The Web is changing ways of doing business 

We run into two schools of thoughts about the use of Internet marketing when we open the discussion with independent agents. 

School One  

Agents of one school are making immediate use of all available resources---ezines and email to customers who have given e-contact permission; online newsletters at their Web sites; more interactivity on their Web sites; blogs and microblogs on social networks; and purchase and cultivation of online leads. 

They view all new business from these marketing avenues as bonus business. 

They understand that, while the insurance industry is lagging behind most industries in their effective use of the ‘Net, the day is coming when more and more business will be consummated online.  They want to learn all they can about the medium and its potential NOW! 

School Two 

Agents of school two are skeptics when it comes to Internet marketing.  Yes, they may have an average Web site---an online sales brochure really.  But they are not interested in investing into tools and content that would promote online activity by their customers and more reasons for prospects to visit.   

Their skepticism has a solid basis: they don’t see carriers and agent associations and insurance departments stepping up to the plate to make Internet quoting accessible and easy for consumers in the near future. As long as auto and home insurance quoting and proposals require a two or three step process for online inquirers, they do not envision real new business potential for the medium. 

School Two Objection: Online inquirers are interested in price ONLY 

Today, EVERYBODY is interested in price! 

But they are also interested in VALUE.   Independent agents that expect to survive and grow in the future need to take some lessons from retailers who know how to bring prospective customers into their stores with attractive locations, attractive displays, and attractive advertising appeals.  

It is all about attracting traffic.  It is amazing how many of us will enter a store with one purchase in mind and end up buying something else. Why? Because once we have compared the “price item” with the versatility and durability of “the second item, we purchase the second item. 

Attract them with price, keep them with service 

What’s wrong with that?  Nothing.  Your price needs to be competitive, but it does not have to be the lowest in town. There is only one lowest price in town at any given moment. 

Independent agents who are using the Internet to attract new business have learned that they need to do what they can to offer an attractive price (often with the use of higher deductibles and other forms of self-insurance and risk-taking by the customer; and by applying all the safety credits and other discounts that the customer is eligible for).   

But then they present “value options” ---higher liability limits, substitute transportation, personal umbrellas, advanced driver training that lowers costs for teenage drivers, et cetera.   

They know how to sell----by offering customers “opportunities to buy!”  They have little war stories and case histories at hand; examples of risks that could cost the customer thousands of dollars if they don’t have proper coverage.  

BOTTOM LINE:  We encourage you to start looking into ways to market online with two questions in mind:  “How can we create more time spent with our customers?” and “How can we attract more traffic for the agency; more opportunities to write more business?” 

6 minutes and 40 seconds to sell your agency 

In over 100 cities around the world, creative types are participating in Pecha Kucha Nights. While the presenters are usually focused on architectural designs or advertising logos or new product designs, the Pecha Kucha concept and exercise has applications for your agency. 

At Pecha Kucha Nights, presenters must make their case with these limits: not more than 20 slides and 20 seconds spent with each slide. That adds up to six minutes and forty seconds. 

What if you held an agency Pecha Kucha Night where CSRs, producers and administrative personnel were encouraged to come up with a creative ideas to build agency name recognition or improve retention or come up with the best case for an insured placing all their insurance coverages with the agency…OR ___________________________ (you fill in the blank)? 

We think you would come up with some great marketing ideas, encourage employee creativity, promote more “buy in” for the value of superior customer service, open the door to more good ideas throughout the year…and have fun doing it!  

I KNOW YOU’RE WONDERING: One pronunciation of Pecha Kucha is puh-CHUH kuh-CHUH. The translation is “sound of conversation.”  Pecha Kucha Nights originated in Tokyo in 2003.     

Get more sales inquiries, gain economies of scale 

You decide to develop a campaign to promote the benefits of a customer placing their car AND auto insurance with you.  The idea is to highlight the money-saving benefit. 

Multichannel media 

A typical multichannel program: a local cable TV ad, a jump page on your Web site, cross-sell blast e-mails to one-policy customers, and an article in your next customer newsletter. 

Tie in all together and save money   

You can save 10%, 20% or more on the creative development costs of your campaign if you carefully plan a multchannel program right upfront.  Adapt the basic message platform, copy appeals and visuals to the media you use.  

Make sure your newsletter article includes the link to your Web jump page. Make sure your Web site includes a PDF of your newsletter.  Make sure your TV ad prominent displays your Web address.  Make sure your blast e-mail to customers has a link to your Web site and calls attention to your jump page and online newsletter. 

Use the phone to measure results 

Make sure every communications tier in your multichannel campaign features a telephone number. You can go with your standard telephone number and 800 number.  

To get a measurement for which medium in your multichannel campaign is producing the most inquiries, you can assign separate phone numbers to each medium. Consult your phone company about the most effective and efficient way to do this.  

BOTTOM  LINE: Multichannel marketing, properly timed, will develop more frequency and memorability for your sales message, produce more inquiries, and save you money on creative development costs.

Get a bigger bang for your buck 

Tough economic times are ideal times to beef up your Web site content, develop a blog or a microblog, and start an online newsletter.   

As Mark Wilson, vp corporate marketing at Sybase ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), points out in a BtoB magazine article: “Whether or not your budget allows for more traditional spending in such as advertising, public relations and events, you’ll get the most bang for your buck online. Social media and online marketing vehicles are transforming marketing in a cost-effective way by offering new means of collaboration in a virtual environment using an authentic voice----yours.” 

Looking for ideas?  Got a project in mind?  We are doing more and more online marketing programs with our clients.  Contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Testimonials are powerful sales closers and openers 

Feature them in your sales literature, sprinkle them around on your Web site, use them as openers for letters, present them at point of sale, print one or two on the back of your business card.  Testimonials lend credibility for your professionalism and your capability to help customers meet their objectives. They support and reinforce the claims you make about the value of your agency services.  

Testimonials and “war stories” are endorsements that help you make sales, keep customers, and generate more referrals. And, you know what, the use of testimonials will set you apart from all the “me too” and “price-only” agents.  Our experience indicates very few agents are using testimonials as an effective sales tool. 

Economic downturns are blessings in disguise for the frugal marketer. An organization’s marketing function plays an even larger role in recessionary times.  

From OPINION article by Mark Wilson, Sybase VP corporate marketing,  in BtoB magazine, January 19, 2009