Traditional Insurance Agency Marketing Vs Insurance Agency Web 2.0 Marketing

Are the days of traditional insurance agency marketing simply an anachronistic holdover from a bygone era of traditional marketing? Before answering this important but detailed question, let’s first define what we would consider traditional insurance agency marketing programs today. Let’s start with 20 well-known marketing initiatives, or maybe I could better refer to them as insurance agency marketing activities, that can generate interest and awareness. These are in alphabetical order, not in order of importance or perceived effectiveness:

1. Associations (Chamber of Commerce, etc.)
2. billboards
3. business letters
4. Customer testimonials (hard copy)
5. Club memberships (golf, tennis, others)
6. Business boards (BOD’s, non-profit boards and advisory councils)
7. Direct mail including postcards
8. Face-to-face networking organizations
9. bright brochures
10. printed newsletter
11. Literature (traditional on paper)
12. magazine ads
13. newspaper ads
14. On-site events (for both clients and prospects)
15. promotion items
16. References
17. telemarketing
18. Fairs
19. Community and volunteer programs
20. yellow page ads

Some of the activities mentioned above are perhaps dubious from a marketing point of view. For example, do people still spend time designing and handing out business cards (yes)? Do people still do business on the golf course (yes)? And what about the Yellow Pages, do people still advertise in them (I hope not)? How does the list above compare to a list of Web 2.0 insurance agency marketing activities? Let’s review common insurance agency web marketing activities, again in alphabetical order:

1. Article directories (ePublishing)
2. blog
3. Bookmarks (Digg, StumbleUppon, Reddit, etc.)
4. Electronic brochures (eFullfillment)
5. electronic marketing
6. Electronic testimony (written or digitally recorded testimony)
7. Executive email initiatives (individual targeted emails instead of mass mailings)
8. Link building campaigns
9. Microblogging (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.)
10. Pay Per Click (Google, LinkedIn, Facebook)
11. Search engine optimization (SEO)
12. Skype recorded interviews
13. Social Media Marketing (Business marketing initiatives on Facebook, LinkedIn)
14. Social Networks (Personal interaction on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)
15. vlog
16. Warm Calling (calls to email clicks, sign up for webinars, etc.)
17. Webinars (Webinars)
18. Website development and improvement
19. website video
20. Youtube

Does this Web 2.0 list replace all of the traditional insurance marketing activities listed above, or is a mix of traditional and web-centric recommended? Web 2.0 marketing isn’t the only insurance agency marketing agent and broker you should take advantage of. Of course, 40 marketing activities is too many for all but the largest agencies. Fortunately, many of the activities listed on the traditional list can be eliminated or reduced in favor of better, more profitable web-centric marketing. From my perspective, this includes: billboards, customer testimonials (hard copy), direct mail (including postcards), glossy brochures, print newsletters, product literature, magazine ads, newspaper ads, promotional items, trade shows, and advertisements. in the yellow pages. essentially anything physical. Of course, this still leaves us with a list of up to nine traditional insurance agency marketing activities that might be worth pursuing.

If we add mission-critical Web 2.0 activities, including website development, social media marketing, eMarketing, eFullfillment (digital brochures and other information), and blogging, we still see that there are more than a dozen marketing activities that every agency should do and do well. Clearly, that’s a lot of work beyond just selling insurance and serving customers. Agencies have three options in this regard:

1. Internal staff
2. Subcontract
3. I hope to achieve commercialization with the existing staff.

Of these three approaches, my biggest concern is always #. #3, since hope is a poor strategy and addressing important customer issues always comes first. Although some of the important insurance agency marketing activities can be done by agents, owners, and producers (such as tweeting, Facebook, LinkedIn posts, face-to-face networking, etc.), the other marketing initiatives require skill sets. specific measures, careful measurement and tracking, and consistency in delivery. If your agency is looking to grow, you will most likely need to hire in-house staff or outsource some or all of your marketing efforts when it comes to more sophisticated web marketing initiatives.