Insurance Marketing Strategies: Starting a Blog

Marketing, Sales

Among the many insurance marketing strategies out there, blogging continues to be a popular and useful tool across the years. We consider blogging an effective method and have the facts to back it up: websites with blogs have over 400% more pages indexed in Google than those without a blog, and more than 60% of consumers made a purchase based on a blog post.

See why we ranked blogging among our top insurance marketing strategies to gain website traffic

Beyond the stats, blogging also provides benefits like:

• Frequent new content, bumping you up in search results
• A platform to show off your brand and values
• More ways to directly connect with your community and build relationships
• Additional sales content ready-made to deliver to prospects
• Relatively low upfront and on-going costs, offering a potentially large ROI

So, how do you get started?

1. Start small and grow

As with any new process or strategy, start small with your blogging and scale as you go. Begin with one or two posts a month and slowly build as you get your footing. It takes time to establish your blog presence, but the wait is worth it. Focus on the quality of your content rather than the quantity to start.

2. Designate a point person/people

Ideas may flow freely, but action can be sparse. Ensure you have a team or a team member heading up the blogging process. Ideally, you should have a few individuals devoting time to your blog to diversify ideas and spread-out responsibility. Still, there should be one point person dedicated to moving things forward.

3. Generate ideas

The first place to look for ideas is other blogs in the industry. Check out their topics and determine if any would resonate with your audience. Check-in with your larger agency team, too. Discover the common questions team members get from customers and ask what topics they think are relevant. No idea is a bad idea at the start – this is the time to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

4. Determine your keywords

To make your blog an effective marketing tool, you want to use relevant search words reasonably often in your posts. Your locality name plus “insurance,” or “insurance agency,” and other variations are an excellent place to start for most independent agencies. Another great combination is adding in your specialty for something, like “small business insurance Houston.” These key phrases have a lower competition since they focus on your local city or county, but they have a relatively high search volume.

Once you have a few phrases, you can discover more using tools like Google’s keyword planner to identify similar search phrases and rank your current terms by competition and search volume.

What’s your agency’s specialty? Discover how to determine and leverage your agency niche here

5. Make navigation easy

Before you start churning out posts, determine how you will categorize them. Take a look at your topic ideas and determine how you should group them (i.e., Auto insurance, Life insurance, Tips and Tricks, etc.). Organizing posts makes it easier for someone to continue diving into topics of interest, keeping them on your site longer, and increasing their engagement.

6. Spread the word

A blog without readers is like a tree falling in the woods – does it make an impact? The answer is no. Once you have a few posts up, begin sharing the news of your blog on your social media and via your regular newsletters. Add a “share” button on each post so readers can let others know about posts they enjoyed.

7. Make your website attractive to get your blog seen

No matter how great your blog content, if the site it’s hosted on is out-of-date or difficult to navigate, it won’t succeed. Ensure your agency has a professional, secure, and attractive landing place before implementing your blog strategy.

Partner Platform users can get a sleek, engaging custom website to promote their agency brand thanks to our Partner Connect agency website offerings. Find out more about how you can upgrade your agency’s website experience: contact us at sales@sisware.com or 800.747.7005, Option 6.

Making the Sale: Our Best Insurance Agency Marketing Blogs

Marketing, Sales

This past year, one of our team’s major focuses was insurance agency marketing and how we can get the best tools to our Partner Platform agencies, helping them build and grow their agency brand. From our integrated Marketing Automation Manager to our Partner Connect custom website, app, and Client Portal offerings, we spent hours gaining feedback and perfecting our sales and marketing offerings.

Beyond these tools, we also provided a wealth of information on how agencies can build their brand and grow their business on our blog. As we start a new year, we hope you’ll benefit from some of the tips and tricks we’ve captured.

Our Top Insurance Agency Marketing Blogs

• Insurance Prospecting Software and Tips: Growing Your Insurance Family with Referrals: Referred customers are up to four times more likely to make a purchase than others. This post looks at methods and tools your agency needs to identify and capitalize on referral opportunities.
• Finding Your Niche for Insurance Agency Marketing: Finding your agency niche means discovering a customer segment where you have an advantage. Use your individual agency expertise to strengthen your brand and grow your customer base.
• Making Your Agency Website Your Own with Partner Connect: In our digitally-driven market, your agency website is your best and most prominent marketing tool. Discover how to make it modern, branded, and poised for sales enablement.
• Struggling to Grow Insurance Agency Marketing and Sales? Motivate Your Team: Tips and tools can only go so far in bolstering agency sales and marketing. See what you can do to help your agency team more effectively gain and convert new customers.
• What Your Customers Want: Changes in Expectations in the Digital Insurance Age: The insurance industry can be notorious for staying “stuck in the past,” but your agency doesn’t need to fall into that trap. Discover how to keep your legacy of strong connection alive while reaching customers where they are.
• Gain Outreach Power: Marketing Automation and Your Insurance CRM: If you’re looking to increase lead qualification by more than 450%, the CRM and marketing automation combo is your answer. See what each tool brings to the table and why they’re on our “must-have” list.
• 6 Steps to Make Insurance Agency Marketing Happen on a Budget: These steps can help you start up a marketing plan no matter your balance sheet.  
  
  

Looking for more quality content? Check out our entire blog archive here.

Seven Steps for Insurance Prospecting: Software and Processes

Marketing, Sales

Ever feel like the once critical phone call is now irrelevant? You’re not alone. The rise of data-driven prospecting and digital outreach sparked this rumor that phone prospecting is dead.

Yet, successful development teams still leverage the phone with insurance prospecting software for great results – in fact our Partner Platform agencies are emphasizing that a phone conversation is more important than ever. But how are they getting to that conversation?

The Facts Don’t Lie

Insurance prospecting software evolved, and savvy agencies took these new tech advances and leveraged them to improve time-honored outreach methods. Studies show there is no reason to put the phone call to rest:

• 69% of buyers accepted one or more cold calls in 2019
• More than 80% of buyers said they set sales appointments as a result of multiple contacts that started with a cold call
• Almost half of buyers say cold calls are their preferred first contact
• 57% of C-suite executives report they value information gained from phone calls with reps

These stats show phone outreach is alive and well. It’s all about how you leverage it.

1. Start with a data

Data, gained through your insurance CRM, is your starting point. Even though initial phone outreach is known as “cold calling,” these calls shouldn’t be cold at all. The information gained from your marketing automation campaigns and CRM should provide essential background knowledge you can leverage to build a relationship right away.

2. Use more than one outreach method

While the prospecting call is very much alive for some, it may not work for all. Your outreach efforts should be part of a multi-pronged strategy. Content sharing, email, and social media are all elements of what makes up effective, professionally persistent, data-driven outreach.

Are you a digital-savvy agency? Discover why digital matters and how to leverage digital tools for your agency

3. Get to know prospects

Whether via phone, email, text, or another method, each of your conversations should contain an element of discovery. Focus on understanding the person you’re talking to: what do they need most? What are their barriers to purchase? Do they have any non-negotiables? The more you know, the better you can tailor policy proposals to meet their needs, making them more likely to choose your agency for coverage.

4. Make it easy to focus

Stay focused on the call and the prospect’s needs at all times. Eliminate distractions: close your door, sign out of email and social networking, and consider wearing headphones to block out other noise.

Show your commitment to the conversation by saying the prospect’s name often, smiling, and leaving room for them to talk. Over 60% of individuals surveyed said someone who listens to their needs is more likely to win their business.

Get more tips on the systems and steps you need to gain insurance leads on our blog

5. Provide useful follow-up

Keep the prospect engaged with a follow-up re-cap of what you talked about, confirmation on your next communication (whether a call, something you’ll email, or a meeting), and add in something they can use. That “something useful” could be a link to client feedback, contact info for a referrer, special offer, or any other content that provides more information. This follow-up gives them a reference as they think it over, and it shows you care more about meeting their needs than signing them as a customer.

6. Train your agents

Too often in sales, it’s thought you either have “it,” or you don’t. Though there is some element of natural ability and interest, successful agents grow from coaching and training.

Know your agents’ strengths and weaknesses and leverage training to fill in gaps. Perhaps you need to bring in new agents to add to the team or look to others in your agency who could grow into the position. To help grow your group, establish mentorship and coaching, allowing team members to bolster confidence and learn the ropes. And have a constant feedback loop for all team members, ensuring each has someone to consult to assess growth and celebrate successes.

Learn how to train and motivate your agency sales team in this helpful post

7. Keep moving from better to best

As with all successful agency processes, you need to review and improve your prospecting strategy continuously. Try different outreach cadences, test various scripts, and add to training as is necessary to help your team stay fresh and focused.

And keep your team equipped with the right insurance prospecting software. Essential tools include your insurance CRM and marketing automation systems as well as quality communication tools like an up-to-date insurance agency website, integrated email and texting, and a custom client portal. The easier it is for you to connect with prospects, the better.

Discover more about essential prospecting tools and how your agency can get them all in one place: view a demo of our all-in-one Partner Platform agency management system today.