When it comes to marketing, independent insurance agents and agencies usually know what they need, but they may not always know how to get it, said Don Hobdy, vice president of sales for Insurance Technologies Corporation (
ITC).
“Agents know they need a better web presence. They know they need to be at or near the top of web searches,” Hobdy said.
“It is rare to come across an agent who doesn’t see the value of web-based marketing, but they are not familiar with how to do it, so they put it off,” he said.
A lot of times, he said, agencies build a website, set up their Facebook page and then basically forget about them. They hear that they need a responsive website, or a website optimized for mobile, so they have that built, but then they don’t keep it up or use it to really drive sales, he said.
“It is your business. You need to spend a minimum of an hour a week managing and updating your content,” he said. He noted that in doing that, not only will a company’s digital media be more effective but the agents will also become more skilled at managing things.
He said ITC had one client whose 10-year-old website had not come up in the first four pages of a Google search, but after posting a blog a week for a month and a half they were the number three result in web searches.
“You need to use your blog not to sell but to position yourself as a trusted expert. A lot of blogs are useless. It needs to be directed at a target market of clients who could be interested in what you sell. Agents need to use the key words that will drive the right people to their site,” he said.
Hobdy said that people today—businesses and individuals alike—shop for insurance online even though the vast majority still want to talk to an agent before they make a purchase decision. He said people want to be able to go to an agency’s website and get a price quote before they pick up the phone.
“You need to set up a website where people can buy online, but most of them won’t. They want to see rates or they will go somewhere else. But rather than make that final click to purchase, they will pick up the phone. That’s a good thing. This is still a people business. People still want an agent they can talk to, an agent who understands what they need.”
