Expect “more of the same” this year regarding insurance digital marketing strategies, with many brokerages in need of refining their goals and objectives in 2013, according to a digital marketing firm.
Patrick Sitkins, partner and managing director at SiliconCloud, believes that many insurance agencies and brokerages involved in the digital marketing and social media space “may still be confusing activity with results, or think that simply existing on social media is the key to success.”
Without a detailed plan of expected results and the tactics to achieve them, many organizations will hold steady while maintaining lackluster results, Sitkins predicted.
He cautioned that a digital presence is no longer a differentiator, it is expected. However, as brokerages all rush to jump into the digital marketing pool, “our prediction is that many will be sold on already-outdated services and/or do a lot of the same things that their direct competitors are doing.”
Brokerages that delay their entry into the digital marketing space may in fact be spawning personal branding tactics employed by their top tier and youthful brokers. “Many will turn to personal branding tactics, building their own brand above the organization’s brand,” Sitkins predicts. “They will invest in promoting their ‘Me, Inc.’ Personal branding is more important now than ever before. The agents who recognize this will gain a real advantage in 2013.”
Also gaining the upper hand will be brokerages that recognize the importance of mobile technology. Several brokerages in 2013 will be seeking to overhaul the look and feel of their websites. As they do so, they should keep in mind that some studies show that about 10% of online activity now takes place on a mobile device, Sitkins said.
To engage the mobile space, brokers are calling for apps.
“This is one we heard a lot over the course of the past year: ‘We want an app,’” said Sitkins. “Most of these organizations had no idea what they wanted, why they wanted it, and how it would benefit their customers. There is no doubt that the market will become flooded with insurance-related apps. It will be interesting to see how many viable solutions are actually created this year.”
