AN AGENCY OWNER / MANAGER ' S APPROACH TO MARKETING by Daniel Smith , Market Retrievers
It ' s probably not the first thing you worry about when you get to work . It may not even be high on your list . But with lower policies in force ( PIF ) and the potential for more market changes that will impact retention , we ' re getting the question more than ever :
" What should our agency be doing for marketing ?"
As an owner or manager , you probably don ' t want to be the one executing the marketing strategy . However , you need to know the strategy and you need to feel good about how it can impact your agency ' s goals and growth .
IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE
Knowing your target audience is the critical first step in this process . Do you know the profile ? Whether you do or don ' t , answering these questions will confirm it :
1 . Who and what insurance business is your agency trying to write ? 2 . Who are the decision-makers for that business ? 3 . What problem ( s ) are those decision-makers trying to solve ? 4 . How can we help them solve those problems ? 5 . What competitive advantage do we have over others that are trying to acquire these clients ?
One note for the above – if your answer to question # 5 was " service " – please deepen your answer . Almost every independent agency I ' ve ever talked with said " service ", so what is the specific difference in your approach ?
TARGET YOUR EFFORTS
Now that you ' ve decided who and what is in your audience , how do you target them ? Here ' s another set of questions :
20 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER