Repeat after me: Marketing is everything.
So now that you know where I stand on the subject, let’s dig in and talk about marketing for your insurance agency. *Please note that when I say “marketing for your insurance agency”, I’m referring to marketing for INDEPENDENT insurance agencies. If you’re a captive, i.e. represent only one company, then your marketing is pretty much dictated by the company. My experience revolves around agencies that represent multiple companies and offer choices to their customers.
My father and I own an independent insurance agency and I have been active on the sales and marketing side since 1996, after graduation from Wittenberg University with a business degree. I thoroughly enjoyed the marketing and advertising parts of my business education and it was a natural progression to start my application of that education to our agency. My first project was the creation and distribution of a comprehensive customer satisfaction survey (without benefit of an agency management system I must add). It just gained momentum from there.
My additional marketing projects are detailed a little further below. But first, let’s dig into a few definitions of marketing…..
What is Marketing?
According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is…..
……the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved July 2013)
Sounds a bit sterile to me, so here’s my definition, based on the above:
Marketing is everything you do in your business to communicate who you are, what you do, why you do it and why the general public should do business with you or begin a relationship with you above all the other options available.
You can probably figure out quickly that marketing touches EVERY department/function in your organization.
But, if you’re like me or countless other small business owners, you simply don’t have the time or resources to go full bore on your marketing.
And if you’re an independent insurance agency owner (like me), you REALLY don’t have the time or resources to dig deep into marketing your agency. Trust me, I KNOW you’re very much aware of its importance, but we all only have so much capacity.
So, consider me a resource. Here’s a sampling of my experience with insurance marketing (all real-world experiences please note)….
My Background in Insurance Marketing
Since 1996, I’ve been the chief marketer at my agency, Alan Galvez Insurance. Through a combination of trial and error, and much research (reading other blogs/articles connecting with others on social media, attending conferences, etc.), I’ve done a lot of insurance agency marketing projects, including:
- Designing print ads
- Writing radio ads
- Creating content for our agency website- content on pages, as well as content for lead generation such as downloadable reports.
- Creating posts for various social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, etc.)
- Creating Facebook ads
- Writing blog articles
- Creating marketing emails
- Creating content for our monthly agency email newsletter
Take these articles for a spin
I’ve assembled a collection of my most popular articles focusing on marketing (many insurance-specific) to help you out.
My articles are based on my own experience in the insurance agency world- there’s no pie-in-the-sky theory, just real-world examples.
General Marketing (including Traditional Marketing)
A Marketing Success Story You Can Copy and Use Today
How a Written Marketing Plan Helps You Achieve Your Business Goals
4 Highly Effective Marketing Tips My Kids Have Taught Me
Beyond the Wand: Insurance Marketing Lessons Learned from Walt Disney World
Blogging/Storytelling
Do You Know the 3 “C’s?” Know Them and Write Better Blog Posts
How to write a successful blog- ignore the “experts” and write from the heart
How NOT to Make Your (Boring) Business even MORE Boring online
Finding Your “Voice”….What’s Yours?
To Tell Good Stories, Put Yourself in Your Stories
Social Media
This One Time…At Brand Camp: 5 Amazing Lessons Learned
When social media goes right: a chance Twitter conversation. A problem solved. A-mazing.
Small Business Owners Guide to Creating Engaging Content on Facebook Pages
13 Creative Uses of Pinterest for (insurance) marketing
Insurance folks- don’t tweet or update your status without reading this first
“Selling” Social Media to a Skeptic
Ways we can work together
- Hire me to write an article for your publication. Again, I specialize in insurance marketing and can write on a variety of marketing topics (as evidenced by the above list).
- Hire me to speak at your event. I can speak on the following topics currently: Creation of my personal brand and its usage and Blogging- basics to more advanced content creation. Note: I am continually adding topics- if you have a different topic suggestion you want me to speak about, let me know and I’ll see if I can make it happen.
- Need some one-on-one time with me to help with your brand or blogging/social media efforts? Contact me and we’ll dig in to see if I can help. Note: if you’re looking for someone to do the work for you, I’m not it. My services are designed to provide the tools you need to do the work yourself or from within your own staff.