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Content marketing is a method of promoting your business that involves the creation of relevant and valuable content—blog articles, webinars, podcasts, ebooks, and a host of other types of content—in order to attract a specific audience. The key is to inform, not to sell—at least not initially. But ultimately, effective content marketing boosts both traffic and sales.

You might not think content marketing is right for the insurance agency—one common objection to it is the perception that insurance is “boring,” and there just isn’t that much to say about it. Nothing could be more wrong. Customers ready to purchase insurance complete a large percentage of their buying process before they ever talk to an agent. This presents a huge opportunity for insurance agents who want to guide this buying process for customers—and position themselves as an expert resource in the process.

Here are a few options for insurance agents and brokers looking to get into content marketing.

Start a blog. Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website. Each blog article functions essentially as a landing page for people who come to it via search—but the people most likely to land there are looking for information, not necessarily a purchase right away. So give them what they want—valuable information. And give them an opportunity to learn more via links to your webinars, ebooks, or newsletter.

Use social media to your advantage. Social media is an excellent platform to promote your content. LinkedIn seems to be the most popular platform for the insurance industry, but Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and others may also be effective—depending on your audience. Audiences on social media platforms are more likely to “like” and share your content if it’s educational—not salesy.

Use your content to guide the sales process. Blog articles, webinars, podcasts, and other materials targeting specific insurance issues and market trends can become crucial to your sales cycle. For instance, after talking to a business insurance prospect on the phone, you can send the prospect links to blog posts or other content that delves further into questions and concerns the prospect had. This shows dedication to their questions, knowledge, and responsiveness—and it’s not something your competitors are likely to be doing.

Know what your audience wants.What questions do you get asked the most by prospects about your insurance? If you could share three things most people don’t realize about insurance, what would they be? What secrets can you share, as an insurance insider, that could help a friend or family member get the best rate on the coverage they need? The idea with content marketing is to address what your customers want to know.

With the right content, your insurance website will be anything but boring. Be aware of what your prospects want to know about and seem most concerned about when you discuss coverage with them. Keep informed on the new developments in the industry—insurance is generally heavily regulated—and put out content that lets your customers and prospects know how the changes will affect their coverage in an accessible, easy-to-understand way. Promote educational content on all your social media platforms. If you position yourself as a resource, you’re likely to get plenty of traffic—and increased business.