At one time, around 50 percent of my inbox was prospecting emails for companies that wanted my business. Well, maybe not that high. But it seemed like it!
It reminded me there are still a great deal of insurance agents who do not market their agency. They rely only on word-of-mouth and client referrals.
While those tactics may work for some, it leads to the downfall of others. Do not wait for it to be the downfall for your agency.
It is better to have leads coming from diverse sources in case one stream dries up. Increasing brand recognition also helps with prospects who aren’t ready to buy now but will consider your agency in the future. To start marketing your agency, try this simple exercise.
Set Your Budget
Your budget for marketing might be as little as $50 per month, depending on your agency’s size. Meanwhile, bigger agencies may have an annual marketing budget of $100,000.
Either way, your budget will govern the type of marketing you can do.
Each agency has different goals. Some want a certain amount of leads per month. Others want to grow their brand exposure.
The significant thing is to stick to your budget.
Decide What Kind of Marketing You Will Do
Next, look for marketing strategies and tactics that fit your goals. The variety of marketing techniques to choose from is extensive.
They can range from local ads in publication circulations to national pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Remember, your marketing choices shouldn’t be chosen at random. Ensure they align with your agency goals.
If you are a smaller agency, think about how to raise local awareness of your brand. Sponsoring an event or contributing to small circulations would be good options.
If you are a larger agency, concentrate on getting leads from areas you want to target. Those tactics take the form of pay-per-click, search engine optimization, or email marketing.
Set Your Key Performance Indicators
Far too many agencies begin marketing campaigns without thinking about what success means to them. This is why you must determine what the key performance indicators, or KPIs, are for each tactic. KPIs are data points that indicate how successful your marketing tactics are.
KPIs differ with each marketing tactics. Here are a few examples…
| Tactic | KPI |
| Advertising in local magazine | Number of phone calls from marketing phone number |
| Attend local event or tradeshow | How many business cards you collected |
| Email marketing campaign | Number of clicks on Call to Action link or phone calls |
| Pay-per-click campaign | Number of conversions or conversion percentage |
| Search engine optimization | Percent increase in website traffic, traffic from specific geo target. (Or, any number of Google Analytics data points). |
There are plenty of possible KPIs. And, they don’t always need to be ROI-based. They are specific to your insurance agency’s goals.
Track Your Marketing Results
Everything leads up to tracking the results of your marketing efforts. You must be able to see if a campaign was successful (or not). Measuring results also help you track performance over time during repeat campaigns.
Monitoring your KPIs during a campaign can help you see if adjustments should be made along the way, too.
If your agency is new to marketing, the method above can help you plan out a strategy. Don’t rely on the same old tactics to get you where you want to be. Instead, build your agency’s bottom line by actively taking part in its growth.
