When it comes to marketing and communications, many smaller insurance agencies are lucky if they have one person dedicated to promotional efforts. In a lot of cases, the best they can do is an employee handling it on the side. But when it comes to marketing, it's not the size of your operation, it's the smarts of your operation.
Here are 6 ways even the smallest of agencies can use marketing and communications to grow business.
1. Have a Clear Point of View
Emily Hathcoat, RPS Vice President of Marketing, says one thing that the insurance industry needs to improve on is the dreaded communications by committee.
"How many times have you seen communications around insurance saying, 'And we have this. And we have this. And you need to know about this. And you need to know about that.' You could tell that the whole thing was written by committee or somebody that didn't have a clear point of view.
Rather, she says, agencies should focus on having a clear point of view, a clear message, and a clear call to action.
Distilling these things isn't easy, but it's worth the effort.
2. Remember that Marketing Strategy is Business Strategy
"Marketing strategy is business strategy. Business strategy is marketing strategy. They go hand in hand, says Hathcoat.
Marketers need to align to the business strategy and what the business wants, but finding that right time for that message.
"I just heard an ad on the radio talking about equipment breakdown, and I thought, "That's so interesting. What made them want to focus that message on equipment breakdown right now?" says Hathcoat. "Because they obviously sell a whole lot more stuff than that. I think it's a level of maturity and more thinking about what's relevant to your audience versus what the business is needing at that moment."
Marketing and sales should go hand in hand. Sales feeds needs to marketing, marketing gets opportunities to the door, and sales walks them through that door to seal the deal.
When it comes to getting potential customers in the door, "you have to be willing to take that risk as an agency owner of letting marketing try it and seeing what the results are, and then letting sales do their job," Hathcoat says. "That's when you can talk about the real needs, and then you can start to match other coverages and do your cross sell and know where their gaps are."
3. Hone in on Your Business Goals
"There are many ways to go about using marketing, but they need to align with your business goals," says Hathcoat. "Is it retention? Is it new business?"
If it's retention, she says, ask yourself: What are you doing for your client communications that's helping them to stay loyal to you? What are those little touch points that you can put together throughout the year that are meaningful to them that's also easy to get the data?
When it comes to client engagement, for instance, learn the client's birthday. If it's a business, learn when it opened, so you know what their business anniversary is, and they have a touch point built in for those things.
"If you can gather that data, there are systems you can put that data into, and you can literally build a self-running communications program for your clients," says Hathcoat. "It takes a lot to build it, but once it's going it takes very little to actually manage it."
Best of all, she says, agencies can do this "using an email system and possibly your agency's CRM, or however you're managing your client data already."
If new business submissions are your focus, think: Where are your clients? How can you reach them? What motivates them? And what are you trying to do with that touch point, with that motivation?
4. Use Available Tools to Make the Most of Your Marketing Resources
The world of marketing has changed dramatically. Even if your agency doesn't have a dedicated marketing person, the digital technologies and tools that are available gives everybody access to what the world class brands have access to. It might be on a smaller scale, but there are so many software programs and service providers that it's easy to find one within your budget.
Education around marketing how-to is also far more accessible than in the past. No longer do you have to go to annual conferences to learn what's new and what's next in the world of marketing. These days, there are a plethora of resources available online.
5. Listen Up & Make It Their Idea
"My best advice is listening," says Hathcoat. "Listening allows you to adapt your message to your audience, and make it feel like it's their idea."
When it comes to interpersonal communication, Hathcoat says, agents have the hardest job in the world.
"The most successful people that I see are the ones that are able to realize how to form an interpersonal connection and communication, versus those who are not and just keep struggling."
Set Up Constant Client Communication
The single most important thing agencies looking to improve their marketing can do is to set up constant client communication, Hathcoat advises.
"It's a lot harder to try to find new business than it is to keep your current business. Focus on how you are treating your current clients. Like they are your bread and butter and matter to you more than anything?" asks Hathcoat. "What does that part look like to your agency versus the new, new, new, I got to get my brand out there, I've got to do this, I've got to do that? There are so many different avenues that you can go down from a marketing perspective."
Brand awareness and brand recognition are important, because they create the surround sound so that your sales team doesn't have to spend the first five to 10 minutes of a meeting explaining who you are. And there are ways that you can do it that are authentic to you, your agency's message, and what you stand for.
That said, if you only have the bandwidth to focus on one strategy, focus on the current clients.
"If something didn't exist around 'how are we treating our current clients,'" Hathcoat says, "that's the very first place that I would start, if nothing existed at all."