Digital Marketing Strategy Best Practices for Insurance Agencies

Modern consumers live online, spending hours each day on computers or phones. What does this mean for insurance agencies like yours? You must meet these customers where they are with strategies to promote your brand across the most popular digital channels.

When you have a digital marketing plan or strategy to reach insureds that encompasses a variety of online forums, you can leverage the advantages of different channels to promote brand awareness and authority and build trust with clients for agency success.

We recently held a webinar with Snehal Belgaumkar, Applied Systems VP of Digital Marketing, and Eleanor Sadler, Applied Systems Marketing Manager, highlighting the significance of a solid digital marketing strategy for agencies. We're excited to share valuable insights from the event and discuss key digital marketing channels your agency can focus on!

What is Digital Marketing in Insurance?

A solid digital marketing plan or strategy will outline how an agency will use online channels to achieve its marketing goals. It involves identifying target audiences, selecting appropriate digital platforms, creating compelling content, implementing tactics to engage and convert customers online, and measuring performance. When creating your strategy, prioritization is key to make sure you’re focused on channels that will add the most value.

Where Does Your Agency Need a Digital Presence?

Check out the digital channels your agency should be focusing on:

1. A Professional Website

Your agency website is one of the first impressions you make for your agency. A website designed specifically for the insurance industry ideally offers capabilities that allow consumers to run quotes independently, customers to print ID cards, add vehicles and make policy changes, and is responsive on different browsers and mobile devices so that the site shows up correctly on whatever device prospects and clients use to access it.

2. Digital Advertising and Customer Reviews

Digital Advertising for Agencies

When connecting with clients online, paid digital advertising offers a way to reach a target audience that is more likely to be interested in your products. Targeted ads for your agency on Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to use demographic, location and profile information to pinpoint the customers most likely to respond positively to your promotions. While this strategy is more expensive than organic outreach like search engine optimization, it's also much easier to identify and win over new customers with paid advertising than through the long-term and labor-intensive search engine optimization process.

Paid Per Click (PPC)

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) ads are near the top of search engine results on pages, usually labeled as "sponsored." PPC advertising is beneficial as it targets a user’s search query directly because, as an advertiser, you enter an auction to bid on keywords. It provides visibility to whatever content the advertiser is choosing to promote. Pay-per-click advertising is also relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising and can be flexible depending on your budget. It's best to use both paid and organic methods for the highest rate of success in your online customer outreach.

Agency Customer Reviews

Having excellent online reviews is critical to standing out in a competitive market. In our plugged-in world, clients look to find the best products and services online. Often, the first place they look online is testimonial sites like Google Reviews. When you have software like EZLynx that automatically prompts satisfied customers to leave five-star ratings on Google Reviews or other referral sites, potential customers searching online can immediately see evidence of your brand’s quality. Excellent reviews also drive traffic to your website, establish client trust, build brand awareness and help clients gain insight into your services.

3. Customer Portal

Win over customers’ loyalty with an online portal that offers them instant access to your agency any time, day or night. Customer service portals let clients access your agency in the space where they’re most comfortable – online – without having to call to request services. With an online portal that offers 24/7 access to policy documents, ID cards and documents and the ability for insureds to request policy changes, you can deliver the excellent service that keeps clients happy. Online service portals minimize the time your agents spend responding to customer requests, give you more time back in the day, and secure document sharing is safer than email or fax.

4. Content Marketing

Producing blogs, articles and other search engine-optimized content for your website helps you reach customers by expanding your online presence. Not a writer? Not a problem. Some website providers can set up your site with relevant content. EZLynx can even create unique blog articles, providing a constant source of customized, fresh, insurance-related information, ensuring an active, engaging site for driving website visitors. When you can offer advice and insights that are helpful to consumers, they are more likely to click on your quality content, stay on your site, and be receptive to your services in the short term. In the long term, clients are more likely to stick around if your agency can continue to offer helpful information that demonstrates your authority in the industry.

5. The Power of Texting

Text messaging gives clients a convenient way to communicate with your agency from anywhere on their phones – the device clients are likely most comfortable with. And when text messaging is run through your EZLynx Management System, you also get the added benefit of E&O protection, because it's all saved to the client record.

6. Social Media Marketing

Using social media to promote your agency's brand is a cost-effective way to encourage customer engagement on the websites consumers use most without spending money on paid ads. Here are some tips for each channel:

• For X, formally known as Twitter, it’s best to post timely material and updates and to use gifs, memes, and emojis to engage your audience.
• In contrast, Facebook works best for more curated content like videos and photo albums.
• LinkedIn is ideal for promoting corporate events and posting more professional-oriented content.
• Instagram works well as a platform for sharing company culture images and shorter videos accompanied by hashtags.

7. Email Marketing

Email should be a key component of your digital marketing strategy. It attracts new customers and helps you sustain relationships with current clients year after year. Email marketing campaigns like newsletters, event invites, and promotions can reinforce your agency's value. You can also automate targeted emails for dates like birthdays or renewal times for customers. These messages let your clients know they're at the top of their minds and help you establish close customer relationships that foster brand loyalty. EZLynx Communication Center™ offers an easy way for you to set and forget communication for client milestones like birthdays and anniversaries.

8. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures your agency's website appears on the search engine results page – SERP. SEO can be broken down into two key areas, content and technical optimization:

Content

Content is a primary focus when it comes to SEO. Before creating any content, you need to know what people are searching for. This is called keyword research. Your keyword research will result in a list of high-value, relevant keywords that you will use in the content created. You can use specific tools (free and paid) to review what your competitors are doing and help guide your content creation based on keywords.

Technical Optimization

Technical optimization refers to improving a website’s technical structure, making it easier for your agency to be discovered in search. This optimization involves ensuring that the website loads quickly, its pages are easy to crawl for search engines, and that it is understandable for search engines.

Get Started with Digital Marketing at Your Agency

Implementing these essential digital marketing strategies can dramatically improve your agency's online presence and help you connect with potential clients. With a structured approach and the right tools, you can turn your digital marketing strategy into a powerful asset and return on investment for your business. Get even more insights and a full checklist to get your digital marketing strategy started in our Digital Marketing 101: Essential Tools and Techniques webinar. Contact us if you have any questions or need assistance in refining your digital marketing approach.