Ok, so you’ve decided to do some on-line marketing. Why not run an ad on Google? That’ll work, right?
It likely will, but bear in mind, you’re about to join a very expensive club. According Wordstrem, a company which tracks advertising on Google (quoted in Wired), If you are looking to use the word ‘insurance’ for click throughs to your site, you will paying the MOST for advertising on Google: “Insurance, where companies eager to outbid their rivals for new customers pay Google more than $54 for a click.”
Well, you might say, if that’s what it costs, that’s what it costs. What are the alternatives?
Simply put: Inbound Marketing. Instead of reaching out to customers through advertising, get your customers to come to you. That’s where Social Media comes in. Here are some data that were recently posted in a LinkedIn discussion group devoted to use of Social Media in Insurance:
Financial services’ use of social media for business
- 61% using Linkedin acquired a client through it (Hubspot 2011)
- 40% using Twitter acquired a client through it (Hubspot 2011)
- 35% using Facebook acquired a client through it (Hubspot 2011)
- 47% using a blog acquired a client through it (Hubspot 2011)
- 36% using social networks acquired new clients through it (Socialware 2010)
- Client base of social media users grew at a higher rate of 21% vs 7% (Pershing-Aite 2009)
- Managed assets of social media users grew at a higher rate of 19% vs 6% (Aite 2009)
- Revenues of social media users grew at a higher rate of 19% vs 6% (Aite 2009)
Of course, this all assumes that you have started to use Social Media and understand the environment. As we’ve noted elsewhere, while Insurance is a natural fit for Social Media, the uptake by the industry has not been high. However, there is growth and there is help coming.
Insurance-Canada.ca is planning to share information to help understand the options and make decisions.