January 7, 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 to your door. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top three insurance marketing trends you need to know to create an effective marketing plan for 2021.
1. Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing asks you to do something you’re likely already great at… having conversations with your customers! And while you’re used to chatting in person or over the phone, conversational marketing requires you to engage your customers on their preferred digital platforms.
The purpose of conversational marketing is to build relationships and better engage potential customers. While your focus should be on creating a valuable connection with your lead, the end goal is to move them further down the sales funnel.
Conversational marketing can occur on a variety of platforms, such as your website, Facebook, or a business directory listing. To integrate this strategy into your insurance marketing plan, we recommend you engage in conversations on the platforms you’re already using to market to customers.
For example, if you have a Facebook page for your agency, make sure you’re quickly responding to comments, messages, and other types of engagements. While it may not seem like a big deal to wait 24 hours to respond to a message, a speedy response will better highlight your customer service.
2. Google Business Profile
Optimizing for local search is essential to your insurance marketing strategy. Since your policyholders are from your community, they’ll likely be entering search terms limited to your geographical area. Amongst the first results to pop up for local search queries are Google Business Profile listings. These nifty directory listings help people find local businesses closest to them and feature contact information, ratings, and reviews.
To optimize your Google Business Profile listing (which we’re hoping you already have!) you’ll want to fill out all of the available information fields. This includes contact information, hours, pictures, FAQs, and anything else that may be relevant to your potential customer.
3. Semantic Search
Semantics is the study of words, their relationships, and their meaning. Semantic search refers to the ability of search engines to read the context of keyword phrases to produce the most relevant results. Basically, search algorithms are getting so smart that they can kind of read your mind. But not in a scary, sci-fi movie way (at least not yet).
If you search for the term “what is the most common type of snake” then follow up with another search for “how many…” the algorithm might auto-populate the name of the snake you just searched. This is search engine’s attempt to create a relationship between two search queries.
To use this marketing trend in your search engine optimization strategy, choose two keyword phrases for each piece of content: a primary and secondary keyword. These two phrases should have a relationship to one another to strengthen your ability to rank for each.
New Year, New Insurance Marketing Trends
Each year, marketing nerds like us gear up for Q1 armed with the latest industry insider trends. But we understand that not everyone goes geeky for marketing. If you need help creating an effective insurance marketing strategy for your agency, reach out to the Melon Local team to learn how we can help.