How Real Time Updates Connect You with Your Target Audience

By: John Boudreau, COO and Co-Founder of Astonish Results

Ever since the evolution of the internet, our society has dramatically changed. We have never been more connected with one another before and information has never been exchanged as rapidly. In the last few years, we have seen the powerful influence of the social media revolution and how it has already facilitated societal change.

In the wake of the recent tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tropical storms that have caused a great amount of damage to our country in 2011, social media websites have been a major communication outlet for many insurance companies who utilize social media.

With Hurricane Irene damaging many homes and neighborhoods along the East Coast several weeks ago, the insurance industry has utilized social media to capitalize on the opportunity to remind local residents about the importance of homeowners, flood, and business insurance products along with provide tips and advice to those affected.

Now that many insurance companies are beginning to experiment with the use of Facebook to reach more customers, a whole new world of possibilities has been unlocked. However, there are still many insurance companies that still have not embraced this change.

For insurance companies that are not adapting to these new marketing trends, they are falling further behind the curve. Historically, the insurance industry has been slow and resistant to change. But positioning your agency on the internet to increase sales is a move you must make sooner rather than later.

So how can social media affect your Insurance Marketing strategies? The underwriting process, advertising, marketing and even the way in which claims are handled all could potentially undergo drastic change as a result of the development of social media.

Through older and more traditional marketing practices, insurance companies would typically market their products through independent or captive agents, brokers, or directly to the consumer. Direct marketing to the consumer has consisted of phone solicitation or standard mail. With every passing day, traditional marketing strategies are becoming more obsolete. If your insurance agency is going to continue thriving, your supervisors need to be open to rethinking their methods of reaching the modern consumer.

As opposed to traditional marketing practices, social media marketing is very cost-effective. If insurance agencies began to allocate less money towards marketing, this would drastically cut down on their expenses. As a result, this would enable insurance companies to potentially drive in more revenue off of sales.

With social media, communicating with one another has never been so efficient. Different social mediums you manage have the potential to put your agency in front of more people than ever before. Since 85% of today’s customers start their search for products and services online, it has never been more important for your agency to adapt to change and develop an active social media presence. Many businesses that have not yet adapted to the ways of the modern consumer are shrinking every single day.

Running a successful social media marketing campaign will allow your agency to further establish its brand in your target communities, provide customers with background information on your business, recruit new employees, analyze your competition, and open your agency up to future sales opportunities. Ultimately, this can potentially allow your agency to talk to future customers.

At Astonish Results, we are very passionate about getting insurance agencies excited about their business again! Since our inception, we have been discovering new ways to help independent insurance agencies compete with the bigger fish, build a sense of community, and close more sales!

Call us today at 1.888.899.1936 to speak with a dedicated Astonish Results representative who will schedule a tour of our unique Insurance Marketing system for you, or sign up online for a FREE virtual presentation today!