3 Marketing Mistakes Insurance Agencies MUST Avoid

So if you watched my previous video, you would have heard me ask the question, is cold calling dead? And of course, the video got met with a lot of skepticism and it ruffled a lot of feathers. Because in the insurance industry, we like using prospecting channels we're comfortable with. Even though picking up the phone and dialing isn't as effective as it used to be. It's what we know. You see, when you don't have a good, clear plan on how to go reach your prospects and you will always resort to what is comfortable, what you know best. And in our industry, in the insurance industry, it is definitely cold calling. I know when I got in the industry 21 years ago, I was taught two ways to prospect. I was taught how to pick up the phone and I was taught how to go pound the pavement. Back when I got in the insurance industry, you were literally taught to go park your car in an industrial park and go door to door and see who is willing to have a conversation with you. I know people who still use this method today. In fact, one of my former bosses, one of my former sales managers actually taught us in 2019 to get in our cars, go to specific parts or different parts of our specific markets and just spend a day or two going door to door. This was in 2019.

You see, when it comes to prospecting, I'm going to give you a blunt truth. And that is the way we have done it in the insurance industry, the way we still do it today is very outdated and it's very archaic. And here are three big mistakes the insurance industry is making right now when it comes to its marketing. Number one, you view marketing as an expense, not an investment. So you're going to do whatever you can to leverage marketing without having to spend any money on it. You don't know how to invest in marketing. You think everything you do from a marketing perspective has to deliver instant roi. Think about it. It's why you pay money to hire a cold calling service, because you want them to instantly create appointments for you. It's why I watch agencies host webinars. And the instant that webinar is over, their producers are calling the people who attended to try to pitch them. You see everything you do from a marketing and prospecting perspective right now you view as an expense. Therefore, you don't want to spend money on it. And when you do, you think it has to generate some kind of instant roi. That's mistake number one. Mistake number two, you don't think marketing is as important as sales. That couldn't Be farther from the truth. In fact, today, marketing and sales are one in the same. Without marketing, you have no sales. I had a boss in 2019. Yeah, that same boss I just referenced that said, I don't believe we need marketing. That's probably why I don't work there anymore. You see, if you are not using marketing to let your prospects get to know who you are, to build brand recognition with your prospects today, you don't exist in their world. And the third mistake is operating as if the Internet and social media don't exist. Yeah, I still see many in the insurance industry act as if those two channels don't exist. You see, if you're going to win in business today, in the insurance industry, you have to go where your prospects are. One, your prospects are getting younger. Number two, they're spending time on platforms like the Internet and social media. And if you're not using those channels right now, you are missing out on one of the biggest opportunities to grow your business. Right now you need to be thinking about the channels your prospects use today and you need to find a way to get there. When I got in the industry, I'm sure it was the same for you. You were taught to go hang out where your prospects hang out. Right? Go hang out at the coffee shops, go hang out and have lunch at the restaurants your decision makers are having lunch at today. That is social media and the Internet. So how can you leverage channels to be where your prospects are? The first place you need to think about is LinkedIn. If you are in a business to business selling channel, you sell the businesses, you have to be on LinkedIn. The CFOs, the CEOs, the COOs, the HR directors, they're spending time on LinkedIn today. Yeah. They may not be as active as you want them to, but they're there. And you have to have content that is posted on LinkedIn so they can become aware of who you are. Your website, believe it or not, as traditional as the website is, 95% of the insurance agencies in the industry do not know how to leverage their website first. When I go there, the, the only thing I read about is their story. They talk about themselves. Websites today have to be all about the prospect. You have to tell the prospect story, but you have to view your website.

Just like you view any other search engine on the Internet. YouTube, Google, you name it, which we're going to talk about in a second. Your website has to be a search engine unto itself. What do I mean? Well, despite or outside of your website telling me about how you can help me and who you are. Your website needs to contain content I'm searching for. If your website does not have a library of content right now, videos, white papers, PDFs, you name it, you are again missing a huge opportunity. Because when your prospects go search for what they're looking for, your website has to show up. You have to become a searchable agency. And that leads me to the last channel I want to talk about, and that is YouTube. Yeah, I know you think YouTube is reserved for high school kids playing around with creating the next greatest viral video, but really the reality YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world behind its parent Google. And your prospects are going to YouTube to find what they're looking for. And if they don't see you again, you don't exist in their world. So you leveraging a platform like YouTube has to be a part of your game plan in 2023 if you want to gr the attention from your prospects. So my message is simple. Quit using the archaic, outdated forms of prospecting that you and I were taught. The cold call pounding the pavement. They're not as effective as they used to be. You have to be leveraging the channels where your prospects are hanging out if you want to grow your pipeline with the right prospects. And that must include LinkedIn, your website, and the YouTube channels we all search today because you want to become the most searchable agency with the most searchable producers. And when you do that, you will have prospecting prospects coming to you time and time again. So whatever you do next year, whatever dollars you invest, not spend in your marketing, make sure you're finding a way to use these three channels.