Ryan Hanley Why digital marketing is still a mystery to the insurance industry (and how to fix it)

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Why Digital Marketing is Still aMystery to the Insurance Industry(and how to fix it)by Ryan Hanley | Connect on Twitter here

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Why Digital Marketing is Still a Mystery to the Insurance Industry (and... http://www.ryanhanley.com/insurance-industry-digital-marketing/

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professionals.

Why do I get frustrated?

Well… for those of you that don’t know, in real life I’m the Director of Marketing

for The Murray Group Insurance Services, Inc. A local, family-owned independent

insurance and financial services firm located in Albany, NY.

What I talk about here, on this blog, is battle tested strategies I’ve put into use

marketing my insurance agency online. When I write about a content marketing

strategy or social media network, it’s not some opinion I pulled out of thin air to gain

traffic or sound smart. It’s because I’ve implemented the strategy or tactic inside a

real, local small business with either success or failure.

…and being that my small business is an insurance agency, I’m in the unique

position to have a qualified opinion on the level of effort and understanding put

forward by my industry in marketing insurance products online.

Insurance Industry Digital Marketing

So here we are, more than halfway through the year 2013, and the vast majority of

independent insurance agents, carriers and industry professionals still don’t have a

grip on the ridiculously profitable opportunity that exists in the digital world.

The problem lies in where the pain is located.

Right now the pain is located with the boots-on-the-ground agents, not the

insurance carriers and not the agency owners (often referred to as agency

principals). Agents are baring the brunt of the digital storm.

The seeds of a decade of GEICO commercials commoditizing insurance products has

taken root deep within the brains of American insurance consumers.

Families (think home and auto insurance) are shopping their insurance more

W ORK W ITH ME LISTEN TO POD CA ST HIRE TO SPEA K


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…the battle has already begun.

And we’re losing.

But luckily there are agents willing to stand up and fight back, Brent Kelly, Jason

Cass, Chris Paradiso, Joey Giangola, Claudia McClain, David Berry, Carrie

Reynolds and Keith Laskey to name just a few. Put on that list all the insurance

professionals who frequent the Inbound Insurance Marketing community on Google

Plus.

These agents are doing what most insurance industry professionals have neglected

to do so far…

…they view selling insurance online the way an Internet Marketer would. Because

that’s we are!

As an industry we’re so worried that by embracing digital marketing, using the

tactics, strategies and tools of classic Internet Marketers, that somehow we’re giving

away our value.

WRONG!

The Connected Generation consumer expects business to be done using the tools of

2013. Yet insurance carriers (and many agents) are still forcing their clients to use

tools and methodologies from the 20th century.

We must stop looking at each other for the answer to marketing insurance online

and study industries who’ve already been successful.

What makes the information product or course an Internet Marketer sells so much

different from an insurance policy?



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Marketing

Sometimes I dream of what it would be like to work for a Travelers Insurance, Chubb

or The Hartford. The things we could achieve with the budget and infrastructure of

one of these behemoths…

…we could change the course of an industry.

I don’t work for a large insurance carrier, but if I did, here are three initiatives I’d put

into place day one:

#1 Focus on Education

I would become a Wiki for every insurance product I sell. Not boring corporate

insurance barf speak information… but real life, human beings talking about

insurance products the way real people talk about things. I would pick apart every

single concept no matter how big or small and explain its impacts on customers. I

would do this in every content medium possible, video, text, podcasts and images.

IMPACT: By educating insurance consumers on their terms and in their language

we’d be helping them become more comfortable with the products they’re

buying. Making us a resource and not a transaction.

#2 Build Tools to Help Target Markets

I would then begin building resources around the target markets we served. If say,

restaurant insurance, were a focus of our business, I would create products, services

and resources beyond insurance. We want our clients to be successful, let’s help

them become successful. Why not build the most robust Restaurant Safety course

available online and offer it free… to everyone, client or not?

IMPACT: By providing resources in addition to insurance within target markets

we become more than an insurance supplier. We become a trusted partner.

#3 Tell Client Stories



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create our own news telling positive stories of insurance and addressing the

negative head on.

IMPACT: By highlighting our clients and agents stories we’ll begin to change the

belief that insurance carriers are the enemy and empower our clients to spread

our message as they spread their own.

The Rub

How do I know these strategies would work?

This is exactly what I do every day in my small, local insurance agency to outrank

insurance carriers that make 100 times in a day the revenue we create in a year. You

don’t need a huge budget to be successful.

So here’s the rub, as an industry we’re primed for success. Insurance industry digital

marketing success is NOT unattainable, nor do we have to wait long to achieve

results.

But we need leadership…

…and belief,

…and cooperation,

…and action.

But it all starts with leadership, at every level and in every organization. The

snowball is gaining momentum.

Thank you and Good luck,

I am Ryan Hanley



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Drop Some Knowledge

Tell me why I’m wrong… Tell me why digital marketing doesn’t work… Tell me why

my plan can’t be successful …

image credit: http://society6.com/product/Stepping-into-mystery_Print

Why Digital Marketing is Still a Mystery to the Insurance Industry (and how to fix it)

by Ryan Hanley

DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE:

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Top comments

Ryan Hanley via Google+ 5 months ago (edited) - Shared publicly

Day Dreams of Insurance Marketing Success

Sometimes I dream of what it would be like to work for a Travelers Insurance, Chubb or The

Hartford. The things we could achieve with the budget and infrastructure of one of these

Read more (13 lines)

+910

·

View all 9 replies

Reply

Ryan because your giving back to our great industry and you realize we are not competing

against each other but rather we are competing against direct writers. Keep up the great work

Christopher Paradiso 5 months ago +34

I do work for a carrier, and I am taking this blog post to heart. Thanks Ryan!

Katie Peet 5 months ago +12

Brent Kelly 5 months ago - Shared publicly

Ryan, thanks for the shout out. I am currently at a producer councils meeting with a super regional

company. They want specific feedback from agents and I will be sharing my thoughts along with

article. You are doing some super work. This is a spot on post.

+34

·

Reply

Theron Mathis via Google+ 5 months ago - Shared publicly

Excellent!

+23

·

Carrie Reynolds 5 months ago - Shared publicly

+Ryan Hanley- what a beautiful dream it is....But as we've discussed many times before, until the

top leadership of the insurance companies start to make a fundamental shift in their understanding

of today's consumers, you won't have the revolution you so desperately seek. At least from the

company standpoint. Also corporate bureaucracy doesn't lend itself well to innovation- too many

Read more (13 lines)

+23

·

Reply

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Ryan Hanley Why digital marketing is still a mystery to the insurance industry (and how to fix it)

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