What is Marketing in an Insurance Agency in 2024 and who does it? A baker's dozen of options to consider

What is Marketing in an Insurance Agency in 2024 and who does it? A baker's dozen of options to consider Teaser: Someone in your insurance agency has to be responsible for getting and keeping clients. But who, and how should your insurance agency go about putting together a great marketing plan? If you have these questions, we have a blog post just for you.

Does your insurance agency have a marketing manager on the payroll? Probably not. A typical salary for a marketing manager in today's market is in the $100,000 range. (For an abbreviated marketing manager job description and salary range, jump to the end of this post.)

But someone in your agency has to be responsible for the basic functions of marketing which, to oversimplify, is getting and keeping customers, and ideally, doing more business with existing customers.

Decades ago marketing was more or less synonymous with advertising, some internal cross and upsell programs and perhaps a newsletter. A billboard here, an ad in the local paper there, maybe a radio spot, and of course a yellow page ad and … done. Now back to insurance.

Today, the concept of an annual one and done is dead as a marketing approach. Competition moves too quickly, consumers are too agile and technology keeps throwing curves.

But someone in your insurance agency has to do something, on either a part or full time basis to get and keep customers. Or you need to evaluate and select a partner to outsource some or most of your marketing to an outside agency.

The very thing that has resulted in the explosion of marketing options and complexities - digital and the internet - has also made it much easier to measure and validate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. So before you launch a marketing campaign for your insurance agency you need to determine a few things:

• What is your marketing budget?
• Who is your target audience within your clients and among your prospect pool? You should be able to identify several.
• What do these audiences look like, act like and care about?
• What information do you need to share with these audiences?
• How will you get your message out (channels) and how often?
• What are your insurance agency's goals for new sales, account retention and account
• development?
• Who will be responsible for building, launching and managing your marketing campaigns?
• How will you measure the success of each campaign?

Answers to these questions will help you decide not only whether your insurance agency can handle your marketing in-house but also will point you in the direction of which marketing campaigns to implement. Some campaigns are foundational, and if your insurance agency is going to be engaging in any proactive marketing, you need to start with these fundamental campaigns. Beyond that, the options for marketing campaigns are many. To get you started, we have included a list and brief description for 12 plus one (the baker's dozen) campaigns you should consider. The list is below and you can click on any list item to jump to the description of each marketing campaign.

1. Online Directories
2. Google Business Profile (GBP)
3. Facebook
4. Other Social Media
5. Reputation and Reviews
6. Referral Campaigns
7. SEO
8. Digital Ads Including Remarketing (Search and Social)
9. Email Campaigns
10. Text Campaigns
11. Video Marketing
12. Content Marketing
13. Pre-Digital Campaigns

1) Online Directories

These are your digital store fronts and your insurance agency has many - literally hundreds. The good news is that there are only several dozen or so, plus your insurance company agency locator pages, that really matter. That makes the job of getting and maintaining accuracy in presenting your name, address, phone, website and business description across the online ecosystem a little easier. If your agency has moved or acquired another insurance agency the job of managing NAP (name, address, phone) accuracy is a little more daunting. Google uses NAP data in local directories as a factor in its local search algorithm and often enough these directory listings show up in search results. An inaccurate listing can confuse consumers and chase leads to your competitors.

2) Google Business Profile (GBP)

This 'listing' is part of the local online directory ecosystem but it is so much more, which is why we include it separately. Your agency's GBP, like all online directory listings, is location based, so if you have multiple offices each will have its own GBP. A Google Business Profile includes rich and detailed information about your insurance agency, if you optimize it correctly. This information can include a description of the products you support, the companies you represent, photos and videos of your office, an opportunity for updates (like sharing a blog post), interactive Q&A and instant messaging (Google Messages). Reviews also flow through your GBP and are routinely reviewed by potential clients before they make a purchase decision. Your GBP is also the single biggest factor in Google's local search algorithm. No matter what level of marketing you may be doing in your agency, no matter who is doing it, claiming and optimizing your agency's Google Business Profile is an absolute must.

3) Facebook

Facebook functions as an online directory as well as a social media platform, and if your insurance agency has a Facebook page (it should), that page will often surface in search results. Facebook is also a place people go to to learn more about your agency, to get questions answered, to comment on posts and to message your agency. Posting to Facebook with some kind of regularity, responding to comments and instant messages are also a foundational piece of any marketing your insurance agency may be doing.

4) Other Social Media

Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to social media but if your agency wants to gain visibility into the business community and generate leads there then LinkedIn is the social platform of choice. Your audience here will be different from the more generalized Facebook audience so content you post here should also be somewhat different.

There are other platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok. If your insurance agency's marketing capacity permits, you may want a presence on one or both of these, but you should start with Facebook and possibly LinkedIn and make sure you are maximizing results on those platforms first.

5) Reputation and Reviews

Nearly 100% of consumers look at reviews before purchasing almost anything (Power Reviews report). 96% of consumers look for negative reviews specifically (that's why it's important to respond to those). Nearly half of all consumers won't purchase from a business that has no reviews.

Enough said.

Your agency needs to encourage reviews and also needs to respond to them. There are a variety of review sources online but Google reviews are far and away the most important, so start there.

Your insurance agency's reputation is more than just your online reviews. What you do in the community, charitable contributions and the work culture in your office are all part of your business reputation. Share what you do in social posts and emails. 'Seventy-seven percent of consumers are motivated to purchase from companies committed to making the world a better place...' - Harvard Business School Insights Blog.'

6) Referral Campaigns

This is nothing new but can sometimes be easily overlooked in the crush of new digital marketing options. People tend to associate with people like themselves so campaigns that encourage your A and B clients to refer others to your insurance agency can pay real dividends.

7) SEO

Search engine optimization, depending on who is using the term, can mean several things: technical SEO, local SEO or organic SEO. Technical and local SEO are essential, less expensive and show results more quickly than organic SEO, so make sure those boxes are checked before exploring organic. Even though organic campaigns have longer time lines before showing success and require a larger investment than the other kinds of SEO, ROI for organic SEO campaigns can be rewarding.

8) Digital Ads Including Remarketing (Search and Social)

The primary platforms for this are Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Both can be effective but it is important to know your audience, hone your message, have a great landing page, be prepared to follow up with leads, and watch your budget.

9) Email Campaigns

By most any measure, study or survey, email campaigns are still an effective way to communicate with customers and get new clients. A good campaign starts with content that would be of interest to your recipients and that often requires segmenting your lists so you can personalize those emails.

List management is an issue for many insurance agencies. Agency management systems have fields for email addresses but those fields are often not treated as data. When you export names and email addresses from an agency management to a system that can manage email campaigns, that 'data' has to comply with a certain format. For that to happen, data integrity needs to be maintained within the agency management system, requiring standards for data entry and periodically validating that those standards are being followed.

10) Text Campaigns

Many of the benefits of email marketing apply here with the added advantages of higher open and engagement rates. There are challenges that are unique to text campaigns such as limited message length and opt-in requirements but text messaging campaigns can yield impressive returns on marketing investment.

11) Video Marketing

Today, the easy to use tools and costs for video creation and distribution put this powerful tactic within reach of every independent insurance agency. YouTube is the second largest search engine and nearly a third of Google searches include video thumbnails. Explainer video can not only offer a huge boost to your SEO campaigns but can be used in conjunction with content marketing (below) and distributed through social media, email, texts, and your insurance agency website.

12) Content Marketing

To oversimplify, content marketing can be just the act of scheduling where and when your website blog posts, YouTube videos and other content your agency may produce, will be 'published'. Publishing can be as basic (but effective) as sharing content via social media, including content in email and text campaigns.

13) Pre-Digital Campaigns

Just because something isn't digital doesn't mean it won't work today. There is a reason why insurance companies that engage in direct marketing, like GEICO and Progressive still use TV, radio and print. A well placed billboard, community and event networking, broadcast media and print can still have a valid place in your insurance agency's marketing plan, so don't overlook these 'legacy' options.

Salary range and job description courtesy of Robert Half

Salary range for a Marketing Manager: $86,750 - $107,750

Marketing Manager Job Description:

A successful candidate has knowledge of advertising and marketing best practices, as well as strong writing and analytical skills. Previous experience as a marketing manager, coordinator, specialist or assistant may be required. A degree in marketing, business or communications is typically required.

Typical Duties of a Marketing Manager:

• Developing marketing and promotional strategy and materials for a company or product, including brand management, advertising, and web and sales collateral
• Ensuring marketing programs align with public relations and other communication activities
• Assisting in preparation of long- and short-term marketing plans, pricing policies and budgets
• Supervising a team of marketing coordinators or assistants, in some cases