Episode 296: Your Online Presence

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromsol.

Greetings and welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. I could not be more excited about our future and the future of independent agents everywhere across the nation. Is it going to be easy? Heck no. Are you capable? Yes. Do you have the ability? Yes. Is your future bright? Yes. But remember this, it's mindset. And the most important workout that you will ever do is the workout workout of your mindset. That was a conversation among many, many, many others that we had recently in Salt Lake City, Utah in our mid year round of our Mastermind events for our Unstoppable profit producer program members. And the conversations that we had were life changing, game changing in so many ways. So I wanted to share with you something that came up a lot and this applies to you, to your business, to your brand, to your recruiting and interviewing and hiring your next team members and so much more. And if you don't pay very close attention to this vital, critical, key aspect of your business, you will indeed not receive everything that you're looking for, including reaching your goals, exceeding your goals, finding that next a player, best not best available team member, all of it. You might be wondering, what is this?

It's your online presence. So let's be clear. Why don't you think about your own life for just a minute. When you need something, when you need to find out some information, when you need to find out a restaurant that you want to go to with some friends or family, when you need to shop for something, when you need to find a new car, when you need to locate anything in your life, where do you go online? And we have these little devices that have become so popular, which in my humble opinion are overused sometimes, but.

They'Re driving everything and 61% of searches are done.

Or more are done on these devices. So you've got to be aware of your online presence because when you set out to say recruit that next new team member or to court that next new prospect that you're trying to convert to become a client, they're checking you out online and they are thoroughly checking you out online and they take about three to four seconds to quickly evaluate you to identify if they want to continue checking you out. And if they see something that they don't like that their mind does not resonate with, that they potentially can't fall in love with, they're going to click off and they're going to go search for the next one. So have I said yet that you need to make sure that your online presence is consistently operating at the highest level? I say that lovingly because all I want, the reason that I exist, the reason that I get out of bed.

Is to help you to make sure that you've got everything going on that you need to have going on to reach your goals, to impact people, to reach the destination and the vision that you've set out before your business. So let's get started today. I want to help you. This is going to be a pretty fast paced podcast, so get ready and if you don't have something to write with or write on, pause and go get it right now. And if you're driving, hey, listen to the rest of this and then get home and rinse and repeat. Get something to write with and make sure that you write down everything that I'm going to give you in this session today so that you can make sure that your online presence is at its highest level of excellence. And don't forget this, it takes ongoing inspection. You've got to inspect what you expect. You cannot set it and for forget it, which a lot of people do. Oh, I launched a new website, I'm good. And then they just forget about it. No, you must assign somebody to continually, continually inspect all of your online presence to keep your finger on the pulse, if you will, because you must make sure that it's consistently operating. You must click on all the have somebody click on all the buttons on your website to make sure that they're operating. I was recently a new one of our members.

Recently launched a new website and I was preparing for a coaching session with this member and I remembered that he said he launched it. So I started bumping around on his website and clicking buttons and I found two that did not work. The daunting 404 message that pops up. Right. So if your prospect finds that and they're looking for new commercial insurance, let's say they're a $75,000 account and they encounter that, they're done, they're moving on, they don't need you. There's lots of others out there. So please inspect what you expect. And before I get started this morning, speaking of Mastermind, which is the launching pad for all of the items that I'm going to share with you. We have a brand new Mastermind series going on. We will be traveling as our schedule allows across the nation helping people in our Mastermind format, which recognized and commented on by many. I'm. I'm not trying to come from a place of ego or arrogance here, but this is the feedback that we receive that our Masterminds are some of the best out there. So if you want to join us in a pop up Mastermind that might appear around the nation, please jot this one down. Mastermind.mike stromso.com I'm gonna pause.

Mastermind.mike stromSo.com STOMPSO is s t R O M S O E Mastermind.

Jot that down. Keep your revisit that website. Often we post the cities that we're coming to next for our pop up Masterminds in the future. Already on the docket is Portland, Oregon in November. So again, check that out. Mastermind.mikestromso.com and the cities that we book will be located on that site. Let's get back to helping you with your online presence. I mean kind of the duh here, but it's not is your website. You've got to make sure that your website is up to date, including its mobile presence on these devices. So have somebody that you know, love and trust test your website on their mobile device and make sure they can bump around and find everything they need. But it's got to be responsive. It's got to be responsive. It should adapt seamlessly across all devices, mobile tablets, desktop, everything. It's gotta be user friendly. The navigation has to be super easy. Find a 7 or 8 year old kid and have them sit down on a device with your website and see if they can navigate it. Can they? If they can't, we need to think about navigation. It has to have fast loading speed. Now this is an area that's out of my jurisdiction, so to speak. That's why I bring on excellent teammates who know this stuff. And that's why I'm so privileged to have partnered with Andrea Wyatt as part of our team almost 15 years ago. Which by the way her anniversary of us working together. She's put up with me. Can you believe it? Almost 15 years is 9 1. So congratulate her that she's survived this journey. Just kidding everybody. But it's been incredible journey. But that's her thing. When she came to us she was a paralegal building websites so she understands that stuff. And that's why I have her. She also understands search engine optimization, SEO. You've got to optimize for keywords, use metadata to rank higher on search engines and optimize all of that. So you got to make sure all of this is in place and you've got to make sure within your website that your CTAs encourage visitors to take action such as contacting, subscribing. What can you give them that brings value that they want to going to input some information or click through on leading to education and subsequently purchase. But by the way, if you go to mastermind.mikestromso.com and you look in the very top right corner of that site, you will find a button that says request your invite. Now it's the first thing you see in the top right. You cannot miss it. That's exactly what I'm talking about as an example of call to action. So that's just a bullet points for you to make sure that your website is up to date. But that's not all. There's more. Number two is strong brand identity. Strong brand identity. When I became a massive implementer of marketing strategies after I went to an insurance conference in 1999, I implemented ferociously for 15 years or so. And after a period of time people would start giving me feedback. Mike, you are all over the place. We see communications with you, email.

Text, phone, snail mail, videos. You leave me voicemail messages that are automated and the whole nine yards. And I said, thank you. What do you think? Some of the people that I knew well said, Mike, you're psychedelic. I said, what does that mean? They say there's no flow to who you are. I mean, different colors, different this, different that. And I thought, aha, I need to make, I need to investigate this thing I've been learning about called branding. So I started asking some questions of other people who I trust and know that know a lot more about that subject than I do. And I found branding. So we invested in somebody to create a full on brand guide for our business. I'm going to share with you something that you can do starting right now, starting here, starting today to work on your brand. And this is a great book. If you're watching this on video via our YouTube channel, great. If you're driving or just listening, the book is by Donald Miller. It's called Building a Story Brand. Building a Story Brand. Clarify your message so your customers will listen. And if you're looking at this on video, yes, these are all my notes. Yes, these are all my dog eared pages because I've been through this book three times. Just a revisit to rinse and repeat to make sure that our brand is top notch and stellar all the time. And we have one of our UP members who also knows an expert in bringing this to reality. So if you're interested in that, drop us a line at VIPPP life.com VIP@upplife.com Put brand story in the subject line. Brand story because facts tell stories sell Strong brand identity Number two Consistent branding Consistent the number one reason people don't succeed in business or in life Lack of consistency. Consistent use of logos, colors, messaging across all platforms. You've got to have number two compelling content under strong brand identity. Compelling content. You've got to use high quality visuals, copy and messaging that reflect your values and engage your customers. That's why we teach core values, core purpose marketing strategy in our UPP programs. Next. You got to have a strong usp. Why you over and above any and all other options available to them, it's got to have a. You have to have a strong usp. And don't forget this one. Your team needs to be trained on it. You've got to train them consistently. Training is like bathing. It's recommended daily. Communicate what makes your business unique and make sure it's crystal clear. I had that happen in our own world in UPP with one of our coaches yesterday. She was looking at one of our pieces and she said, this does not tell me what you do. And we're like, boom. That's why we have coaches. Next Social number three, Social media engagement. And by the way, I'll wrap this for you at the end. Social media engagement. Active Social profiles was working with a member yesterday who was recruiting, interviewing and hiring a new team member. And I got into an interview with this prospective team member and we asked the candidate, what have you learned about our business online?

And she said your social media presence needs an update because it's quite dated. And to his commendation or to give him some kudos, he was transparent and said, that's why I'm looking for a next a player team member. Hopefully that's you so I can have time to make sure all of this is in place. And she said, I'm the one. So we'll see. It's early but that's active social media engagement. Active social profiles, consistently engaging content. You've got to make it about them, not about you. It's all about them, never about you. And please don't bombard them with insurance stuff.

Make it Something they want to read. They don't want to read about insurance stuff. They want make it about relationship with you. And it's got to be interactive. Respond to comments, don't leave things sitting there. Respond to comments, engage in conversations, use polls, stories, live features and anything else that makes sense for the situation to increase interaction. Number four, you've got to manage your online reputation. That includes customer reviews, Google reviews, good and negative. You've got to respond to every one of them. Now let me give you a ninja tip here, okay? I learned it's probably been a year or so that when the emotions are high and you get a negative Google review, how do you feel? Of course you do. You don't feel good. You feel somewhat defeated for just that moment, right? How can somebody think that? Or one of my teammates failed and did not deliver all of that, right? You've got to let it go. You gotta be a duck, let it slide off your back and then go to ChatGPT and you put in chat the review that they left and on behalf of your independent insurance agency located in Anytown usa, and ask them how to respond. And here's the key. 25 words or less. Got it? Good. So it'll give you something. Now don't use that verbatim. 80, 20 rules always in effect here with GPT it's 80%. And then you got to put in your own 20% of thoughts, wording, heart, core values in the whole nine yards, and then respond. All right, let's get back to it. You've got to respond to customer reviews, 100% of them. And you've got to have a quick response to feedback. It cannot be one or two weeks later. You've got to have somebody with their finger on the pulse of your feedback. And you have to have a crisis management plan, something that's in place to handle any negative press going on out there to make sure that you respond. Look, like my friend Fred Kramer said, things are good, never perfect. What's going to happen is going to happen. But we've got to have a plan. Because Ben Franklin said if you're failing to plan, you're planning to fail and you gotta have a plan to respond. Number five, content marketing. And again, these are all things that support your incredible best online presence. Content marketing from blogging, publish, informative, engaging, real world human things that people want to learn about. You can have blogs which are written or vlogs which are video or in the best of all worlds, you can have both, because next is video content which like I just said you can have a blog, which is a video blog, all right? They can boost engagement, convey messages more effectively. And remember this, that as much as 85% or more of online content in the future will be consumed in some way via video. So get used to it. And if you're not comfortable, have another team member or hire somebody to do your videos. But don't miss that opportunity. Next is just flat out educational content. Help people, educate them, Offer free ebooks, webinars, tutorials. Years and years ago, when I used to go into the agency in the middle of night, middle of the night in my comfy clothes and I just worked all night writing content because back in the day, this was long before video and all that. I created a series of probably 12 to 15 free reports. That was my carrot that I hung out there for people. They were educational, free reports to help them learn more about their insurance program. It led to the empire that we created. I'll just leave that on the table. Number six is email marketing. Personalized emails, nurturing emails that bring value. Not about the next insurance product or something that they need to do to pay their bill or whatever because they don't care about that. They know what to do. Right? You've got to make sure that you segment your audience and send relevant targeted messages to increase open and click rates. Which by the way, if you don't have something to monitor your open and click through rates, you need to make sure that your email marketing system does that. And you've got to watch out for the spam cops as well. So there's a whole kit and caboodle to that. And you should have as part of your online social media presence and email nurturing a consistent, consistent newsletter that brings updated offers, news, safety news, helpful tips, tips and more. Here's the quick encouragement for you on Newsletters. The 602020 rule. Yep, the 60, 2020 rule. 60% of the content should be driven towards relationship. 20% of the content should be educational and about your industry and 20% should be no brainer stuff. I mean people are looking to get away. Look what that online platform, what's it called? Facebook, I think it is. Just kidding. That's why people go there. They want to get away a little bit. Getting away could be comics or other kind of mindless stuff. 60, 2020 Rule number 7 if applicable, if applicable is your E commerce functionality. If you're selling online, you got to make sure that's rock solid. I'm going to move on past that. Number eight is analytics and Tracking, analytics and tracking. Again, I learned years ago, stay within your top three. Your top three power. Your top power of three. Okay? These are things that you do well, that bring you joy. Your power of three, okay? Your top three talents, gifts or superpowers, which is what my new book is about. Power of3book.com. So you've got to operate within your top three, but then you got to bring in other people who know how to do the other things that are important. That's why I'm again privileged and honored to to have had Andrea Wyatt by my side for almost 15 years now. Because analytics and tracking are her Bailey wig. That's one of her top three. So use analytics tools. And I remember when we used to do our state of the agency addresses and we, she would come in and we'd go to Andrea for the marketing side of it. She would have all these analytics data up on the screen sharing with the team what we're doing on our online stuff. It tracks performance of the websites, user behavior, campaign success using tools like Google Analytics and more. Here's another ninja secret and strategy for you. If you've got an independent insurance agency, you should contact Arius Analytics. The name of the product is Donna. So just search it out there, Donna, for independent insurance agents. It'll pop up, have a conversation with them. They'll do all the back end analytics monitoring for you. So you don't need to, so you can keep your finger on that pulse. In addition to it, you've got to exercise periodic performance reviews to analyze your data to make sure that you can make informed decisions on where you're going to invest money to grow your business, what's working, what's not working, that type of thing. Next number nine is customer support. Are you using chatbots? Yes or no. But what you need to think about, how often do you.

And your teammates use chatbots? If you're using them and your teammates are using them quite often, it might be a smart strategy for your agency. Okay. Or you can have a live chat or a chatbot feature on your website that offers real time support. And you've got to make sure, regardless of what you do, regardless if you use chatbots or not, you've got to make sure clear, concise contact information is available on your website all of the time. Right where people can see it, not way down at the bottom. Have contact information right near the top. Because if they see something they like, they may want to contact you right away. Make sure it's easy for people to give you money. Learned that 25 to 30 years ago. Make sure it's you. Make it easy for people to give you money. Many times they want to, but you've got to make it easy for them. Number 10 and the last for today. And again, I'll recap these in just a moment. Adaptability and Innovation the number one characteristic of today's thriving, growing, exploding entrepreneur is agility and the willingness to change. You've got to be agile and it applies to your online presence as well. Stay updated with trends. Make sure you've got somebody focused on what's happening as things continue to change.

The late great Jim Rohn said, if we want things to change, we've got to change. Because if we're willing to change, everything will change for us. The late John Wooden said, failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be. And for those on video I had to look at it. I've got it posted right here, but I have something in the way change. You've got to be willing, okay? And you got to be adaptable. Number 10 is adapt, adaptability and innovation. So stay updated with trans and you've got to make sure because simply this is online. Online presence is online tools, technology that are serving human beings. So you've got to be taking a customer centric approach. You've got to regularly assess and evolve based on customer feedback and their needs. It's all about them, not about you. It's all about them and not about you. Know that and play to that. Having a blend of all of these 10 strategies that I've just shared with you is the absolute key to having a world class thriving forever generating even more leads and traffic and feedback and everything else that you need online.

That will help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have more freedom.

Know this and I mentioned in the beginning, if your online presence is not at its peak performance, you're losing opportunity for new teammates, for new prospects, for new customers and for existing customers. They're all watching you. It's just like leadership. They're watching everything you do and everything you don't do and listening to everything you say and everything you don't say. Let me recap the 10 characteristics of a world class online presence platform 1. Professional website 2. Strong brand identity 3. Social media engagement 4. Reputation management 5. Content marketing 6. Email marketing 7. If applicable to you, e commerce functionality 8. Tracking and analytics 9. Customer support Online customer support and 10 adaptability and innovation. I hope this has helped you make sure your online presence is at its peak performance because in our Recent Mastermind sessions in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a conversation. And some of the members, their online presence is not at its peak performance and they know and then we identified together. That's why we do our masterminding sessions three times a year. So if you'd like to get involved in that, stay tuned and don't forget to check back mastermind.mike stompso.com to learn about your next opportunity. And we have another big opportunity coming up in November separately from that. But that's why we mastermind, to make sure that we sharpen each other's iron. Iron sharpens iron. That's why we exist. That's why we do what we do. And our core purpose at UPP is to impact people's lives personally and professionally. I hope this has impacted your life professionally and maybe personally for that fact. And if it has, please share this podcast with somebody else that you know, love and care about to help them, to help them gain the impact that they need. And if this is your first time on the podcast, I just want to welcome you. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as the leading author, speaker, and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about what we do and everything that we do@unstoppableprofitproducer.com we've packed everything that we've developed over 36 years as a proud independent insurance agent into our website to help you grow your business, create wealth, and have more freedom so you can live life on your own terms. I figured out how to do it, and I want to help you do the exact same thing. It's a wonderful, incredible place to be. It's absolutely possible if me, a high school graduate, only can do it. I know you can do it, and I want to help you. Okay? So please make sure you visit our podcast website often to make sure that you're up to date on the latest opportunities to learn more, to become more. And our website for the podcast is unstoppableprofitpodcast.com and it's out there on all the channels, Apple, Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel, Amazon, and so much more. So check it out, share it, share it with somebody else you care about. And until the next episode, get out there and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets. I will see you on the next episode. Everybody. Until then, help somebody today, because the law of reciprocity is always in effect. I'll see you in the next episode.

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