Starting your marketing journey
You run a small brokerage. Business has been steady, but you’re looking to grow further. What can you do?
Embarking on a marketing strategy may be the next course of action.
Before deciding to invest anything in a marketing campaign, whether through your own efforts or by hiring an agency, the first and most fundamental task is determining your business objective. This is the essential and critical information required in order to execute your marketing plan. Perhaps your goal is to grow your policy count; but it’s important to look deeper. You can’t just put out a marketing message that says, “Insure with us – we’re the best!” If you were to get any business through this message, would it be the kind of business you’re looking for? Broadening your objective will help to form your strategy and target your message:
- Who is your target audience – is it a certain demographic, age, or are they at a specific stage in life? What do your customers look like today? Do you want more of the customer personas you have now, or do you want to diversify your book?
- Where do you want to grow – are you focusing entirely locally, or want to branch out into other market areas? Do you want to grow in a specific purchase channel?
- What line of business do you want to develop – is it starting with one line, hoping that complimentary business will follow, and then growing by offering complimentary products to existing customers?
- Is your strategy purely acquisition or is retention important?
Answering these questions will help you determine a clear business objective so you can begin the process of how, and through what tactics, your marketing plans should proceed. Being armed with these answers provides clarity and direction when developing a robust integrated marketing plan to meet your objectives.
The next question is who will develop and execute your marketing strategy?
The answer isn’t always easy. Often brokerages will leverage internal staff to handle the task. And there’s nothing wrong with doing so, provided the person has the skillsets to manage the project.
You may want to consider looking to an agency or independent marketer to work through the strategy. Even more so if you want to expand your reach through tactics such as direct mail, radio or television ads, billboards, video, etc. When armed with your business objectives and fully briefed on your brand, trained marketing professionals can truly bring your vision to life in a professional way. When you start to see success, you’ll realize it was worth the investment.
As you grow your marketing efforts and want to develop a full strategy, this may be the time you want to consider hiring a dedicated marketing expert. Someone who can help you develop your strategy based on your business objectives, plan its execution, and monitor successes (and shortfalls) through reporting. A focused resource can oversee the entire marketing process, manage agency partnerships and provide your business with a holistic vision. A strategic marketer should be expected to provide the business success and the cost savings that outweighs the expense of the hire.
In our next article we will discuss how to hire the right marketing employee.