Insurance Marketing Trends
Survey results show agencies need to better coordinate and measure marketing efforts
Last fall, Jason Hoeppner, an independent agency consultant with B.H. Burke & Co., conducted a survey of agencies, carriers and vendors on insurance marketing trends to get a picture of their social media usage, their overall marketing efforts and how they measure ROI. The results of this survey were given to us by Jeff Yates of ACT.
The following are the three points Hoeppner says he found the most eye opening.
- More than 60% of those who responded are not measuring the return on investment of current marketing efforts.
- Close to half of respondents who are not using social media will start to do so within a year.
- Of those who responded, a bit more than 60% do not have a coordinated marketing plan of any kind.
The social media finding corresponded with exactly what we’ve been hearing here at SIS. It is a tool a lot of agencies would like to be using.
Those of you interested in ideas of how to expand your reach with Social Media might be interested in reading one of the following two posts: Creating Brand Awareness Through Facebook and Insurers Put Social Media to Work.
Another finding that matched our research exactly is that a website is the most commonly used marketing tool across both traditional and non-traditional platforms.
While we would agree that the lack of coordinated marketing plans among the independent insurance agencies who responded to the survey is distressing, it is somewhat understandable given the pace of the business. For an agency to grow, however, implementing defined and measured processes (around all areas of the business) should be a priority. For more information, read our recent post Improving Business Processes.
The one thing we did find surprising, however, is how few agencies surveyed are using their agency management system to track and measure results of their marketing efforts. Our Partner XE agency management system has many features that will help you measure and track your marketing efforts. Give us a call at 800-747-9273 to find out how.
Partner XE is an easy to use agency management system designed to streamline workflow and increase productivity for independent insurance agencies of all sizes. Call 800-747-9273 or contact us to schedule a free agency management system assessment and consultation
