What does marketing success look like?
We asked our insurance agency friends about the marketing strategies they get the best return on investment with.
The findings were interesting, to say the least!
Of the four marketing strategy categories, Content, Search Engine, Traditional, and Word-of-Mouth marketing, here is how insurance agencies ranked each of these in terms of success.
In addition, we’ll go over how your insurance agency can find success in every area of marketing strategies, so stick around to see how you can replicate the success others have achieved.
Rank 4: Traditional Marketing (Print, Direct Mail, TV, Radio)
Starting at number 4, we have Traditional Marketing. This includes print media, direct mail, TV, and radio marketing. Of all respondents, this was the lowest overall, coming in at just 5% of agencies.
Why Traditional Marketing Works for Insurance Agencies
Traditional Marketing is just that—traditional. It’s what insurance agencies have done for years.
There are many reasons to still have a presence in this area, so let’s break down what Traditional Marketing is comprised of.
- Print Collateral
- Direct Mail
- TV
- Radio
Print collateral can be anything from newspaper ads in the local paper to billboards strategically located in the areas you serve. These are a great way for agencies that are hyper-focused on a specific localized area to boost their credibility and build brand awareness.
Direct mail incorporates sending postcards and other print materials to a mailing list to offer a promotion or incentive to call your agency for a quote or consultation.
TV and radio go hand-in-hand in many ways, and these are another example of localized targeting for agencies that want to establish themselves as a trusted source for insurance in the region and to highlight specialties they might have.
How Your Insurance Agency Can Use Traditional Marketing Strategies
Now that the industry has caught up with technology over the years, we’re seeing a decline in how reliant insurance agencies are when it comes to this type of marketing.
That’s not to say that Traditional Marketing doesn’t work—it’s just far less prevalent today than it was even a few years ago.
In fact, we heard some great success stories directly from agencies who ranked this as their highest source of marketing success.
“I have built an entire agency around Direct Mail campaigns
to commercial prospects.”
This agency, for example, built its business by sending direct mail to a niche market in the commercial space, and it worked well.
By having a strategy like this, you can replicate this success by targeting specific audiences that fit your niche.
Now, you might say you don’t have a niche. I’d argue that if you are an independent insurance agency, you 100% do—even if you don’t realize it.
Your niche doesn’t necessarily have to be the fact that you primarily insure farms, it could be as simple as home and auto, life insurance, or even the specific communities you serve.
Find your niche, and with that, use that to identify who your target audience is.
Then, leverage that with your traditional marketing efforts to reach a narrowed-down group who have a high chance of becoming a client if they are sent messaging that resonates with them and your specialties.
Start targeting your niche market with direct mail, investing in print media that will reach the right people, and consider TV and radio spots if it applies to what you are aiming for.
There are more than just those four examples but rather think of them as categories within the bigger bucket of Traditional Marketing.
Lastly, strategize the importance of this type of marketing for your business, and compare it with the other marketing strategies to come up with a breakdown of how much time, money, and effort to put into Traditional marketing vs. the rest that we’ll cover next.
Looking to incorporate Traditional Marketing into your portfolio? Our Fuse Marketing Automation platform features a built-in, easy-to-use postcard builder, where you can customize a postcard with your logo and text, and we’ll print and mail it to a targeted audience of your choosing.
Rank 3: Search Engine Marketing (SEO, Paid Ads, Directory Listings)
Next up, ranked at 3-out-of-4 is Search Engine Marketing. This covers Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid advertising (PPC), and directory listings.
11% of insurance agencies credit Search Engine Marketing as the most successful of their marketing efforts.
Why Search Engine Marketing Works for Insurance Agencies
Subjects like SEO and online advertising get a lot of buzz in the industry, and if you have a digital presence of any kind, you know that quite well.
However, Search Engine Marketing can seem daunting or scary to agencies, which is likely attributed to the lower ranking.
From our community poll results, we received multiple comments that mentioned how important this is as a marketing strategy, but it’s not something that they are currently doing.
Let’s break down the barriers of Search Engine Marketing together, so you can overcome any fears that you might associate with the subject.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Paid Advertising (PPC)
- Directory Listings
Starting with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you can boost your website’s ranking in search results to more prominently appear to clients and prospects looking for your services.
“Using SEO and requests for Google reviews. We have moved from the second page in Google searches to the top of the first page.”
By having a website and a domain name, you are already making headway into the realm of SEO. Tack onto that regularly updated, keyword-driven website content, blog posts, client reviews on Google, and foundational SEO settings, you are on your way to finding success in Search Engine Marketing.
Think of SEO as the organic path to your website, where you provide valuable information to grab attention and traffic.
Paid advertising is on the other side of the coin—it’s traffic you pay for.
Now, that can turn away your attention quickly, because this is marketing that has a dollar amount associated with it. However, that’s a good thing.
Done right, you can see results in paid advertising in terms of website traffic and impressions of your brand. Those results are directly tied to your return on investment, and with proper conversion tracking, you can see how much of your revenue sources are attributed to digital advertising and identify if it works for your agency, target area, and specialties you are highlighting.
Last but not least, we have directory listings. These are sadly some of the most overlooked aspects of Search Engine Marketing. The good news—it’s free and easy to set these up.
Directory listings are essentially places where your business information is shared across the internet, and it helps provide those details to people searching for insurance solutions that you offer.
Some of the most common and important directory listings include Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, and many more.
By having accurate, consistent information across listings with the most authority online, you can ensure that people can find your office, call or visit you during office hours and not when you are closed, contact the correct email, and so on.
How Your Insurance Agency Can Use Search Engine Marketing Strategies
We talked about what Search Engine Marketing is and how it is successful for insurance agencies. Now, let’s cover what you can do to find that same level of success.
Having the right goals in mind for this marketing strategy is crucial, because this is a longer-term method that takes time and investment to see success. One agency in our community poll had this to say about their goals, and I think this applies to any insurance agency.
“I want SEO and our website to generate passive results, where people search and find us for both PL and CL. We are just now implementing FB ads and Google ads at some point, hopefully where that traffic can drive SEO results to our website.”
They have their goals on point—driving traffic to their website. If you do a combination of Search Engine Marketing Strategies, start small with the basics and build up to the higher-level aspects.
Simply put, before spending money, spend time establishing your agency online with a website and set up directory listings strategically.
Then, over time, consider building up a paid advertising campaign if you want to potentially boost traffic beyond organic search.
If you are looking to get started with a website, our Forge website platform is built just for insurance agencies and features SEO foundations, packed with quality insurance coverage page content, and lead-generation forms to start you off on the right path.
In addition, we also offer Local Listings, where we can connect your Forge website to 50+ directory listings to ensure your business information is accurate and consistent across the internet.
Click here to learn more about how our Forge website platform can help with your Search Engine Marketing goals.
Rank 2: Content Marketing (Blog, Social, Email, Video, Website)
Ranked as the second most successful marketing strategy by insurance agencies, Content Marketing is up there in terms of adoption and success.
In fact, 27% of agencies attribute the most return to this marketing strategy, which includes blogging, social media, email marketing, videos, and websites.
Why Content Marketing Works for Insurance Agencies
Interestingly enough, we got the most comments on this marketing strategy, most of which stated how effective it would be if those agencies adopted this marketing strategy or put more money and effort into it.
Here’s one quote that speaks to Content Marketing, and how it is one of the easiest entry points with some of the highest levels of impact.
“We are very small and still trying to grow our presence. We are operating on a shoestring budget, so content marketing is the most effective way for us to try and grow through marketing.”
No matter the scale or size of your business, the notion still applies: “Content Marketing is the most effective way to try and grow.”
Let’s put the puzzle pieces of Content Marketing into simple buckets to showcase the various ways you can reach your clients and potential clients.
- Blog
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
- Video
- Website
When it comes to blogging, it’s all about offering valuable insight to the areas where your agency is a subject matter expert.
It also has the side-effect of boosting your online traffic through SEO, which all stems from the content you create in that blog article.
All of that gives search engines a reason to show your website higher in search results for relevant searches—because you are consistently offering value and reaching audiences beyond your clients.
Social Media content is a great way of keeping up with your clients and being a source of credibility when users search for your agency online.
Staying regularly active on the key social media platforms that you find most beneficial to your business and that best fit your audience. The key to social media is to focus on what works and show that your agency has a pulse by keeping it regularly updated.
Email marketing is a surefire way of connecting with your clients on a regular basis, whether it’s for informational purposes, relationship-building, or even renewal reminders and claim follow-ups.
Staying in touch with clients means they are hearing from your agency, and even if they don’t interact or read everything you send out, they know you are reaching out and see that as a positive sign.
Lastly, having a website in this day and age is crucial. The content on your website is more important now than ever before. Content is key, they say, and that goes for having valuable, information-packed pages that have more to offer.
How Your Insurance Agency Can Use Content Marketing Strategies
Now that we’ve covered the elements of Content Marketing, it’s time to think through the steps you can take to leverage this strategy.
Content Marketing is all about clients and potential clients hearing from your insurance agency, wherever they go. Whether it’s checking their email, social feed, or searching online for insurance, you need to be there with something to offer.
This agency puts it perfectly into perspective:
“We need to reach our client base with topical insurance subject matter and identify certain client demographics to [expand outreach].”
If you didn’t know, not hearing from an agency is the top reason people decide to switch to another provider. Here’s how you can adopt Content Marketing strategies that will ensure your agency is out there, active, and relevant to people.
First, build out your insurance agency’s website and make sure it incorporates the following key elements: content that reflects the services you offer and where you serve, as well as ways for people to contact you.
Next, start building upon that foundation with regular blog articles that are relevant to your business, niche, and target audience. Write what you know, and showcase your agency as a trusted source of information and insurance. The same goes for video content. Utilize this to supplement your blogs or even social posts to make an impact.
Expand into social media marketing, utilize the platforms that most align with your primary audience, but also where you intend on being and staying active. Don’t overextend on using every single social media platform just because they exist, learn and understand where your audience is and focus on what works.
Lastly, leverage email marketing to connect with clients and people who are on your email list. Create targeted audience segments to reach the right people at the right time, and aim to have your clients hear from you at least on a monthly basis to stay top of mind and relevant to grow retention efforts.
If you are looking to boost your efforts in Content Marketing, our combined Forge website and Fuse marketing automation platforms do just that.
With our Forge website platform, we’ll build you a website with the insurance agency content you need, along with built-in video creation tools and AI blogging capabilities to make marketing easy.
With Fuse marketing automation, connect your Agency Management System directly to our marketing automation platform to connect with clients and potential clients seamlessly, with ready-to-publish campaigns, advanced audience targeting, and more.
In addition, our Social Media Add-On feature allows you to create, customize, and even automate social content so you can stay on top of your online presence as hands-free as possible.
Rank 1: Word-of-Mouth Marketing (Referrals, Partnerships, Event Sponsors)
And the moment you’ve been waiting for—ranked as the top marketing strategy by insurance agencies is Word-of-Mouth Marketing.
49% of insurance agencies attribute the most marketing success to referrals, partnerships, and event sponsorships.
However, what we’ll get to later on, you’ll see that all marketing leads to word-of-mouth marketing, ironically enough.
In addition, this type of marketing strategy is directly tied to online credibility. That means a solid website, accurate business information across the internet, and positive reviews.
Without these basic foundations, Word-of-Mouth Marketing may not be as impactful. Insurance agencies need to establish an online presence that makes it easy for someone to find and refer them.
Why Word-of-Mouth Marketing Works for Insurance Agencies
When it comes to Word-of-Mouth Marketing, most agencies tie that directly to referrals and referrals alone, as you can see from this quote here:
“We have a flow of people coming in through our website, most often due to an ad they see. Our most important is via referrals.”
However, there are a few more elements to this type of marketing strategy.
- Referrals
- Partnerships
- Event Sponsorships
Referrals are driven by your insurance agency’s existing clients. They refer your business to their friends, colleagues, and loved ones, all because of the incredible service and experience they receive, as well as from offers and other incentives.
Partnerships involve connections insurance agencies have with carriers, networks, and local organizations that offer assistance or provide avenues to expand business.
Event sponsorships involve insurance agencies supporting local community and charity causes by sponsoring events, hosting their own events, or raising funds for charitable organizations.
All of these strategies are great in that they get your agency’s name out there and get people thinking and talking about who you are, what you do, and how you can help others.
How Your Insurance Agency Can Use Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies
Now let’s get into what you can do to boost Word-of-Mouth Marketing organically, as well as how you can increase it through the other marketing strategies we mentioned earlier.
First, in order to begin getting referrals, you need to find ways to bring clients in. If you are an established agency, this is likely solved for you, and you can focus on what works to bring in new clients.
On the flip side, for newer insurance agencies, start leveraging a mix of Traditional, Search Engine, and Content Marketing to grow your book of business.
Once you have a steady, loyal client base, you can tap into referrals and even build strategies around them.
Some agencies simply have their agents add a refer-a-friend link to their email signatures. Others will have a full-blown giveaway, where they give away gift cards when a referral becomes a client or is quoted.
In many cases, it’s the things your agency does around marketing and in nurturing your client journey that makes all the difference. The very business model of independent insurance agencies lends itself perfectly well to referrals because it’s all about people.
Beyond referrals, partnerships are key for agencies, especially when it comes to expanding business.
To establish roots with partnerships, seek out those that align with your business. For example, if you are appointed with an insurance carrier that also has partnership opportunities, look into becoming a member to get even more benefits.
The insurance industry is filled with many amazing networks who partner with agencies to empower them and grow influence, offering resources and access to markets that agencies otherwise wouldn’t be able to achieve. Find out what insurance networks match what your agency has to offer, and explore the options of signing up for the benefits.
Lastly, event sponsorships are popular for insurance agencies to take part in their local communities and to get their name and brand out there. If your insurance agency supports a local community organization or charitable cause, lean into that and show the human side of your agency.
Being noticed for the positive impacts your agency has can create a ripple effect that leads to more referrals and more buzz about your agency.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been doing the math so far, we’re about 8% shy from the top 4 marketing strategies. That’s because 8% of insurance agencies said “I’m Not Sure” in their response to the community poll.
The great thing is, in everything that we’ve covered so far, if your agency is in the same position of not knowing or having a marketing strategy at all, these can give you a great place to start.
And before you say that you don’t need marketing, this comment from an agency that said “I’m Not Sure” had this to say:
“I don’t currently do any marketing intentionally and that needs to change.”
Recognizing that change needs to happen is the first step to any great marketing strategy. Whether you’ve been marketing your agency for years, or you are just starting out, there is something for every independent insurance agency to work on and improve how they build retention and grow their business.
We hope this marketing advice puts you on the path to success, just as many of our insurance agency friends have shared in the community poll.
If you need help with marketing solutions for your business, Agency Revolution can help.
Our platform built just for insurance agencies includes website and marketing automation features that can change the way you market your agency.
