October 16, 2024 - Growing up in an immigrant household in the U.S., Mario Giraldo became well aware of the obstacles Spanish speakers face trying to navigate the insurance world.
He often served as his family’s translator for official matters and found it frustrating how his parents would often be dismissed or left without answers due to their language barrier.
This ultimately drove his passion to become an insurance agent in Kansas City, MO, where he has made serving the city’s Spanish-speaking community a cornerstone of his business.
We caught up with Mario to learn more about what drove him into this career and how Melon Local has helped him better connect with his community through our strategic approach to digital marketing!
Melon Local: Can you tell us more about what led you to become an agent?
Mario Giraldo: I grew up as a first-generation Colombian-American, and I did a lot of translating for my parents. One thing that would frustrate me looking back was people would just blow my parents off. Fast forward to their retirement, and they weren’t prepared. They didn’t have life insurance or anything like that at all. It’s a huge demographic, and I asked myself, ‘What can I do then to get this to grow?’ And I have a huge advantage over my peers here and in everything because of my background. Let’s figure out something where I can really make myself stand out. To be honest with you, I wish I had started it sooner.
Melon Local: Did this desire eventually lead you to Melon Local?
Mario: Originally, I tried another company after trying to do everything on my own. I had a peer who was using Melon Local, and then other people started talking about it, saying their growth was night and day. So, I had a call, and the one thing that got me was the Spanish ads and targeting Melon can do. That’s what hooked me.
Melon Local: And how have the results been with Melon Local?
Mario: It’s been the cherry on top for me with Melon Local and being able to market for me in Spanish. Instantaneously, people actually called in and were saying they Googled “Spanish-speaking agents,” and I popped up. We went from having maybe one or two phone calls in Spanish a week to where now half, if not more than our daily phone calls are in Spanish, to where I have to hire more Spanish speakers, which is great! For me, this is exactly what I wanted.
Melon Local: Kansas City is a pretty big metro area within two states. How has Melon Local been able to keep you competitive?
Mario: Most people, when they hear the word Kansas City, don’t realize there’s a Kansas City, KS, and a Kansas City, MO. I’m equally competitive here in Kansas as we are in Missouri because Melon Local does such a great job with marketing in both states. My marketing strategy is where it makes my life easier. I can just focus on running my agency, doing the things here that I need to be successful, versus trying to think of all the right keywords for everything and making certain that I’m doing this and that. I mean, we even sign people up as far away as Springfield, MO, which is about three hours away.
Melon Local: Glad to hear we’ve been helping you stay competitive! Can you think of any challenges your Client Success Manager recently helped you overcome?
Mario: A few months ago, we were a little behind in getting our goals, and I brought this up with my Client Success Manager. She said, ‘Alright, let’s adjust some of our money, let’s adjust some of our marketing, then some of these keywords, and let’s try to get more renters policies. Within a month or two, we did so awesome to where we’ve actually now overpassed my goal already for the year!
Melon Local: Glad to hear we’ve been able to guide you with your marketing efforts. Any advice for agents just starting off? Besides Joining Melon Local, of course!
Mario: Get involved as much as you possibly can. That’s the one thing that I did early on, which is just try and get out there and meet as many people as possible, or “centers of influence,” as I like to call them. You can literally find referrals anywhere. Just try something, and if it doesn’t feel comfortable, then give it some time. I promise you that there will be good relationships that come from that, and it’ll be able then to turn into a center of influence and so on.
Ready to become a “center of influence” in your community? Whether it’s a strategic approach to paid and organic search or personalized social media management, book a demo today to learn more about how we can grow together!