Insurance Agencies: Should You Hire a Marketing Firm? Pros and Cons

Blog, marketing

If you’re just getting started building your insurance agency, at some point you’ll face a crossroads: should you keep doing marketing and outreach on your own, hire someone internally, or outsource that work to professionals? Here’s a look at the benefits and drawbacks of these options.

Going it Alone

You might know your insurance products and market inside and out—and you might be excellent at talking to prospects and customers to discover their needs and help them get the coverage they need. But how good are you at building effective marketing campaigns? Negotiating partnerships with other local businesses? Finding opportunities to build trust and recognition within your community? Managing your own social marketing strategy?

You might find that you’re great at some or all of these things—and even if you start with little knowledge, you can learn quickly enough to build a solid business. Doing all the marketing and promotions yourself is also cost-effective, in one way—but it also costs you time. And if you’re not effective at it, it’s a waste of both your time and your money.

Hiring a Marketing Company

The great thing about bringing a marketing company on-board is that you get access to professionals who know what they’re doing—and who can dedicate their time to promoting your agency. They’ll have the expertise to manage your social media presence, design a direct mail strategy, or identify ways you can improve your brand.

A marketing company is also an outsider—they can take a look at your business and the market you serve from an objective place, and give you insight you may not have been able to get for yourself. If you choose a marketing company with special expertise in the insurance business, they’ll also have specialized knowledge on how to market the kinds of insurance you sell—and ideas for untapped markets and opportunities to try.

Hiring a marketing firm might seem more expensive than doing it on your own—but paying for a great marketing campaign that brings good results within a few months is more cost-effective than doing it yourself for a year with minimal results. Many marketing companies offer a-la-carte services that work for a variety of budgets—and you can always start with a smaller campaign and go from there.

For insurance agents, hiring a marketing firm is often a great idea—even if your budget is small. With the right marketing company, even a small investment can bring you great results.