Loading ...Insurance Agents Don’t Market
Photo Credit: Flickr capelawoffice
During a recent conference call there was a discussion about marketing. At one point a friend commented, “insurance agents don’t know how to market – in fact, they don’t market.” That got me thinking… For years, the marketing gurus have been pushing agents to do a better job marketing their services.
If marketing meant they were being encouraged to send out blast emails, mail client newsletters, build static websites, and produce fancy brochures, then as stated, they didn’t do such a great job. Yet, there was a reason they were not good at marketing. All the stuff previously mentioned was about push or interruption based (outbound) marketing. I get that at the time there was not another choice. Yet, think this type of marketing was counter to the “personality” of the independent agent. They resisted because it just didn’t feel right, it wasn’t who they were, and for them it wasn’t honest. They understood that being an independent agent is not about marketing – it is about relationship building.
So, perhaps they are not marketers but they are relationship builders. The activities they engage in are social, interactive, bi-directional and require authentic interaction. Happily, they now they have an array of Social Web tools specifically designed to help them do what they do best – build trusted relationships.
What do you think?
Thursday, 16 July, 2009 at 11:51
I couldn’t agree more. The typical agency was built one relationship at a time. It’s so exciting to know that with today’s social networking tools, agents can capitalize on their networking strengths and create more opportunities than they could have ever imagined.
Whereas much of the traditional networking was a one relationship at a time process; social networking online works as an effective one-to-many networking medium. This coupled with the fact that they manage the “how am I connected to…” issues and continually suggest new friends, this could be a windfall for the agents that embrace these new tools and apply them to traditional relationship marketing.
Friday, 25 September, 2009 at 8:46
Rick–great website and post! I am a burgeoning insurance agent working for my family’s agency. They currently have very limited marketing practices in place, but I am excited about maximizing the many opportunities for marketing that the social media outlets offer. I am working toward creating a functional, engaging and interactive website as well as reaching out with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a blog. To create an image, decide what to say and to whom I want to say it and finding the time to devote seems so overhelming, though!