How Do Insurance Agents Get Clients? 6 Strategies You Can Use
As an insurance professional, you know how important it is to regularly bring on more clients. It’s how you keep your practice thriving. But you’re an insurance agent, not a marketing professional. You might not know where to start when it comes to finding new clients.
How do insurance agents get clients anyway? You have to know which marketing initiatives work well and how you can implement those techniques.
Find more leads and drive policy renewals with expert marketing advice and all the tools you need, all in one place.
Below, you’ll find information about the best marketing initiatives for getting new clients, including:
- Blog posts
- Webinars
- Professional partnerships
- Client referrals
- Google My Business
- Paid ads
Let’s get started.
1. Blog posts
If you can, ask your most experienced colleagues: How do insurance agents get clients?
You’ll likely hear one word from most of them: trust.
Agents are people. Customers trust people more than they trust companies. According to consumer research group Cake and Arrow, people buy through brokers and agents primarily because they don’t trust carriers.
Your role as a customer advocate is one of your greatest strengths, and blog content is one of the best ways to demonstrate your expertise.
When you blog, you share helpful information in a way that helps search engines like Google to notice your online presence. Getting that attention is called search engine optimization (SEO). Here’s how to do it well:
- Blog about topics that your target audience would search for
- Offer solutions to specific problems your clients face
- Include links to your other posts and relevant pages on your website
Most importantly, you weave in keywords that people might use to find you. For example, you might use a phrase containing your local area’s name. “As a life insurance agent in Poughkeepsie,” is a good start.
The first few keywords you use will probably be obvious, but don’t stop there. Do some research to find out what terms your potential clients are typing into their browsers’ search bars. Google will be a big help, and so will the keyword tools in Constant Contact’s website builder.
2. Webinars
Content marketing doesn’t have to be print-only. Insurance agents can also spread awareness of their services and establish industry expertise by hosting educational webinars.
Not sure what topics would interest potential clients? Ask. This can be part of your webinar marketing. Host a poll on social media and invite people to vote for the topic they most want you to cover. When you announce the winning topic, invite people to sign up.
Promote your webinar on all of your marketing platforms, including your email list. Send the registration link with a summary of what you’re planning to cover and ask people to submit questions in advance.
As the date of the webinar gets closer, keep the buzz going with reminders. Send an email about it a week in advance, then send another the day before the webinar. Post reminders on social media, but don’t forget to change up the content and wording so people don’t get bored.
3. Professional partnerships
Referrals are a great way for insurance agents to get clients. But how do you maximize this strategy?
Professional connections can bring in a lot of new clients. Set up mutual lead-sharing relationships with professionals who aren’t direct competitors but serve a similar client base to yours. Depending on what type of insurance you sell, those professionals might be:
- Financial planners
- Accountants
- Car dealers
- Auto financing professionals
- Real estate agents
- Mortgage brokers
Reach out and see who might be interested in recommending you to their clients who need insurance services. In exchange, offer to send them people who might need what they offer. It’s a win-win.
4. Client referrals
Your current and former clients are wonderful sources of new leads, and the people they bring in are highly valuable to your business. Compared to buyers from other sources, referred customers have 25% higher profit margins and are 18 percent less likely to leave.
You’ll probably get some client referrals just by providing great service, but you’ll get more if you ask. Don’t worry if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like asking for favors. It’s easy to weave referral requests into routine client communications. Here are a few ways you can work them in:
- Add a signature to your emails. It can be as simple as this: “Know someone who needs {service you provide}? Send them here.” Then, link to a referral landing page that collects the name of the interested person and the referring client.
- Ask grateful clients in person or over video chat. If a client takes the time to thank you for something you’ve done, reply graciously while asking for a possible referral, like this: “I’m so glad I could help. If you know anyone who needs {service}, send them my way.”
- Add a “share” button to your blog posts, email newsletters, and web pages. Include a clear call to action (CTA) at the end of your posts. For example: “Was this post helpful to you? Share it with a friend or colleague.” Make sure to include a link or an adjacent share button.
5. Google My Business
Did you know that 72% of consumers start looking for local businesses by searching online? Google handles more than 88% of all searches worldwide, too. If you want people to find you, your Google My Business profile should be up to date.
Filling out your profile is easy and free. Google will tell you what it needs to know about you. Remember to:
- Verify your business. This lets you manage your listing, view data on how it performs, and respond to any reviews that come in.
- Populate your profile completely. Include hours, contact information, and your logo, if you have one. Think of this as the business version of a dating profile. The more information you include, the more interested people will be.
- Describe your practice in detail. Tell people what types of insurance you offer, what services you provide to clients, and so on. Use all of Google’s allowed 750 characters to make yourself stand out.
- Confirm your location. This helps your profile show up in searches when people look for an insurance agent in your area.
6. Paid ads
What Google My Business provides is just one component of a typical results page. Someone searching for you or a business like yours will also see a list of web pages.
Paid ads are the quickest way to reach the top. You get these positions by telling Google which keywords you’re willing to pay to rank for, and how much you’re willing to bid for each keyword. If your bid is high enough and Google gives your site a high Quality Score, you’re in.
How to use these strategies and more
Now that you’ve learned the basics of these six techniques — blogging, webinars, client and colleague referrals, Google My Business listings, and paid ads — you have the answer to that pressing question: How do insurance agents get clients?
Your next step is to try these techniques for yourself and see what they can do. Don’t feel like you have to do it all at once. Start with one and see how it works, then add to it when you can.
Need some inspiration? Check out The Download — Constant Contact’s marketing resource guide for professional service businesses. Whenever you see something that might work for you, try it out. Your future customers are out there, waiting to hear about the solutions you can offer.
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