Top Five Agency Marketing Myths

All too often we find many misperceptions about marketing an insurance agency. Much more often we hear what doesn’t work than what does. The funny thing is in my life we have failed at many marketing campaigns but we don’t give up! Sometimes we find that if we make one change, it is the magic touch. For example, for years we have done end of year specials and literally had one order after promoting it online, in emails and at speaking engagements.

This year we have had more people call us and ask than ever before. We had a line at a recent insurance conference. You know what the difference was? We have a salesperson who is calling all warm leads and promoting the specials as “Coming Soon.” Had I only thought of it sooner!  But I didn’t give up on the program and I kept making changes until it became profitable.

In insurance marketing we all too often expect an immediate demand. For example, I went to an event and got no one begging me to write their insurance today so I’m going to give up on attending networking events. I have literally done speaking engagements that don’t pay off for two to three years, during which we nurtured the prospect, connected with them and shared out value. In insurance we need to let go of the instant ROI expectation.

For the record, insurance agency owners tend to do the same thing with producers. We get one that doesn’t work and therefore we don’t invest in future producers. News flash! Sales people can come and go. Some will work, some won’t. But don’t be once bitten and twice shy, because it’s the nature of the industry.

For those of you reading, you may be one of the people we just discussed who is trying but not connecting on a new marketing plan. But for some of you, you may take in everything you hear about insurance marketing as if it was fact. Things like email marketing doesn’t work or no one reads blogs. That mentality is far more dangerous because you are taking someone else’s word for it rather than researching how it is working, what the best practices are and how to apply it in your agency. My recommendation is stick with researching how marketing strategies are working and then deploy them in your business to test and refine.

Over the course of time we have developed these top five agency marketing myths:

LinkedIn is dead:

Completely false. Linkedin is the new and improved business card. How often have you met someone only to remember you needed them but not know their name? LinkedIn allows you to be found and connected to. You can see whom you know in common, whom you maybe should be knowing, all while allowing people to learn about you. If you don’t find LinkedIn valuable, you’re probably doing it wrong! Spend time to see how you can use this powerful tool.

Email marketing is a waste:

First of all yes, some emails will go to spam. No you won’t have 80% email open rates. Just because people aren’t opening them doesn’t mean that you aren’t having an impact. I certainly don’t open every email from Amazon or Macy’s but I see their name and it makes them at the top of my mind. Also if your emails aren’t being opened, you have to dig deeper. Find out the open rate for customers vs. prospects. They are two different numbers. Play with subject lines and content. Don’t send an email out to just sell—instead send it out to connect.

We don’t get leads from social media:

First of all—if that’s the only reason you are on social media you are doing it wrong. You need to be on it to connect and build relationships. From relationships come opportunities. You need to only post 20% of the time on social media about insurance. Post about your agency’s culture, your community, your team and then a bit about insurance. Don’t think of social media as lead generation. Think of it as lead development.

No one reads our blogs so they are a waste:

So very untrue. Google is reading your blogs and the great news is that they love fresh content. Also if you expect people to take their hard-earned time to go and find your insurance blog to enjoy, you are significantly mistaken. You need to throw your own parade and tell people about your blogs. Share them on email and social media. Not just your company pages but your personal pages as well.

My staff doesn’t want to be part of marketing so we don’t do it:

Let me ask you, who runs your agency? We don’t market because the people we pay don’t want to be part of marketing. So they don’t want the business they work for to grow? Sounds like they may not be the best fit. I can’t imagine paying someone in my business who didn’t want to see it become successful. Think long and hard. Do you want brand ambassadors or employees?

Bottom line is your agency has to be marketing and experimenting to grow. Don’t let myths hold you back!