While insurance might have started somewhere around the 17th century, customers of today have very different perspectives when it comes to choosing insurance companies. The power of the internet has enabled users’ access to information relatively easily.
Today, the end-user, with just a click of the mouse, can have exhaustive information about insurance products right at their fingertips. This abundance of information makes it imperative that insurance companies shift from traditional avenues of marketing to a more proactive and highly effective realm of digital marketing.
This blog seeks to interest readers about ways in which insurance companies can leverage the power of digital marketing to mount effective campaigns to stand out in the market. It spells out specific pointers to ensure a digital marketing plan for insurance companies becomes effective in achieving the business objectives of insurance companies.
Overview for Digital Insurance Marketing Plan
Before we spell out the pointers, let’s understand the broad plan for insurance marketing, which will serve as the blueprint for brands to embark on digital marketing for insurance companies. Here they are:
- Know your Audience: Selling insurance is a targeted exercise hence simply relying on demographics won’t do the job, you need to understand psychographics and carry out behavioral segmentation.
- Research the Competition: The market space in insurance is cluttered, with most brands using the same messaging. This requires a brand to research the competition to ensure it is not running a similar campaign.
- Mount a Media Plan: It is highly recommended that insurance companies start small with digital campaigns. Based on reception, learnings, and effectiveness of the pilot campaign, a full-fledged campaign aimed at traction and online visibility can be used.
- Create Content Assets: Create the landing pages and content marketing collaterals and place an email list for email marketing. Ensure to create content based on the audience segmentation and their location in the buyer’s journey.
- Tracking and Reporting: Have reporting formats in place based on predefined metrics that can measure the effectiveness of the campaign through real-time tracking.
Components for an Effective Digital Campaign:
- Thought Leadership through Content Marketing: Choosing an insurance company isn’t a decision to be taken in a hurry, nor is it a one-off event. Customers are required to renew their plans and even have the privilege to switch providers. In such a situation, when the availability of information about insurance brands is of paramount importance, there should be enough emphasis on executing potent content marketing campaigns. By doing so, an insurance brand is likely to become an authority in the industry and would be seen as a thought leader among insurance companies.
This can be done through blog posts, informative videos, how-to guides, and so on. When a company can put out relevant content aligned to customers’ sensitivities and concerns, it would position itself as a trustworthy brand. Once a brand can establish such a reputation, it can organically attract customers based on a heightened level of trust in the insurance brand.
- Audience Engagement on Social Media: According to the latest estimates, there are 240 million Indians on social media, and this number is only likely to grow. In contrast, the insurance penetration in the country is merely at 23% among the Indian population. Such a scenario makes it vital for insurance companies to use social media as a powerful tool to spread the word about insurance among the users of social media. A forward-looking insurance company must create a distinct brand identity and engage with the audience on a consistent basis through videos and posts. This kind of active engagement with the audience will highlight the importance of buying insurance and how it can safeguard life during difficult times.
- Paid Advertising for Qualified Leads: There are close to 25 online platforms where insurance companies can potentially advertise through paid means. While there is scope for organic growth on social media, most platforms are gravitating towards a pay-to-play model. This kind of paid advertising is not only effective but ensures that the messaging about a brand will reach the relevant audience at the right time.
Moreover, paid advertising also allows a brand to target the audience based on age, locality, and even intent. Such granular targeting enables the generation of qualified leads from such online platforms. Unlike traditional marketing, where there is a high dependence on sales figures, in paid advertising, the advertiser can actually measure the effectiveness of the campaign through analytics on the platform for better ROI.
- Functional & Performance-Driven Website: While many have the opinion that a website only serves the purpose of branding. This is a limited perspective as it can be useful in many ways in conveying product-related information about the brand. Today the customer is extremely information savvy, and the website can serve as the integral link in providing the pertinent information. According to estimates, more than 50% of insurance-buyers opt for online research before making a concrete decision.
While creating a website, a brand must ensure that it is easy to navigate and a friendly interface because you really do not want to turn away the prospects that come your way. An insurance brand can even give the users the option to log in to the website, thereby providing customized suggestions based on their needs. Besides this, the brand must incorporate SEO practices and traffic to drive organic traffic for higher visibility.
Conclusion:
Digital marketing for insurance surely has clear advantages. However, there are still companies that have second thoughts about this form of online marketing. As an insurance company, one needs to partner with the right digital agencies; one such digital agency is Amura, which comes with expertise, knowledge, and experience in running effective insurance marketing campaigns.
