You’re about to take the plunge into online advertising. Where should you advertise? Marketing insurance online is not as simple as creating a flyer and dropping it off at all of the homes in your neighborhood. There are many different ways to advertise online, and they could yield different results.
Using Google Advertising
According to WordStream, “advertisers using AdWords bid on keywords– specific words and phrases included in search queries entered by Google users– in the hopes that their ads will be displayed alongside search results for these queries.” Prospective customers click on the ads, and your company is charged for every click. This is also called Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.
If your customers tend to find you through online searches, then PPC advertising can be an excellent way to connect with those new customers. However, you do need to target the correct keywords to get into the right pages of Google results and at the top of those searches. If there are many companies focused on the same keywords, it can be difficult to rank near the top.
Marketing Insurance Through Facebook Advertising
Are your customers on Facebook? That’s the question when it comes to Facebook advertising. Facebook has the highest number of monthly active users of any social media platform, so chances are that some of your customers or prospective customers are on this social media site.
Facebook advertising is quite different from Google ads. Yes, they are both online advertising, but while Google ads show up in response to a customer’s search terms, Facebook ads show up because of a lead’s interests or online activities. You can target customers based on their interests or demographics. For example, if you find that many of your new customers are ages 30-55 and are interested in home decorating, you could target that group and see how many new customers you get.
Facebook advertising requires an understanding of your customer demographics and their overall interests. You also need to prepare your business website to ensure that when leads visit your page, they find the products that suit them. Since these prospective customers are not searching for insurance specifically but rather encountering your ad as they scroll through their social media feed, you need to have a hook to draw them in.
Use Many Forms of Outreach to Draw in New Customers
Marketing insurance doesn’t need to be an either-or situation. Search-based ads target an audience who is motivated and looking for a product. Social media tends to utilize native ads that focus on leads’ interests and try to make a match between your business and the interests of your leads. According to WSI, social media advertising and other native ads “blend into the other content on the web page.” Since these ads show up in a user’s feed, they may not feel as intrusive as other types of advertising and site visitors may not even recognize them as an ad at first. Consider trying out both search-based and native advertising to see what works for your insurance business.
At American Agents Alliance, we help you succeed in your independent insurance business. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been working in the field for years, we can help you learn more about emerging insurance issues and develop your insurance networks. Contact us today.
