Referrals are an effective insurance marketing tool.
Insurance companies have many options when searching for effective marketing tools. The key is deciding how much you can spend on marketing or advertising, then developing a budget. You will want to allocate the bulk of your marketing budget toward the marketing system that pulls in the most leads. Therefore, it is crucial that you use a tracking system to determine the effectiveness of each marketing system.
Yellow Page Ads
Many insurance companies still use the yellow pages to generate leads. Just look in your local yellow pages at competitive ads. A number of larger agencies run full-page ads. However, your best bet may be placing ads in community yellow pages -- those distributed to people within a five- or 10-minute radius of your office. The rates of community pages are less expensive. Additionally, you will compete with fewer companies than in the larger yellow pages. The yellow pages allows you to target your services to specific customers. For example, list insurance products under the "insurance" heading and any investment products you offer under "financial services." Also, advertise in online yellow pages, too. Many people search for insurance agents online as well.
Referrals
Referrals are an effective type of marketing. The best way to get referrals is to ask new customers to give you names of friends and relatives who might need insurance. In a survey by marketing consultant Strategic Impact, 80 percent of insurance respondents said they used referrals as their primary source of leads, according to Insureme.com. Indicate the importance of referrals to your customers. Hand them a sheet of paper with provisions for their name, address and phone number. Ask your customers to fill it out while they are in the office.
Advertising Specialties
Advertising specialties are also called promotional items. They are free gifts you can send your customers that contain your business name, address and phone number. Examples of advertising specialties include small calendars, pens, pencil holders, note pads, cups, mugs, refrigerator magnets and T-shirts. Advertising specialties are used as reminder advertising for customers, because your name and number are always in front of them. That way, they can easily access your number when they need additional insurance products such as life insurance. Advertising specialty items are also used and passed on to family and friends.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another effective marketing tool. Your best email leads are those of your current customers. Maintain a database of names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of your customers. Keep track of the products they use and those they don't have. Periodically send emails to customers on products they don't have or new types of services you are offering. Also, purchase email lists from companies that sell them.Create a short email message about your products and services, then send it out to people and businesses. You will need to purchase software for sending emails out in bulk. Most office supply stores sell this type of software.
Tags: yellow pages, your customers, address phone, address phone number, Advertising specialties