A short and objective survey of what insurance agencies are currently doing in the online world.
Often when I speak with an agency owner, COO, or marketing manager about social media, I get asked about the results other agencies are seeing, in particular their return on investment (ROI). (I’m sure for the most part they’re seeking this information to help them make an informed decision on whether to invest in these new marketing methods, but I sometimes suspect it may also be a defensive question to justify not delving into the topic further.) As a result of lacking good solid data to provide an answer, I decided to put together this survey to learn what industry people were doing in online marketing with social media. I’m not making any recommendations in this report, just presenting the results for you to use as you see fit. With that being said, the following three findings were the most eye-opening to me:
More than 60% of those of you who responded are not measuring the return on investment of your current marketing efforts! So until you do, why ask about social media’s ROI? (OK, that was an editorial comment.)
Close to half of respondents who are not using social media will start to do so within a year.
Of those who responded, a bit more than 60% do not have a coordinated marketing plan of any kind.
Our survey received responses from 293 agencies across 41 states and Canada. Just about 60% of respondents identified themselves as agency principals or management. Another 40% or so said they worked in IT, marketing, or sales. Throughout the summary that follows, the term nontraditional marketing encompasses both social media and online marketing.
I have often threatened to write about what I think the military (the U. S. Navy in my case) does well that the corporate world, and specifically the insurance industry, could learn from to become better at what it does. Well, I am finally putting my experience where my mouth is, and I hope what I share provides some fresh insight to what you’re doing at your own organization.
By far, the agencies with whom we have worked that have the smoothest operations are those that are organized well to meet their objectives and have had a clear picture of where they are headed, what they want to accomplish, and what they need to do well day-to-day in order to reach their goals.
This is a clear parallel to the way that military operations and planning are structured. Without getting too deep into it, I will say that this can be broken out into three levels: Tactical, Operational, and Strategic.
Tactical. This is what you do on a daily basis, on the front lines, in a manner of speaking. Answering calls and emails, servicing accounts, and handling clients’ issues are good examples of Tactical work. The daily specifics of these tasks may be a little hard to predict, but I’m sure you have a good idea of the general volume of work you need to do on a daily basis. How well you train your staff and prepare for this type of work directly affects how you handle it and how quickly, competently, and effectively you get it all done.
Operational. This is the area of work that rises above the day-to-day activity — things that need to be done well on a longer-term basis, but are not necessarily a part of the immediate must-do tasks. Consider what an effective Personal Lines (or Commercial or Agency) Manager thinks about in performing his/her job or what the successful management team focuses on regarding the overall running of the agency. These are Operational concerns. A specific example of this level of work is the renewal workflow, which should be a continuous and planned exercise in which account reviews, re-marketing, and client conversations take place, but not necessarily on a daily basis.
Strategic. This is the long-term goal that the organization as a whole (whether the nation, the Navy or your agency) is driving toward. It sets a direction, and ideally everything that is done at the Tactical and Operational levels leads to the Strategic goals of the agency. If you are focused on becoming the largest agency in your town or the best employer with the best client service in the area, these are the Strategic goals you’re working toward.
(By the way, BHBCoVisioningSM is our way of guiding clients so they can effectively look at their agency, and its direction, at Strategic and Operational levels.)
Usually, those agencies that find themselves constantly working on the Tactical (daily) tasks and not getting out ahead to think about the Operational or Strategic level will have a difficult time growing and reaching their goals. Those that are able to focus on and manage to all three levels will be the most successful.
So, where does your agency fall in this spectrum? JHH
