One question we always get asked by brokers is this – ‘’In this digital age of social media- LinkedIn, Facebook, email marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing and all things digital, what actually works for insurance brokers?’’ At BrokerLink, we are always happy to share our knowledge on how digital marketing can be used to increase your GWP. So we put together this blog post to guide insurance brokers who have similar questions.
In order of the most effective:
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Word-of-mouth
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Email marketing
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Social media
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Search Engine Marketing (SEO &SEM)
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Content marketing
It is nice to see that CBSPulse agrees with us
[Source CBSPulse.com]
In 1st place- Word-of mouth
Word of mouth is still the best way for you to get a new customer and to convert that quote. Recommendations from family, friends and business colleagues still remain the best way to acquire new business. CBSPulse did a survey which found that 84% of people trust recommendations from their friends and family and are more likely to follow them. In this age of digital, word-of mouth can be even more powerful when brokers use customer testimonials, feedback and reviews. You can have customer testimonials and recommendations on your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles as well as use free tools like Google business listing and Feefo which can help you boost your referrals and show the difference between you and your competitors.
In 2nd place- Email marketing
In our experience, email marketing is still one of the top ways to build trust with your customers and to sell more policies. Email marketing has the highest return on investment rate at £4,400 per £1 spent. For business to business sales, this can be an excellent way of warming up your leads. Unfortunately, not a lot of brokers use email marketing consistently enough to benefit from it and increase their gross written premium (GWP).
[Read our blog on tips to run your email marketing campaign]
In 3rd place- Social Media
Social media is the still the buzz word and with billions of people currently on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, this can be an excellent way of getting your business and your insurance policies to potential customers. Social media is being used by some brokers to completely transform their business. The tricky part is that each social media channel has a different demographic, different purpose and different use. For example, the social media channel and tone you might use for selling a performance car policy will differ from the one you use for selling a professional indemnity policy. Even the hour of day and how much you post on Facebook differs from Twitter or Linkedin. Deciding which one is the most effective for your product and using it correctly is the key to beating other brokers in the market. [If you have a question about which one to use, please click here to ask us]
In 4th place- Search Engine Marketing
In this digital age, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. Sixty-eight (68%) percent use Google to search and combined with the fact that the first 5 results in Google get 67% of all clicks, you will get an idea of why search engine marketing is so important. Customers looking for a policy will go to google to find the right policy and the right broker for them. Compared to email marketing or social media, search engine marketing can take a longer time to make an impact but cannot be underestimated. It is important that you have your business and website optimised for search engines such as Google in order to benefit from it. Remember, this can take some time to work, so be patient but consistent.
In 5th place- Content marketing
Content marketing has grown to become one of the best ways in which you can show potential customers how much knowledge you around the policy they want. Businesses can become experts through the content they provide and engaging content can gain a broker a following like never before. For brokers, great content can increase the number of people coming to your website and will also increase how google ranks your business. This will lead to more sales and business growth.
Why not use all of them?- Inbound Marketing
At Brokerlink, rather than use one method, we use a process called inbound marketing which combines word-of mouth, email marketing, social media, search engine optimisation (SEO) and content in the right proportions. Inbound marketing is helping the most digital savvy brokers such as Simply Business and Bought by Many to disrupt the market and grow their GWP at incredible rates. Why not join them? Click here to ask us how inbound marketing can help your business.