Content Marketing Strategies for Financial Services

Key Takeaways

• There are a wide range of practices for content marketing in the insurance industry. Blogs and video content, which feature an engaging storytelling element appear amongst the most popular.
• Some of the most notable content marketing strategies include companies who provide non-insurance related content, and those who make content which heavily emphasizes their unique selling points.
• The customer journey for purchasing insurance is very complex and there is no typical customer journey. There are vast differences in customer behavior based on demographic profiles, types of insurance purchased and even geographic regions.

Best Practices For Content Marketing In The Insurance Industry

i) An article by Base Marketing entitled ‘5 Content Marketing Fundamentals For The Insurance Industry‘ listed some best practices for marketing Insurance. The more relevant examples are listed below:

• Producing Content That Isn’t Necessarily Related To Your Insurance Products — By understanding their clients’ demographics and the broader, sometimes non-insurance-related challenges they face, insurance companies can create content that provides them with the tools and resources necessary to manage these struggles more effectively, assisting clients in problem solving. Delivering solutions without selling your goods directly has a significant effect on customer engagement, retention, and conversion. Additionally, the ability to position oneself as an expert in your field motivates consumers to seek professional guidance from you on a consistent basis.
• Using a Blend of Content to Tell Complete Tales – Insurance audiences generally like to hear stories that offer ideas or concepts they can connect to emotionally and that are also relevant to current issues. Understanding buyer personas, determining their location, and conveying your information to them in a manner that they can connect to is critical. Examples include infographics, blogs, video, and statistics.
• Utilize Content Marketing in Conjunction With Other Forms of Digital Marketing — Social media marketing, SEO, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), mobile marketing, email marketing, and affiliate marketing are all methods for elevating and driving content marketing efforts in order for material to reach target consumers. The wide variety of analytical tools now accessible enables the tracking of the outcomes of online actions at any point in time, allowing for rapid calibration and modification of overall marketing plans. Measurability is critical for calculating critical performance measures like as conversion and retention rates, as well as return on investment.

ii) Constant Contacts’ online blog entitled ‘Content Marketing for Insurance Companies: Getting Started‘ listed the following relevant key points;

• Conduct Keyword Research and Incorporate Them Into Your Content – When consumers use search engines, they utilize certain words and phrases. Identifying such keywords and incorporating them into blog posts, web page headlines, and other material helps the content appear more prominently in search results. Several helpful tips for identifying the best keywords include considering the questions clients have about insurance and the specific words or phrases they use to ask them, typing these questions and topics into the Google search bar and seeing what related keywords come up as suggestions, and analyzing your list of keywords by entering them into a keyword research tool that shows how many times they have been searched.
• Popular Insurance Development Posts to the Blog — Several of the most popular marketing blog posts include how-to articles, useful tips, reviews, and soliciting feedback from customers on the kind of material they’d like to see you publish.

iii) Insurance website marketing company Insurance Splash published an article titled ‘18 Ways to Sell Insurance on Social Media Under the Radar‘. These tips detail some of the most successful strategies for content marketing, while keeping potential customers engaged. Some key points are as follows:

• Posting Stories About Saving Clients Money — These posts engage potential customers by sparking an interest in how much they could save. Advice is to avoid bland posts and generic messages with savings information, but telling stories complete with background information, context, circumstances, pictures and real numbers and figures, before then explaining the effects of the saving and how the client felt.
• Sharing Competitors’ Rate Increases — Share information and let social media followers know whenever competitors file for rate increases. This has wider implications of potentially reaching not just your followers, but those connected with your followers who use these competitors. This can help create an emotional connection with consumers who see companies as more than just insurance providers, but also for knowledge and providers of inside industry information.
• Quote Rewards — A simple idea which involves offering a reward of some kind for getting a quote. Examples can be gift cards, vouchers or other similar ideas. This can be made more effective by not offering the same reward to everyone, as a generic standard prize may not appeal to all potential customers. Examples include special prizes for those who have a birthday that month, or other similar qualifying criteria.
• Quotation Charity Donation — Similar to rewards, but the recipient of the quote will get an invitation to give to a charity in lieu of a prize. This can be made more successful by building the offer around a charity that has an enthusiastic and well-engaged audience, as this provides added visibility and promotional benefits.
• Announce New Products — Share any new products or coverage options to offer with your customers via social media posts and stories. A useful approach is to begin the article by describing just who (or what life circumstance) is the ideal individual for this new product, beginning with a description of the ideal person. This helps to personalize the experience and engage followers, and interesting content is often shared by followers, making it visible to potential customers beyond initial audiences.
• Share Testimonials — These can be in the form of videos recorded on an iPhone, a copied and pasted email (with permission) into a status update, or screenshots of online reviews posted to Facebook. Testimonials are proven to be highly successful marketing content. Where possible it is a good idea to also mention or tag the person that gave the testimonial, as this adds authenticity and helps further the reach of the content.
• Post Great Insurance Commercials — This is a great option for leveraging the huge amount of readily available entertaining, interesting and engaging sales content. The recommendation is to only upload advertisements that are entertaining or interesting.
• Announce New Discounts – If your carrier introduces new discounts that may encourage consumers to get a quotation or share with a friend, these may be explained and shared through social media. To prevent bad feeling from people who do not qualify for the discount, it is a good practice to publish something more ambiguous that inquires if the reader qualifies for the discount and, if so, to contact you for more information.
• Request Recommendations – A frequent error on social media is to try to advertise to people who already own your goods; therefore, the true potential with social media is cross-selling, client retention, and referrals. Simply asking consumers for recommendations through posts or content is often an effective marketing approach in this regard.
• Personal information sharing – In some respects, advancements in technology have resulted in consumers becoming and feeling less connected to their insurance agent. Here, social media may act as an antidote, allowing users to share childhood memories, post personal photos, be open, vulnerable, and more human. This also applies to business employees, who share tales about their backgrounds, families, loves and dislikes, as well as describe their roles and areas of expertise inside the organization.
• Post Growth-Related News — Growth-related information is usually beneficial for sales. Information such as adding a new employee, relocating to a new office, purchasing new desks and computers, and so on, demonstrates development and, to a degree, success.
• Share Negative Stories — When news stories of articles of clients who have had to face the consequences as a result of not buying a certain type of insurance, enough insurance, receiving bad insurance advice or any other impact, share this information. These stories can help demonstrate the importance of insurance products to potential customers.
• Share Relevant Claim Situations — Interesting claim situations made into stories make good marketing content. The benefits include the fact that the insurance focus can be shifted (in the customers mind) from the premiums to the actual claims.
• Post Pictures of Random Insured Items — For companies who sell many types of insurance policies, the customers generally only associate them with the insurance products they purchased Therefore it is a good idea to remind customers about the other lines of insurance which are available. A good idea is to occasionally post photos and content about some more unique items that can be insured.

Insurance Companies Best In Class Content Marketing Strategies

i) An online article by Contently highlighted three insurance companies ‘taking content marketing by storm’ with their innovative practices and strategies;

• The Murray Group Insurance Services — In 2009, prior to content marketing being largely within the industry, Ryan Hanley, an experienced insurance agent and marketing expert with the Murray Group Insurance Services, a small agency in Albany, and author of the book Content Warfare noted the company’s relative lack of performance compared with other more established insurance agents. Seeking to improve his competitiveness, he turned to content marketing. According to him, “I soon recognized that internet allowed me to differentiate myself, tell my experiences, offer my knowledge, and give value to customers in ways that no other insurance agent could.” With his boss refusing to allow him to write on behalf of the business, Hanley created his own website, RyanHanley.com, and filled it with his industry expertise. “Professional lines of insurance, errors and omissions, workers’ compensation,” Hanley adds. I would then return and write about whatever coverage I was learning about or working on at the moment, which amounted to two or three articles each week”. Before long, the agency’s executives began to realize that there was direct revenue which could be attributed to Hanley’s efforts, and he was allowed to utilize the company’s website.
• With the website’s homepage initially having minimal traffic (Hanley noted as low as 70 hits a week), Hanley needed to extend the efforts significantly beyond the standard WordPress redesign and a few pages of product information, but before long tangible benefits and results could be identified. Hanley cites one very successful campaign: the “100 Questions Answered in 100 Days” video series. Hanley surveyed everyone he could through Facebook, email, and in the workplace, asking, “If you could have one insurance question answered, what would it be?” He gathered 147 responses and narrowed them down to 100. Beginning in January 2012, Hanley responded to each question individually in a YouTube video that lasted less than three minutes. After uploading each movie to YouTube, he included a brief description of it in a blog post on the company’s website. He repeated this daily for 100 days. Hanley commented on the results, “If you go at the Google Analytics chart, it’s crazy; in that time frame, we went from 70 weekly hits to over 500 weekly visits.” And in just those 100 days, I can credit over $5,000 in income to individuals who indicated they were phoning in as a result of the campaign. It’s tens of thousands of dollars since then”. Significant advantages were seen, with one of the films bringing close to $30,000 in income. “And that was all because we were answering questions that were not even on the NYS [New York State] Department of Insurance’s website at the time,” Hanley said.
• The massively popular video addressed the query “What is New York State short-term disability?” and drew so much business as a result of the NYS Department of Insurance abruptly discontinuing that specific service. Everyone who received a warning immediately went online to determine why they were being refused this insurance, where they came upon Hanley’s video. Hanley joined TrustedChoice.com as head of marketing after serving as director of marketing for the Murray Group. TrustedChoice.com is a referral generating tool for the independent insurance sector that assists 23,000 agencies throughout the nation with content marketing. Now heading his own marketing team of eight, Hanley preaches the gospel of insurance content marketing, condensing what he learned at the Murray Group so that agents throughout the country may create effective content on their own. Indeed, if Hanley’s Murray Group case study demonstrates anything, it is that content marketing is not reserved for Fortune 500 companies. While too many insurance giants are investing millions of dollars in television advertising, the field is more open for smaller agencies to carve out a specialty and build strong connections with consumers online.
• Oscar —  The New York-based health insurance business was founded by computer professionals from Tumblr, Microsoft, and MIT. The company’s web and mobile-friendly platform, dubbed the ‘Warby Parker of health insurance,’ is aimed at simplifying healthcare and appealing to digitally savvy millennials. Oscar’s straightforward approach is centered on offering free exams, preventive care, cheap medications, and telemedicine without a reference (a feature where consumers can talk to a doctor over the phone any time, with the promise of a short wait, which is designed to reduce the need to visit a doctor in person). Customers can also earn money for exercising and staying healthy by using Oscar’s Flash fitness tracker. Through this and other new technological innovations, Oscar is pioneering the use of digital data for health insurance by collecting performance reviews and customer recommendations on the website, similar to Yelp but for doctors.
• With this in mind, it’s unsurprising that Oscar’s content marketing activities are as technologically creative and accessible as its services. The company communicates with consumers through a blog called ‘Hi Oscar,’ which features short, informative posts such as “Does an Apple a Day Keep the Doctor Away?” as well as syndicating posts from Oscar’s Instagram series, which allows followers to say hi to notable Oscar members who are participating in various events and activities. Additionally, the Oscar YouTube channel features helpful and engaging content, such as animated advertisements in both English and Spanish and a video series titled ‘Fixing Healthcare,’ in which Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser discusses the company’s plans to provide a more personalized experience for healthcare customers. Oscar’s primary advantage is that it is a digital-first health insurance business. Its designers understand that obtaining healthcare choices should not be arduous. With smartphones and tablets always at hand, it should be as simple as browsing through your Tumblr dashboard or selecting a pair of sunglasses. And that is possible with Oscar’s services and digital marketing outreach.

ii) Some short examples of insurance companies with innovative marketing strategies and practices

• Progressive — Insurance company Progressive feature an online content section called Progressive Answers, focused on solving problems without directly promoting products or services for sale. The company has been noted for being able to successfully engage and empower consumers, helping to demystify insurance by answering real customer questions. Another company Esurance has taken on the problem-solving approach with the distinction that their content is non-insurance related. Examples include “How to Remove Bugs from Your Car” and “4 Steps to Become a Parallel Parking Pro.” Esurance note that this strategy helps them engage with customers in a way that does not make them feel like there is an agenda.
• Insurance via Farmers — Farmers are well-known for their commercials, which are lauded for their ability to tell stories. These tales have gained popularity for their ability to convey sometimes funny, sometimes jaw-dropping, and sometimes totally impossible accounts of the situations they have helped people escape. Their slogan “we know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two” reminds the audience that they, too, have encountered unexpected situations. Farmers maintains a ‘Hall of Claims’ section on their website where they share some of their most bizarre tales. Numerous insurance companies, including MetLife, Oscar, and USAA, have recognized the value of the average customer story and taken a similar approach with their own narrative content.
•  Root Insurance — New car insurance company Root has already seen significant success, attributed to their unique concepts. Their quotes is based on how drivers actually drive, rather than their profile (age, gender, etc.), and in keeping with the digitally advanced nature of the company, its all done through an app. While drivers continue to get a physical insurance card, all information is available through the app. Root have managed to create content that highlights these distinguishing features and their unique selling points on their blog.

Typical Customer Journey For Purchasing Insurance

i) Where do these prospects go to learn about the various offers available?

•  Prior to arranging an appointment, 69% of insurance customers conducted a search. For many insurance shoppers, the first step in evaluating their options is to conduct an online search.
•  A Facebook IQ commissioned survey of 1,007 U.S. respondents who purchased insurance in the three-month period to July 2018 revealed that online channels are increasingly providing an alternative for customers looking to purchase insurance rather than physical conversations or meetings with agents in person. Insurance purchases are usually tied with the large purchases (house, car, expensive items) etc., and usually occurs in tandem with or within a strict time frame of the two purchases. The study also showed that 56 percent of auto insurance buyers said they were devoted to a specific insurance brand, while 83 percent say they only initially examine one to three companies. This is particularly true for baby boomers, who are 2.3 times more likely than millennials to select just one auto insurance company. This indicates a chance to engage with younger consumers who are not yet devoted to a brand, possibly establishing a long-term connection with the client, especially for insurance companies and products that are new to the market.
• For millennials purchasing auto insurance, internet is the primary source of information, but for those purchasing property insurance in the same age group, online (32 percent) comes in second place to insurance agents (37 percent ). 38% of millennials believe social media is the greatest way to learn about vehicle insurance, and they are 2.7 times more likely to be interested in a car insurance brand or product promoted on these platforms than generation X and baby boomers. They are however, only 2 times more likely than generation X and baby boomers to discover property insurance options via these social media channels.
•  Of 500 customers polled worldwide on insurance purchases, 72% of European consumers chose internet sales channels, 38% aggregators, and 23% agent/broker channels. However, in North America, the broker channel was considerably more popular, with 43% picking it as their preferred route, followed by 57% who chose internet and 29% who chose an aggregator. Even while 23 percent of millennials use an agent or a broker, just 16 percent identify it as a preferred insurance channel (making it the 4th most popular option behind internet, aggregator, and affiliate partner channels) (making it the 4th most popular choice after online, aggregator, and affiliate partner channels). Millennials also seem to favor affiliate channels than previous generations. 61% of Generation X and Baby Boomers utilized an agent or broker, with 50% naming it as their favorite route. However, the most popular and favored medium remained the internet. The overwhelming majority of respondents chose several channels, indicating that the omni-channel interaction trend is continuing.
• A 2020 Accenture insurance survey of 47,810 respondents across 28 global markets has shown that there has been a shift in consumer attitudes from 2018, with consumers now significantly more likely to buy insurance from online service providers like Amazon and Google, as well as supermarkets and physical retailers.

ii) Do they prefer certain online media formats over others?

•  Mobile devices account for more than half of all insurance searches.
• 74% of customers do insurance research online, yet just 25% make a purchase. While the majority of insurance customers begin their trip with a search, they prefer to make a purchase by speaking with a real agent.

iii) How much time does a prospect dedicate, on average, to researching different options before making the purchase decision? How many sources do they check?

•  30% of respondents in the Facebook IQ survey of U.S. insurance buyers claimed the discovery stage was less than one, day, with a further 30% claiming it was between 1-7 days. Overall, 84% of respondents said it was less than 2 weeks.
•  68 percent of insurance customers began their search with no specific provider in mind.
•  41% of respondents in a 2014 survey suggested they spent 15 minutes or fewer researching their health insurance plan options

iv) Are there certain topics that a prospect might be particularly interested in? What aspects of an insurance product do prospects most commonly research?

• Mobile searches including the phrase “insurance near me” have increased by more than 100% in the last two years. Insurance consumers are doing more local searches and investigating brokers in their region than ever before.
• Additionally, Constant Contact released an article titled ‘9 Insurance Blog Topics to Generate Leads for Your Agency’. Key points are as follows;
• Explain Available Types of Insurance — Helps establish and position insurance agencies as an authority, where clients feel confident that they can turn to for information and answers. The advice is to begin with straightforward but thorough overviews of the different kinds of insurance plans available, as well as useful suggestions and considerations to consider when customers compare available choices. Due to the breadth of the subject of insurance, as well as the breadth of available choices, it is often prudent to divide this kind of material into a series of articles, each digging into the many forms of insurance available in that area.
• Local Insurance Requirements — Insurance needs vary significantly by geographic region. As a result, it may be advantageous to address prospective consumers’ issues via regionally tailored blog material that takes state or regional regulations into account.
• Infographics and Other Visual Materials — Infographics assist blog readers in seeing, interpreting, and comprehending critical insurance data that would be complicated or difficult to traverse without them. Attractive graphics may be simply incorporated into existing blogs or used as the foundation for new articles.

• Questions and Answers — Simple, easy-to-understand responses to the most commonly asked queries by customers or business representatives is very helpful and entertaining material. These should offer basic information while also inviting readers to contact you for more information. While this kind of blog post may take the shape of a single-page FAQ, presenting each question as a fresh update in an ongoing series reveals a lot of material and information. Each query should be accompanied by an introduction, concise definitions, and, if necessary, supporting data.
• Whether via an interview or otherwise Feature Notable Clients or Insurance Representatives – Allows you to highlight some of the finest insurance insights from other companies or people that retain policies. Interviewing them enables us to see the effect of policies on actual individuals. Interviews also provide a great chance to foster a sense of community among customer bases, a tough goal to achieve in the insurance business.
• Blog Posts by Guests, Seasonal, or Humorous Authors — While the best insurance blog ideas often include evergreen material, seasonal changes may be critical for engaging visitors. These are sometimes closely related to the process of getting coverage, particularly if they include the holidays or other seasonal events. Guest articles invigorate blogs by providing a fresh viewpoint. Additionally, they are excellent for promotion, since authors may promote guest material on their social media sites or in email newsletters. Humorous material may infuse blogs with personality and can be used to intentionally represent a company’s beliefs or culture.