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An Insurance Agent's Guide to Outbound Marketing

Marketing Tips
Dec 14, 2021
7
minute read
Jacob Tegtman
An Insurance Agent's Guide to Outbound Marketing

As an insurance agent, outbound marketing is crucial for your success. Especially in your first several years of growing your agency, you’ll need to do some outreach in your community so that people learn your brand name.

Once your agency hits a certain level of momentum, you’ll likely find that more and more business seeks you out. It’s a great position to be in — when your agency can sustain itself through brand recognition. But to get there, you’ll first have to do some work on an outbound marketing strategy.

What Is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing is simply any effort you make to share about your company in your business space or community. If you find yourself actively sharing about your agency or advertising to someone or a group of people, you’re engaged in some form of outbound marketing.

Outbound marketing shares a lot of crossover in today’s world with what’s called inbound marketing, though the two are distinct. For clarity, inbound marketing encompasses marketing efforts and strategies that involve clients finding you, as opposed to you finding them (or initiating interactions with them).

Why Your Agency Needs Outbound Marketing in 2022

The main reason your agency needs outbound marketing is to generate enough interest in your company that business starts coming to you.

Inbound marketing is often the goal of insurance agencies that have been around for some time, where the company’s brand name becomes well known in the community. You're in a great spot when business is seeking you out, as it saves time and money in creating new clients. But you rarely get to this enviable phase of business without outbound efforts. People only seek out businesses they know. This sounds simple — and it is — but many new agency owners either forget this fact or want to skip past it.

Consider an example. Say you've started your business. You have a stack of business cards on your desk, just ready for anyone who comes in your doors. But will those business cards really do you any good until they get into people's hands? This is where outbound marketing comes in. Whether you hand out those business cards at events or mail them out to your community, you have to get your business in front of new potential clients. 

Business cards, business logos, and brand names don't do you any good until you get them to work for you. To generate lasting business momentum and brand recognition, you first need outbound marketing.

Outbound Marketing Strategies You Can Implement in Your Agency Today

There are as many methods for outbound marketing as there are people to come up with ideas for them. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best outbound marketing strategies that you can implement today.

It’s sometimes tempting to believe that in 2021, the only worthwhile marketing strategies are the digital ones. However, relationships are the foundation of insurance sales. And insurance relationships are built on customer focus and character. So, low-tech marketing efforts are still high-performers in today’s market space.

The key is to utilize several outbound marketing strategies. Each strategy hits a unique market segment and provides unique opportunities for connection. Experiment with a few of these strategies to find which ones work best for you.

Continually narrow down your target market

This may not seem at first glance like an outbound marketing “method,” but before you can reach out to anyone to sell insurance, you need to first decide who you want to connect with.

Where are you likely to have the most success? What kinds of people or businesses do you already most enjoy interacting with? Creating a niche for yourself (and knowing your target audience for that niche) is one of the most important steps you’ll ever take in your business. According to CB Insights, 35% of startups fail because there is an insufficient market need for their service — in other words, they didn't find their niche.

In insurance, there's always a market need. But, there may not be as great of a need among certain groups of people for certain types of insurance in your local sales region.

At the very start of your agency, you’re probably fine with selling to anyone and everyone. Really, whatever it takes to keep the agency alive and growing. But, as you grow, you’ll notice patterns in the types of people and situations you connect with best and the types of policies that are most profitable for you and your team.  

That’s why you must continually narrow down your target market. Take time once every month to think through your business and how it’s going. Utilize data you collect to determine what’s working, what’s not, and why. Each time you review your business, work toward greater clarity on your target market. This step alone will make all your other marketing efforts more successful.

Get involved in your community

Take every opportunity that’s practical and reasonable for you to engage with your local community. Set up a tent at local car shows, donate to causes that you believe in (especially if they allow you to promote your business by doing so), and support local youth sports leagues. Really, whatever you can rally behind on behalf of others.

When you give, others give back to you in the form of business referrals.

Getting involved in your community also gives you the chance to meet dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people in entirely different social circles from your own. No matter what the cause, make sure to bring your business cards. The relationship-building work in which you engage during community events fills your phone-call calendar during the coming week.

Mailers may have higher ROI than you think

Mailers are still an effective marketing strategy even in today's high-tech atmosphere. Many people still do business and make great sales by sending out offers through the post office. 

If you need some data to make you a believer, take a look these direct mail statistics. It turns out that U.S. advertisers spend an average of $167 on direct mail per prospective client, but also get an average of $2,095 in sales from those same prospects. If you're looking for outbound marketing strategies with strong ROI, mailers might just be right for you. 

Use an auto-dialer to save time and increase efficiency

When you get referrals and make connections in your market and it’s time to connect about insurance, save time for yourself and your team by utilizing an auto-dialer.

Especially when you or your team members are typing in numbers all day long, saving a few seconds with each dial equates to many saved hours over the course of a week, In fact, auto dialers can save 1-2 hours per agent, per day. Greater call efficiency means that your outbound efforts reach more people in less time.

Basic Inbound Strategies to Support Your Outbound Methods

There are a few inbound marketing strategies that help get your name out into your local community. You may consider these to support your outbound strategies. 

Join a Networking Group

No matter the size of your agency, joining a local networking group helps your outbound efforts. Through the group, you’ll gain local connections and statewide (or perhaps national) connections. You’ll work with small business owners, large business owners, young and old, families, and single people. It’s a great way not only to personally share about your agency but to enlist a group of people who can also share about you on your behalf.

Regularly contribute in Facebook groups that match your target market

Once you know your target market, you can join Facebook groups composed of that same target audience. There are local Facebook groups for almost every city in the country. There are also Facebook groups for people who love classic cars in your area, who love interior design and remodeling, and many others that are related to insurance.

Regularly post organically, then connect with people who engage with your posts via Messenger. Use the public posting space to create relationships with individuals who can then purchase insurance from you or refer you to people in their network.

To Accelerate Your Outbound Efforts, Get Inbound Leads

Outbound marketing efforts can be time-consuming and, at times, difficult. But finding good leads doesn’t always have to be hard. It’s possible to get some quick wins by having leads come to you.

That’s where Nectar comes in. While you’re building up your insurance agency’s outbound marketing efforts and strategies, let us drive leads directly to you. We offer high-quality, real-time insurance leads. When someone in your area looks to purchase insurance, we connect you with them right away.

You’re the insurance expert, and we help you focus on the single thing that makes you money — selling insurance. You’ll still set up your own marketing efforts of your own so you can reach a point of high brand name recognition in your community. But along the way, you can trust us to send you high-value leads to help get you there.

This article reflects the features of Nectar as of the date of publication. Features are subject to change at any time. This article is meant for informational purposes only, it is not a guarantee that using Nectar will help you achieve specific business or financial results and is not intended to serve as the sole recommendation for any business financial decisions.

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