With so much information available online, it can be hard to stand out and get noticed by prospective clients.
That’s why Farm Bureau provides a digital marketing plan for its insurance agents, including personal websites, to help set them apart from the competition. Here’s a guide to the digital tools you need, and the ways you can use them to boost leads, sales and revenue.
Create a Personal Website
More than ever, consumers are turning to the internet to buy everything from crayons to computers to car insurance. And even when they plan to buy something in person, they often start out researching their options online.
So, it’s critical for insurance agents to have a personal website that gives potential and current clients a place to go to find out more about them and what they offer.
To help its agents connect potential clients with insurance information, Farm Bureau offers individual insurance agent websites. As an agent, you can customize your website to showcase your best traits, your staff and your community involvement.
Creating compelling content for a website is not fast nor easy. But it’s important, since consumers will click away from a cookie-cutter website with generic information.
Before you get started, decide what will attract prospects and help you stand apart from your competition. Be sure to include these five things:
1. Start With a Solid Intro
When people land on your website, they need to know who you are, what you do and why they should trust you with their business. Customize your welcome message to share why you’re in the insurance business and why you’re passionate about serving your community — and them.
Try to let your personality shine through your writing style so readers feel like they are getting to know the real you. Share your community connections, whether you’re a board member of an arts association, coach of a youth basketball team or volunteer at a food bank. If you’re an alum of a local high school or college, be sure to point that out.
Add a photo of yourself and consider adding one with your family, if you feel comfortable putting an image of them online. It doesn’t hurt if your audience can relate to you and feels like they like you even before you’ve met in person.
2. Provide Quality Content
Use a blog to give your audience engaging content. Farm Bureau shares articles that cover a variety of insurance-related topics so your prospects and clients can learn more about the company and the topics that matter most to them.
Browse our Learning Center, which has educational and practical information covering:
3. Showcase Your Best Work
This website is all about you and what you offer. So, it’s OK to brag a little bit. Providing your customers with real-life success stories and personal anecdotes will give them the confidence to trust you with their insurance needs. You want potential and future customers to know they can count on you.
Maybe you went the extra mile to help a young mom with a life insurance claim after her husband passed away. Perhaps you guided a family through auto insurance coverage when they had twin teenagers to add. Or possibly you worked with a small business owner to keep operating after fire damage. Share these stories.
4. Include Client Testimonials
Visitors want to know how you helped real people. Your point of view matters, but you should also include positive feedback from satisfied clients.
When you’re there for people during their time of need, they’re often more than happy to pay back the favor and share the wonderful experience they had with you. Ask your customers for feedback. And, if you get good reviews on places like Google, ask those people if you can share the reviews on your site.
5. Add Your Contact Information
Of course, it’s important for people who visit your site to be able to get in touch with you. As a Farm Bureau agent, your basic contact information and office location details are automatically included on your agent website.
You can add links to your social media pages in your welcome message. That’s a great way for your audience to stay up to date with what you’re doing to help the community.
Create a Listing on Google
A Google Business Profile can help your business stand out online and will literally put you on the map. Setting up a listing helps your business appear in Google search results, so you’re more likely to show up when people in your area are searching for an insurance agency on their phones or computers. The more information you give Google about your business, the better.
Don’t worry if you don’t know how to get started setting up a Google Business Profile. Farm Bureau will guide you along the way. We create a Google Business Profile for agents that includes your name, address, phone number, business hours and photos.
Use Business Pages on Social Media Platforms
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for ambitious insurance agents. Start by creating business pages on social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook to help you increase your reach to potential clients. Setting up business accounts allows you to separate your personal and business profiles, so you can stick to a focused theme and have a professional place to post about your business.
But don’t be afraid to show some personality on your professional accounts. remember, your clients chose you for a reason. If you need help improving your LinkedIn presence, try these tips.
Post Useful Content
Regularly sharing news that is useful for clients keeps them coming back for more. Consider sharing a key point from a Learning Center article on social media with a link to your website where they can read the full article. And remember to add your website URL to your social profiles.
Show the Community You Care
Since most of your followers will most likely be neighbors and community members that you have personal connections with, don’t be shy when it comes to sharing information about yourself.
Stories about personal passions perform very well on social media and give your audience a deeper understanding of why you love what you do.
It’s also a great idea to share community events you’re involved in to show other ways you’re contributing — and committed — to helping those around you.
Stay Engaged With Your Followers
Good content usually earns comments, reactions and shares from users. If people ask questions or reach out to you, be sure to respond quickly. Replying shows that you care and you want to build a relationship with them. But remember to take any detailed conversations offline in direct messages, email or phone call.
Use Your Strengths to Set Yourself Apart From Competitors
When determining what to post online, ask yourself:
- What do I do that no one else does?
- What are my strengths?
- What experiences and insights do I have that make me a successful agent and help me provide the best services to my clients?
Use the answers to those questions on your agent website and social media platforms. Personalizing your information and showing the community your values will help you stand out among other options and encourage prospects to choose you as their insurance agent.
We’re Here to Help You Succeed
At Farm Bureau, we’re continuously improving our efforts to reach clients in a way that’s convenient and comfortable for them. That’s why we help our insurance agents get set up on platforms that will build better relationships and have a Marketing Coaching Program to ensure agents are up-to-speed on current marketing programs, materials and best practices. Contact us to join a team that sets you up for success.