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“Content marketing” is a type of marketing that involves the production of “content”—white papers, videos, blog posts, podcasts, social media messaging, email newsletters, infographics and more. This content isn’t focused on the hard sell. Instead, it builds up interest in your brand by informing, educating, and entertaining.

A recent study by the Content Marketing Institute found that content marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote your brand online. https://optinmonster.com/content-marketing-statistics/#strategy It’s three times as effective as outbound marketing and paid search.

A content strategy guides the development of your brand’s content. It’s an overarching vision that defines your brand’s communication strategy across a range of mediums—including video, audio, and the written word.

Here’s why insurance agents should be investing in content marketing—with an overarching strategy to guide it.

Because content builds relationships. Content is less about the hard sell than about building trust. Trust in your brand, your expertise, and possibly you personally. Insurance is a business that’s frequently all about trust and relationships.

Putting educational and informative content out in the world is an act of generosity—one that builds trust and gratitude. The more you can engender those feelings in others, even subconsciously, the better your sales will be.

Because it’s great for your SEO. Like any other business, insurance agencies live and die by SEO. The more content you have out in the world—in the form of blog posts, video, social media content and more—the better your SEO will be, and the more easily people will find your website in the search results.

Because it solidifies your brand. A strong content strategy provides guidelines for how you plan, develop, curate, and distribute your content to an audience. It defines the underlying message that drives what you do and how you communicate. And it strengthens and reinforces that perception in your audience.

Because your audience wants it. Not everyone is looking to buy insurance all the time—messaging with a strong sales pitch won’t be “valued content.” But many people have questions about it. Insurance is a challenging topic for the uninitiated. Content that helps your audience make sense of how it works, how to buy a policy, what to look for, and how to save money on their insurance is sure to be valuable.

That means your content is more likely to be read and shared, and to reach a wider audience.

A strong content strategy can do a lot for your agency. It can reinforce your brand, improve your search engine positioning, build trust with your audience, and—most important—generate new business. With the right content strategy, you’ll see great results.