Agency Marketing Guide

Transcription

1 Strategies to Help Your Agency Grow PIA Agency Marketing Guide Brought to you by these sponsors: A product of the PIA Branding Program

2 SALES & MARKETING Smarketing and Why Your Agency Needs It By Kelly Donahue-Piro What? Another marketing term to learn? You barely have time as it is to keep up! Learning about Smarketing is well worth your time though. With a well-run Smarketing strategy you can maximize every opportunity. Smarketing is the perfect marriage between sales and marketing. When sales and marketing get married we see ridiculously amazing results. Let us show you how! Agencies generally fall into three marketing categories: They have achieved a size where they can afford a marketing person or department. This team is generally on the other side of the building and no one really knows what they do and they have low engagement in sales. Agencies don t have an established marketing team. They sponsor a few things, have business cards and an average website. You are a growing agency where the owner is in charge of most sales and using online and offline platforms to grow your agency. The challenge is that neither one of these models are reaching their true performance potential. If you are going to do something, make it awesome. You need to practice Smarketing. Smarketing is something that a growing entrepreneurial agency generally practices but doesn t know it. Let s see if you are Smarketing with this quick test: When you attend networking events you often check in on social media and post pictures Every new business card you obtain goes into a CRM tool for drip marketing You routinely blog about your community and culture of the agency as well as share these items on social media Your prospects and clients are connected to you via social media channels On a monthly basis you share freemium content created by the agency (freemium content is free value added content that people can receive in exchange for contact information) Your brand is likeable, relatable and about the client, not you When marketing and sales work together you can drive the highest results. Smarketing starts by taking into account a true strategy. A great marketing strategy includes the following: Start and End Date Budget Goal-Website Visits Goal-Contacts 10 Goal-Customers Calls to Action Blogs Social Media Messages Sales Process Calls: # and time frame # and time frame Goal of the Process: To utilize our resources effectively and efficiently at every networking event so we can: Obtain at least 4 new business cards per person Identify 2 workable leads Close at least 1 piece of new business Reason This Process Is Important: General: To make sure our time is spent wisely To create a seamless process that is efficient on the organizer To maximize each engagement and generate the highest ROI To utilize the engagement as opportunity generation both immediately and post event For Reporting: To track ROI and lead generation from each event To identify events we want to attend in the future To track sales follow up efforts To track our ability to hit the goal For Management: We have a proactive strategy that is powered and tracking through Insightly (i.e. CRM) For the Team: A consistent process that is efficient and effective A clear plan to maximize every opportunity We can work to remedy any issues prior to renewal Continued on page 36

3 Continued from page 10 Smarketing and Why Your Agency Needs It Pre-Event Process 2 Weeks Prior to Event During Event Identify the opportunities ask for a list of attendees Connect with the contact on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and add them to MailChimp (i.e. program) Connect with the organization on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram Check LinkedIn on who you may know that is a member of the organization to reach out to them to say a good word Add the date to your calendar Write a blog that you will be attending an event and share it on social media Confirm time of the event Reach out to any people you want to target to let them know you are attending Prepare marketing materials (brochures, giveaways, etc.) Research to see if there are any other prospects in the area you can book a meeting with Make sure you have plenty of business cards Have a hit list of five people you want to meet Work the room Take cards and write notes on the back of them Provide a gift for the organizers (Starbucks gift cards, pen and sticky notes) Have your business cards handy Wear something memorable so you easily stick out When marketing and sales work together you can drive the highest results. 36 Post Event By Kelly Donahue-Piro Send a follow up to the coordinators the people who had requested information Add them to LinkedIn, and or sales systems and Facebook Upload the list of attendees Start follow up sequence Send information and a small gift to high value targets Make 3-5 follow up calls to book appointments with targets You can see in this strategy how sales and marketing can come together to yield the highest results! Feel free to view our video on Smarketing to dive deeper into this topic: blog/smarketing-training-video/ Also, you can download our Smarketing Infographic to help you get started: sales-based-marketing/ Kelly Donahue-Piro, founder and president of Agency Performance Partners, is a no-nonsense effectiveness expert who has helped hundreds of insurance agencies identify and capitalize on sustainable improvement opportunities. Her specialties include agency culture assessment and change; management and supervisory coaching and benchmarking; customer retention strategy development; digital marketing strategy, planning and implementation; and sales planning, management and skill-building. The centerpiece of Agency Performance Partners transformational work is its Agency Performance AssessmentTM, a comprehensive survey tool Kelly created to zero in on organization-wide improvement opportunities and provide the foundation for a customized agency action plan. The proprietary tool addresses everything from agency mission, goals, values and culture to agency management and infrastructure, employee abilities, service processes and procedures, and marketing, sales and retention strategy. Kelly is an engaging speaker who is available to conduct inperson and online agency success presentations that complement her firm s one-on-one on-site and virtual consulting practice. Connect with her on social platforms, via at kelly@agencyperformancepartners.com or by phone at

4 PIA s Agency Marketing Guide Is Brought to You by the PIA Branding Program It is the sincere hope of everyone at PIA that you and your colleagues have found great value in this, the eighth installment of the. PIA s Agency Marketing Guide is made possible by our many wonderful sponsors and advertisers and is made available to you through the PIA Branding Program. Through this program, available online at PIA provides members of the association with a variety of marketing materials. These include consumer-friendly issue papers, hundreds of print and radio advertisements in both English and Spanish, social media support materials, and past issues of the. Funding for the PIA Branding Program is provided in part by PIA s Pinnacle Partners. Pinnacle Partners are highly regarded insurance companies that demonstrate their commitment to the independent agency distribution system and financially support the development of new marketing tools which are made available to PIA members through the PIA Branding Program. P I NNAC L E PAR T N E R 2017 PIA National Pinnacle Partners Bankers Insurance Group Progressive Insurance Encompass Insurance State Auto Insurance Companies Erie Insurance The Motorists Insurance Group Nationwide Independent Wright Flood Editor-in-Chief/Advertising Director Alexi Papandon, CAE alexipa@pianet.org Publisher Ted Besesparis tedbe@pianet.org The is published by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. 400 North Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia agencymarketingguide@pianet.org 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise except as expressly permitted by the publisher. The information in this publication is general in nature and is not intended to serve as legal, accounting, financial, insurance, investment advisory or other professional advice as to any reader s particular situation. Users are encouraged to consult with competent legal, financial, insurance, investment advisory and or other professional advisors concerning specific matters before making any decisions and we disclaim any responsibility for any decisions or actions by readers. For additional information on any of the subjects addressed in this publication, please access the PIA National website at 46

5 How does PIA help me promote my agency? Let me count the ways. 1. One-page consumer- friendly flyers 2. Social media support 3. Print advertisements 4. Radio commercials 5. Annual PIA Agency Marketing Guide Everyday PIA members across America promote their agencies using materials and strategies they get from PIA. Our PIA Branding Program is full of marketing materials they can customize and use in their local markets and beyond. PIA NATIONAL PINNACLE PARTNERS Best of all, PIA provides these materials to PIA members for free, as part of their PIA membership. It s just another benefit of being a PIA member. Visit the PIA Branding Program at PIA would like to thank our Pinnacle Partners for supporting PIA members through their support of the PIA Branding Program. Learn how the PIA Branding Program can help your agency at National Association of Professional Insurance Agents 400 N. Washington St. Alexandria, VA PIA-6900 ( ) piabrandingprogram@pianet.org