The Latest News From Melon Local
Stay in the know with the latest news in digital marketing, best practices and updates from Melon Local.
4 Questions to Ask Before Granting GBP Access
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most valuable digital assets your business owns. It’s often the first thing potential customers see when they search for your business, making it a key driver of organic calls, website visits and foot traffic. In fact, a fully optimized GBP gets

How to Get Customers to Fall for Your Agency
Marketing is a little like dating. The goal is to attract new leads in hopes that the connection turns into a long-time customer relationship. While digital marketing is an ever-evolving landscape of strategies, there are a few time-tested industry truths that can help you bolster your business online. Let’s go over some essential insurance marketing ideas that can help you win the hearts of new customers. Attract customers with your

What are Keywords and Why do They Matter?
If you’ve looked up how to improve your Google ranking, how to market locally, or how to attract more leads to your business, you’ve probably seen one concept come up time and time again… keywords. But what exactly is a keyword anyway? Today we’re going back to basics to dissect the meaning of keywords in marketing and how they impact your insurance marketing efforts. What are Keywords? Keywords are words

Insurance Marketing Trends for 2021
Marketing is anything but static. The way people consume information changes, technology becomes more advanced, and algorithms become more intuitive. To adjust to evolving demands, marketers have to be flexible. So, let’s make a New Years’ resolution together to have an open mind and a willingness to learn! This year, we’re ushering in exciting new insurance marketing trends that aim to drive engagement with your agency and bring more customers

Interview with an Agent: Caitlyn Garlock Knows Insurance
Though it’s been less than a decade since she graduated college, you could say Caitlyn Garlock has been in the insurance industry for more than 20 years. How can that be, you might ask? Caitlyn’s father has been an insurance agent her entire life, and he made sure to teach his daughter a thing or two about hard work, customer service, and growing a business. According to Caitlyn, being an

3 Ways to Stand Out with Insurance Agency Marketing
You know your insurance agency is better than the one down the street, but it’s important your potential customers know it, too. With so much competition in the marketplace, insurance agents need to go above and beyond to stand out. While providing great service at an affordable price is always the goal, it’s not the only thing you can do to put your agency ahead. Using key insurance agency marketing

SEO Basics for Insurance Marketing Strategies
Search engine optimization, better known as SEO, encompasses a variety of strategies that aim to improve a webpage or website’s search engine ranking. The higher you rank for relative searches, the more easily potential customers are able to find your agency. As a local business, SEO can help you increase visibility and attract new leads to your agency. This tactic is known for its long-term effectiveness and relatively low cost,

3 Ways to Increase Customer Retention
While generating new customers is an essential part of growing your agency, it’s equally as important to care for your existing customer base. It’s difficult to keep momentum if you continually lose customers! Nurturing customer relationships and maintaining policies should be a prominent factor in your overarching business and marketing strategy. Luckily, the insurance industry boasts impressive customer retention rates, with the average agency maintaining an 84% retention rate. But

Four Marketing Mistakes You May be Making
Digital marketing for insurance companies can be difficult in an ever-changing online landscape. Consumers’ needs change, new platforms appear, and Google releases yet another new round of Google Ads guidelines. It can be exhausting to keep up! To make sure you’re not falling behind on your marketing efforts, we’ve compiled four of the most common marketing mistakes we see local insurance agencies making. 1. You haven’t set goals. We all

How Customer Reviews Impact Your Business
Chances are, you’ve likely browsed reviews before making a purchase or visiting a new place. Why risk having a bad meal when you can predict the quality with assistance from hundreds of reviews? And you’re not alone. A reported 70% of consumers reference multiple review sites when choosing a local business to patronize. As a local agency, it’s critical that you make review management a part of your insurance marketing
Latest Blog Posts

How Insurance Agents Can Maximize Social Media Engagement
Social media isn’t just about posting content — it’s about engaging with your audience to build relationships, trust and, ultimately, your business. But what does engagement look like on different platforms? Let’s dive into what engagement looks like across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. Community Building and Interaction on Facebook Facebook’s engagement is driven by likes, comments, shares and group interactions. It’s a platform where community building is not just

How Social Media and Organic Search Benefit Each Other
The intersection of social media and organic search optimization isn’t just a crossroad — it’s a digital superhighway to growing your business. Leveraging the strengths of both these digital realms can propel your online visibility to new heights, drive more traffic and, ultimately, help you dominate your local market. Let’s explore how these two powerful forces can be utilized together to grow your business! How Social Media Enhances Organic Search

Melon Spotlight: Colin Heald
Introducing our July 2024 Melon Spotlight, Colin Heald, our one and only Senior Software Architect. Though not always front and center, Colin’s impact on Melon Local’s operations is tremendous as the founder of our proprietary software known as “The Patch.” We took some time to speak to Colin to learn more about his unique background, creating The Patch and what he enjoys most about working at Melon Local! Check out

5 Things I Love About Melon Local – Feat. Andrew Smith
While working as an intern at an Atlanta-area accounting firm after his graduation from Kennesaw University, Andrew Smith realized he wanted a career that would allow him to have a greater impact on his community. When given the chance to join a local insurance office as a team member, he fell in love with the industry and eventually opened his own office 11 years later in Marietta, GA in 2019.

Interview with ‘Helpy Hour’ Founder Lee Ann Stach
If there’s anything that can be said about Helpy Hour, it’s that their approach to networking insurance agents with each other is unconventional. What originally began as a satirical social media page in 2018 for like-minded agents to vent about common challenges has since become a trusted voice that has amassed a following in the thousands and regularly holds educational workshops across the country. Now on the horizon is their

Client Success Story with Natalie Nunez
Meet one of Melon Local’s talented Social Media Content Creators, Natalie Nunez! Natalie has been an integral part of our Melon Patch, from helping our One in a Melon agents create their social accounts to helping them stand out in their local market. We caught up with her to learn more about her innovative approach to social media and how she’s had an impact on our One in a Melon

4 Ways to Celebrate ‘Insurance Nerd Day’ On Social Media
Have you ever wondered why so many people in the insurance industry proudly call themselves “insurance nerds”? It’s because they genuinely love what they do, and there’s even a day to celebrate this passion! July 18 is Insurance Nerd Day, a fun-filled occasion for all the dedicated insurance enthusiasts out there. Insurance Nerd Day is a celebration for everyone in the insurance industry, from agents to policyholders and even those

Not All Business Listings Are Created Equal
First impressions often happen online, especially when it comes to online business listings. You can think of them as digital storefronts where your customers can learn everything about your business, including your contact info, your services and products, workplace culture and reviews. In fact, online listings may receive 2.7 times more views than a brand’s own website. Notably, one 2024 survey found that 77 percent of consumers use at least

Deciding Between Google and Microsoft Ads
Google accounts for over 90 percent of the global search engine market — making it the world’s most popular search engine — but this doesn’t mean you should overlook the lead-generating potential of Microsoft Ads — in particular through its search engine Bing. Let’s break down how both Google and Microsoft Ads differ and what they share in common. 1. Demographics Perhaps one of the most notable differences between these
