Change can be scary. It’s often met with fear and reluctance. Yet, as Heraclitus of Ephesus observed 2,500 years ago, “the only constant is change.” In fact, in the business world, one’s success is extremely dependent upon how one responds to change. The key is to first change your mindset. You need to view change as an opportunity for growth and for doing things better. For example, the technological changes we’ve seen in recent years — most notably social media — mean that business relationships, which were once built only on a firm handshake, are now also being cultivated through Twitter “Tweets” and Facebook “Wallposts” and LinkedIn “InMails.” Yes, success in the digital world requires that you change your thinking.
While some insurance agencies may associate technological change with risk, savvy agencies understand that it might actually be riskier in the long term to cling to the status quo. No matter what your agency’s stance, there’s one certainty: your customers are rapidly adopting new technology all the time.
Case in point: according to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 91 percent of adult Americans now own a cell phone, and 56% are now smartphone owners. Further, according to Boston Consulting Group, 14.6% of all US Web traffic now comes from smartphone users.
Mobile now accounts for 14.6% of Web traffic
In 2012, PC sales declined for the first time in 11 years. And, that’s due to a single disruptive technology — the iPad!
The Post-PC Era
So how can your agency keep up with today’s digital marketplace? Here are five tips, which I think will help you stay ahead of the curve.
Tip 1 — Location, location, location
Geo-targeting, also referred to as “location-based marketing,” can help insurance agencies narrow down their focus in order to generate more qualified leads. Online directories are a great way to put your agency on the map, and it’s typically free to add your agency’s listing. Yelp, for example, is a social review site that helps users find local restaurants, shopping, entertainment and services (like insurance) online. In the second quarter of 2013, Yelp received an average of 108 million monthly unique visitors. If you own an agency with brick-and-mortar offices, you could tap into this audience by creating a business listing for each location.
In addition, Google Places also allows your agency to create a business listing that can be found on Google Search, Google Maps, Google+, and mobile devices. You can include information about your agency, such as:
- An overview of your agency including insurance products, lines of business, etc.
- Printable coupons your customers can bring into your store locations.
- Business hours.
- Where to park.
- Google+ Events for in-store promotions.
Tip 2 — Plan for seasonality
As the age-old adage goes, timing is everything. Some of the most effective marketing campaigns are those that leverage a timely event, breaking news, or a specific season. For example, if your agency’s customers are largely in Florida, you might consider creating a campaign around hurricane season, which spans June through November. Prior to launching the campaign, conduct an audit of your Florida customers’ home and/or car insurance policies to ensure they have the coverages they need. If they don’t, make note of what other coverages or lines they should consider. This not only gives you the opportunity to cross-sell, but it shows them that they’re more than just a policy number to your agency.
Within that same campaign, you could send out a series of email blasts, customizing both the design and message to your Florida customers. Include an email subject line like: “Florida Residents: Are you covered for hurricane season?” You could even utilize variable data to send those same residents a direct-mail postcard, which could include their name, or an image of their actual house, in the design.
Tip 3 — Be mobile-ready
A study by comScore found that four out of five consumers use their smartphones to shop. If customers are using their smartphones to shop, the question becomes, are you leveraging mobile devices to sell? While your agency may have a website, it may not be as mobile-friendly as you think. Take the test yourself. Try visiting your website from different mobile devices and see how the pages render. Next, complete any call-to-actions on your site, such as requesting a quote. How does the form display? If you’re experiencing difficulty working your way through the site, chances are, so are your potential customers. “Friction” like this is a real turn-off for customers.
In addition to your website, try testing out your email blasts on mobile devices. Despite the fact that 41 percent of all commercial emails are opened on mobile devices, only 58 percent of email marketers are designing for it, according to Marketing Sherpa. Make sure that, prior to sending out an email, you send a test version to yourself. Look out for any issues, like an image not loading due to its file size. This could prevent the image from displaying when the recipient receives it, or it might not even get to their inbox in the first place. Hire a professional to help you create an email that both looks and works well on a mobile device, in order to see a greater return for your investment.
Tip 4 — Start a conversation in social media
With new social media channels emerging all the time, it can be difficult to determine which ones your agency should participate in.
“Being everywhere doesn’t get you anywhere,” says Jim Brandt, founder and president of Sun Insurance in Orlando, Florida. A personal and commercial insurance agency, Sun Insurance has found success in social media by focusing on the channels where its audience is: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. While the social media channels they use are not unique, their approach within those channels is. “We publish content that isn’t necessarily related to insurance at all,” Brandt says. His team believes in an 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, they publish content on everything, but insurance – from restaurant recommendations and movie reviews to events happening around Orlando. Brandt added, “By publishing content our customers have come to seek out and rely on, even if it’s not about insurance, we’ve found that they often think of us first when it comes to insurance, too.”
Tip 5 — Put people first
Despite the fact that technology is booming, never forget that your customers aren’t a Mac, a PC, or an iPad: They’re people. Look for opportunities to leverage technology, but keep the message geared toward the people reading it. Skype, the popular text, voice and video chat technology that’s now owned by Microsoft, is a great example of a company that markets how its technology makes people feel, not just what it can do. Its “Stay Together” campaign tells the stories of several people who are separated by distance, but brought together by Skype.
Denis, for instance, left Uganda in the midst of war to come to the U.S., leaving behind his beloved family, including his son. While he can’t be there physically, he can be with them through Skype, allowing him to still play an active role in their everyday lives.
The same approach can be used when it comes to marketing insurance. The work you do each day isn’t about a specific insurance line or coverage. It’s about protecting people – and the things in life that matter most to them. If you can find a way to communicate that through your website, blog, email marketing, or social media posts, you’ll be building more than a digital marketing plan. You’ll be building lifetime customers.
Wrapping up
Success is largely about responding to and exploiting change. It starts with a change in mindset that allows you to see change as an opportunity and not a threat. The digital world represents a great deal of change and requires that you change the way you market your agency.
So, I hope you’ll use these tips to help you market your agency in the digital world. I’d also love to hear about any other tips you may have and share them with our readers. So, leave me a comment, below.
BTW, perhaps you should also consider changing your antiquated agency management system to our revolutionary QQ Catalyst cloud based insurance agency management system. Fill out the form on our website to get a free demo of Catalyst and see for yourself how Catalyst can help you compete in the digital world.
