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Marketing Advice And Tips For Insurance AgentsMarketing Advice And Tips For Insurance Agents
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© 2004 Al Lautenslager
Guerrilla Marketing suggests over 100 marketing weapons. In the upcoming book, Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days, it states that marketing is made up of many, many, many things. Frequency is key when communication sales and marketing messages. How do you know what marketing to employ, what to repeat and what to prioritize? This question is actually the marketing Holy Grail. The rule of thumb is if it works, do it again. If it doesn’t, fix it or get rid of it.
What are the best marketing methods to employ for small businesses or insurance professionals? Obviously this is going to differ according to the type of business you are in and the type of customers you serve, but the basics will remain the same. One of the basics is most of us don’t have blank check books to fund sales and marketing, not to mention other things required for business growth. We therefore have to concentrate on those things that work best. I will boil this down to 5 things; a lot less than Jay Conrad Levinson’s 100 weapons in his books. These are covered in greater detail in Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days (http://www.market-for-profits.com).
Simply stated, networking is contact to establish relationships that can lead to business. Sometimes the path to business is direct; other times it is indirect such as referrals. The person you know, knows someone else who needs your products/services. This is the most important rule of networking. Many people go to a networking event hoping to do business. It doesn’t work that way. Business is not done directly at a networking event. Your goal of attending a networking event is to meet two or three people, find a reason to follow up and start a relationship. The business will most likely come from an indirect referral that they know that might need your products or services.
Networking just doesn’t happen. It has to be part of your marketing plan with activity and initiatives associated with it, a time table established and responsibility assigned. It is a learned skill. Everyone is not born with the required networking skills. The skills need learned because they are part of a total process not a one time event (as is often said about all of marketing).
The key components of the networking process are:
What the public wants to hear is a good story. Good PR is the telling of a good story; the better the story, the better the acceptance by the public and the better your relationship with the public. The better the relationship, the better your chance of earning public understanding and acceptance; the better chance to get the word out. If the story is especially appealing to those that could be your clients, then you could have a PR homerun which will open many doors for marketing and selling. For small businesses, entrepreneurs and guerrilla marketers, PR is most common and most efficient in newspapers. Typically this is your daily or weekly local paper. Sometimes a publication is regional or monthly. Following this in popularity, for the guerrilla, are business digests, business monthlies and other business newspaper periodicals. Newspapers target businesses and consumers. Business publications target businesses.
PR can also be obtained from magazines, radio and TV. A new vehicle has emerged recently, in the form of online PR.
Other free PR can come in the form of writing articles. Writing about how to do something is always something of value to readers. Writing articles gives you instant credibility. Submitting online, as well as offline, provides another good chance to get your name in print at no cost. Articles don't have to be long; they just need to be informative. The best articles for your target market readers are ones where you share your experiences, cite your wisdom, tell a story or where you offer some type of list. Figure out your area of expertise and write about it. Be sure to put your contact information in the all important contact resource box at the end of each article you write and submit for publication.
We get it everyday. Junk Mail. Or is it really junk? Over 65% of what is mailed is direct mail marketing. Can over half of the mailing public be participating in a junk war? What about all of the printing and mailing companies and the United States Post Office? I’m sure if you ask these, whose income depends on all of this “junk”, they will have a different opinion. Direct mail is junk when it is of not interest to the receiver. Targeted to those with interest, this direct form of marketing is no longer junk. If the messages communicated, offer value to the receiver, the direct mail is no longer junk. The key here is to target your mailing to those interested and curious about what you have to offer, your product, your service or your company. The bottom line, is that direct mail is one of the most efficient and cost effective ways to get a message to a target audience.
An effective direct mail campaign includes 4 key components.
These are also key components of most marketing but are related here to direct mail:
Selling has often been called the distribution arm of marketing. When thinking of how best to get your marketing message to a prospect, personally telling them face to face wins out. One on one interaction allows for dialogue. A postcard can’t answer a question on the spot. A radio commercial can’t overcome an objection stated by a prospect. A sign can’t supply additional information when requested. Personal selling can.
When the early cave man was asked about his wheel for sale, he could answer back. When asked, “What is that round thing used for, that you are selling,” he could demonstrate. He could collect cave bucks once he answered; once he sold.
Personal selling, whether you are a cave man or a printing company owner, allows you to develop and adjust a message to satisfy a prospects need for information or to answer a question. Developing and adjusting messages is marketing. Satisfying prospects’ needs is true marketing. Dialogue happens when you are face to face with a prospect. Personal selling is dialogue between you and your prospect with the objective of getting them to open their wallets in exchange for your products and services.
Putting a marketing plan together utilizing just these marketing vehicles can put you in the profitable column. Focusing on a few that you do well will be better than spreading your efforts too thin. If it works repeat it. If it doesn’t, fix it or get rid of it.
Do you have a favorite place in this State, or in the rest of the United States? Please add a link to this page, or to United States , and describe your experiences.... Or email us at [our contact page] with your story, and we'll put it online here!
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