Marketing Tools & Resources For Insurance Agents

1. We recommend the first step in your journey start at a self-evaluation and really take a detailed look at what your agency has to offer. Take some notes, jot down a few bullet points because we are going to elaborate on these later. Think about your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This is called a SWOT analysis. Your agency may offer a lot to the clients you serve, but there are always opportunities. Self-evaluation is not a one-and-done process, this is something you should revisit often to help grow your business.

• Think about your strengths. What do you do well? What products/services are you most familiar with? Do you have a good pitch? Are you great at networking? Do you have a strong referral base? These are only a few examples of what make a great insurance agent.
• Next up, let’s look at your weaknesses. Weaknesses don’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. This could be something that you just know inside of you that you need to work on. This might also be something that you have never tried before. Weaknesses help us identify and focus on a challenge to better our future. In addition to the questions asked in the strengths section, some weaknesses might be in your follow-up, customer service, paperwork process, product knowledge, or resources… Again, to get the most out of this, you have to really think and be honest with yourself.
• Opportunities are usually the easy part, however some people confuse weaknesses with opportunities. Opportunities are more geared around things that happen outside of your business. Like the 50% co-op program that we offer here at The Premier Agency, or our in-house graphic/flyer design team, or our administrative professionals that help you with your paperwork. Other advantages that we would place in opportunities are things like external relationships with key referral partners, Chamber of Commerce or other membership organizations, or maybe a technology or resource that helps you to be more competitive than another agent. These are all things that we need to leverage to help your business grow.
• Lastly, threats! Threats are things that could ultimately end up hurting your business such as fulfillment issues, negative carrier publicity, changes in industry regulations, staffing issues, cash-flow problems, and more.

2. Step two in developing our marketing strategy is to identify our target markets and goals. This is an important step, and one that you really need to get right. All too often, we see agents shoot for the stars and set unrealistic expectations. While we applaud that go-getter attitude, we also need to make sure we aren’t setting ourselves up for failure. The first part of this step is to identify our target market, and while this may seem easy, there is a lot too it. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is targeting consumers by age. Low and behold, there is way more to it than that. What about those who are turning 65 and just starting to learn about Medicare? When should you start courting those individuals? The second part of this section is target markets. While targeting the retirement community down the street may be tempting, it is not the only opportunity to consider. Especially in the digital age, more and more seniors are turning to the internet for resources and information. Nailing down exactly who, what, when, where, and why takes time and a lot of consideration so that you don’t waste your marketing dollars.

3. Next up, we need to develop our message. So what is your pitch? What is your angle? Getting your message right can really make or break your sale. The key here is personalization. People buy from people. That is really the easiest way to put it. We call this concept “humanizing the brand”. You have to be able to relate to your customers, tell a story to lighten the mood. At the same time, you need to make sure to properly educate and inform your clients about what they are purchasing. You need to be the expert in your field and perfect your craft. Knowing the ins-and-outs of a plan is critical into establishing that trust and authority.

4. Let’s get creative! As a part of our suite of marketing tools and resources, our in-house graphic design team can really help bring your vision to life. Do you need a dynamic leave behind? To you need a presentation that really brings your story to life? Let us help! Being creative, developing dynamic visuals, and education pieces can really help capture an audience!

5. Next up, let’s look at some of the places to get your message and creatives out there. In this part of your marketing strategy, we are going to look at the placement of ads, your online presence, and how to get your name out there. Now, let’s be clear, there are 1000+ marketing channels out there and you can’t do them all, so we need to be strategic. We want to focus our efforts on a few key places and dominate. As an example, if you want to be successful in a networking group, you need to attend. Not one or two meetings, but all of them! Or maybe you want to look at social media. Should you post once or twice a week? Or how about once or twice a day! Do you have a website? Do you have unique content on the site and some dynamic visuals to keep your target audience engaged? The key here is consistency and persistence. Document out exactly what your game plan is and stick to it!

6. What is your advertising and marketing budget? Pretty important we know how much we are going to spend, right? Always remember, at The Premier Agency, we co-op most qualified marketing and advertising programs at 50%, which will really help your money go even further!

7. Evaluation time! Before we go for liftoff, we need to set some goals. What exactly are we looking to accomplish with our marketing strategy? Do we need 10 leads per month? How are you going to get them? Your measure of success should not be limited to simply leads…