3 insurance agent marketing tips
New year, new resolutions, new goals. If you’ve promised yourself that this is the year to really dig in to marketing and advertising, to help fill your pipeline with new and very qualified leads, here are a few insurance agent marketing tips that just may help you meet those goals…without spending an inordinate amount of time.
Insurance agent marketing tip # 1: Create your social media strategy
You already know: the younger your clients, the more time they spend on social media, in general. So start with where they’re spending time: on Facebook and Instagram. If you sell commercial lines, add in LinkedIn. Now, there are many more social media platforms out there – but the problem is, it’s easy to spread yourself too thin and not build a solid presence on any of them, posting just once or twice a month. You’ll not build an audience of followers or have meaningful conversations that way. So just concentrate on a couple of them and make them strong.
We’ve talked at length before (see Insurance producer marketing tactics for your social networks) about how to set up your social media pages. You can review those for the basics, like choosing your cover image, filling out your profile completely and choosing what to post. (Rule #1 – do NOT use your personal pages for business. Create business pages instead, and keep them separate!)
Also remember, social media should be a two-way conversation. Don’t do all the talking yourself. Ask questions, take polls, try to get conversations going. That means you need to check your pages frequently and respond promptly. Do your best to keep the conversation going. When someone answers a question you ask, post back and ask, What do others think? Do they agree or disagree?
Tell stories in your posts. By that we mean, tell a short story about how your client succeeded or was helped because you helped them with their insurance needs. How they were the hero to the company owner. How you saved them big bucks from what they were paying before. How you found a gap in coverage, they agreed and purchased the additional coverage – just in time to actually need it.
Related: Digital insurance marketing helps for insurance agencies and producers
Buffer also suggests what they call a 4:1 strategy:
- Start with the basic six types of updates: links, videos, images, quotes, reshares, plain-text updates
- Choose a “staple” update: One of the six types that will make up the majority of your shares
- Create a 4:1 ratio of sharing: For every four “staple” updates, publish one different type for variety
Related: Six ways insurance agents can rock social selling on LinkedIn
In all of your posts, think what your clients or potential clients want to read. What’s in it for them. Show them (using stories – don’t just tell them) how you as a business consultant can help. It’s good to repost material from other sites that provide helpful tips for your insurance clients. (Follow Arrowhead on Facebook: We provide a number of tips for personal lines and commercial lines that you can repost!) Don’t try to sell insurance policies in every post. In fact, research shows it’s best to only try to sell in every fifth or sixth post.
For more helpful tips on social media strategy, check out these two Buffer posts: How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan From Scratch and How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2019 and Beyond.
Insurance agent marketing tip # 2: Where to find great FREE stock photos
Your social media posts need images. Of course, it’s best to use real photos of clients (if they agree in writing) when you’re giving the highlights of their story.
But do you find yourself reusing the same stock images over and over again? After all, who has time to search through multiple websites or do a Google search for a particular photo, only to find out it’s copyrighted and you can’t use it? So here’s our second insurance agent marketing tip: a list of the best free stock photo websites that provide royalty-free images, from our friends at Hubspot (heck, they even offer free images!):
- Pixabay
- Unsplash
- Negative Space
- Death to Stock
- ISO Republic
- New Old Stock
- StockSnap.io
- Kaboompics
- Startup Stock Photos
Need more? Check out Hubspot’s blogpost with 20 free stock image sites.
Insurance agent marketing tip # 3: Expand your online presence with Google My Business
Now that Google has all but killed Google+, they’ve opened up a new – and better way – for you to boost your valuable local presence: Google My Business. It’s like a mini-social platform, and the third of our three insurance agent marketing tips. You can add photos, a description of your agency, what you specialize in – AND you can post updates just like you do on your Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
Potential customers can find you on a search engine page or on Google Maps. That’s good.
They can also post reviews about you. And they’re always one-sided: They’re the victim and you’re the villain. That’s not-so-good. Here’s more on how to handle bad reviews, Latest insurance agent marketing tactics for online reputation management.
Basically, it’s FREE online advertising! Just claim your Google My Business listing (formerly known as Google Places), and your agency will be featured in the search results (as well as in Google Maps) for local searches like the one pictured below.
In the screenshot below, you can see a couple of our more recent posts.
If you haven’t already claimed your Google My Business listing, Hubspot has created easy step-by-step instructions. You’ll see that as Google walks you through the setup of your listing, you’ll automatically create a Google+ Page for your business. Why? Who knows. Maybe they’re putting Google + on life support?