Insurance Internet Marketing
Insurance Internet Marketing: Your Guide to Success on the Internet
Insurance internet marketing has become the holy grail of marketing for every insurance agency that is serious about getting new business.
The trouble is, insurance internet marketing has become increasingly difficult and extremely competitive. One of the reasons why it has become so competitive to market your business on the internet is because smart internet marketers who are paid to advertise have taken up space which was once reserved for legitimate insurance businesses.
You can do a search for insurance agencies in almost any city and you will discover, many times in the top results are websites that do nothing more than advertise for some national lead generation company or companies. In fact, many of these websites are owned by lead generation companies that do nothing more than sell leads to insurance agents and agencies.
Following are the top three things you need to know about marketing your agency on the internet.
Insurance Internet Marketing: The Top Three Things You Must Know to Succeed
1. Build a Professional Presence on the Internet
Imagine your prospect sitting at their computer – Googling (your city name) and “help with my insurance.”
Now imagine that the top three listings on the page include 1) Yellow Pages (just another list), 2) An affiliate marketer selling clicks 3) Your professional and local agency website that offers help to local customers.
Who is your prospect going to call? Most likely, they are going to call you. Why? Because they were searching for local help to solve a problem and you are there (locally) to help them solve that problem.
2. Get Found on the Internet
Building a professional presence on the internet assumes that you your business will be found when someone searches for it.
The biggest mistake made by most insurance agencies wanting to do insurance internet marketing is that they assume that someone will find them if they design their website around their name.
For example, the owner of the ABC Insurance Agency in Seattle, WA (fictitious) had a friend build his website and get it listed in Google. The owner was ecstatic over all of the new business he was going to get from his website.
The problem was, nobody in Seattle could find the website unless they typed in the name of the agency (the ABC Insurance Agency).
What the owner of the agency found out (the hard way) was that his website was nothing more than a glorified business card.
3. Use the Pros to Promote Your Business
In today’s competitive internet market place, internet marketing is a professional science (not a hobby). You know all about selling insurance. We know all about marketing your business on the internet.
For a free consultation about insurance internet marketing, call Insurance Agency Marketing today, or fill out the form on the right and we will contact you within one business day.
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Life Insurance Marketing in the 21st Century: How to Make it Work
Life Insurance Marketing: Why Old Methods Are No Longer Working…
When it comes to life insurance marketing, there is an old saying that “Life Insurance is not bought, but rather it is sold”. That statement held true for nearly 200 years of the Industry until the debut of the internet.
Today however, millions of prospects surf the internet looking for Insurance rates on policies that they are interested, but at the end of the day they are looking for a “real person” that can help them decide which way to turn. The internet has become the most popular way to search for insurance plans and most importantly for a friendly and helpful agent to speak with. Prospects are still looking for someone they like and someone that they can trust.
In days gone by, people used to search the Yellow Pages for insurance agents unless they were referred to someone at just the right time when they happened to be in the market for a new policy.
Today the modern shoppers go to the internet and open up Google or Yahoo or Bing and they quickly begin their search. With a push of a button, they see before them a huge list of potential Insurance Agencies right before their eyes. Their next click needs to be on your website, which is your front line salesperson.
Your website needs to the be the best player on your team, as the old cliché still holds true: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
The old days of life insurance marketing, starting with a list of your Top 100 friends and Family and working them and their warm market still works, but not like it did in the early to mid 20th Century.
People are more sales savvy and they are also more privacy minded and have the tools to prove it. Having someone give your name to an insurance agent in years back as a referral was considered a favor, but now it may be a good way to lose a friend.
Social internet sites such as “Facebook” and others, allow people to accept or REJECT the offer of someone to become “their friend”. With caller ID on all of our phones now days, people are able to “sidebar” or “reject the caller and simply let the “electronic secretary” take the call. Then, at their leisure, the called person listens to the caller’s message and decides whether the caller will merit a callback.
Let’s face it, the world has become far less personal than it has ever been before. But now, the great tradeoff for the savvy Life Insurance Agency is the ability to reach across the entire planet, in the global ocean of humanity to fish for their prospects. Today’s marketing possibilities are the greatest they have ever been in the History of the World of Business Marketing.
Adaptability is the Key to business success in generation to generation survival. There is a Proverb in the Bible that many people have never really paid much attention to. “It reads:
“For riches do not endure forever, And a crown is not secure for all generations.” (Proverbs 27:24)
The Dinosaurs at one time were the greatest creatures on earth, but where are they today?
Regardless of how their species went expired, it can be attributed to failure to adapt to the changing world. Insurance Agency Marketing is all about helping your business to adapt and succeed in the fast and changing world we live in! Call us today and start adapting the right way!
Call toll free at: 888-803-6034 or fill out the form to the right and we will get back to you within one business day.
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Multiplied Salesmanship and the Power of the Internet
A great marketer named Gary Halbert once said, “Effective marketing is Multiplied Salesmanship.”
Halbert was not only a great marketer, but he specialized in what is called Direct Marketing. Direct Marketing (or Direct Advertising) is copy writing that is designed to get a direct response. The letter you get in the mail that has a call to action at the end, “Call this number now for your free book,” is a great example of a Direct Marketing piece.
When Halbert said that effective (Direct) Marketing is “Multiplied Salesmanship,” here is what he meant:
Every letter is, or at least ought to be an effective salesperson, selling your product or service to your prospect. By using Direct Advertising, you can easily multiply your message exponentially. Instead of sending out one sales person door to door (highly ineffective), you can send out thousands of sales people all at once.
The internet is the most effective Direct Marketing tool ever invented. Here’s why:
The internet works in three powerful ways!
1. People Search for You
Instead of going into people’s home, selling them a product or service, people are actively searching for the insurance or financial products that you offer!
2. Your Website Becomes a Living, Tireless Salesperson
With a properly designed website, your website becomes a salesperson designed to convert your visitors (prospects) into sales. By having a professional image, providing good information (content) and having a strong call to action (get help now!) you have a virtual sales person at your beck and call 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
3. You Can Leverage Direct Marketing to Close Prospects
By using the power of your website, you can also leverage Direct Marketing to close your prospects. Using a website (instead of say, a phone number) you can drive prospects to your site (your salesperson) which can then close, or at least pre-close your prospects.
Having a properly designed website is no longer a luxury. It is essential to compete in today’s business environment. To get a free consultation, call Insurance Agency Marketing right now at 888-803-8063 or fill out the form on the right and we will get back to you within one business day.
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Does Your Website Make Skinny Kids
One of the greatest salespeople and sales trainers of all time, Zig Ziglar, would ask this question:
What is the difference between the top, super star professional sales people and mediocre sales people?
His answer: The mediocre sales people have skinny kids!
So, what makes a good sales person? Many people think it is someone who can convince you to buy something you don’t want to buy. But normally, that kind of sale results in something after the sale… its called a charge back.
On the other hand, a superstar salesperson is one who will help you to buy what you wanted to buy in the first place. He or she will ask lots of questions, take notes, probe your interests, answer your questions, and then match up your interests with the right product.
A great sales person is usually one who SAYS very little in the sales process. He or she realizes that God gave us two ears and only one mouth.
A bad sales person is one who usually talks non-stop. He tells you all about his product or service and tries to convince you that his product is the one you want to have.
When you visit many websites, you feel as though you have been visiting with a bad sales person. It seems as though the entire website is devoted to talking about the company, how great the company is and what the company can do for you.
A great website however, should be more like a great salesperson. It should ask lots of questions, stimulate your interests, then provide solutions to your most pressing problems.
Are you ready for a website that is designed to sell? At Insurance Agency Marketing, we can help you develop a strategy to turn your website into a superstar salesperson for your agency. Give us a call today at 888-803-6034 or fill out the form on the right and we will call you back within one business day.
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What if Your Agency Was a Hamburger Stand?
Imagine for a moment that your insurance agency is actually a hamburger stand. Now you have a hamburger stand and I have a hamburger stand and we are competing with one another for customers.
What if I told you that I would give you every possible advantage in marketing your business. You can choose the top three advantages if I may have only one of my choosing. What would be your top three? In your mind, go ahead and choose from the following list:
- Great Location
- Fabulous Ingredients
- Lots of Choices
- Comfortable Environment
- Clean Bathrooms
- Local Awards
- Others You Can Think Of
Alright then, did you choose the top three advantages that you would want?
As I mentioned earlier, there is only one advantage that I desire. In fact, I am confident that with this advantage, I know with utmost certainty that I will win every time.
What is the advantage I want?
A STARVING CROWD!
It used to be that finding a starving crowd was a difficult problem. In the old days, as far as your insurance agency marketing was concerned, the Yellow Pages was about the closest thing you could find to a starving crowd. When people had a problem they would go to the Yellow Pages to find help.
The problem is, the Yellow Pages are dead. But actually, that is very good news for your insurance agency, or your financial services practice. Why? Because today the people who go online looking for information about your products and services are much more targeted (they actively search for what they want) and starving for information (they want it now)!
The problem is, most insurance agencies are way behind the curve on this. They still rely on old methods that don’t work anymore, such as newspapers, bus benches and bill boards.
The starving crowd is going to the web to get what they want. We know how to get you in front of your starving crowd and dominate your local market.
Call us today for free consultation and let us give you every possible advantage… including the starving crowd!
Call toll-free to: 888-803-6034, or fill out the form to the right and we will call you as soon as possible.
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Direct Mail That Works!
Direct Mail for Insurance Agents
Open! Mail Marketing is direct mail that works. Lets face it, people today are bombarded by advertising messages. By some estimates, the average person is exposed to 30,000 marketing messages per day. By the time they get home, people are exhausted and they have no time or interest to endure an additional sales pitch.
How do you sort your mail? Most people stand over their trash can with two piles of mail – the “A Pile” and the “B Pile.” The A-Pile is the mail that needs to get opened now or at least, very soon. The B-Pile goes straight into the round file. If it looks like a sales message, it most likely will never be read.
If you are selling an insurance product with a high ROI (such as annuities), you may want to consider direct mail that really works. We call this “Open! Marketing.” Why? Because our direct mail campaigns get opened… at a nearly 100% open rate!
Why is this so important? The first hurdle in any direct marketing campaign is getting your sales letter read.
Consider the following two case studies (based on real cases):*
The ABC Insurance Agency sent out 1000 traditional post cards, costing them approximately $700 for the setup, list and postage. From that mailing, they received 10 responses. From those 15 responses, the agency make 2 annuity sales, for a total commission of $4,500. That left the ABC Agency with a net profit of $3,800.
The XYZ Insurance Agency sent out 100 pieces of Open! Marketing Mail, costing them $1,700 and received 10 responses. Of those ten responses, they sold 3 annuities for a total commission of $9,000. That left the agency with a net profit of $7,300!
Why does the Open! Mail Marketing System work so well? Because it not only gets your sales letter read, it gives your prospect an incentive to respond. When the right prospect (which is an highly-targeted prospect) has the right incentive and gets involved in the process, it is much easier to build trust and make the sale.
Call Insurance Agency Marketing today and get a free consultation on your next Open! Mail Marketing System.
Call 888-803-6034 or fill out the form on the right and one of our consultants will contact you as soon as possible.