This excerpt is part 3 of 3 from the new ebook from Agency Revolution – The Digital Marketing Toolkit for Insurance Agents & Brokers. Get a copy of the full toolkit today, and discover even more great tips and tricks that will help you become a digital insurance marketing expert by downloading the ebook today.
It’s no longer a question of “should I use marketing automation?”
The questions is: What’s the right way to use marketing automation? The existence of the system itself isn’t what’s going to grow your business or free up resources in your insurance agency or brokerage. How you leverage that tool to communicate and create a connection with your marketplace is crucial. It’s important to choose a provider that understands your industry, and can offer the support you need when you’re stuck.
What it is
Marketing automation is software that automates marketing tasks, such as delivering emails, postcards or text messaging.
What it does best
Marketing automation is the reliable ‘workhorse’ of digital marketing. The Direct Marketing Association, for example, reports that the ROI from email marketing is a remarkable 43:1. The most sophisticated platforms can guide the customer journey for every insurance customer, by integrating with your agency or broker management system and delivering ‘the right message to the right person at the right time.’ Marketing automation excels at nurturing leads, delivering ongoing value, creating deeper relationships and boosting retention, referrals and policies per customer.
Some helpful “Do’s and Don’ts”
✓ Do: Use marketing automation to deliver ongoing value and deepen relationships with your customers
and prospects.
✓ Do: Make sure you use persuasive copy and content intended for the insurance industry. (Ideally, your
content is crafted by a seasoned professional.)
✓ Do: Make sure that your marketing automation vendor has cutting-edge integration with your agency or
broker management system. This is the only way you can deliver ‘the right message to the right person at the right time.’ (It allows you to guide your customer’s journey – from prospect to ‘raving fan.’)
✓ Do: Make sure that your marketing automation is easy to use. (A difficult interface will discourage usage.)
✓ Do: Make sure that the emails delivered by your marketing automation are ‘responsive’ and automatically adjust to the size or your reader’s device. (Note: most likely, more than half of your readers will consume your emails on a smartphone or other mobile device.)
✓ Do: Make sure you can edit, customize content in your marketing automation system, and that you can create and add your own content.
✓ Do: Make sure that your marketing automation only delivers attractive and well-designed emails that represent and strengthen your brand.
✓ Do: Make sure your marketing automation makes it easy to segment and sub-segment your list for cross-selling and sending specialty or niche messages.
✓ Do: Make sure your marketing automation vendor supplies a comprehensive library of content designed for the insurance industry.
✘ Do NOT: Use marketing automation just to ‘take money’ from your customers without first using its powerful features to strengthen relationships.
✘ Do NOT: Try to spam ‘cold lists’ in your marketing automation system. It will hurt your deliverability rate – and may get you black-listed.
✘ Do NOT: Treat your customers other than how you’d want to be treated – with respect. Always ask yourself, ‘Will this message make my reader want to have a business relationship with me?’
This is an excerpt from the new ebook from Agency Revolution – The Digital Marketing Toolkit for Insurance Agents & Brokers. Discover more great tips on how to become a digital insurance marketing master by downloading the ebook today.
