There are two ways you can go about marketing your insurance agency. The first is to try anything. Just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Youβll probably get some results, but you might not. And you also may have no idea whatβs actually working.
The second and, arguably, more effective way to approach marketing is strategically. While itβs easy to fall down the rabbit holes of methodology and best practices, marketing strategy doesnβt need to be complicated. If your marketing is intentional and focused, youβll be able to identify opportunities and implement smart targeting, which will lead to low-funnel tactics, conversions, retention, and growth, without significant ongoing effort.
Letβs consider the six stages of the marketing funnel and how calculated tactics can help your agency thrive
- Awareness
At the very top of the funnel sits awareness marketing. This is where youβre getting the word out about your agency and getting your targets to know your name. Here, youβll begin to establish yourself as a credible thought leader and develop brand and name recognition. Social media, digital ads, direct mail, and out-of-home marketing techniques are quite effective to build awareness.
- Consideration
At the consideration stage, folks know a bit about who you are and what you have to offer. By blending awareness tactics with more focused value propositions and differentiators, youβll draw prospects in. Emails targeted at this level begin to tell more of your story and show what you have to offer when prospects interact with you.
- Engagement
This segment of the funnel is where prospects are strongly considering buying, but they just need that last thing that pushes them to convert. Showcasing the full advantage of selecting your agency is paramount here. Let your personality, team, and specific practices shine. You can achieve this through social posts and ads, email, webinars, writing for publications, and more. Public appearances and connection with the community can also drive the transition from prospect to customer.
- Purchase
Purchase sits near the middle of the marketing funnel for a reason. In some businesses, this may be the end goal, but not so here because insurance is about relationships. In this stage, your marketing efforts will consist of showing gratitude and continuing to educate your new customers. The last thing a customer wants is to be ignored once the sale is complete, so ongoing engagement through the community, social media, and elsewhere becomes critical.
- Loyalty
Building loyalty is the key to retention. Studies show itβs as much as five times more expensive to acquire a new client than retain one, so this stage of the funnel is worth the investment. Here, youβll focus your efforts on life event communications, periodic one-to-one check ins, stellar customer service, and more. Remember that you donβt want to only connect at renewal, but throughout the year, offering relevant, timely, and personalized communications via email, text, and direct mail. Using your website to offer useful information to clients can support loyalty, too.
- Advocacy
Advocacy is at the bottom of the marketing funnel. In this stage, youβve built enough loyalty and trust that your customers begin to refer others to you. But do not take this for granted, as ongoing communications will continue to keep your advocates engaged. Offer communications that surprise and delight your customers, make referrals where appropriate, and continue the engagement that drew them to you in the first place. The deeper your relationship with each customer, the stickier and more fruitful it will be in the long run.Β
Putting it all together
While these stages are all broken down and illustrate how someone moves through the funnel, bear in mind that youβll want to be doing all of these simultaneously to target folks who are in each level. As customers get to the bottom and refer new customers, those referrals become prospects at the top of the funnel. Awareness marketing should be ongoing to continue to feed new opportunities to your agency.
The great news is that with Agency Revolution by your side, itβs easier to focus your efforts at every stage. Your website is an essential part of your marketing at every stage, from building awareness to making it easy for customers to work with you and refer new business to you. Forge has the sales enablement tools and client servicing features that foster conversions and engagement. Fuse, our marketing automation platform, allows for effortless omnichannel communications to reach every area of the funnel at the right time. And the AR pit crew is always on hand to guide you on every lap around the track.
Schedule a meeting today to learn more about how we can support your agencyβs goals.