Five Insurance Marketing Must-Dos for 2011

By Heather Sloan

Will 2011 be your big year for reinvention and growth? Many experts believe that the economy is ready to start moving forward, and I for one, hope to be moving with it. Below I've listed five insurance marketing tactics (many of them free) that I believe will be pivotal to insurance marketers in 2011 and beyond.

1. Web analytics -The marketing hub and the measuring stick of any business is its website. Want to know how your press release performed? Check your website. Want to know if your direct mail had impact? Your insurance website will tell you... but only if you're tracking analytics. I'm amazed at how many insurance professionals still aren't tracking their analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool that you can download instantly and ask your webmaster to install on your site. Once it's there, you have access to a wealth of information.
2. Search engine optimization - While an insurance website is essential, it only works if it shows up first for key search phrases in your targeted niche. If you sell pizza in Lake Oswego and a pizza buyer searches "pizza Lake Oswego" and your company is not on the first page of search results, guess what? You're not getting the sale. Your site has to show up!
3. LinkedIn groups - Social marketing results can be hard to measure, but not in this case. Once you have a LinkedIn profile, you can join a number of professional groups. As a member of these groups, you can post notices, articles and announcements for free. I have one client who accesses more than 400,000 potential clients by posting to all of his LinkedIn groups. That same client conducted a little experiment last fall and used his Web analytics to compare his website traffic when paying for an e-blast versus posting for free on his LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn generated four times the traffic.
4. Information marketing - It's easy to do - just publish e-zine articles and online press releases. By demonstrating expertise in your particular field, you'll attract new prospects and help cement current relationships. It's also an effective way to build many paths back to your site, generating more online traffic. Instead of having an insurance website with one door, build a site with 5,000 doors. Every time you publish online, you create many more links back to your site, exponentially increasing traffic. You can do this yourself or you can get someone to help - just make sure you're publishing frequently, at least once a month. This strategy is one of the fastest growing trends of the future.
5. Follow up - Most people don't decide to buy the first time you interact with them. In fact, according to a survey by the National Sales Executive Association, 90 percent of prospects decide to buy after the THIRD contact. Here's the problem - 73 percent of salespeople stop calling after the SECOND contact, so the sale is never made. Sales letters and e-newsletters solve this problem by automating the process and making follow-up effortless.

This list could have included 500 points, because as you know, there are countless ways to market your business. I chose these insurance marketing tactics because they can be accomplished quickly and inexpensively, with great results.

By Heather Sloan. Heather Sloan is the President of InsuranceCopywriting.com. Heather has been helping insurance professionals grow their businesses for more than 15 years. To learn more, visit http://InsuranceCopywriting.com/ - make sure to get your ready-to-use sales letter 6-pack today! http://www.insurancecopywriting.com/content/insurance-marketing-letters.asp

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