In your opinion, what is the most effective form of marketing to prospective clients?

I manage an insurance agency where we sell property, casualty, and life insurance. We currently utilize mailings and referrals to gain new clients. We also do some advertising in local papers, ads, etc. Any other suggestions?? I am looking to draw the most attention from the public. What are some things that really make you want to call a business?
Additional Details
The agency is not new to the area. It was just purchased a few months ago by a different agent. I am looking for ways to start a new generation of customers. The agency is pretty old and the majority of the customers we have are older. That is not very profitable for us because they are not purchasing new things to insure, and alot of them are passing away, so we lose those policies as well. I need something fresh and new to generate new contacts.

Placing an ad in phone books and local magazines are great ways to draw in more potential clients. A catchy slogan or logo will help to capture people's attention.
Best of luck!

Sponsor kid's sports teams. Your best prospects are likely homeowners with children. Putting your company on a team shirt and having a board out in the outfield puts your name in front of those prospect in a way that links you to the community.

It all depends on what kind of money you'd like to spend. Here are a few ideas:

--Billboard
--Banner ad on your local newspaper's website
--Radio spot (and/or giveaway) on a local top 40 station
--Sponsor a local little league team
--Create a newsletter
--Contact an e-mail marketing company to create an e-mail blast for you (you can choose the parameters - age, etc. Do not do this on your own, as you'll likely violate spam laws)
--Sponsor an event in your area (preferably one with a younger audience)
--Advertise in a local college's newspaper

In order for any of the marketing you do to be effective you have to first develop a marketing strategy. With out some kind of marketing plan your efforts become random and none productive. Here are a few suggestions to point you in the right direction.

1. First decide what type of client you would like to attract. Although you may be thinking everyone is your target audience, to be efficient in your marketing efforts, you should select 3 top categories. A category you may want to select is new homeowners who have owned there home for 1 -2 years ago. If your agents can supply them with a better rate then what they currently have once they seal the deal they can up sale the life insurance.
2. Once you selected your top categories then you define your marketing budget and choose the types of advertising media youâ€™re going to do. Continuing with the above example of the new home owners, if you choose this as a category you would like to market too. The best way to target this marketing is through cold calling or doing a direct mail campaign. If you have the budget, I would do a combination of both by first sending out a direct mail piece and following up with a call. If you chose to do other advertising remember the following things.
If you advertise in:
- The Yellow Pages - buy in-column ads and not display ads to save a considerable amount of money. The rep is going to try to sell you a display ad however; display ads only work if youâ€™re in the first 3 pages or the last 3 pages of the insurance heading.
- Billboard, Magazine and Community - papers are great for branding the agency and letting people know youâ€™re in the community.
- Online advertising â€“ site like yahoo local yearly cost is very reasonable and you can target your county. However, if you decide to go into any online advertising make sure you have professional looking site. When people are searching online 9 out of 10 times they will go to your site. If it is not professional looking they will disregard your services.
3. With any form of advertising you have to track your response. This is the only way you truly know if the dollars you are investing is generating profits for your company. It amazes me how often people spend thousands of dollars and over look tracking the response of each ad. Site like whoscalling.com or centruyinteractive.com offer call measurement services, which take the guess work out.
4. Finally, review all of your current marketing material a make sure it is up to date and professional looking. If your marketing material is out date or a mish mosh of inconsistent design piece, you may what to look into hiring a professional graphics design firm to develop a new brand or re-brand. Even if you material is nice this may be an option to consider depending on the pass reputation of the agency. When choosing your designer make sure they have a marketing background, a design that doesnâ€™t, may not be able to create a piece that truly speaks out to you market. Because itâ€™s more to designing a brand then creating a pretty picture.
I hope this was helpful to you.

Best regards,
Katherine Winfield â€“ King
UThinkIt Graphics

It's all about one-on-one communication - networking, getting to know people personally.

No one reads the junk mail you send and no one notices your newspaper ads.

How about getting your older customers to complete a survey. Something simple like...
1. How are we doing? So, so - Okay - Average - Average+ - Good
2. One suggestion for improvement
3. What topics would you like to hear about
You could do this by mail or by phone.
This might open up communications to then ask for referrals.

Use the Internet to get found by more prospects
- use search engines
- start a blog
- use social media

Although newspaper ads are a great secondary way to promote and reinforce your business name, it shouldn't be the primary and only way you're advertising.

Door to door marketing is annoying, but it does bring a good return if done right. Map out an area near your office where there is some new housing, and on a sunny day visit each home with some "welcome to the neighborhood" gifts that have your company info on them. In the short term, you'll land some new business because your speaking face-to-face with potential clients who may have an immediate need for your service. If you find that isn't working you'll at least help your company gain top-of-mind awareness within your community.

No amount of marketing can get you more business if your product/service isn't there... find out what your competitors are doing in terms of rates and service and beat it plus give something extra. That way, your potential target customer wont think twice to go with you once they do their research.

If you understand marketing, you'll get out and introduce yourself and sell the product you represent. Let the surrounding community businesses (that you can use for your business-such as mortgage companies) know that you are new to the community and just want to stop by and say hello. Take a small token every now and then so they will remember your presence. You've got to keep dropping by so your face becomes familiar and then they will use your insurance company. Even join the chambers of commerce. Its networking that works best for insurance.

simple people wanna kno ur not gonna rip them off right? so have some of ur clients do some "true testimonys" and explain to people why it is important to have insurance if its possible do some hands on work in ur local mall or grocery store any where that will gain attention from people who really need ur business but are not lookin to spend too much for too little

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