How to make your insurance advertising more ineffective

Please answer this question…

“What is the purpose of advertising?”

Take a few minutes to think about it, because the answer is not as obvious as you think.

When I asked agents this question, they typically responded, “To get the name of the agency or agent in front of the prospect.”

Was this also your answer?

If so, then to some extent, you’re right. But there’s more than that.

The purpose of advertising is to make your prospects aware of your products…and to get them to take action!

Keeping your name, the name of your agency, or the types of products or services you offer in front of your prospects is only part of the formula. If you can’t motivate your prospects to take some kind of action, you’re not maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising.

It’s nice to create “blue-chip awareness” or establish yourself or your agency as a brand in the minds of your prospects and clients. But unless you have deep pockets like some of the big national corporations that see advertising on TV, you’ll go broke trying to do it.

There are two types of advertising:

The first one is called image gold institutional advertising. And it’s the type of advertising that makes up most of the ads you see in newspapers, magazines, and other media.

The biggest problem with image or institutional advertising (and what makes it so ineffective for the average agent to use) is that ads created in this format are NOT designed to sell. Its purpose is to keep the name of the agency in front of your prospects, letting them know how great, how big and wonderful that organization is.

The problem with this is that your prospects don’t care how big, big, or wonderful you are. They only have two main concerns:

First, what can you do for them, and how can you help them solve their problems or meet their needs and wants? And second, what unique benefits or advantages does it offer that your competitors don’t?

“Image” or “institutional” advertising does not answer any of these questions. Large corporations such as IBM, AOL Time Warner, Coca Cola, Nike, and GM (and most insurance companies) use this type of advertising primarily to keep their names in the minds of buyers after they have already established themselves. in the market. .

Now, you may be wondering, “If image advertising is so ineffective, why are these big companies still using it?”

Well, there are three reasons:

First, they have an almost unlimited advertising budget.

Second, since there is no accurate way to track the results of image or institutional advertising, they think (incorrectly) that the advertising is actually working because they are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year (bad publicity notwithstanding). ).

Third, an image usually pleases its shareholders. Even though your shareholders really want to see the company make more profit, they don’t know that the ads are ineffective (because they aren’t marketing experts). They’re just glad to see it run because it makes them feel good to tell someone that they own a piece of that particular company.

It’s a shame these giant corporations don’t realize how ineffective their image advertising campaigns are. If they did, they would have saved millions of dollars. Better yet, if they knew how to use the right type of advertising (which we’ll discuss in a moment), they’d be making extra millions a year.

Like most agents, you may also have a limited advertising budget. Therefore, you must make every dollar yield the maximum return. And the best way to do that is to use the second type of advertising: the one that works. It’s called direct response advertising.

Unlike image or institutional advertising, which is simply a waste of money if you use it…

Direct response advertising can make you a fortune!

A direct response ad (or sales message) accomplishes three main goals:

1. Answer the prospect’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?”

2. You ask your prospect to respond or take action in some way!

3. It is traceable, measurable and accountable!

As you can see, a direct response ad (or sales message) appeals to the self-interest of prospects. It tells them all the benefits they will get from using your product or doing business with you.

In other words, a direct response sales message (whether it’s an ad, brochure, sales letter, postcard, etc.) allows you to identify, qualify, and then target your prospects—those who are interested in what you want. Re-offer. This way, you can weed out uninterested parties early on, maximizing your marketing dollars by concentrating your efforts on selling to only those who are interested in your offer and can also afford it.

Because many agents think their market is for everyone, they usually make their ads or sales materials appeal to everyone. Maybe you even made it yourself.

If so, this may be why your ad hasn’t performed as well as it should. You will see…

When you try to sell to everyone, you’ll end up selling to no one!

Although your products or services may be suitable for everyone, there are some people who will need or want them more than others. Your goal is to find out who your most ideal prospects are (the ones who are genuinely interested and can afford what you’re selling), and then target them with your most compelling offer.

For example, if you sell homeowners insurance, your ideal prospects would be those who own their own homes. So instead of placing an ad in a newspaper where thousands of people can see it, including renters and apartment dwellers, you’ll lower your advertising costs and increase your chances of making a sale by getting a list of landlords who meet the the specific requirements. requirements you are looking for and then send them your offer. Or, you can rent a list of people living in your area who subscribe to a home improvement magazine and send them a sales letter with your irresistible offer.

Similarly, if you’re selling a special type of auto insurance, you’ll want to find the names and addresses of people living in your town or city who own the same type of vehicle you’re insuring and send them your offer. This is called niche or target marketing.

In short, no matter what type of insurance you sell, you should take the same approach. You and I just don’t have a big enough marketing budget to reach everyone. We don’t want to

Here is an important point that you should always remember…

Your prospects and clients want to buy from an agent who they can relate to and who specializes in their areas of interest. If they see you trying to be everything to everyone, they just won’t do business with you.

For example: If you drive a BMW, you will most likely take it to a dealership that specializes in BMW, and not Honda, Toyota, GM, Ford, etc., to have it repaired. In other words, a repair shop specializes in your type of vehicle.

Posting an image or institutional ad is like operating a garage that services all makes and models of vehicles. You’ll have to place a lot of ads to find enough people interested in buying your product or using your service, because most of the people who see your ad simply aren’t interested or can’t afford what you’re selling, or both.

As the name implies, a direct response ad stimulates a direct and immediate response, whether it’s a qualified inquiry, a phone call or a visit to your agency, or better yet, it encourages an instant sale.

Interestingly, while some agents admit that most of their ads usually produce few or no sales, they continue to run them because they claim that their advertising has probably made more people aware of their agency.

This doesn’t make any sense to me. Please understand this important point…

The sole purpose of running an ad is to force the reader to take some kind of action to make a purchase!

I cannot stress this enough. If you place an ad for any other purpose, especially to tell your prospects how great and wonderful it is, then it’s just a waste of your hard-earned money. Remember, your prospects don’t care about you at all, they only care about themselves and solving their problems quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

The way to get in front of your prospects to tell them about your products and services, and how you can help them solve their problems, is through marketing. And when you use direct response advertising, rather than image or institutional, your revenue will skyrocket to new heights.

Since marketing is the engine that drives your business, if tougher competition or a poorer economic environment begins to negatively affect your income, don’t do what many other brokers and financial advisers do: eliminate or reduce your marketing.

Instead, keep in mind that this is the best time to get aggressive and turn up the heat on your marketing campaigns. As your competition withdraws from the advertising field and you start using direct response advertising, you will acquire more customers and substantially increase your market share.

Remember, because marketing is an investment and not an expense, doing more (especially when all your competitors are cutting back) will rocket your agency or practice to a new level of profitability and success.