Planning your marketing strategy is an essential process in any agency's success, but pairing the right technology tools to that strategy is successful execution.
When planning your marketing strategy, understand your goals. Are you looking to generate new clients? Are you looking to retain your existing clients? Are you hoping to cultivate and strengthen your client relationships to ultimately grow the lifetime value of those clients to your agency? Let's look at some of the basic tools every agency should adopt.
We've talked in the past about how 65% of your business comes from your existing customers. That it can cost upwards of 10 times more money to acquire new customers than it does to maintain the ones you currently have. So, you may feel generating new clients shouldn't be your focus but you might be a new agency that just building your client base and acquiring customers is your only focus.
My personal belief is it should be all of them, but where you place your emphasis will shift at any given time so you need to be flexible and build solutions that will be easy to manage and, in some cases, have an element of automation allowing you to "set it and forget it"… kind of.
You never want to "forget it" completely, but you also don't ever want to have to micro manage it.
Discovery
To grow your client base you have to get your agency out there so it can be easily discoverable. The two most important platforms upon which to do that are websites and social media.
Websites are too often thought of as a "build it and they will come" kind of strategy. That couldn't be further from the truth. With the growth in mobile devices and mobile searching, if your website isn't mobile friendly then you might as well not have one. When you add in the weight that Google places on mobile friendliness in its search results, it becomes obvious that having a responsive website will keep visitors on your site far longer than if you don't.
But more than having a website that looks good and navigates easily, you need dynamic and interesting interactive content that includes live chat, quote requests, video delivery of information, blog posts that update as the blog is updated and relevant imagery.
Websites aren't the only way people will discover your agency. Social media, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest, can be an excellent means of getting information about your agency and yourself out to the market that might be looking for the right insurance professional. Keep in mind that social media is not a platform to sell. It's a place for you to present your brand and culture, demonstrate your expertise and provide valuable information without expecting anything in return. Also, don't create your social media presence on only your pages. Venture forth to other groups or pages and participate in their conversations. Eventually they'll visit your pages.
Conversion
While websites and social media can be looked at for discovery, email marketing is geared for retention and conversion. In order to include someone in your email marketing campaign, you need them to voluntarily give you permission to email them.
Exposing your new friends on social media to more of your insight and expertise via your e-mail newsletter or blog posts is a great way to build your list. Offering an e-book or home inventory tool kit is the type of freebie that entices people to share their email address with you and begin the relationship.
With the right email campaign and marketing funnel, you can set up an automated process to convert prospects from acquaintance to follower and then to fan and client.
Strengthening relationships
Mobile applications are part of the package that focuses on retention and strengthening client relationships. The functionality of mobile apps provides the opportunity to reward your best clients. With the right app, you're able to key into their specific needs, share unique content and demonstrate your personal connection with them. This proactive, two-way connection demonstrates that you care and are available when they need you. Driving engagement with your clients will keep you top of their mind.
Rick Gilman, APR, CMP, is president of APPsolute Marketing. Contact him at Rick@APPsoluteMarketing.com.
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