Self-publishing a book is easier than ever these days, and even a self-published book can be a powerful marketing tool that helps build your credibility and expert reputation.

Here are a few steps to take if you’re considering developing and publishing your own book.

Consider what your goal is.

It’s not unusual for insurance professionals to handle their own marketing—at least in the beginning. Sometimes you don’t have much choice—you don’t have the budget for extra help.

But hiring a marketing agency can be worth it in so many ways—not least being, it can bring you more leads, raise your revenue, and save you time.

There are marketing agencies and services for all budgets, but it can still be a difficult thing to decide to outsource your marketing. Here are a few signs it’s time to make the leap.

Your revenue is lagging.

It might sound counterintuitive, but yes, you can build customer relationships via email—and you can even do it automatically. It’s all about delivering value in each email—and knowing your audience.

Here’s an easy blueprint for setting up an automated series of emails that will help you strengthen customer relationships.

Understand your goals

Content is often the key to success for any business online—but many business owners lack a strong content strategy. Content can be demanding; it can be a challenge to keep producing high-quality content week after week.

But there are processes and tactics you can use to make things much easier to manage. Here are a few ways you can simplify your content strategy.

Talk to your customers

According to a recent Statista survey, there are projected to be over 230.5 million online shoppers in the US in 2021—a significant portion of the country’s population. There’s no question that people are becoming more and more accustomed to making purchasing decisions entirely online. And that’s as true for insurance as it is for other industries.

Trade shows can bring you a lot of exposure and connect you with high-value prospects. They’re also a great way to expand your mailing list and generate stronger results from your marketing in the future. But when the conference hall is packed with competitors, how do you make sure you stand out? Here are a few tips.

In these days of social media and digital marketing, direct mail may seem old fashioned. But it still works—and insurance agents can get great results from a strong direct mail campaign. In fact, it might even work better than it did in the past. As more companies focus on digital marketing, your mailing has more of a chance to stand out.

Here are some tips for making sure you get the most out of every direct mail campaign.

Size matters. Executing an entire direct mail campaign can seem costly compared to a digital marketing campaign.

Testimonials have great power. While sales copy can persuade, testimonials come straight from other people who’ve worked with you in the past—and provide valuable social proof.

In fact, a recent Spectoos study confirmed that testimonials have an 89% effectiveness rating https://www.spectoos.com/5-incredible-facts-customer-testimonials/ —by far the most effective form of content you can have.

During the course of the pandemic, many of us had to connect with colleagues, prospects, and even family over Zoom and other virtual platforms rather than in real life. Two years later, many of us still find ourselves holding meetings over Zoom.

How do you connect more authentically over digital platforms when it doesn’t feel natural to you? Here are a few ideas.

Stay present.

These days, insurance customers have a lot of choices—and high expectations for convenience. When they want something, they want it fast—and they want the information they need to be always at their fingertips. Here are a few ways to bring more convenience to your insurance customers.

Whether you’re new to the insurance industry or just need ideas to get your long-running business out of a slow period, here are a few free ways to drum up new business that you may not have tried before.

Set up your Google My Business profile.

Google My Business isn’t necessarily restricted to retail locations. You can put your business on the map and take advantage of local search—which is beneficial to all types of businesses, including insurance agencies.

It can be difficult to differentiate yourself from your competition—but it’s essential if you want to attract business. Here are a few ways to stand out from your competition—and give prospects a reason to work with you instead.

Understand where the gaps in the market are, and how you can fill them

This one takes some market research. What is the one thing that your competitors don’t offer, that you can? What’s one area where your competitors’ customers are constantly frustrated?

Online reviews can be a great way for insurance agents to build trust and generate leads. And in a perfect world, you provide excellent service and the positive reviews just keep rolling in—feeding your lead generation machine as they sing your praises. But even for those who do everything right, sometimes it’s necessary to take a more hands-on approach to your online reviews. Here are a few tips.

Email subject line makes a big difference in whether readers click on your emails. But if you’ve tweaked them to perfection and your open rates are still not where they should be, there are a few other things you should be doing. Here are a few ways to boost your email open rates—regardless of the subject line.

Your professional bio is an important calling card both online and in print. It both establishes your credibility and forges a personal connection. The ideal professional bio will both inspire people to trust you and make them want to get to know you.

Of course, that’s a tall order—especially with limited space. It’s not easy to write about ourselves, and many people, even professional writers, find their own bios very difficult to write.

Consistently producing quality content can help your website SEO and get you a steady stream of qualified customers—if you can maintain it. But if you’re already running your own insurance business, you may not have the time and energy to maintain a consistent content creation practice as well.

Hiring a professional can take the burden off you—and help ensure great results. But if you don’t have the budget for it yet, there are a few things you can do to work smarter, not harder, in producing successful content.

Focus on quality, not quantity.

The colors you choose for your branding can have a huge impact on your ability to attract customers and prospects. That’s because color has a profound psychological impact on all of us, even if we don’t consciously realize it.

The colors you choose for your website, logo, and other branding are often the first things people notice about your brand. Here are some guidelines for what various colors mean, and how they tend to be used in the insurance industry.

Red: Red is the color of fun, excitement, energy, and passion. It can also prompt feelings of hunger.

Online reviews can play a huge role in generating new business. According to a recent study, approximately 93% of online shoppers check out online reviews before they buy. Even a single review can really make a difference in generating new business online.

So how do you influence your happiest customers to leave positive reviews for your insurance business? Here are a few tips.

Make sure you’ve claimed your business or set up a profile on all the main review sites

Webinars are still fairly rare in the insurance industry, but they can bring a lot of benefits. Here are a few ways webinars can make an impact.

First, if you have a new insurance product available, you’ll want to make sure your prospective customers know about it as quickly as possible. Producing a short explainer video or webinar on it is a great way to get the word out fast.

Despite the rise of other forms of content marketing, blogging is still a crucial part of outreach strategy for many businesses.

According to a recent report from Hubspot https://www.stateofinbound.com/, marketers who make it a priority are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on investment than those who don’t.

But sometimes it can be a challenge keeping the interesting, engaging topics coming—week after week. If this is a constant challenge for you, here are some topic ideas to get your insurance blogging strategy started off strong in the New Year.