and color scheme for all your online and offline marketing. Not only do you need to make sure that all your marketing materials have the same color scheme [think Coors (blue and gold), Kodak (gold and red) and Prudential (blue and white)] but they also need to have a consistent style. You can’t choose an ultra-contemporary design for one marketing piece and then switch to a flirty, flowery design on the next. Think of your marketing materials as a form of nesting doll—each one must fit into the other and create a continuous flow that strengthens your brand.

Last week, we talked about some of the things you can do to set yourself apart from other agents in your area while utilizing websites, newsletters and trade magazine articles. This week we are going to go a little deeper into the concept of branding yourself and setting yourself apart by discussing the creation and implementation of your brand.

Create your brand. When we say this, you may automatically think, “I need a logo!” But that is only one part of the process. Your brand needs to tell your client who you are, what you do, and what they can expect from you. Create a tag line and mission statement that reflect your brand and purpose and think about how to incorporate it into all aspects of your business.

Maintain a professional website. Whether you use a professionally designed website or a free Wordpress template, it needs to look professional. All graphics and design elements should be crisp, orderly, inoffensive and sensible. The content on the site should be professional and informative with no spelling or grammatical errors. Lastly, the content and the design must cohesively represent your brand. It should have the same colors as your logo and the content should carry a voice consistent with your tagline and mission.

Add a blog. Blogs allow you to post relevant content on your website while responding to current events and keeping your clients and potential clients informed. In addition, it gives your readers the opportunity to communicate with you through comments and develop a relationship with a foundation of trust. The blog should support and enforce your brand.

Be committed. One of the best ways to create, build and solidify your brand is to be committed to it. Always strive to represent the things your brand stands for. Remember, it’s not just a tag line and a pretty picture—your brand is you.

One trip to a grocery store will tell you that there are a lot of choices to be made each day. If you want “o” shaped, fruit-flavored cereal for breakfast, it’s no longer a matter of running to the store and grabbing a box. It’s now a matter of going to the store, finding all the fruity-O possibilities and comparing ingredients, vitamins, calories, quality guarantees, etc. Often, tired consumers without the time or inclination to compare will just reach for whatever product they are most familiar with, thanks to that company’s tireless branding and marketing efforts.

In the insurance industry, many agents in a territory compete over the same clients. They may have insurance offerings that vary wildly from each other, but often the only agent who even gets a phone call to meet with a client is the one whose name (or brand) is recognized by the prospect. There are a few very easy ways for you to start edging out competition by promoting brand YOU in a memorable way.

1. Create a website and promote it locally. A website gives your potential clients an easy, electronic format for meeting you. Think of your website as an introduction. A professionally designed website with relevant and educational content that shows up in local online search results and is promoted at local events and club gatherings will help to create a place for your information in the minds of your potential clients.

2. Send a regular email newsletter. Of course, visiting your website once certainly brings about brand YOU awareness, but it doesn’t provide any reminders about the importance of insurance and it doesn’t strengthen your brand recognition over time. By offering a newsletter sign up from on your website, you give your prospect the opportunity to be reminded of you every month in their inbox. With a newsletter, they receive a reminder of your presence as well as a strengthening of their opinion of you as a caring and trusted authority.

3. Create articles that can be published as advertisements in local papers and on local websites. You can purchase pre-written insurance content and personalize before submitting them to the editors of local online and print publications. This gives potential clients who read only print materials access to your brand and those who read both print and web materials extra doses of your brand.

Used together, you have a three-pronged approach to branding that hits all the major communication angles: web, email and print.

You may not dream of seeing your name in the lights, but to have your byline appear in an industry recognized trade magazine could be lucrative for your agency. The authority that comes with a published credit in a respected industry journal is undeniable and the potential marketing opportunities are impossible to ignore.

Luckily, trade magazines are always looking for new contributors. While they may have some staff writers, most trade magazines accept articles every month from guest writers, industry experts and freelancers. Often, in an effort to cut costs, trade magazines will run articles written by industry professionals who are not asking for pay. By not asking for payment for the article, the professional has a greater chance of the article being accepted and their byline appearing in next month’s issue.

But not everyone has the ability to write the kind of article that trade magazines or online publishers want to print. Sometimes, you need a little help—help that a ghostwritten article can provide. Ghostwritten articles produced by industry professionals are accurate, interesting and lay the groundwork to define you as an industry authority. When you buy our pre-written insurance content, you get industry-relevant and timely content written by professional ghostwriters that can be personalized by you to promote certain points that you want the article to convey.

When you market your agency, you leave no stone unturned. You network, cold call, send newsletters, gather leads, create a web presence, advertise—you do all the things you are supposed to do to attract new clients. Buying articles for use in trade magazines is just one more step in cementing your place as an authority and getting your name out there—even if it isn’t in the lights.

If you aren’t keeping your clients happy and informed, there are thousands of other agents waiting in the wings to fill in for you. The one trick up most successful agent’s sleeves is building loyalty. When you work to create client loyalty, you take action that keeps clients happy with your work and the information you provide and makes them say “not interested” when approached by other agents. One of the easiest and most effective ways to create loyalty with your clients is to offer a newsletter.

1. Newsletters provide professional and informative content.

   We’ve said it before, we’re saying it now—and chances are we’ll say it again later. Content is king on a website, blog or newsletter. If you aren’t giving your readers content that informs and engages, you are going to breed contempt instead of loyalty.

2. Newsletters show how dependable you are.

   Believe it or not if you set a schedule for your newsletter releases, your clients will notice. When you fail to deliver on that schedule—they’ll notice that too. By making yourself dependable in a small way, you show that you will be dependable in more important matters as well.

3. Newsletters give you a platform for communication when times are tough.

   Clients are likely to be fearful when there are negative news stories about insurance companies—even if their insurer is not mentioned. It’s almost impossible to call all clients every day something happens that might concern them. A newsletter allows you to keep in touch with clients during the bad times, choose articles that will calm their nerves, and shows that you have the courage and dedication to deal with the issues head on.

4. Newsletters separate you from your competition.

   Not all agents or agencies offer a newsletter to their clients. In fact, some agents have very little, if any, communication with their clients after they sell a policy. Many of your clients will have dealt with this type of agent in the past and will be grateful for your level of communication and accessibility via newsletters. Not only will that help keep them loyal, but it’s something they’ll tell their friends about when they complain about never hearing from their agent.

Insurance is a business based on relationships. People want to buy insurance from agents that they know and like; agents who are active in the same communities and social circles and agents who have just six degrees of separation from themselves. While the internet has brought access to a wider circle of clients, it has hurt our ability to meet some of the social circle requirements set deep in our client’s subconscious. One way that many agents are trying to bridge this gap is through daily or weekly blogging—which is a great idea—if you know what you are doing.

Have a Clear Message

Your blog posts should have a clear, easy-to-read message that your prospects (and other readers) will understand. If you aren’t sure how to keep your posts focused just pick three main points for each and write around them. Do not try to use words you aren’t familiar with to impress—it’s okay if the posts just sound like you.

Give Solutions

While your posts may contain the discussion of certain problems—like the problems caused by not having health insurance—they should not leave your reader with nothing more than a review of everything that could go wrong. Instead, they should contain solutions so that your reader has some actionable advice to take.

Set a Reasonable Posting Schedule

Once you decide how often to post on your blog, you need to stick to that schedule. When you are consistent it will boost your traffic and show how seriously you are taking the blog—which helps your readers to take it more seriously. If you are planning on taking a vacation, you can always write your posts ahead of time and schedule them for posting.

Be Authentic

Imagine what this blog would look like if we thought we should put on artificial airs when we wrote it:

Thou shall writeth thou blog posteth whilst avoiding ratolorum.

While Elizabethan words are a bit of a stretch, any language or sentence structure you use that your prospective clients don’t identify with might as well be Elizabethan. It’s okay to be yourself even if you don’t have any formal knowledge of the writing craft. Your message is what matters most—not your mastery over the use of the semi-colon.