The Complete Digital Marketing Plan for Insurance Businesses

By Hibu | November 14, 2022

As an insurance agent, you help people prepare for the future. But what about your own long-term outlook? Increasing your client numbers will obviously help build your business, but where do you begin?

Most (if not all) insurance professionals understand that today’s consumers – as in, your potential clients – search for services online, now more than ever. And since the U.S. is home to nearly 3 million insurance industry employees, you need to stand out in that big crowd. That’s why an effective digital marketing strategy is the most important way to reach current and prospective clients.

How do you do that? You follow this 5-Step internet marketing plan for insurance businesses…

At Hibu, we help insurance agencies, like yours succeed — life, health, property or otherwise. We understand that the digital marketing world is massive, and the insurance industry continues to grow online. Our plan has plenty of free online insurance marketing ideas that will set you on the smartest path for digital success.

(Please note: some of this you’ll be able to do, or at least start, on your own. For some, admittedly, you’ll want to work with a digital partner like Hibu to get more qualified leads and maximized results. )

What Is “Digital Marketing” for Insurance Agents?

Also called “online marketing” or “internet marketing,” digital marketing efforts for insurance businesses involve utilizing, synchronizing, and optimizing digital tools and resources to establish and promote your agency online.

Clients do most of their searching online, so multiple strategies working together will help you reach them wherever they’re looking.

Although traditional marketing is valuable in its own right, clients of all ages are increasingly searching for services on the web – and that — including insurance policies, plans and agencies. So, that’s where you need to focus the bulk of your advertising today.

Your Insurance Agency Digital Marketing Plan

Let’s jump in. We’ve laid out a step-by-step digital marketing plan for insurance agents, including those free marketing ideas we mentioned, and we'll explain what each tactic entails.

1. Establish a Professional, Consistent, Correct Online Presence

It all starts with being visible when clients search for insurance services, so make sure you have a professional online presence. Most notably, you need correct, consistent search listings and a website. That’s particularly vital in Google search results for getting more leads in your local community.

If you don’t appear where potential clients search, you’re losing countless opportunities to boost your business. And when clients search, what they find should be accurate, appealing, and near the top of search results.

Search Listings

In terms of insurance agency web marketing, having an accurate search listing (aka business profile) is your first step. It’s also your easiest and quickest way to reach new clients when they pull up popular search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo to search for insurance services.

You need to make sure your listing includes the core information clients need to contact you:

Business Name
Address
Phone number
Hours of operation
Primary service(s) offered (life, health, property, casualty, business insurance, etc.)
Links to your website and social media profiles
Photographs (headshots, pics of your agency’s interior and exterior, etc.)

Automatically generated search listings can cut into your bottom line. For example, if a potential client wants to reach an insurance agent right away but can’t find your phone number, they’ll likely look elsewhere to purchase a policy.

You need to know that autogenerated profiles with incorrect info may be present without your knowledge. That's why it’s wise to work with a digital marketing company to identify and fix those incorrect listings. Prospective clients lose trust when they see conflicting business information, so listings management gives you the opportunity to keep yours up-to-date.

Professional Website

The second step is to have a professional website – preferably one professionals have built for you. Sure, some people can create a fine DYI sites, but do you really want to risk your business on a site that looks less professional than your competitors’ sites?

Once someone finds you via your search listing, they can click your website link to learn more about your agency and what you offer.

When you work with a digital partner for your website, they’ll include the key information that prospects and clients need to find on your site. In addition to the info in your search listing, they’ll include features that clients find helpful, more detailed information, and interesting content on your website itself.

For example, customers will find engaging content and features like these:

A list of your insurance offerings, services, plans and policies and their rough cost estimates
Bios of the insurance agents and staff at your company
Blog articles that offer insight into common (and not-so-common) topics
An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page
A form to make an appointment or request additional information
A chatbot for instant interaction

And that’s just scratching the surface.

A great website can make or break your agency’s online footprint.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a smooth user interface (UI, or how the site behaves) and user experience (UX, or how clients interact with it). People get frustrated with website hang-ups and slow page loads — we know we do.

All this points to yet another reason to partner with a digital marketing company for your website build. Specialists make sure your site (and its mobile version) looks fantastic and displays your key info near the top of search results.

2. Use Social Media Marketing for Your Insurance Practice

Social media is a vital part of any digital marketing plan for insurance agents. It’s a powerful behemoth that can be used to your advantage — but only if social media marketing is done right.

Besides reaching the sheer number of people who use social media, you can reap many additional benefits from social media marketing:

A brand that's memorable, with personality
Increased word of mouth (WOM)
Direct client interaction
User-generated content (UGC)
Better brand awareness
Reviews and testimonials

And personalization goes a long way.

Work with a digital marketing company for social media marketing to maximize results:

Harness and optimize your online presence
Post targeted ads
Increase your revenue.

Meta/Facebook Marketing for Insurance Agents

Facebook is the most-used social media platform in the world. Having a Facebook Page for your business is critical.

When you have an established Facebook Page (or your digital partner has set one up for you), make sure it includes the same key info from your search listing (name, address, phone number, etc.), as well as links to your website and other social media accounts.

When it’s time to post, here are just a few free, creative marketing ideas for insurance agents:

Record and post videos in which you explain different insurance plans
Notify clients of rate changes using Facebook Stories
List the benefits of policies you offer in well-written text posts (add photos, links and hashtags for impact)
Place paid ads to drive clicks and reach your targeted audience
Post polls, surveys and quizzes for client engagement and feedback
Hold contests to generate buzz

And feel free to get imaginative! You can really set yourself apart by engaging clients with humor and humanity.

Of course, reaching the right potential clients means using social media ads. And setting up the right targeting, the right budget and the right ad creative means working with experts. Like all things digital marketing, handling the daily demands of Facebook marketing is time-intensive. Teaming up with a digital marketing company will make the process easy on your end.

Instagram Marketing for Insurance Agents

Instagram may not be as big as Facebook in terms of user count, but don’t underestimate its potential. It’s particularly popular among younger demographics who may not understand insurance or why they need it.

Make sure you have an Instagram business account. Your bio should include a link to your website (unlike Facebook, Instagram posts and comments don’t allow hyperlinks).

Instagram’s real strengths are its visual, hashtag-heavy posting options. With that in mind, here’s a handful of creative marketing ideas for insurance agents:

Use Instagram Reels and Stories to upload snappy videos or slideshows explaining the basics of a policy and/or your agencies services
Add visual posts highlighting people who benefited from your services (get their permission first)
Post aesthetically pleasing graphics with insurance-related questions and reply to users’ comments
Include multiple hashtags (agency name, state, city and surrounding cities, specific policies and plans, etc.) on all posts to pinpoint local clients
Invest in targeted ads to amplify awareness

3. Engage in SMS and Email Marketing for Insurance Agents

Nearly everyone with internet access uses email and text messaging (short message service, or SMS).

As one of the most cost-efficient and effective tools in your digital marketing arsenal, SMS and email marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for insurance agents because it keeps your agency top of mind. It keeps your agency top of mind and reminds clients of the services you provide in places they already check.

And when clients know you care enough to keep them in the loop, they’re much more likely to recommend your agency to friends and family. In other words, your word of mouth and positive reviews increase.

Where to Start

Once you have that sharp website built, double-check that it includes forms or fields where clients can enter their names and email addresses to receive notifications.

Then, make sure they can opt to receive SMS / text messages with updates, offers, policy change news or anything else pertinent to their portfolio.

Finally, send timed, targeted and tactful messages to those clients.

Of course, text and email marketing isn’t as simple as it seems. When clients receive a message, it needs to be primed (and timed) to hit their phone / inbox when they’re most likely to read it. Plus, text should be triple-checked for accuracy and professionalism.

The best text and email marketing campaigns are automated – so they happen without you having to lift a finger.

How to Get Started

This is one of those areas where you’ll most likely want to work with a digital marketing partner who can set up your automated text and email campaigns.

Because SMS and email marketing for insurance agents requires precision and expertise (and lots of effort), you should partner with a digital marketing company who can do this for you.

Strategists will make sure your website has all the necessary fields and forms, then follow up with timed and targeted messaging. Few marketing tools are better than an extremely effective and affordable campaign that keeps your agency top of mind with clients and potential clients looking for you.

Our Hibu rep made it easy for us. He gave us some new ideas that increased our sales. We found him very professional and pleasant in getting our advertising done and finalized for the coming year.
Spiziri insurance Associates

4. Start Content Marketing for Insurance Agents

As the saying goes, “Content is king” — and per projected content marketing revenue, that’s no overstatement.

Content encompasses pretty much everything posted on your digital channels, from text to images to video to audio. And by engaging clients with quality content via content marketing, you showcase your services while boosting your visibility brand awareness. That is, you promote your agency through content that clients enjoy or learn something from.

Content marketing is closely related to SEO, search marketing (more on those below), and social media marketing. These tactics can work together in your digital marketing plan for insurance agents.

Where to Start

With content marketing, the goal is to entertain and educate clients while advertising your agency. This approach can be subtle — but highly effective.

Because content marketing covers so many potential tactics, here are the most worthwhile free, creative marketing ideas for insurance agents:

Publish blog posts addressing unique insurance-related topics on your website (blogs are especially popular)
Send monthly email newsletters covering the latest in policy benefits
Post polished videos featuring satisfied clients sharing their stories on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
Create and post tasteful infographics (like crisp, colorful pie charts and bar graphs) listing your policies and their popularity with clients posted to LinkedIn and Twitter

Of course, producing and publishing those pieces takes time. Work with a digital marketing company so the experts can make sure those articles, emails, videos and graphics optimized for search engine ranking and posted across digital channels.

How to Get Started

The process of creating, optimizing and posting quality content is quite the undertaking. It requires skill, time and tons of effort that isn’t feasible for every agency.

Teaming up with a digital marketing company for content marketing is the easiest and smartest way to get the most out of this strategy. It’s a solid way to maximize your channels — especially your website and social media profiles — and your return on investment.

5. Invest in Search Marketing and SEO

Now it’s time to magnify your visibility through search marketing and SEO.

These are definitely strategies best left to experts, but rest assured that the investment is worth the return. They’re two of the most lucrative marketing tools for insurance agents.

Search Marketing

You already know that millions of people use search engines to look for insurance services. Search marketing is how you catch their eye — with ads near the top of results on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

When you invest in search marketing, clients enter keywords (like, “insurance agent near me”) in a search engine, and boom — an ad for your agency appears prominently in the results. If your ads position you as the best provider of what they need, they’ll click on your ad. It’s a simple principle, but it’s not a DIY thing.

The revenue returns are astounding, so it’s wise to work with a digital marketing company to get your agency advertised where clients search. You tell the company your location and the keywords that best describe your services, and those strategists will do the rest.

Pro Tip: Look into display advertising for even more targeted ad options in your digital marketing strategy. An appealing ad appears across apps, sites and other channels your customers regularly visit. Video ads, Google ads, Amazon ads, and Facebook ads tactfully convert leads so you stay ahead of the game.

[Related: Where Your Local Business Should Have Ads Online]

SEO

What’s SEO? It’s tied to search marketing, and frankly, it’s complicated.

Like content, SEO runs through essentially all other digital marketing strategies, and it’s crucial for your agency’s online visibility — and viability.

In a nutshell, keywords and phrases placed in online content raise or lower its ranking in the search results. When done right, SEO precisely uses those keywords and phrases to raise that ranking when current or prospective clients search for you.

To make matters more complex, search algorithms regularly change. SEO demands constant work and monitoring if you want to stay on top.

Clearly, visibility is integral to your all digital marketing efforts. So, it's wise to invest in SEO with a digital marketing company that specializes in it. They’ll ensure that as many clients as possible will see your information across the web — and you have a much better chance of competing with bigger agencies.

BONUS: Partner with a Trusted Digital Marketing Company

Now it’s time to partner with a digital marketing company that’ll take this insurance internet marketing plan, customize it for your specific needs, and put it to work for you.

What to Look For

A skilled digital marketing company has strategists who will listen to your ideas and coordinate your concepts in a way that best suits your budget, needs and location.

Look for custom pricing so you can choose a solution that works for your agency. One-on-one service is invaluable, so check for partners who will ask you what you want, not dictate a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all strategy.

And if a digital marketing company offers options like reputation management and review management, that’s a huge bonus.

The Benefits

When you work with a digital marketing company on marketing strategies for insurance agents, you don’t have to worry with creating, synchronizing and optimizing all these online tools. The experts will handle the heavy lifting for you, so you can focus on what matters most — helping your clients stay covered.

Hibu has been very beneficial for our business and we've received an uptick in new clients. [Our Hibu rep] has been very helpful in guiding us through the various options that Hibu has to offer.
Derose & Associates LLC

Put Your Plan into Action With Hibu

While you’re busy contacting clients, analyzing policies and juggling portfolios, let Hibu make your digital marketing plan easy. We’re ready to partner with you to create a coordinated online advertising solution to help your business along the way. Together, we’ll craft a solution specifically for your insurance agency.

Call 877-237-6120 or complete our short Get Started form for a free, no-obligation consultation.

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