1. Emergency Info Wallet Cards – Include local
emergency numbers like the fire department, police, poison control, etc.
Include your contact information and the phone number for claims.
Customers will be glad to carry such a valuable card around in their
wallet and they will always have your information in their pocket!
Referrals are the cheapest and easiest form of insurance agency
marketing.
2. Great Email Signature – If you don’t already have an automated email signature, make one right now. Include every bit of contact information about you like your address, phone numbers, website, twitter, facebook, etc. With each new day comes a new form of communication and everyone has a favorite. Make sure you accommodate all communication preferences for marketing.
3. Keep a Voice Recorder in Your Car - When you’re driving and spot a commercial vehicle record some information about the vehicle and the phone number. You can call the owner later and explain where you saw the vehicle and that you would like an opportunity to make a bid on their insurance at the next renewal. In case you want to order one now, here's a link to digital voice recorders
on Amazon
4. Be Found Online Everywhere - Did you know 70% of insurance consumers go online during the shopping process? If your agency is not easily found on Google and everywhere else online you're missing the easiest sales opportunities! Before you even think about social media and content marketing make sure people can actually find you online! Here's how to get your agency is everywhere. If shoppers can't find you, they can't buy from you!
5. Get in Their Cell Phone - Encourage clients to program your insurance agency phone number into their cell phone in case they have a claim or billing question. They will always be walking around with your contact information! If someone asks them about insurance it will be easier to refer and referrals are the best insurance agency marketing strategy.
6. Volunteer– The hand that gives, gathers. There are many opportunites for growing your business while volunteering. You can get great PR in the newspaper, meet other local community members and business owners, and educate people about the values and benefits of insurance. Choose a non-profit you have some interest in since the more passion you have, the more benefit.
7. Harness the Power of Facebook - Stop pretending the opportunity doesn't exist or you can't do figure it out and start generating leads from Facebook. Unless you only sell Medicare Supplement Plans, nearly every client you have is already on Facebook and the average user has 130 friends! If you need ideas, check out another article I wrote: 100 Facebook Marketing Ideas For Insurance Agents. Be creative, not too self-promotional, and use Facebook to put your agency on display. And if you need a little expert help, check out this Facebook marketing package for insurance agents
8. Host a Window Etching Event – Window etching is a process of inscribing the VIN number of a vehicle into all the glass on a car. It is supposed to reduce auto theft. You can sometimes team up with the local police department or an organizaiton against insurance fraud like these guys. Gather free insurance leads from the vehicle owners. Remember to frame the sales conversation around any discounts they're getting for the window etching.
9. Door Hangers – Sounds old school, but paying someone to go door to door hanging advertisements on doorknobs can be part of your insurance marketing strategy. Arm the person with talking points about your insurance agency just in case.
10. Internet Insurance Leads – I know internet leads are frustrating because the information can be inaccurate, people aren't always excited to talk to you and there's always competition. But it's hard to find an easier source of people in your market that want insurance right now. Unfortunately, there isn't one company with the best leads for all agents - it varies depending on your market. I recommend using several lead sources while tracking close rates before committing to just one. Here the 3 most popular: Agent Insider - InsureMe - NetQuote.
11. Keychain Tags – I mean the thin plastic tags that the grocery store, gym, and credit card companies give members. Include the insurance agency contact information. Customers will want it so they can call you if they have a claim. Now they will always have your contact information for when they refer your agency. Referrals are the best insurance marketing.
12. Get Your Own Website – In today's marketplace, not having a website is like not having a business card. It looks unprofessional and prohibits you from doing any legitimate online marketing! You can get the easiest insurance agency website for under $50 a month so why haven't you done it already? And for the captive agents and ambitious producers who don't have an online content platform of their own, you can setup an insurance blog in under 5 minutes.
13. TV Advertising – If you get an opportunity for some cheap exposure it may be worthwhile. The best television marketing opportunities would be during programs specifically aimed at your target prospects while they are thinking about your services - like during a program about home improvement or cars. In my opinion, TV ads still do not offer the same ROI as other insurance marketing strategies.
14. Agency Mascot – You can buy a decent mascot costume on eBay or Amazon for a few hundred dollars. Throw an agency T-shirt on it and walk around at public places and community events. Don't forget to get some video of all your character's appearances and post them to your social media accounts. It's a fun idea.
15. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising – These are sponsored results that show to the right when you search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. This can be an excellent insurance marketing opportunity because it drives traffic to your insurance agency website only from people actively interested in insurance. You choose who views your ads by location and demographics.
Google Adwords – MSN AdCenter (includes Yahoo.)
16. Local Networking Events –Chambers of commerce and many professional organizations host networking events so businesspeople can meet other businesspeople. Make as many connections as possible and follow up with those who can assist your insurance marketing with referrals. These events are always loaded with salespeople, focus on how you can help everyone you meet and have fun. Read this article for 34 more ideas about insurance agent networking.
17. Host Seminars – It requires promotion, but you can host seminars about financial planning, understanding insurance, saving money on insurance etc. Invite people to your insurance agency office, use a meeting room at a local chamber, use space from a community center, or rent a location. Present a topic that is time sensitive and enticing. “Learning About Deferred Medical Savings Accounts” will not draw as many as: “Secrets to Stop Uncle Sam From Stealing Your Retirement.”
18. Give Free Coffee at Lowes – Ever see the parking lot of a hardware store at 7 am? All contractors. Among many other potential needs, contractors need commercial auto, general liability, worker’s comp, disability etc
19. Email Newsletters - Capture your clients' email and develop an insurance marketing email newsletter. Online email marketing providers can help you produce professional looking newsletters and track who opened emails, what they clicked on, and how long they viewed the message. Make sure to send useful information. People receive too much spam and you don’t want to be that type of insurance email marketing sender. Sending sales emails can be illegal. CAN SPAM Act. For our insurance marketing ideas newsletter, we use a service called Aweber but we've also had good results from another provider named MailChimp.
20. Door-to-door Relationship Building– It’s not easy, but it might be the cheapest and most effective insurance marketing strategies. To be successful with face-to-face insurance marketing orient all conversation around how you can help the organization (with referrals and promotion, not just insurance). Have a non-sales conversation prepared, like a local community event you are organizing and recruiting help for. Be respectful and make an impression without interfering or coming across as a typical salesperson. Get x-dates and follow up with the decision makers before renewals. You will be surprised how many non-commercial insurance leads you get.
21. Everything We Sell Sheet - One of the reasons your clients don't buy more lines of insurance with you and refer more friends to your agency is because they don't know all the products you sell. It might seem obvious to you but if you don't tell your clients you also help with financial planning, annuities, bonds, other financial products they'll never know! Your agency isn't Walmart; people can't look on your shelves and see what you offer. Create an easy-to-digest one-page sheet that shows all the products you offer. Explain the form during your new customer on-boarding process and send it out to existing clients with other communications.
22. Sponsor a Car Show – This is a good marketing idea for any agent, but a fantastic one for any agent interested and knowledgable about cars. Like most of the advice on this page, building relationships is the key ingredient in your agency marketing strategy and this will be a fantastic way to do so.
23. Improve Your Google Ranking - According to their website, Google ranks local businesses based on three things: location, relevance, and prominence. Location means you'll only show for searches near your physical location. Relevance means you'll only show for search terms related to insurance (not locksmiths, hotels, hairdressers, etc.) and prominence means how often Google comes across your business name address and phone number when they surf the entire web. For a more detailed explanation, download the free ebook, 10 Actions to Boost Your Agency's Google Rankings Today if you want to actually get any phone calls this year.
24. Press Releases - Have something interesting going on with your agency? Hire someone new? Open a new location? Get appointed with a new carrier? Change the air freshener in your bathroom? It doesn't matter how important the news is, you can write up a little blurb about it and publish it online. Be sure to reach out to your local community newspaper but you can also use an online service like this one make sure to include a link back to your website and use lots of location terms like your city/village/town name to help you with search engine optimization.
25. Reach Out to Contacts Every Day – Make friends and increase referrals without looking like a salesperson by asking questions. Strong relationships within the community are perhaps the most powerful marketing tool an agent can possess. Strengthen these relationships by calling other professionals in the community and asking them questions as often as possible. You can ask things you already know! Over time the relationship will develop and they will send you referrals. Referrals are the sweetest insurance agency marketing.
26. Smoke Detector Batteries Use smoke detector batteries as handouts at community events or as an incentive for prospects who get a quote from your agency. You could also make an event out of it and invite people to visit your agency for free batteries. Promote the event on your Facebook page and invite all your friends and clients to swing by for a free 9-volt.
27. Carry Blank Business Cards – Have you ever made a really great professional contact and they don't have a card to give you? Sure you can give them your card but then you're dependent on them getting back to you. Carry blank business cards with you and when you meet someone without a card pull out a pen and one of your blanks and say something like, "Oh, don't worry. I'm always prepared so I carry blank business cards with me everywhere. What's your phone number?". They'll never forget you.
28. Geurrilla Marketing Kit - Create a kit of marketing materials to keep in your car so you'll always be prepared for a promotional opportunity. Your kit should contain a wide array of materials and mediums. Here's some ideas for what to include in your kit: business cards, pens, brochures, postcards, 8"x11" flyers, tear-off flyers, safety information, signs, stickers, t-shirts etc. The idea is that if a marketing opportunity pops up you want to be able to embrace it. And if you do anything creative and cool take a picture and share it through your social media accounts.
30. Advertise on Pizza Boxes – I know several agents who purchase pizza boxes with their insurance marketing in exchange for buying the boxes. Many pizza shops need to cut expenses and will make a deal. Ensure they don't cover your insurance marketing with theirs. Boxes are under 50 cents each. Another option is to pay for plastic pizza cutters. They are more expensive but people keep them.
31. Speak at High Schools – Find informational materials and videos to use while you speak about defensive driving with high school students. Also, teaching a brief class about insurance could be a great opportunity for the students in a “life skills” class. It will certainly help to have a personal connection with someone in the school.
32. Consumer Review Websites - Websites like Yelp.com and MerchantCircle allow you to set up a profile about your agency. Visitors can write recommendations about your agency and insurance shoppers use these services to decide who to call. The most important step for generating reviews is setting up accurate and robust business profiles online for your agency, wherever people may search for insurance agents.
Sponsor the Fire or Police Department – What says community involvement and protection better than the fire and police departments? Firemen and police officers generally have very wide social networks within your local community. Find a way to get some publicity in the paper and develop strong friendships with the members.
34. Chamber of Commerce – To make it worth your time and money, you must develog stronger relationships within and contribute to the community. Chambers of Commerce are full of salespeople…be a resource by helping others and you will reap the greatest insurance marketing benefits.
35. Facebook Advertising - Ever notice those links on the right hand side of your Facebook page that usually have catchy pictures and text? Those are advertisements and they're the reason Mark Zuckerberg is a billionare. It's amazing how specific you can get with your target audience using Facebook Ads and they're not too expensive either. If you're too busy selling insurance to manage your Facebook marketing consider hiring a company that specializes in social media marketing for insurance agents. And if you want insurance related content to post on your Facebook page quickly check out the Facebook Content Dashboard.
36. Wrap Your Car – Consider the possibility of having your vehicle professionally wrapped with your insurance agency logo. It facilitates more conversations than you expect and traffic won't bother you as much. You could also purchase an inexpensive car magnet to put on your car when it is parked in highly visible locations or in your parking lot closer to the main road. Always be marketing.
37. Burn Through Business Cards – At some point, every one of us has been embarrassed to say, “Sorry, I don’t have a business card on me right now”. That's unacceptable. From this point on, if you ever say that again you should turn in your insurance license. Instead make sure you always have at least a hundred on you at any time. Leave them in fishbowls, post them on bulletin boards, leave them with a generous tip if you have great service in a restaurant. Give everyone you meet at least two and don’t ever run out…
38. Create a Google+ Agency Page - I get it, you're already tired of all the social media stuff. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and whatever the flavor of the week is next month it's hard to keep up. But there's one reason you really need to play along with this one - it's Google and even if no one uses Google+, it can benefit your search results. Set up your Google+ page here.
39. Hire Commission-Only Salespeople – Not many agents have the spare cash to bring on another full-time (or even part-time) producer right now, buy you may be able to bring on a commission-only salesman. Even if you give them 100% of your sales commission, at some point they'll leave and the renewals are yours. Ads on Craigslist are free and there's plenty of people in the market for a job right now. And make sure all your new producers read this article, it's one of the most popular articles on our site.
40. Customer Video Testimonials – No one can sell the benefits of doing business with your agency better than an actual customer. Most agencies have a client or two that is bananas about you, ask them a few questions and film it with your iPhone. Shoot with the client and camera in a standing position away from a wall - it will have a more candid appearance and the lack of quality will be less noticeable.
41. Donations for Quotes – Offer to donate a certain amount of money to a charity for every quote you get. Some of the big carriers get this one wrong by donating to a national cause. Donate to local charities and get your quotes from people that are actively engaged with the charity. Get them to post it to their Facebook page and let them do all the marketing for you.
42. Refer-A-Friend Page - Create a page on your website that allows people to enter in the email address of a friend and it sends that person an email with your contact information and a recommendation about the agency. People aren't going to use this by themselves though. You can email them a link right after you help them with something they appreciate like a billing dispute or a claim.
43. Use Fiverr.com – Fiverr.com is an awesome resource where you can hire people to do all sorts of things for only $5. There's a bunch of ways to use Fiverr for insurance marketing like designing flyers, writing press releases, business card design, content writing, video creation and more. You really wouldn't believe what you can get for $5.
44. Google Alerts – Google Alerts is a free service from Google that sends you an email anytime they find a new website with information you're interested in. You can set it up to notify you anytime someone mentions your agency or to make sure you're in the loop about all local insurance and business networking news.
45. Twitter - I know that a lot of insurance agents don't "get" Twitter. I understand because to be honest, I don't totally get it and I'm an internet marketing guy. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't set up a Twitter page though. Just having the page for your agency gives Google a more robust picture of your agency's online profile which should help search results. It's not hard to set it up to just regurgitate your Facebook posts automatically either
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46. Get Free PR – HelpAReporter.com is a free service that connects reporters with experts to interview. When you sign up for an account as an expert you'll recieve 3 emails a day filled with opportunities to be the "industry expert" for a reporter who needs to interview someone to write a story. If you want to be interviewed, respond quickly and sell hard on why you'd be the best expert to interview.
47. Downloadable Whitepapers – A Whitepaper is basically just a fancy term for an informational report. You can turn it into a PDF and put it on your website either to generate leads or to give out for free. Keep it simple and create something highly relevant to an insurance shopper like, The Top 10 Insurance Mistakes Chicago Families Make and How to Avoid Them. It's a bit trite, but you get the point.
48. Dominate Online Maps - People find local businesses using their mobile devices more and more. And if they're already looking on a map, it's a pretty good indication they're serious about finding a local company! When it comes to putting your agency on the map you've got two choices: do it yourself, or hire an insurance SEO expert. There isn't a much better way to get your agency in front of insurance shoppers at the perfect time than through good search engine and online map rankings.
49. Sponsor a Motorcycle Ride – Except for a few crotchrocket thrill seekers, motorcycle riders are often fantastic insurance clients. They are very safe drivers on two and four wheels and today’s motorcycle owner often has many other insurance and financial service needs. Motorcycle insurance marketing is a great lead-in to other insurance lines.
50. Post Client Letters – If someone writes a letter, sends an email, or posts a positive comment online about your agency, print it out and post it in a visible location. Shoppers look to others for guidance. Reading many letters from others about the knowledge, care, and protection your provide will only improve their impression of your business.
51. Buy a Closing Agency's Phone Number – If you know any local agents that are closing down their agencies it may be possible to purchase their phone number after they close. It can generate a lot of phone calls from people who have the old agency's information. Sure people will be calling in for the other agency, but you can still help them with any of their needs just as well. (and probably better, right?)
52. Photograph Local Events – I imagine you're already going to local community events in order to meet more people and gain local connections. Start taking pictures of the events and post them to your website or your social media accounts. It can draw lots of people to connect with you on social media or to visit your website. This is really great for developing your connection with the local community. Have fun with it.
53. Park a Wreck in Your Lot – Convince a junkyard to park a wrecked vehicle in front of your office. It will draw attention and create a mental connection between your location and car accidents and insurance. If your local government or landlord gives you a hard time, remind them it is raising safety awareness and at the very least try to get them to allow it every once in a while.
54. Referral Marketing Exchange– I know many agents that offer cash incentives for real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and car salesmen to refer their insurance agency. (This is illegal in some places) There may be other options to reward referrals that are more affordable to you and/or more enticing for them, for instance you agree to pay for the publication and distribution of marketing materials. When a real estate agent sends you a lead, instead of paying them cash agree to send their client birthday cards in their name for the next five years. It may be easier for you if you already have a similar process in your office.
55. Join the School Board – The school board is obviously a fantastic way to meet both the big players and families in the community. Being on the school board will give you easier access to marketing opportunities to parents and young drivers also. Marketing insurance products to young families is an ideal situation.
56. Insurance Leads Fishbowl – Leave a fishbowl on the counter at a business where potential customers shop with a sign indicating you will be drawing for a gift card to the establishment. Use the cards for leads.
57. Wear Your Business – Invest in some nice shirts with your business name clearly visible. Wear them everywhere, especially to school and community events. Include your staff and you can have a powerful insurance marketing effect. Shirts are expensive, so if you're going to hand them out, give them only to people you think have friends that would make good clients.
58.Customer Surveys – Surveying people about service quality has marketing benefits. You can identify opportunities for improvement and you let clients know you value the quality of their experience. Another benefit is that many people will feel obliged to say good things and forcing them to do so will imprint the value of your agency into their minds. You can do this by email with most email marketing services.
59. Connect Locally on Facebook – Moving forward, insurance agents that have the strongest online presence will survive. That includes social media profiles. Read the Facebook marketing strategy that works for insurance agents for a new approach and check out this free resource we created with over 100 ideas and strategies for Facebook marketing for insurance agents.
60. Write in the Local Papers – Even if you pay for it, writing content for the local paper can be much more valuable than insurance advertising. Most papers are struggling right now and will be more open than ever to allow you to pay to write content. If you cannot inlcude insurance agency contact information in the article purchase a visible ad near it.
61. Business Networking Groups – Although there are many like it, BNI is one of the most prominent business networking groups. Unfortunately, they often limit membership to one person per industry and insurance is often filled. Take advantage if you get an opportunity to join BNI or another group like it. And don't ever forget the cardinal rules of networking for insurance agents.
62. Coach Youth Sports – Coaching a youth sports team allows you to meet many young families within the community. Think auto, home, Life, financial Planning, 529, IRA, etc. You should take every opportunity to get to know the league coordinators as they are often very well-known individuals within the community. Get some additional agency marketing by hanging a team picture in the office. It's also a lot of fun, just ask the guys on my middle school lacrosse team.
63. Designate a Referral Specialist – Choose one person in your agency and assign them to develop and support a referral process. Track referred business and pay extra commission on it. When one person takes ownership of the referral program you’ll get their buy in, and your other staff won’t be hearing about referrals from only you. And make your referral specialist read this article about referrals for ideas.
64. Send Marketing Materials With Every Customer Communication – Whether it is a payment reminder, policy endorsement, renewal notification, etc, always include some sort of insurance product marketing material. This holds true for mail, email, phone calls, text messages, whatever.
65. Bring Doughnuts to Apartment Managers – If you sell renter’s coverage the best way to market insurance is through the person selling the apartment. When you get an opportunity to speak with apartment managers, make sure they understand why insured tenants can be an advantage to them. They will forget you if you don’t bring something to eat once a month.
66. Customer Discount Cards - Team up with a few other local businesses to create a discount card for each other's services. Each member can give their own customers the discount card that offers discounts to all the different businesses. Since you probably can't change the price of the someone's insurance coverage you can offer a free gift with a quote or maybe just organize the project and get other businesses to put up the discounts.
67. Golf Tournament - Hosting a golf tournament can be a great way to meet and attract power players in your local business community. Even if hosting a tournament is well outside your marketing budget, participating in other golf tournaments can be an opportunity to meet and network with more influential people. Just don't drink too much and if you're not a frequent golfer you might want to hit the driving range beforehand.
68. Advertise In Church Bulletins – Church bulletins tend not to be huge insurance lead generators, but use your financial support to speak with the church leadership. Offer to conduct seminars about insurance, defensive driving, fire safety, financial planning etc. Your good intentions will lead to higher commissions.
69. Coupon Mailers – Consider the readers of these materials and make sure any advertising you do provides some sort of coupon, free gift, or call to action. People read through these specifically to find coupons and discounts. Val-Pak is one.
70. Customer Appreciation Party - Let your best policyholders know how important you are by inviting them to a nice dinner. Use this time to market new financial products, encourage referrals, and strengthen relationships. Invite your largest premium providers and the people who help you with referral marketing.
71. Insurance Lead Lists – It can be expensive, but purchasing lists of insurance prospects is a starting point for many of the other insurance marketing strategies here. Narrow down prospects with demographics, location, etc. Here's a couple companies that can help: Salesgenie - Cole Information.
72. Market in Ethnic Publications – Studies show certain minority populations can be more loyal to businesses that advertise and market within their cultural media. If you speak a foreign language or someone in your agency does, selling insurance to that community can open the door to loads of referred leads.
73. Local Forum Websites – Many local communities have online forums where members communicate about community events, concerns, businesses, etc. Become an avid poster and you will develop friends and insurance leads. If possible, use a link to your insurance agency website in your signature so it shows up every time you write. Since your online reputation is nearly as important nowadays as your actual one, make sure to make relavent posts rather than blatant insurance advertisements.
74. T-shirts – Give them out to policyholders who will wear them. It will be tempting to buy the cheapest white shirts. Remember, if your shirt can work itself into the regular rotation of someone’s wardrobe, you’ll have residual insurance advertising. Make sure the agency name and service is clear.
75. Online News Comments– After reading articles on the local news website make a post and try to include a link to your website. Link a theme in the article to an insurance need. Do not become a comment spammer; post relevant information. Incoming links to your website from a reliable source like the local newspaper can help the search rankings of your website and drive targeted traffic.
76. Get New Marketing Ideas by Email – Sign up for the Insurance Marketing Ideas Newsletter to get weekly insurance marketing ideas like the ones your reading right now delivered right to your inbox. For a limited time there's also a secret gift just for signing up. (Okay, you talked me into it... it's an eBook I wrote explaining how to rank #1 on Google)
77. Leverage LinkedIn – I don't know too many agents who use LinkedIn well for sales or marketing but it can be a great resource for building your network. Here's a hint for insurance agents: The value of LinkedIn doesn't come from networking with people you already know as much as from connecting with the people they know. (By the way, if you like this top 100 list connect on LinkedIn with the author and CEO of InsuranceSplash: John Carroll)
79. Host a Baby Car Seat Event – You’ll need to get certified in car seat safety installation or find someone who is. Often fire departments or police departments have certified individuals and maybe you’ll convince them to bring the fire truck. Marketing insurance products to young families is always a good idea.
80. Caricature Artist – Looking for a way to get people to your booth at local events? Hire a caricature artist to draw people while you're giving them a quote. You might have to train your artist to create each drawing in the same amount of time it takes you to finish the quote. If you brand the paper with your agency information somewhere you'll get extra promotion when they show all their friends.
81. Online Yellow Pages For Leads. Superpages is a great way to find phone contacts for commercial insurance marketing. Focus on a particular market (carpenters, plumbers, lawyers etc) at a time so you can perfect your insurance sales strategy toward each different industry.
82. Attend Community Meetings – Read your local newspaper or website to learn when community meetings are happening. Do good for the community and business will follow. Wear your agency shirt. (a nice golf shirt, not a T-shirt)
83. Produce a Viral Video – I can’t tell you how to do it, but if you can come up with something related to insurance, your staff, your community or something that people will want to watch and send to their friends, release it on YouTube and let it go viral. Here’s a free suggestion… put together bunch of extreme sports bloopers with an disability insurance advertisement. If you want more video marketing ideas for insurance agents check out this article and this one.
84. Start a Community Organization – It’s not hard and you won’t need to win an election to be the president. Identify a social need in the community and start it. Combine a group of people and a cause like Softballers Against Cancer or Baby Boomers For the Environment. You can get it started on a site like MeetUp.com.
85. Publish a Blog – Starting an insurance blog is a great way to connect with your community and generate leads. A general blog about insurance will be lost in the shuffle but a blog about a specific type of insurance or region is a great way to develop leads. And don't tell me it's too hard to setup - Watch me setup a blog online in under 4 minutes in this YouTube video. Isn't exposure to every insurance shopper on earth worth 4 minutes of your time?
86. Sports Schedule Magnets – I've seen just about every promotional product for insurance agents and key factor for how well it works is whether it provides value. Whether it's for the local professional sports team or your local high school teams, giving people a magnet with the game schedule can be very valuable for anyone who follows the team. Since a sports season doesn't last too long the value of your magnets is ephemeral. Try to time it so you've given out all your magnets before the first game happens. You don't want to be heading into playoffs with a box of 500 schedules to give out.
87. Sidewalk Chalk – Does your agency have a lot of foot traffic passing by? Get a cheap box of children's sidewalk chalk and use it to write messages for the passers-by. You can encourage them to walk in for a quote, get a policy review, or just step inside for some cool agency schwag. If it's always the same people walking past your agency you might want to get creative and vary your messaging. If it's always new people walking by find one good call to action that works best.
88. Good Old Telemarketing - The reason insurance agents still telemarket…it still works. Focus telemarketing in the evening, give your telemarketer lots of talkpaths to use and conduct role plays periodically to keep your telemarketer sharp. Don't aim to quote and sell insurance policies right away. Respecting the prospects, making a positive impression, and gaining an x-date can be more valuable than providing an instant quote.
89. Be Everywhere Online – Did you know one of the most important factors that gets your agency top search rankings is having a large online footprint? Basically, the more places Google can find your agency on the internet, the better you'll rank. That means when you hire a good SEO company they'll get your agency listed just about anywhere someone might go online to look for insurance, in addition to Google! Don't waste your time and money - hire the best insurance SEO company. (if you can afford them)
90. Handwritten Letters For Best Customers – We spend too much time with customers that pay us the least amount of money. Take a look at your commission statements and make sure you are going the extra mile for the people that support you the most. Guess who your best customers hang out with... people just like them who'd be great referrals for you.
91. Annual Policy Reviews – How can you expect policyholders to stay with you if they do not get anything in return each year? You should attempt to discuss policies with every customer every year. This helps you solidify the relationship, identify needs for additional products, and ask for referrals. Treating your book well is the best route to insurance agency marketing success.
92. Promote Your Clients – What goes around comes around so encourage clients to leave promotional material in your agency and try to refer them clients. Entrepreneurs are often our best clients (many insurance and financial needs and better retention), and they are most likely to refer your services if they see the value in what you do.
93. Improve Your Signage – When's the last time you thought about your outside agency signage? When it was installed? Your agency signage provides one of the first impressions people get about your business and first impressions are important. Take a few moments to think about any changes that could be made to make it more visible. Do the lights work properly at night? Are there trees or other foliage blocking it? Is it time for a fresh new sign? Can you negotiate with your landlord for more prominent placement? Is your currant outdoor signage delivering everything you can possibly get from it?
94. Offer Free Business Coaching - Looking to make more connections in your local business community? Offer free business coaching for new entrepreneurs. The people that will take you up on an offer like that are likely to be some of the most ambitious local business owners and building a strong connection with them will help you make lots of other local connections too. It's also a great way to build clout and reputation as a trustworthy business owner in your community. Maybe you can even offer free seminars and information for new business owners about being properly insured.
95. Encourage Positive Online Reviews – When policy holders have a positive experience with your insurance agency, encourage them to go online to sites like Yelp.com or MerchantCircle.com and write about their experience. I recommend agents build a page on their website with links to their different profiles on review websites. When people are happy with their service they simply email them a link to that page and it makes things much easier for the customer. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to give you a review. And don't put a link to that page on your website, you don't want everyone to have access to it, just the people who are going to write nice things about you.
96. Put Your Picture on a Billboard – If you are an attractive woman this might work. For the guys – putting your picture on a billboard does not make you a local celebrity, it just proves you are vain and good at wasting marketing dollars. Maybe I'm just jealous..
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97. Corporate Lunch Room Quote Event – If you have any clients, friends, or business connections who work at large local businesses suggest holding a special event where you or one of your producers setup a quoting desk in their lunchroom to give quotes to employees on their lunch break. Try to make getting quotes as easy as possible. For example, considering encouraging people drop off their dec pages in the morning so you can have a quote ready as soon as their lunch break comes.
98. Host a Boating Safety Class – If you market well enough, paying an instructor to teach a class in your agency or a community center can lead to a boatload of referrals (sorry). Free for all attendees may work, or give your clients a break and charge the others. Insurance marketing strategies that encourage safety are always a good idea.
99. Put Balloons Outside – Flags, balloons, streamers, whatever…Do something to draw some attention to your agency. Ask yourself if there is anything at all drawing attention to your business. Your physical location can be your greatest source of insurance agency marketing. Amazon has a ton of helium tanks that aren't too expensive
100. Child Fingerprinting Event – Interest in protecting the community will always be good for insurance marketing. Don’t forget how valuable the connections you make with members of the local police department can be in many different ways.
101. Overdeliver- Always deliver more than you promise with everything that you do. In a marketplace where most companies overpromise and underdeliver try to be the opposite. For example, if you've promised 100 marketing ideas, give 113 instead!
102. Free Lemonade – Offering free lemonade in the summer or hot chocolate in the winter can draw in potential customers. If you’re concerned about freeloaders, make the drink contingent upon an insurance quote.
103. Host a Blood Drive – Raise awareness of your location by getting people to come to give blood, and it will also give you a reason to contact your policyholders besides billing.
104. Referral Marketing Program – Reward existing policyholders for sending you new clients. Don't be cheap with the referral rewards. Make sure every single knows about your insurance referral program and remind them every single interaction. Developing referrals is the best insurance marketing strategy. If you haven't read The Referral Engine I strongly recommend it.
105. 800 Number Tracking– Use 800 numbers to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Kall8 provides a number for around 2 dollars a month. You can tell the marketing source using caller ID. If you invest thousands for grocery cart ads, it's worth paying 25 dollars a year to track the return? My bet is you will spend your grocery cart money in online marketing the following year.
106. Messaging on Hold – Being on hold sucks. It sucks a lot less when there's something to listen to. Having a service that provides information about other products will give callers something to listen to and expose them to a much wider array of your services. Customers will be unaware what we sell if we don't constantly market insurance products to them.
107. TV or Radio Interviews – When insurance-related news happens locally, contact the media and offer your opinion. News reporters are just folks like us trying to meet deadlines so if they can get a quote without working hard, many will take advantage. Use your twitter account to send them a message.
108. Get Listed in GPS Devices - Wouldn't it be nice if people could pull up your insurance agency when they did a search on their handheld or factory installed GPS device? Some GPS manufacturers let you go to their website and submit a business profile. It might take you a little while though... You might consider this service to list your agency in almost every GPS device in one fell swoop. If someone's searching for insurance on their GPS device, I'd say they're pretty committed to visiting your agency!
109. Sponsor the Highway – Highways will allow businesses to sponsor cleanup efforts in exchange for a sign advertising their service. Sponsor a section near the exit toward your agency. If there are no nearby openings, propose sponsoring another road in town. Maybe they’ll let you put up a sign to market your insurance agency if you agree to clean up trash along the roadside.
110. Nice Car Cards - These are business cards with a car compliment written in big letters. When you see a nice car parked, leave one of the cards with your contact information on it. Have them preprinted to say “People with taste like yours value an insurance agency like mine” or better yet, hand write a personal message. People with nice cars tend to like compliments and also have a lot of insurance needs. Place it on the driver side window right over the door handle with the compliment facing out.
111. Prepare Conversational Insurance Questions – How many times do we miss sales opportunities every day? Although selling comes naturally to you (or so you think), prepare some questions you could ask anyone depending on the situation to stimulate an insurance conversation. Here’s an example: “Isn’t it amazing how fast kids grow up?” Depending on the answer, there are many insurance conversations this could lead into. Having conversational starters prepared will prevent you from wasting sales opportunities by talking about the weather.
112. Be Found Online - 52% of all insurance shoppers start the process online. When insurance shoppers go online they do the same thing you and I do: Search Google, Yahoo, or Bing. If your agency isn't showing up near the top of the search engine results the majority of insurance shoppers won't ever know you exist! Do your own SEO using an SEO plan for for agents like this, pay an SEO company every month to get you to the top, or pay around $35 a click for Google ads. However you do it, being visible on Google is an absolute must for your agency - it's where the shoppers are!
113. Advertise Your Greenness – Offer information about how to drive more efficiently or reduce energy costs in the home. Send email newsletters, mail to your clients, or host educational sessions in your office for your customers. Include insurance agency marketing material in anything you provide.
2. Great Email Signature – If you don’t already have an automated email signature, make one right now. Include every bit of contact information about you like your address, phone numbers, website, twitter, facebook, etc. With each new day comes a new form of communication and everyone has a favorite. Make sure you accommodate all communication preferences for marketing.
3. Keep a Voice Recorder in Your Car - When you’re driving and spot a commercial vehicle record some information about the vehicle and the phone number. You can call the owner later and explain where you saw the vehicle and that you would like an opportunity to make a bid on their insurance at the next renewal. In case you want to order one now, here's a link to digital voice recorders
on Amazon4. Be Found Online Everywhere - Did you know 70% of insurance consumers go online during the shopping process? If your agency is not easily found on Google and everywhere else online you're missing the easiest sales opportunities! Before you even think about social media and content marketing make sure people can actually find you online! Here's how to get your agency is everywhere. If shoppers can't find you, they can't buy from you!
5. Get in Their Cell Phone - Encourage clients to program your insurance agency phone number into their cell phone in case they have a claim or billing question. They will always be walking around with your contact information! If someone asks them about insurance it will be easier to refer and referrals are the best insurance agency marketing strategy.
6. Volunteer– The hand that gives, gathers. There are many opportunites for growing your business while volunteering. You can get great PR in the newspaper, meet other local community members and business owners, and educate people about the values and benefits of insurance. Choose a non-profit you have some interest in since the more passion you have, the more benefit.
7. Harness the Power of Facebook - Stop pretending the opportunity doesn't exist or you can't do figure it out and start generating leads from Facebook. Unless you only sell Medicare Supplement Plans, nearly every client you have is already on Facebook and the average user has 130 friends! If you need ideas, check out another article I wrote: 100 Facebook Marketing Ideas For Insurance Agents. Be creative, not too self-promotional, and use Facebook to put your agency on display. And if you need a little expert help, check out this Facebook marketing package for insurance agents
8. Host a Window Etching Event – Window etching is a process of inscribing the VIN number of a vehicle into all the glass on a car. It is supposed to reduce auto theft. You can sometimes team up with the local police department or an organizaiton against insurance fraud like these guys. Gather free insurance leads from the vehicle owners. Remember to frame the sales conversation around any discounts they're getting for the window etching.
9. Door Hangers – Sounds old school, but paying someone to go door to door hanging advertisements on doorknobs can be part of your insurance marketing strategy. Arm the person with talking points about your insurance agency just in case.
10. Internet Insurance Leads – I know internet leads are frustrating because the information can be inaccurate, people aren't always excited to talk to you and there's always competition. But it's hard to find an easier source of people in your market that want insurance right now. Unfortunately, there isn't one company with the best leads for all agents - it varies depending on your market. I recommend using several lead sources while tracking close rates before committing to just one. Here the 3 most popular: Agent Insider - InsureMe - NetQuote.
11. Keychain Tags – I mean the thin plastic tags that the grocery store, gym, and credit card companies give members. Include the insurance agency contact information. Customers will want it so they can call you if they have a claim. Now they will always have your contact information for when they refer your agency. Referrals are the best insurance marketing.
12. Get Your Own Website – In today's marketplace, not having a website is like not having a business card. It looks unprofessional and prohibits you from doing any legitimate online marketing! You can get the easiest insurance agency website for under $50 a month so why haven't you done it already? And for the captive agents and ambitious producers who don't have an online content platform of their own, you can setup an insurance blog in under 5 minutes.
13. TV Advertising – If you get an opportunity for some cheap exposure it may be worthwhile. The best television marketing opportunities would be during programs specifically aimed at your target prospects while they are thinking about your services - like during a program about home improvement or cars. In my opinion, TV ads still do not offer the same ROI as other insurance marketing strategies.
14. Agency Mascot – You can buy a decent mascot costume on eBay or Amazon for a few hundred dollars. Throw an agency T-shirt on it and walk around at public places and community events. Don't forget to get some video of all your character's appearances and post them to your social media accounts. It's a fun idea.
15. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising – These are sponsored results that show to the right when you search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. This can be an excellent insurance marketing opportunity because it drives traffic to your insurance agency website only from people actively interested in insurance. You choose who views your ads by location and demographics.
Google Adwords – MSN AdCenter (includes Yahoo.)
16. Local Networking Events –Chambers of commerce and many professional organizations host networking events so businesspeople can meet other businesspeople. Make as many connections as possible and follow up with those who can assist your insurance marketing with referrals. These events are always loaded with salespeople, focus on how you can help everyone you meet and have fun. Read this article for 34 more ideas about insurance agent networking.
17. Host Seminars – It requires promotion, but you can host seminars about financial planning, understanding insurance, saving money on insurance etc. Invite people to your insurance agency office, use a meeting room at a local chamber, use space from a community center, or rent a location. Present a topic that is time sensitive and enticing. “Learning About Deferred Medical Savings Accounts” will not draw as many as: “Secrets to Stop Uncle Sam From Stealing Your Retirement.”
18. Give Free Coffee at Lowes – Ever see the parking lot of a hardware store at 7 am? All contractors. Among many other potential needs, contractors need commercial auto, general liability, worker’s comp, disability etc
19. Email Newsletters - Capture your clients' email and develop an insurance marketing email newsletter. Online email marketing providers can help you produce professional looking newsletters and track who opened emails, what they clicked on, and how long they viewed the message. Make sure to send useful information. People receive too much spam and you don’t want to be that type of insurance email marketing sender. Sending sales emails can be illegal. CAN SPAM Act. For our insurance marketing ideas newsletter, we use a service called Aweber but we've also had good results from another provider named MailChimp.
20. Door-to-door Relationship Building– It’s not easy, but it might be the cheapest and most effective insurance marketing strategies. To be successful with face-to-face insurance marketing orient all conversation around how you can help the organization (with referrals and promotion, not just insurance). Have a non-sales conversation prepared, like a local community event you are organizing and recruiting help for. Be respectful and make an impression without interfering or coming across as a typical salesperson. Get x-dates and follow up with the decision makers before renewals. You will be surprised how many non-commercial insurance leads you get.
21. Everything We Sell Sheet - One of the reasons your clients don't buy more lines of insurance with you and refer more friends to your agency is because they don't know all the products you sell. It might seem obvious to you but if you don't tell your clients you also help with financial planning, annuities, bonds, other financial products they'll never know! Your agency isn't Walmart; people can't look on your shelves and see what you offer. Create an easy-to-digest one-page sheet that shows all the products you offer. Explain the form during your new customer on-boarding process and send it out to existing clients with other communications.
22. Sponsor a Car Show – This is a good marketing idea for any agent, but a fantastic one for any agent interested and knowledgable about cars. Like most of the advice on this page, building relationships is the key ingredient in your agency marketing strategy and this will be a fantastic way to do so.
23. Improve Your Google Ranking - According to their website, Google ranks local businesses based on three things: location, relevance, and prominence. Location means you'll only show for searches near your physical location. Relevance means you'll only show for search terms related to insurance (not locksmiths, hotels, hairdressers, etc.) and prominence means how often Google comes across your business name address and phone number when they surf the entire web. For a more detailed explanation, download the free ebook, 10 Actions to Boost Your Agency's Google Rankings Today if you want to actually get any phone calls this year.
24. Press Releases - Have something interesting going on with your agency? Hire someone new? Open a new location? Get appointed with a new carrier? Change the air freshener in your bathroom? It doesn't matter how important the news is, you can write up a little blurb about it and publish it online. Be sure to reach out to your local community newspaper but you can also use an online service like this one make sure to include a link back to your website and use lots of location terms like your city/village/town name to help you with search engine optimization.
25. Reach Out to Contacts Every Day – Make friends and increase referrals without looking like a salesperson by asking questions. Strong relationships within the community are perhaps the most powerful marketing tool an agent can possess. Strengthen these relationships by calling other professionals in the community and asking them questions as often as possible. You can ask things you already know! Over time the relationship will develop and they will send you referrals. Referrals are the sweetest insurance agency marketing.
26. Smoke Detector Batteries Use smoke detector batteries as handouts at community events or as an incentive for prospects who get a quote from your agency. You could also make an event out of it and invite people to visit your agency for free batteries. Promote the event on your Facebook page and invite all your friends and clients to swing by for a free 9-volt.
27. Carry Blank Business Cards – Have you ever made a really great professional contact and they don't have a card to give you? Sure you can give them your card but then you're dependent on them getting back to you. Carry blank business cards with you and when you meet someone without a card pull out a pen and one of your blanks and say something like, "Oh, don't worry. I'm always prepared so I carry blank business cards with me everywhere. What's your phone number?". They'll never forget you.
28. Geurrilla Marketing Kit - Create a kit of marketing materials to keep in your car so you'll always be prepared for a promotional opportunity. Your kit should contain a wide array of materials and mediums. Here's some ideas for what to include in your kit: business cards, pens, brochures, postcards, 8"x11" flyers, tear-off flyers, safety information, signs, stickers, t-shirts etc. The idea is that if a marketing opportunity pops up you want to be able to embrace it. And if you do anything creative and cool take a picture and share it through your social media accounts.
30. Advertise on Pizza Boxes – I know several agents who purchase pizza boxes with their insurance marketing in exchange for buying the boxes. Many pizza shops need to cut expenses and will make a deal. Ensure they don't cover your insurance marketing with theirs. Boxes are under 50 cents each. Another option is to pay for plastic pizza cutters. They are more expensive but people keep them.
31. Speak at High Schools – Find informational materials and videos to use while you speak about defensive driving with high school students. Also, teaching a brief class about insurance could be a great opportunity for the students in a “life skills” class. It will certainly help to have a personal connection with someone in the school.
32. Consumer Review Websites - Websites like Yelp.com and MerchantCircle allow you to set up a profile about your agency. Visitors can write recommendations about your agency and insurance shoppers use these services to decide who to call. The most important step for generating reviews is setting up accurate and robust business profiles online for your agency, wherever people may search for insurance agents.
Sponsor the Fire or Police Department – What says community involvement and protection better than the fire and police departments? Firemen and police officers generally have very wide social networks within your local community. Find a way to get some publicity in the paper and develop strong friendships with the members.
34. Chamber of Commerce – To make it worth your time and money, you must develog stronger relationships within and contribute to the community. Chambers of Commerce are full of salespeople…be a resource by helping others and you will reap the greatest insurance marketing benefits.
35. Facebook Advertising - Ever notice those links on the right hand side of your Facebook page that usually have catchy pictures and text? Those are advertisements and they're the reason Mark Zuckerberg is a billionare. It's amazing how specific you can get with your target audience using Facebook Ads and they're not too expensive either. If you're too busy selling insurance to manage your Facebook marketing consider hiring a company that specializes in social media marketing for insurance agents. And if you want insurance related content to post on your Facebook page quickly check out the Facebook Content Dashboard.
36. Wrap Your Car – Consider the possibility of having your vehicle professionally wrapped with your insurance agency logo. It facilitates more conversations than you expect and traffic won't bother you as much. You could also purchase an inexpensive car magnet to put on your car when it is parked in highly visible locations or in your parking lot closer to the main road. Always be marketing.
37. Burn Through Business Cards – At some point, every one of us has been embarrassed to say, “Sorry, I don’t have a business card on me right now”. That's unacceptable. From this point on, if you ever say that again you should turn in your insurance license. Instead make sure you always have at least a hundred on you at any time. Leave them in fishbowls, post them on bulletin boards, leave them with a generous tip if you have great service in a restaurant. Give everyone you meet at least two and don’t ever run out…
38. Create a Google+ Agency Page - I get it, you're already tired of all the social media stuff. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and whatever the flavor of the week is next month it's hard to keep up. But there's one reason you really need to play along with this one - it's Google and even if no one uses Google+, it can benefit your search results. Set up your Google+ page here.
39. Hire Commission-Only Salespeople – Not many agents have the spare cash to bring on another full-time (or even part-time) producer right now, buy you may be able to bring on a commission-only salesman. Even if you give them 100% of your sales commission, at some point they'll leave and the renewals are yours. Ads on Craigslist are free and there's plenty of people in the market for a job right now. And make sure all your new producers read this article, it's one of the most popular articles on our site.
40. Customer Video Testimonials – No one can sell the benefits of doing business with your agency better than an actual customer. Most agencies have a client or two that is bananas about you, ask them a few questions and film it with your iPhone. Shoot with the client and camera in a standing position away from a wall - it will have a more candid appearance and the lack of quality will be less noticeable.
41. Donations for Quotes – Offer to donate a certain amount of money to a charity for every quote you get. Some of the big carriers get this one wrong by donating to a national cause. Donate to local charities and get your quotes from people that are actively engaged with the charity. Get them to post it to their Facebook page and let them do all the marketing for you.
42. Refer-A-Friend Page - Create a page on your website that allows people to enter in the email address of a friend and it sends that person an email with your contact information and a recommendation about the agency. People aren't going to use this by themselves though. You can email them a link right after you help them with something they appreciate like a billing dispute or a claim.
43. Use Fiverr.com – Fiverr.com is an awesome resource where you can hire people to do all sorts of things for only $5. There's a bunch of ways to use Fiverr for insurance marketing like designing flyers, writing press releases, business card design, content writing, video creation and more. You really wouldn't believe what you can get for $5.
44. Google Alerts – Google Alerts is a free service from Google that sends you an email anytime they find a new website with information you're interested in. You can set it up to notify you anytime someone mentions your agency or to make sure you're in the loop about all local insurance and business networking news.
45. Twitter - I know that a lot of insurance agents don't "get" Twitter. I understand because to be honest, I don't totally get it and I'm an internet marketing guy. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't set up a Twitter page though. Just having the page for your agency gives Google a more robust picture of your agency's online profile which should help search results. It's not hard to set it up to just regurgitate your Facebook posts automatically either
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46. Get Free PR – HelpAReporter.com is a free service that connects reporters with experts to interview. When you sign up for an account as an expert you'll recieve 3 emails a day filled with opportunities to be the "industry expert" for a reporter who needs to interview someone to write a story. If you want to be interviewed, respond quickly and sell hard on why you'd be the best expert to interview.
47. Downloadable Whitepapers – A Whitepaper is basically just a fancy term for an informational report. You can turn it into a PDF and put it on your website either to generate leads or to give out for free. Keep it simple and create something highly relevant to an insurance shopper like, The Top 10 Insurance Mistakes Chicago Families Make and How to Avoid Them. It's a bit trite, but you get the point.
48. Dominate Online Maps - People find local businesses using their mobile devices more and more. And if they're already looking on a map, it's a pretty good indication they're serious about finding a local company! When it comes to putting your agency on the map you've got two choices: do it yourself, or hire an insurance SEO expert. There isn't a much better way to get your agency in front of insurance shoppers at the perfect time than through good search engine and online map rankings.
49. Sponsor a Motorcycle Ride – Except for a few crotchrocket thrill seekers, motorcycle riders are often fantastic insurance clients. They are very safe drivers on two and four wheels and today’s motorcycle owner often has many other insurance and financial service needs. Motorcycle insurance marketing is a great lead-in to other insurance lines.
50. Post Client Letters – If someone writes a letter, sends an email, or posts a positive comment online about your agency, print it out and post it in a visible location. Shoppers look to others for guidance. Reading many letters from others about the knowledge, care, and protection your provide will only improve their impression of your business.
51. Buy a Closing Agency's Phone Number – If you know any local agents that are closing down their agencies it may be possible to purchase their phone number after they close. It can generate a lot of phone calls from people who have the old agency's information. Sure people will be calling in for the other agency, but you can still help them with any of their needs just as well. (and probably better, right?)
52. Photograph Local Events – I imagine you're already going to local community events in order to meet more people and gain local connections. Start taking pictures of the events and post them to your website or your social media accounts. It can draw lots of people to connect with you on social media or to visit your website. This is really great for developing your connection with the local community. Have fun with it.
53. Park a Wreck in Your Lot – Convince a junkyard to park a wrecked vehicle in front of your office. It will draw attention and create a mental connection between your location and car accidents and insurance. If your local government or landlord gives you a hard time, remind them it is raising safety awareness and at the very least try to get them to allow it every once in a while.
54. Referral Marketing Exchange– I know many agents that offer cash incentives for real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and car salesmen to refer their insurance agency. (This is illegal in some places) There may be other options to reward referrals that are more affordable to you and/or more enticing for them, for instance you agree to pay for the publication and distribution of marketing materials. When a real estate agent sends you a lead, instead of paying them cash agree to send their client birthday cards in their name for the next five years. It may be easier for you if you already have a similar process in your office.
55. Join the School Board – The school board is obviously a fantastic way to meet both the big players and families in the community. Being on the school board will give you easier access to marketing opportunities to parents and young drivers also. Marketing insurance products to young families is an ideal situation.
56. Insurance Leads Fishbowl – Leave a fishbowl on the counter at a business where potential customers shop with a sign indicating you will be drawing for a gift card to the establishment. Use the cards for leads.
57. Wear Your Business – Invest in some nice shirts with your business name clearly visible. Wear them everywhere, especially to school and community events. Include your staff and you can have a powerful insurance marketing effect. Shirts are expensive, so if you're going to hand them out, give them only to people you think have friends that would make good clients.
58.Customer Surveys – Surveying people about service quality has marketing benefits. You can identify opportunities for improvement and you let clients know you value the quality of their experience. Another benefit is that many people will feel obliged to say good things and forcing them to do so will imprint the value of your agency into their minds. You can do this by email with most email marketing services.
59. Connect Locally on Facebook – Moving forward, insurance agents that have the strongest online presence will survive. That includes social media profiles. Read the Facebook marketing strategy that works for insurance agents for a new approach and check out this free resource we created with over 100 ideas and strategies for Facebook marketing for insurance agents.
60. Write in the Local Papers – Even if you pay for it, writing content for the local paper can be much more valuable than insurance advertising. Most papers are struggling right now and will be more open than ever to allow you to pay to write content. If you cannot inlcude insurance agency contact information in the article purchase a visible ad near it.
61. Business Networking Groups – Although there are many like it, BNI is one of the most prominent business networking groups. Unfortunately, they often limit membership to one person per industry and insurance is often filled. Take advantage if you get an opportunity to join BNI or another group like it. And don't ever forget the cardinal rules of networking for insurance agents.
62. Coach Youth Sports – Coaching a youth sports team allows you to meet many young families within the community. Think auto, home, Life, financial Planning, 529, IRA, etc. You should take every opportunity to get to know the league coordinators as they are often very well-known individuals within the community. Get some additional agency marketing by hanging a team picture in the office. It's also a lot of fun, just ask the guys on my middle school lacrosse team.
63. Designate a Referral Specialist – Choose one person in your agency and assign them to develop and support a referral process. Track referred business and pay extra commission on it. When one person takes ownership of the referral program you’ll get their buy in, and your other staff won’t be hearing about referrals from only you. And make your referral specialist read this article about referrals for ideas.
64. Send Marketing Materials With Every Customer Communication – Whether it is a payment reminder, policy endorsement, renewal notification, etc, always include some sort of insurance product marketing material. This holds true for mail, email, phone calls, text messages, whatever.
65. Bring Doughnuts to Apartment Managers – If you sell renter’s coverage the best way to market insurance is through the person selling the apartment. When you get an opportunity to speak with apartment managers, make sure they understand why insured tenants can be an advantage to them. They will forget you if you don’t bring something to eat once a month.
66. Customer Discount Cards - Team up with a few other local businesses to create a discount card for each other's services. Each member can give their own customers the discount card that offers discounts to all the different businesses. Since you probably can't change the price of the someone's insurance coverage you can offer a free gift with a quote or maybe just organize the project and get other businesses to put up the discounts.
67. Golf Tournament - Hosting a golf tournament can be a great way to meet and attract power players in your local business community. Even if hosting a tournament is well outside your marketing budget, participating in other golf tournaments can be an opportunity to meet and network with more influential people. Just don't drink too much and if you're not a frequent golfer you might want to hit the driving range beforehand.
68. Advertise In Church Bulletins – Church bulletins tend not to be huge insurance lead generators, but use your financial support to speak with the church leadership. Offer to conduct seminars about insurance, defensive driving, fire safety, financial planning etc. Your good intentions will lead to higher commissions.
69. Coupon Mailers – Consider the readers of these materials and make sure any advertising you do provides some sort of coupon, free gift, or call to action. People read through these specifically to find coupons and discounts. Val-Pak is one.
70. Customer Appreciation Party - Let your best policyholders know how important you are by inviting them to a nice dinner. Use this time to market new financial products, encourage referrals, and strengthen relationships. Invite your largest premium providers and the people who help you with referral marketing.
71. Insurance Lead Lists – It can be expensive, but purchasing lists of insurance prospects is a starting point for many of the other insurance marketing strategies here. Narrow down prospects with demographics, location, etc. Here's a couple companies that can help: Salesgenie - Cole Information.
72. Market in Ethnic Publications – Studies show certain minority populations can be more loyal to businesses that advertise and market within their cultural media. If you speak a foreign language or someone in your agency does, selling insurance to that community can open the door to loads of referred leads.
73. Local Forum Websites – Many local communities have online forums where members communicate about community events, concerns, businesses, etc. Become an avid poster and you will develop friends and insurance leads. If possible, use a link to your insurance agency website in your signature so it shows up every time you write. Since your online reputation is nearly as important nowadays as your actual one, make sure to make relavent posts rather than blatant insurance advertisements.
74. T-shirts – Give them out to policyholders who will wear them. It will be tempting to buy the cheapest white shirts. Remember, if your shirt can work itself into the regular rotation of someone’s wardrobe, you’ll have residual insurance advertising. Make sure the agency name and service is clear.
75. Online News Comments– After reading articles on the local news website make a post and try to include a link to your website. Link a theme in the article to an insurance need. Do not become a comment spammer; post relevant information. Incoming links to your website from a reliable source like the local newspaper can help the search rankings of your website and drive targeted traffic.
76. Get New Marketing Ideas by Email – Sign up for the Insurance Marketing Ideas Newsletter to get weekly insurance marketing ideas like the ones your reading right now delivered right to your inbox. For a limited time there's also a secret gift just for signing up. (Okay, you talked me into it... it's an eBook I wrote explaining how to rank #1 on Google)
77. Leverage LinkedIn – I don't know too many agents who use LinkedIn well for sales or marketing but it can be a great resource for building your network. Here's a hint for insurance agents: The value of LinkedIn doesn't come from networking with people you already know as much as from connecting with the people they know. (By the way, if you like this top 100 list connect on LinkedIn with the author and CEO of InsuranceSplash: John Carroll)
79. Host a Baby Car Seat Event – You’ll need to get certified in car seat safety installation or find someone who is. Often fire departments or police departments have certified individuals and maybe you’ll convince them to bring the fire truck. Marketing insurance products to young families is always a good idea.
80. Caricature Artist – Looking for a way to get people to your booth at local events? Hire a caricature artist to draw people while you're giving them a quote. You might have to train your artist to create each drawing in the same amount of time it takes you to finish the quote. If you brand the paper with your agency information somewhere you'll get extra promotion when they show all their friends.
81. Online Yellow Pages For Leads. Superpages is a great way to find phone contacts for commercial insurance marketing. Focus on a particular market (carpenters, plumbers, lawyers etc) at a time so you can perfect your insurance sales strategy toward each different industry.
82. Attend Community Meetings – Read your local newspaper or website to learn when community meetings are happening. Do good for the community and business will follow. Wear your agency shirt. (a nice golf shirt, not a T-shirt)
83. Produce a Viral Video – I can’t tell you how to do it, but if you can come up with something related to insurance, your staff, your community or something that people will want to watch and send to their friends, release it on YouTube and let it go viral. Here’s a free suggestion… put together bunch of extreme sports bloopers with an disability insurance advertisement. If you want more video marketing ideas for insurance agents check out this article and this one.
84. Start a Community Organization – It’s not hard and you won’t need to win an election to be the president. Identify a social need in the community and start it. Combine a group of people and a cause like Softballers Against Cancer or Baby Boomers For the Environment. You can get it started on a site like MeetUp.com.
85. Publish a Blog – Starting an insurance blog is a great way to connect with your community and generate leads. A general blog about insurance will be lost in the shuffle but a blog about a specific type of insurance or region is a great way to develop leads. And don't tell me it's too hard to setup - Watch me setup a blog online in under 4 minutes in this YouTube video. Isn't exposure to every insurance shopper on earth worth 4 minutes of your time?
86. Sports Schedule Magnets – I've seen just about every promotional product for insurance agents and key factor for how well it works is whether it provides value. Whether it's for the local professional sports team or your local high school teams, giving people a magnet with the game schedule can be very valuable for anyone who follows the team. Since a sports season doesn't last too long the value of your magnets is ephemeral. Try to time it so you've given out all your magnets before the first game happens. You don't want to be heading into playoffs with a box of 500 schedules to give out.
87. Sidewalk Chalk – Does your agency have a lot of foot traffic passing by? Get a cheap box of children's sidewalk chalk and use it to write messages for the passers-by. You can encourage them to walk in for a quote, get a policy review, or just step inside for some cool agency schwag. If it's always the same people walking past your agency you might want to get creative and vary your messaging. If it's always new people walking by find one good call to action that works best.
88. Good Old Telemarketing - The reason insurance agents still telemarket…it still works. Focus telemarketing in the evening, give your telemarketer lots of talkpaths to use and conduct role plays periodically to keep your telemarketer sharp. Don't aim to quote and sell insurance policies right away. Respecting the prospects, making a positive impression, and gaining an x-date can be more valuable than providing an instant quote.
89. Be Everywhere Online – Did you know one of the most important factors that gets your agency top search rankings is having a large online footprint? Basically, the more places Google can find your agency on the internet, the better you'll rank. That means when you hire a good SEO company they'll get your agency listed just about anywhere someone might go online to look for insurance, in addition to Google! Don't waste your time and money - hire the best insurance SEO company. (if you can afford them)
90. Handwritten Letters For Best Customers – We spend too much time with customers that pay us the least amount of money. Take a look at your commission statements and make sure you are going the extra mile for the people that support you the most. Guess who your best customers hang out with... people just like them who'd be great referrals for you.
91. Annual Policy Reviews – How can you expect policyholders to stay with you if they do not get anything in return each year? You should attempt to discuss policies with every customer every year. This helps you solidify the relationship, identify needs for additional products, and ask for referrals. Treating your book well is the best route to insurance agency marketing success.
92. Promote Your Clients – What goes around comes around so encourage clients to leave promotional material in your agency and try to refer them clients. Entrepreneurs are often our best clients (many insurance and financial needs and better retention), and they are most likely to refer your services if they see the value in what you do.
93. Improve Your Signage – When's the last time you thought about your outside agency signage? When it was installed? Your agency signage provides one of the first impressions people get about your business and first impressions are important. Take a few moments to think about any changes that could be made to make it more visible. Do the lights work properly at night? Are there trees or other foliage blocking it? Is it time for a fresh new sign? Can you negotiate with your landlord for more prominent placement? Is your currant outdoor signage delivering everything you can possibly get from it?
94. Offer Free Business Coaching - Looking to make more connections in your local business community? Offer free business coaching for new entrepreneurs. The people that will take you up on an offer like that are likely to be some of the most ambitious local business owners and building a strong connection with them will help you make lots of other local connections too. It's also a great way to build clout and reputation as a trustworthy business owner in your community. Maybe you can even offer free seminars and information for new business owners about being properly insured.
95. Encourage Positive Online Reviews – When policy holders have a positive experience with your insurance agency, encourage them to go online to sites like Yelp.com or MerchantCircle.com and write about their experience. I recommend agents build a page on their website with links to their different profiles on review websites. When people are happy with their service they simply email them a link to that page and it makes things much easier for the customer. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to give you a review. And don't put a link to that page on your website, you don't want everyone to have access to it, just the people who are going to write nice things about you.
96. Put Your Picture on a Billboard – If you are an attractive woman this might work. For the guys – putting your picture on a billboard does not make you a local celebrity, it just proves you are vain and good at wasting marketing dollars. Maybe I'm just jealous..
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97. Corporate Lunch Room Quote Event – If you have any clients, friends, or business connections who work at large local businesses suggest holding a special event where you or one of your producers setup a quoting desk in their lunchroom to give quotes to employees on their lunch break. Try to make getting quotes as easy as possible. For example, considering encouraging people drop off their dec pages in the morning so you can have a quote ready as soon as their lunch break comes.
98. Host a Boating Safety Class – If you market well enough, paying an instructor to teach a class in your agency or a community center can lead to a boatload of referrals (sorry). Free for all attendees may work, or give your clients a break and charge the others. Insurance marketing strategies that encourage safety are always a good idea.
99. Put Balloons Outside – Flags, balloons, streamers, whatever…Do something to draw some attention to your agency. Ask yourself if there is anything at all drawing attention to your business. Your physical location can be your greatest source of insurance agency marketing. Amazon has a ton of helium tanks
that aren't too expensive100. Child Fingerprinting Event – Interest in protecting the community will always be good for insurance marketing. Don’t forget how valuable the connections you make with members of the local police department can be in many different ways.
101. Overdeliver- Always deliver more than you promise with everything that you do. In a marketplace where most companies overpromise and underdeliver try to be the opposite. For example, if you've promised 100 marketing ideas, give 113 instead!
102. Free Lemonade – Offering free lemonade in the summer or hot chocolate in the winter can draw in potential customers. If you’re concerned about freeloaders, make the drink contingent upon an insurance quote.
103. Host a Blood Drive – Raise awareness of your location by getting people to come to give blood, and it will also give you a reason to contact your policyholders besides billing.
104. Referral Marketing Program – Reward existing policyholders for sending you new clients. Don't be cheap with the referral rewards. Make sure every single knows about your insurance referral program and remind them every single interaction. Developing referrals is the best insurance marketing strategy. If you haven't read The Referral Engine I strongly recommend it.
105. 800 Number Tracking– Use 800 numbers to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Kall8 provides a number for around 2 dollars a month. You can tell the marketing source using caller ID. If you invest thousands for grocery cart ads, it's worth paying 25 dollars a year to track the return? My bet is you will spend your grocery cart money in online marketing the following year.
106. Messaging on Hold – Being on hold sucks. It sucks a lot less when there's something to listen to. Having a service that provides information about other products will give callers something to listen to and expose them to a much wider array of your services. Customers will be unaware what we sell if we don't constantly market insurance products to them.
107. TV or Radio Interviews – When insurance-related news happens locally, contact the media and offer your opinion. News reporters are just folks like us trying to meet deadlines so if they can get a quote without working hard, many will take advantage. Use your twitter account to send them a message.
108. Get Listed in GPS Devices - Wouldn't it be nice if people could pull up your insurance agency when they did a search on their handheld or factory installed GPS device? Some GPS manufacturers let you go to their website and submit a business profile. It might take you a little while though... You might consider this service to list your agency in almost every GPS device in one fell swoop. If someone's searching for insurance on their GPS device, I'd say they're pretty committed to visiting your agency!
109. Sponsor the Highway – Highways will allow businesses to sponsor cleanup efforts in exchange for a sign advertising their service. Sponsor a section near the exit toward your agency. If there are no nearby openings, propose sponsoring another road in town. Maybe they’ll let you put up a sign to market your insurance agency if you agree to clean up trash along the roadside.
110. Nice Car Cards - These are business cards with a car compliment written in big letters. When you see a nice car parked, leave one of the cards with your contact information on it. Have them preprinted to say “People with taste like yours value an insurance agency like mine” or better yet, hand write a personal message. People with nice cars tend to like compliments and also have a lot of insurance needs. Place it on the driver side window right over the door handle with the compliment facing out.
111. Prepare Conversational Insurance Questions – How many times do we miss sales opportunities every day? Although selling comes naturally to you (or so you think), prepare some questions you could ask anyone depending on the situation to stimulate an insurance conversation. Here’s an example: “Isn’t it amazing how fast kids grow up?” Depending on the answer, there are many insurance conversations this could lead into. Having conversational starters prepared will prevent you from wasting sales opportunities by talking about the weather.
112. Be Found Online - 52% of all insurance shoppers start the process online. When insurance shoppers go online they do the same thing you and I do: Search Google, Yahoo, or Bing. If your agency isn't showing up near the top of the search engine results the majority of insurance shoppers won't ever know you exist! Do your own SEO using an SEO plan for for agents like this, pay an SEO company every month to get you to the top, or pay around $35 a click for Google ads. However you do it, being visible on Google is an absolute must for your agency - it's where the shoppers are!
113. Advertise Your Greenness – Offer information about how to drive more efficiently or reduce energy costs in the home. Send email newsletters, mail to your clients, or host educational sessions in your office for your customers. Include insurance agency marketing material in anything you provide.
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