According to the American Marketing Association Board of Directors, marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. A quick search on the internet will yield many different definitions. Perspective is a driving force in the varying results.
Insurance agencies, along with many other small businesses, have been struggling to adapt to changes within the marketing industry. An advertisement in the Yellow Pages and a donation to your town’s baseball team no longer sets you apart from your competitors in terms of marketing strategy. With the advertising industry embracing technological advancements and corporate philanthropy prevalent in almost every business, agency owners are forced to rethink their marketing efforts.
What does an insurance agency’s marketing strategy look like in 2014?
In an effort to attract new customers and stay engaged with your book of business, we’ve outline six areas to focus your energy to help you build your agency’s marketing strategy. We’ll be sharing these areas with you over several blog posts, throughout the month of November.
1. Define your agency’s brand.
If we asked you to tell us about your agency in three sentences, how would you describe it? Would you talk about the rich history the agency has had in your town, generations of your family that serviced clients, your staff’s ability to solve any customer service related issue, or something else? These few sentences should be the launching point for your brand’s architecture – something I encourage you to put together.
Yes, you have your agency’s name and logo, but do you have a mission statement for staff to rally behind? What are the agency’s core values? Are there measurable goals put in place for staff? Take time and think about these questions, writing down your thoughts throughout the process. At the end of the exercise, you should have a solid understanding of why you’re in the industry, what your agency stands for, and how you’re going to accomplish your goals. Make sure the entire staff is in agreement and understands what you’ve outlined. Some may say it’s trivial, but we don’t see any negatives to having a concise, defined plan for your agency – it will strengthen your brand and translate to customers.
2. Outline the customer experience from start to finish and look for consistency.
Marketing is the entire process of the customer lifecycle. It’s how people perceive your brand at all points. Every email your sales team sends to secure a new customer and every communication your office staff has with clients should be looked at from a larger marketing perspective. What is being said in these conversations? Are they using proper grammar? Do email signatures contain useful information or present an opportunity to round-out or up-sell? Do you have a font or typeface designated for all print and online materials and communications? If the answer to these questions is anything but yes, it’s time to rethink your approach. Customers are looking for timely responses to their requests, in a professional, yet friendly, approach. With minimal restrictions around your team’s tactics and their personalities influencing the conversation, you can deliver exceptional customer service, contributing to your larger marketing strategy.
Implementing a marketing strategy to increase brand awareness and gain new customers is not a one time, tactical approach. Marketing is fluid, and must react to the needs of your customer, and the demands of the industry. Remember that your brand is alive. If your goal is to get customers engaged with your agency, give them something to engage with and keep things fresh.