Inbound marketing and risk management have a lot in common. They’re both
responses to old school paradigms that have begun to look a little outdated. Both are also positive ideas that create mutually beneficial relationships between service providers and clients.
Risk management, as a term, developed as another way for insurance agents
to help their clients. Instead of just selling insurance policies, risk management professionals assess their clients’ risks. They then look at measures, other than insurance, to manage those risks. This was a response to the reputation insurance agents had developed for trying to sell as much insurance as possible without considering client needs.
In the same way, inbound marketing grew out of the general dissatisfaction
with standard online marketing practices. Methods like email marketing and
advertising developed a reputation for being too regular or too pushy. Inbound marketing, on the other hand is built to capture interest that’s already there, rather than trying to outwardly drum up interest. Inbound marketing works by creating useful content that prospects would want to find and using that content to draw interest to your website.
In both cases, focusing on needs rather than sales created mutually beneficial
relationships between insurance agent/marketer and client/prospect. With
such a shared history, it makes sense to make inbound marketing part of any
insurance marketing plan. Let’s look at a few more reasons that insurance and inbound marketing are a perfect fit.
1. Consumers and Businesses Research Insurance Online
Inbound marketing is based on the fact that people regularly research their
purchases online first. When people are already looking for a product online, it makes sense to try to make them find yours. When you create valuable content, that helps your prospects with their research, they become leads. With the right follow-up they become sales. Recent studies found that 85% of insurance buyers researched online before purchasing. People are already researching insurance online so it makes sense for insurance agents to try to get involved in that research.
2. Insurance is a Complicated Industry that Requires Explanation
The reason so many people research insurance online is insurance is a
complicated industry. Most people have a basic understanding of it, but as soon as it gets a little complex they’re lost. Traditional insurance marketing methods feed into this. They offer basic info, usually in the form of a ‘what if…’ ad, then state that further information is available in the form of a paid consultation. This kind of insurance marketing may have been successful in the past when there were few insurance resources available. These days people expect to be better informed, and they expect to be better informed for free. If your inbound marketing content breaks down complicated insurance issues, you can gain the trust of a prospect and maybe a few clients too.
3. Insurance is a Multi-faceted Industry
One of the greatest challenges in inbound marketing is identifying and creating relevant and useful content. Insurance is such a rich and varied industry; there will always be relevant content you can generate. Insurance, from auto to liability and personal to business, has so much to talk about; it’s an ideal subject for content building.
4. Insurance is Always Changing
Insurance also provides a great opportunity for content creation because it’s
always changing. There are new risks emerging all the time, as well as regular focus from mainstream media and regulatory changes. With insurance, there is always something to talk about. And something to research.
Inbound marketing is designed to take advantage of people’s common online
habits. People Google everything these days, good inbound marketing can turn that research into sales. Insurance is an industry people always want to find out more about, and an industry that always has more to know about. That’s a perfect fit for inbound marketing.
