THE TIME FOR AGENTS AND BROKERS TO ACT ON BEHALF OF CLIENTS IS

from e-Insight - August 2023

for the insurance professional by the insurance professional

By Daniel Smith

Every year we see new innovations in industry technology, and the marketing aspect is no different. There seem to be new platforms, programs, consultants, and thought leaders around every corner telling you what you should be doing. Let’s review.

CRMs, Automation, and Referral Platforms Galore

Maybe your agency already has a marketing platform in place – maybe even several – or maybe you’re deciding on one now. But the constant complaint I still hear from agents is utilization. If you’re not getting use out of these platforms, then you’re not getting ROI. You must utilize them and measure performance if you’re going to see what’s really working. Here are a few questions to ask as you assess them:

1. What is the goal? Reviews, leads, customer experience, referrals, or something else?

2. How much time are they taking? Are they saving your team time, or are they taking time away from other tasks?

3. Are you seeing your goal(s) realized? I’d recommend giving any platform or program a solid six months of use, then take a step back and review the results.

If you and/or your team hasn’t been able to commit to six months of consistent use, I’d encourage you to seek outside help from either the providers themselves or a consultant. Otherwise, you may be throwing money away without ever knowing what might have been.

AI Content

I can’t keep track of the number of meetings and conversations I’ve been in with agents this year where someone has mentioned ChatGPT or some context of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Almost everyone is talking about it. The funny thing is, almost no one has used it. Pew Research shows that barely 14% of Americans have tried ChatGPT, and only 10% have used it in a “work” context. We don’t have the data for all the other similar AI programs, but I would venture to guess that they have even lower adoption.

How does this impact marketing? The initial discussions I heard were that “marketers” would be replaced by AI. Insurance agency blog posts, social media content, design, and advertising could all be handled by these newly advanced processes. However, this isn’t SkyNet. This AI can’t operate on its own, and agency marketing must still be orchestrated by humans.

While there likely is a place for AI-generated content, you’re not “missing the boat” if you’re not using it yet. However, we should all keep an eye on the harbor, because that boat’s schedule could change quickly.

Google Analytics 4

On July 1, Google began to sunset its Universal Analytics (UA) platform in favor of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). While data from UA will still be available for some period of time, the collection of new data from your website that relates to Google traffic will need to be handled in GA4. Unfortunately, the conversion is not an “automatic” process. Whomever handles your analytics (e.g., website provider, digital marketing firm, internal data person, etc.) will need to complete the conversion if they haven’t already.

Why bother? If you want to track the impact of your website, digital marketing, social media, etc. on your agency’s traffic – this is a “necessary evil” for Google. They receive 93% of search traffic, with Microsoft’s Bing at less than 3%. Another 93% stat to note – that’s also the number of Americans that use the internet. To boil it down, pretty much every one of your clients and prospects is using the internet, and almost as many are using Google to search. So, it’s very important to track this type of data.

Insurance is definitely still a referral and relationship business. But what constitutes referrals and relationships now includes digital tools like Google Reviews (the modern “referral”) and social media (the modern “relationship”). While the new marketing tools in the industry aren’t likely to replace what you’re doing now, incorporating and utilizing them to your advantage is just a smart investment for your agency’s future.

By Daniel Smith, CAE, Chief Marketing Officer and cofounder of Market Retrievers, a digital marketing firm focused on building and implementing strategies for independent insurance agencies. He can be reached at dsmith@marketretrivers.com.