Digital Marketing Trends for Insurance Brokers

Candybox Marketing CEO Darrell Keezer has delivered some incredible presentations to our membership over the years. This week was no exception.

Darrell joined us at our GTA Regional Meeting April 10^th for a session on digital marketing trends specific to the broker channel. As an IBAO Affinity Partner, he’s worked with brokerages over a number of years, gathering much insight into what works and what doesn’t.

Important stats to begin: the average Canadian checks their phone 150 times a day; 3 out of 5 customers leave online reviews; 84% of purchases are influenced by social media; Canadian buyers are 60–90% through the buying process before they connect with a vendor.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
A few years ago, bidding on keywords cost $10/word, but given directs’ position in the market – larger marketing campaigns, more dollars to spend – keywords have risen to over $120/click. As brokers we need to focus on niche market strategies: choosing specific keywords (Boat Insurance) that tie in a local element (Boat Insurance Huntsville) will have better traction. Local, niche keywords are an affordable way to get to the top of local search – a trend that’s increased by 50% (there are twice as many near me or nearby searches). Other tactics include asking clients to leave their personal thank yous as a Google Map review, and incorporating a remarketing approach: displaying ads to your website visitors throughout the rest of their online experience.

ONLINE QUOTING
Darrell had a simple message here – if you’re going to invest in a quoting tool, quote really well or not at all. Most tools involve frustrating and confusing components like required fields (people don’t want to leave their phone number when they never answer their phone) and drop down menus (mobile killers) so find alternatives that put your clients’ experience first throughout the entire process.

MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH
Taking a multi-channel approach to digital marketing is key to connecting with your clients the way they want to engage with your business. Regardless of where you interact, consider where they spend their time – it’s about being in the right place at that right time.

USING SOCIAL TO DRIVE TRAFFIC
While a multi-channel approach is optimal, it’s important to have a social strategy. Simply having a presence on platforms isn’t enough. We need to choose networks that are both right for our business (Pinterest centers around fashion, food, travel and décor – people likely aren’t looking for insurance in this space) and for our clients (Boomers spend at least 20 minutes on Facebook every day). Social selling is nothing new; it’s about creating content, starting conversations and building relationships that are valuable now or down the road.

PERSONAL BRANDING
Darrell suggests that personal branding is a huge, often missed opportunity for brokers. We’ve heard that we’re no longer in a B2B or B2C environment, we’re human to human. We’ll be seeing more and more individually-branded professionals as off-shoots of larger corporate branding initiatives – consumers want to connect with real people. As insurance brokers, we’re in a great position to take advantage of this trend.

POINT OF CONVERSION
It’s more important where you bring traffic to than where you brought it from. The advice here is to create websites and social platforms that are geared towards your customers versus serving your own business needs (no one’s looking for mission statements, they want to know whether you offer a specific product). Change your call to action from contact us form to customer value form and choose images that speak to your audience – too often stock photos don’t represent what they’re supposed to. Choosing impactful visuals people relate to can make a big impact.

LANDING PAGES
Similar to personal branding where we break it down to the individual, landing pages sell a specific need (Uber Insurance). Sending all your advertisements, pay-per-click campaigns and direct mail promotions to the homepage of your website may no longer be the best strategy. The more specific we can be filling niche markets, the easier it’ll be to sell the rest of our services once that client’s in the door.

It’s the perfect time to develop or rejig your digital strategy – thanks to Darrell and his team for their insight.