Agents fearing competitive insurance premiums are making excuses. See how to sell insurance without the worry of life insurance competition. Discover why insurance premiums are not a competitive factor in life insurance selling.
Agents constantly see ads on television for competitive insurance premiums on car insurance, and asking viewers to call for a quote. Likewise, TV attempts to sell insurance direct to the consumer with cheap life insurance competition quotes. Real Life is not TV land! There are always people trying to pay the lowest insurance premiums even if claims bite them in the rear later in life. These are not millions of prospects, soon to become customers. The lot is loaded with tire kickers.
Your life insurance company does not help your mind process either. Every life insurance company brags how competitive their rates are when comparing premiums to the competition. They are trying to brainwash you and mess with your already strained brain. Truly, they do not prepare you for proper strategies to sell insurance to life prospects. The best prospects are the ones you personally develop. These prospects are looking to protect themselves and their family provided the coverage and insurance premiums seem fair. Your contacting them brought out the urge to take action.
Compare this with all the life agents who think they can sell insurance to someone asking for a quote. The worst lead is a person requesting a cheap life insurance quote. That “intelligent” person is thinking that buying insurance is like buying a gallon of milk. The lower the rate, the better the product seems. In the long run, do you think annual renewable term or five year term is a better deal than a cash value plan? An internet lead company may sell this same lead to a dozen or more agents. You then throw your sell into the crowd of agent that will do anything to make a sale. Expect to lose out to the life insurance competition almost every time.
The biggest mistake a life insurance agent can do is mentioning the competition to the client. Analyze this: Does a prospective client buy insurance because of trusting in a certain company name, or from trusting you. Over 90% of the time, the correct answer is you. There would not be 600 life insurance companies if there was not a viable market. The best financially rate companies, with 100 years of background do not dominate the market. If you never mention the competition, it is highly unlikely that your client will. Why give recognition and awareness of other companies to your client. It provides a dangerous chance to thereby consider these other companies.
The agents with proper personal and selling skills can sell insurance with no life insurance competition. They go into a presentation already confident that a sale with be easily made. The motivational skills, knowledge, and confidence engulf the prospect. The prospect wants to buy. I could represent “Fly By Night Insurance Company of Iran,” and the client would buy if the benefits were right. Competitive insurance premiums are also not a problem. I could have a competitor that makes all his sales at half the premiums (also half the commissions) and it would not matter. If you notice a possible premium problem, head it off before it ever comes up. Simply give your prospect a choice of a basic or deluxe plan with two different premiums.
In insurance sales, remember this: Other Life insurance companies are not competitors. Moreover, other insurance agents are not the competition. Your only competitive roadblocks are yourself. You have the power, confidence, willpower, and product knowledge to sell insurance. Now prove me right.
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Are you an insurance professional who has hired an SEO Internet consultant, spent thousands to build a new Web site, secured decent traffic, but still has very few leads? If it’s any comfort, you’re not alone. Many hope that their fancy, new search-engine-optimized sites will be a fountain of leads. Often, they’re sadly disappointed.
What’s the problem?
In the quest for key words, high page counts and generous content, many Web developers forget a basic truth: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink – Translated for Internet world: Just because they find you, doesn’t mean they’ll buy.
To motivate a customer to take the next step, a Web site must be much more than search engine optimized. It also must be lead generation optimized.
What does a lead generation optimized site contain? Here are five must-haves:
Compelling, interest-generating headings and subheadings Interesting offers like white papers, case studies, discounts or newsletter subscriptions to persuade readers to step into the selling cycle Short, easy-to-complete lead forms (five fields or less) so prospects aren’t deterred by complexity Meaty, credible content that includes client testimonials, success stories and work examples – screens that “show” instead of “tell” Clear calls to action that tell the reader how to take the next step and why she’ll be glad she did
Here are a few things that lead generation optimized sites avoid at all costs:
Boring headlines “All about me” content Long strings of key words that sound like blah-blah-blah Dead-end screens without directional links to guide the reader forward through the site Complicated applications Confusing and redundant navigation Placing important copy, offers and calls to action “below the fold” where they’ll never be found without scrolling
Just like wine, chocolate and other life pleasures, search engine optimization is great – in moderation. Balance is key. Sure – you have to make it easy for people to visit your site. But, you had better be a gracious host once they arrive. Provide lively conversation, plenty of interaction opportunities and offer a few gifts. It will be nearly impossible for them to leave empty-handed.
As an insurance agency owner we’ve all been in the same boat. Every year you review your advertising budget and try to determine the best way to attract new customers. There are so many choices on where you can spend your advertising and marketing dollars.
Here is a short list:
Phone Book
Newspaper
Local Sports Teams
The Insurance Network ( www.FindLocalInsurance.com )
Post Cards
Press Release services
Magazines
Television
Radio
So how do you decide what to spend your advertising dollars on? Have you ever heard the expression, “Fish where the fish are.” Targeted advertising that focuses on the local community is vital. Why would you want to spend money advertising in a town 75 miles from your office? The truth is agents do this everyday by spending large amounts of money on ads in the bigger newspapers or radio or television. While these ads cover your local community, they also reach people that won’t buy from you. The one question I would ask myself before buying ad space is, “How much of this ad will reach LOCAL potential customers?”
Some of the more targeted advertising programs would include local sports teams, grocery shopping carts at the nearest grocery store and church bulletins. The most targeted advertising today is the internet. When someone searches on Google for insurance in your town is your office listed? Does your office have a website? A website is one of the best sources of free advertising. Not only is it important to have a website, but it is vital that it is optimized for the search engines. For more information on this visit – RichKahmer.com
A quick referral lesson for your consideration. Referrals … my favorite form of insurance marketing.
One of my networking partners drops me an email the other day and wants to go to lunch. He is going to introduce me to a fellow Independent Insurance broker who he thinks would be a strong Strategic Partner for my firm and I. Odd thing is, I know this firm, and they are good … AND a competitor of sorts. I eagerly agreed to a meet over at one of my fav’s – Yard House in Irvine Spectrum. Crunchy AHI Salad mmmmmm.
Cutting to the chase – the lunch meeting went well [ imho ] and we’re poised to circle back next week and brainstorm on how we will “pro-actively” NOT passively incorporate each others businesses into our insurance marketing plans for the remainder of the year.
I bring this lunch meeting up for two reasons. Sometimes we get so focused on asking [ or is it BEGGING / IMPOSING ON ] our clients for referrals that we develop Tunnel Vision. Here’s what I mean by this.
Does this resemble how some of your Asking for Referral experiences go?
To Self: How did that Referral Gurus world famous referral asking script go again?
Was it….
..Joe, I get compensated in two ways … blah blah blah …
..Bob, I have a list here of some firms in your industry I’ve been trying to meet can you look here and see if you know any of them …? Blah …
Dang – that’s so uncomfortable – that’s not me … oh forget about it ….
Frankly, I’m of the mindset that ASKING clients for referrals directly – face to face is not the most effective way to obtain quality introductions. Blasphemy you must be thinking … I understand – but hear me out.
Is putting your relationship with your current client into an unbalanced status really the most effective insurance marketing S-Y-S-T-E-M you can come up with for referrals? Unbalanced you say – whatever do I mean? Its now unbalanced. You originally proposed a solution to the clients needs. They reviewed and decided to hire you based upon that solution. They paid you for that solution, you delivered. They are happy. Relationship is IN BALANCE.
Now, you come along and put it OUT OF BALANCE. You are now asking them to do more than they originally bargained for. You are now asking them to effectively put their reputation on the line. Yet, there is little to No Value you can provide to them in return that would put the relationship Back Into Balance if they complied with your request. That is why you get uncomfortable and they get even more uncomfortable [ more times than not ].
Point of these last 3 paragraphs – there is other, more productive approaches to systematically generate high quality referrals. Get out of the box a little bit and think strategically – not just Old School Mantra …
The is another insurance marketing lesson to be learned from this lunch meeting and why it was a significant example. I no longer just look for 1:1 referrals from people. I spend time articulating to my Strategic Referral relationships the type of business people that are great strategic alliances for me and my business. They not only know the types of clients I like to insure but they also know [ because I automatically keep them apprised with a system ] who would make a good Referral Partner. Someone who is not just a referral – but a continuous Referral Source.
Don’t just hunt for referrals to sell an insurance policy to. Strategically hunt for other hunters as well. You need to develop a LARGE network of business people who KNOW you, LIKE you, and KNOW WHAT YOU DO. The key to this, is maintaining those relationships effectively over time. I say the only way to “effectively” manage all those relationships is with a S-Y-S-T-E-M.
I had the pleasure to meet one of the most connected businessmen on the planet at one of his talks. Dr. Ivan Misner – Founder/CEO of internationally famous BNI / Business Network International. He told us all in his talk, the S-Y-S-T-E-M he uses to manage his enormously vast network. It’s also in his book “Truth or Delusion” on page 148. Some of the most prominent authorities on Referral Marketing like Tom Hopkins, Bob Berg, and Bill Cates among others also use this system. You’ll love it and so will your clients and Strategic Referral Partners. See the proven system they use – links to the details below.
Anything can be marketed effectively, and the basic principles of marketing remain the same, no matter what’s being sold: You focus on what the benefit is to the person who’s buying the product, you emphasize the points of differentiation between your product and the others in your market segment, and then close with the pitch.
We’re going to make an example out of insurance marketing here to illustrate the point. The reason for insurance marketing is because everyone needs insurance, and the market is saturated with a lot of products competing. Writing insurance marketing tips for a saturated market is an example of how you, as an internet entrepreneur, can make money by being a liaison to local businesses in your area.
So, let’s look at the big questions from up top – what’s the big benefit for taking insurance? It’s buying a specific sort of peace of mind. It’s providing coverage in case there’s a disaster. Let’s focus that into marketing insurance: “Wouldn’t you like to know that your family will be taken care of, if something happens to you?” is one way to state the benefit. Another one is “It’s cheaper to buy insurance for your car than to get into an accident without it. And while you may be a good driver, can you be certain of everyone else?” Both of these are fairly straightforward ways to insurance marketing and its benefits to the end customer.
Now, when I write insurance marketing tips, I’m constantly looking for the edge, the out – the hook. What makes this product work for the reader and prospective buyer?
To answer that question, I start with doing some research on Google, and look for page ranks for specific permutations of insurance buying search terms, like “cheap health insurance” or “cheap life insurance” or “auto insurance Michigan” – anything that will help narrow down the search fields. Then I look at what others are doing on those pages that pull up. It is extremely important to understand what your competitors are doing. It helps you keep track of market trends and makes sure you keep your edge.
Are they competing primarily on price, or are they competing on features? Insurance is a mature product category, so it’s difficult to differentiate on new features. Difficult doesn’t mean “impossible”, though. There are combinations of features on policies that can form a competitive advantage; in the field, these tend to be short lived, because someone else will notice what you’re selling and emulate it. Unlike technology where an advance can last for six to eighteen months before you get significant product *********** from competitors, writing a new policy package doesn’t take much (indeed, they’ll figure it out from your own marketing text…)
So the other differentiators are on price (which is the primary driver in insurance policies) and service (which is where insurance companies trying to maintain margins on policies try to set themselves up as upscale.
As part of your marketing strategy do you send complete strangers a letter offering a free insurance review? What’s the objective of these letters? To get an appointment and then try to beat the other guys price, right? Is that who you really want to attract? Do you really want to fill your business with price shoppers? If you want insurance sales success you want to avoid price shoppers like an unwanted virus. Price shoppers don’t provide a strong foundation to build your business on, so don’t waste your marketing efforts trying to attract them.
You can’t build a successful long-term business on a foundation of price shoppers. Price shoppers are the most disloyal, time consuming, low value group of clients you could ever hope to have. It doesn’t take very many price buyers in your business before you don’t have time to go out and sell because they **** up all your time. Price shoppers also have a bad habit of not paying their premiums, so you get to chase them down trying to get them to pay their bills. They drive off any good customers you might have with all their complaining. In all likelihood you’ve invested a ton of energy into these people, and they won’t buy from you ever again, and they’ll drop you as soon as your competition can undercut you. It just doesn’t even make sense to position your business in a way that attracts price shoppers. It makes even less sense to spend your precious marketing dollars trying to attract them.
Yes, you can help good people to save money and you can help them to do that without attracting price shoppers. When you offer a free insurance review your placing your focus on attracting the wrong prospects. When you send your letter your letter is based on the premise of having a product and trying to find someone to sell it to. People don’t like to buy products, but they love to buy results. Get yourself out of the product sales business. You are in the business of helping people to get the outcome you know they want because they’ve told you they want that outcome.
Helping people to get what they want the way they want it is the foundation you want to use to create your marketing messages. When you do that you provide value. When you provide value you’re in a position to attract value shoppers. Value shoppers are critical to your long term insurance sales success. Because value shoppers are very loyal. Value shoppers take up very little time. That means you have more time to build a large client base. Value shoppers are far more likely to provide you with qualified prospects making it even easier for you to build a successful business. Value shoppers are pretty much the opposite of price shoppers in their potential to help you to attract the kind of clients you need to have success.
Start right with your marketing strategies and messages to end right. It just doesn’t make good sense to try to start your business by positioning yourself for price shoppers. Make the effort now to position yourself to attract value shoppers so you can enjoy greater insurance sales success.
Health Insurance is more of a necessity than a luxury with the kind of health issues that we are exposed to these days. Health is becoming such a concern that every once attention has been dragged to the possibility of big fat medical bills. The necessity of regular medical check ups and precautionary measures has increased drastically in the last few decades. Selling health insurance seems to be easy, as the situation seem to favor however, the reality is a little different. Like any other insurance, selling is not a child’s play. Especially, when there is a huge financial crisis and people are more worried about their material health rather than physical.
Health insurance leads could be helpful getting to a step closer to the people who are really looking forward to purchase the insurance. By approaching the these potential buyers you are not only saving yourself from the frustration of endless “No’s” in a row but at the same time would help keeping your boss happy as well.
In America alone you would find about 80% of the people with health insurances. Either they have individual health policies, or they are covered under the family health umbrella. Whatever be the case in the modern day world health insurance is becoming more and more indispensable. That means that there are people out there willing to purchase these insurances. If you are able to approach them before the others could you would have a better chance of cracking the sale, as at the end of the day no matter how big the pool is – it is limited to get exhausted. Hence, before that happens by using the leads you could get a better share in the pie of sales than any of your competitors.
The health insurance leads could be picked from -
• Form the internet. Either free of cost or after making a nominal payment.
• The telemarketing leads which are generated by the call center executives. There are companies selling such telemarketing health insurance leads. These are relatively better in terms of information and reliability.
• Self created departments or systems of creating or generation leads.
No matter form where you pick he leads but it should be closed into a health insurance sale.
What are the chances of new insurance agent success becoming a reality? Intense analysis of licensed Department Insurance agents records conclude that only 6% of agents survive slightly over 4.3 years. Examine the facts, and logical explanations why insurance sales agent retention and success stories are so grim.
Dismiss many of the misconceptions of recruiting new insurance agents. There are over 1,500,000 health and life insurance agents currently licensed by insurance departments within the United States In my evaluation, this means an unnecessary surplus of over a half million agents. Countless new life and health insurance sales agents are either poorly trained, have an insufficient number of prospective clients, or should have never been hired to begin with. So if 550,000 agent trainees were fired today, the life and health insurance agent system would be stronger.
Some agencies place newspaper ads, and others go so far as using college campus job fair recruiting methods to find new agents to hire. Both of these methods when analyzed, show almost identical results. Those results are that 85% of agents will starve their way out of insurance sales within the first 18 months. In insurance sales you have two types of agents, those who can fill out an order application and those that can actually solicit and sell life and health insurance products.
Here lies at least 50% of the blame for agents dropping like flies. The recruiters hire agents who are unable to go out on their own and make a sale.. Even though almost every applicant can pass an interview of prepared interviewer questions, this in itself does not guarantee any measure of success. Look at the person who the insurance agency promoted to do prospective hiring. In most cases this is a newly appointed sales manager with under 4 years experience. Sure, he is fairly good at selling, but just because he can sell, it does not mean he can successfully recruit. Both the sales manager and college campus recruiter work hard to highly pump the prospective agent up with inflated dream visions of easy success and a lifetime steady insurance career.
Another 25% of non survival is a result of insurance agent recruiters for providing false concepts, and poor training. New licensed sales agents anticipate easily obtaining incomes exceeding $40,000 to $70,000. My studies show less than 7% of these rookies ever obtain that level. In fact, if most insurance agencies did not money subsidize their newer agents, the income figure for a new insurance agent would be under $20,000. When one agent leaves, another will be quickly licensed to take his place. The departing rookie has written policies on a few friends, neighbors, and outsiders, so when these policies renew. the insurance company collects all the premiums without paying any acquisition costs. I call this concept putting meat in the insurance company freezer.
Job fair recruiters sent to college campuses usually do the worst job. The college recruiter pitches a memorized and rehearsed script to college seniors, exalting how entering the insurance professional is more prosperous than other qualified fields. Remember the college recruiter usually gets a bonus for each recruit. If the prospective agent would had been screened with numerous background questions, survival chances could have been quickly predetermined.
How do you predetermine a success chance factor? Well first realize the agent might already be financially in debt, and hanging on to survive, living from paycheck to paycheck. You must start with agents that possess sales ability and are self determined to quickly become financially strong enough to survive. This is fine if the new college grad comes from a wealthy family background. However, in today’s world, most college graduates are not in this category. Their background is often middle class, with parents living in a middle class neighborhood, earning a middle class income. The new college grad, now an insurance agent, often took out student aid loans. These need to be paid back so this agent requires a higher income just to survive.
Why are the odds so highly against this agent? The career agency is usually located in an swank, suburban area of a major city where the average mean family incomes are the highest. in the state. The targeted customer for these agencies are high income individuals and small successful businesses. 90% of the limited training is spent on target marketing to these prime clients exclusively. The large agency however only contains a few experienced insurance professionals earning over $70,000 a year.
During the first 4 years of almost any salesperson’s career there is an existing comfort zone almost impossible to break. In other words, the salesperson is most comfortable talking to and attempting to sell prospective clients in an environment or income level that matches the agent. The career insurance agency however wants big premiums, and tries to train career insurance agents to sell large policies to prominent people. Upon failure to make sales, the blame comes down to the agent for not trying or working hard enough. The agency should have started working a new agent on a $40,000 class of clientele while gradually raising the level. A career agent then is able to work upwards. The reward is being one of the few 6 out of a hundred insurance sellers surviving the first 4 years.
To start an insurance agency you will need to decide on going independent or being a captive agency. Some of the best known captives include Farmers, Nationwide and Allstate. Captives sell exclusively, or mostly, one brand of insurance. There are advantages and disadvantages of each so it is advisable to investigate both. Many states require an insurance company to sponsor your license application, so selecting a company is a good place to start. A property and casualty license is generally the minimum to start and allows you to sell auto and homeowners type policies (Laws vary by state). It is advisable to get additional licenses such as accident and health, and possibly investment type licenses (For example Series 6 and 63).
For either choice many agents work part time first to get licensing, training, experience, and begin building a client base. If you have your own business your income will probably be straight commission. Normally you are paid for the sale of each policy and again every time of renewal. In my area 20 to 30 policies per month is considered good for new agents. This might pay you $2,000 to $3,000 depending on the type of sales. After you pay your expenses the income can be quite small when starting. As your book of business increases your renewal income will greatly increase your income.
An option to building an agency from scratch is to buy an existing agency. Typically you will pay 2 or more times annual earnings. For example, if an agency has 1,000 policies that earn $100,000 annually in renewals, you will probably pay $200,000 or more. It is possible to finance an agencies purchase. This will generally require 10% or more for a down payment. SBA is the most common lender for this kind of loan. My company, Texas Capital Mortgage 281-537-7800, can help with business financing for Texas residents. (I have found that the mortgage business is a good compliment to the insurance business.)
Obviously you need a lot more information to start an agency. I suggest spending a lot of time researching the business before jumping in. Read some books about the business. The larger companies have district offices where they can tell you about employment with them. The agent you buy your insurance from may be willing to share his experience with you. There is also a lot of information available online.
Insurance is a great business but don’t underestimate the difficulty! After starting with Farmers full time, the first 1/2 year I lost 50K (much of this was start up expence), the next year I lost 20K, and this year I should make some profit. Some agents will do better or worse but this could give you some idea.
Each day, more and more Insurance Agents are leaving the captive corporate world to venture into the realm of independent insurance agent. Rather than being locked into selling one major insurance carrier’s branded product line, they opt to offer a larger variety of policies, services and costs; coinciding with the demand of consumers wanting to have choices and options at competitive prices.
As we are well aware, this is no longer a “seller’s market”, but an “informed buyer’s”. People, in general, are armed with more information than ever before. So, how do you, the independent insurance agent, stand out from the other 100′s of agents in your city? What marketing avenues are available to you so that you capture the prospective buyer’s attention and convert them into a prospect and ultimately a long-term client? And which ones work?
Regardless of your target audience, whether you have niched your focus to be product specific, or if you are targeting a certain population segment; you need to investigate the various forms of advertising available to you, the costs of such programs and the pros and cons.
Below is a breakdown of the most commonly used forms of advertising for the independent insurance agency, and the pros and cons of each.
Television Advertising
As the average American spends more time in front of the television, it should be no surprise that this is one of the most sought after forms of marketing available.
Pros:
Ability to reach a larger and more diverse segment of the insurance seeking population
You can specify time of day and network, reaching your intended audience easier
Since most consumers are engaged by a combination of movement, color, what they see and what they hear, this gives most businesses a platform to achieve full sensory contact
Gives a business instant credibility and prestige
Cons:
Cost for the commercial air time and/or multiple runs
Cost for hiring a marketing agency to lay-out and film your insurance commercial
Consumer expectation – no longer are we impressed with someone reading off a teleprompt, they want to be entertained
Competition for the consumer’s attention
Popularity of digital recorders has increased, giving consumers the ability to fast-forward through commercials when watching their favorite shows
Many experts would agree that if you have the extra capital in your marketing budget to incorporate television into your advertising that you should. However, it is important that you research different advertising firms to help you explore your options with regards to creating your on-air advertisement, the best way to target your audience and keep within your planned budget.
Newspaper advertising and local weekly shoppers
With regards to print advertisements, some independent agents turn to local newspapers and weekly shoppers to advertise their agencies. Since many households either subscribe to at least one newspaper, or pick them up at their local newsstands, it is a fast and simple way to gain recognition by consumers.
Pros:
Ability to reach more than one target audience by placing various advertisements in the different sections of a newspaper
You have the choice of large or small circulation papers to advertise your insurance agency
Consumers who turn to the newspapers and weekly shoppers are looking for advertisers who offer deals or bargains
Multiple advertisement ad sizes to correspond with various budgets
Cons:
Newspapers and weekly shoppers are usually read once and discarded
Smaller advertisements have a more difficult time standing out when placed next to a larger ad
Quality of the print may distort images and photos in a way that can hurt your marketing rather than help
Ads, regardless of size, have to compete for the reader’s attention
Like television advertising, it would be prudent to consult with a professional marketing firm, preferably one that specializes in insurance marketing, to help you design an advertisement that best captures your targeted audience’s attention. The smaller the ad space the less detailed and complicated the ad should be.
Also keep in mind the days the most sought after papers and weekly shoppers are printed. The rates for a large advertisement over the weekend will be greater than the same sized ad featured all week long.
Billboards and Signs
While most forms of outdoor advertising are contained within billboards and large signage, some independent agencies have broadened the term to include park benches, posters and seat rails at public transit stops. This form of marketing has become a popular, less costly way, when compared with television and print advertising, to reach a larger audience in major metropolitan areas.
Pros:
Potential clients cannot simply discard or “turn off” outdoor advertising
Name recognition is higher with those consumers who walk or drive the same route each day
Billboards and signs vary in price due to size and location making it is easier to find one in your budget
Cons:
More often than not, outdoor advertisements do not fully engage a consumer’s attention for more than a few seconds
Advertisements have to be simple and interesting enough for the consumer to remember
Outdoor advertisements are usually contracted for a longer period of time than most independent agencies had anticipated securing them for
Posters and bench signs at public transit stops work well in major metropolitan areas where lower, middle and upper class alike share the same transportation systems, however, not as effective in areas where public transportation is not as common
If you feel various forms of outdoor advertising would be a compliment to your business and marketing plan, consider placement wisely. Consult many firms for input and advice on the best way to stretch your marketing dollar and how they can help you create eye-catching and simple designs for your sign.
Phone Book Directories
Since exposure to the advertisements in phone book directories is voluntary, meaning consumers actually turn to the phone book for its ads, this form of marketing for independent insurance agencies has become an industry standard.
Pros:
Certain targeted audiences utilize the phone book regularly to find businesses in their area
Many phone books also have an online directory giving agencies a more broad exposure
You can tailor your exposure to cover a large metropolitan area, or just the city you work in
Traditionally, consumers will keep a phone book versus discarding it like a newspaper
Cons:
Cost – as more consumers turn to the internet, the cost for print ads in the phone book has increased to cover profit loss
Marketing ineffectiveness – with so many insurance agencies buying ads, it becomes more difficult to capture the consumer’s attention, and once again, stand out from the 100′s of other agents in your market
There are so many phone books in which to advertise, which one do you choose to feature your agency
As with any form of advertising, be sure to read all the features and benefits that come with your paid advertisement. Does it include a featured ad online, or is that separate? What is the target area or audience of the phone book you are looking at? Is the cost monthly, quarterly or annual? Is there an automatic renewal clause or will you have the option of not renewing your contract? Where will your advertisement be placed in comparison to the other featured ads? Will someone employed by the phone book assist you with an eye catching advertisement, or do you have to hire a marketing agency to do that for you, and what is the cost?
Internet Advertising
Roughly 90% of all the households across the United States have access to the internet either at home, at work or at school; making advertising on the internet the fastest growing marketing medium for independent insurance agents. That household percentage goes even higher for those families with a combined income of $100k or more. However, internet advertising gaining its strength only in the last decade or so, there is still a lot an independent agent would need to research, as with any form of advertising, before making a financial commitment.
Pros:
Cost- you can spend much or as little as your budget allows
Levels the playing field – the internet gives the independent agent a chance to compete with the large insurance carriers with regards to search engine placement
Whether a web site, a PDF brochure, an affiliated network or a video; any and all forms of advertising can be featured and found on the internet
Advertisement exposure is voluntary. Only the websites relevant to a consumer’s online search will pull up for them to look at. Someone searching for insurance agents in their area are more often than not, looking for an agent to speak with
Cons:
People expect to be educated or informed by an agent’s personal website – having out-dated information or poor graphics can actually hurt your credibility
The ever changing internet – each of the major search engines change what they search for on websites constantly with regards to how well they rank. Staying on top of these changes can be very time consuming or expensive if you pay a firm to do this for you.
Fear of identity theft – consumers are becoming skeptical of entering their personal contact information online for fear they will have their personal information stolen or sold to telemarketing companies and be subject to unwanted emails or phone calls
There are so many options and services available to the independent insurance agent to effectively market themselves and attract more leads. The form of advertising you choose will depend largely on the audience you intend to target, the area in which you do business, and ultimately your budget. Be sure to ask questions. Know what you are getting and what you are not with whatever forms of marketing you decide to use.