5 Reasons Marketing is NOT a Priority for Insurance Agents (and my unabashed disapproval)

While every insurance agent engages in some form of marketing, widespread adoption of sustainable marketing habits and the formation of a growth-focused culture still elude the majority of agencies.

This is a problem; not just for the agency (and its staff), but the carriers who rely on their production, the vendors who provide services and tools, the associations who provide support and their fellow industry peers you collectively represent a particular (and disputed) mechanism for procuring insurance.

This isn't to say all, but the majority still.

Here are five reasons marketing is not a priority for insurance agents:

1) They lack confidence

Marketing is a skill like any other and therefore takes practice, requiring effort and focus...which at the beginning will most likely not produce remarkable results.

On their own, early marketing failures yield a negative feedback loop few have the confidence to endure.

2) They don't believe in the results marketing can provide.

They feign taking action in order to suggest to others that they do care, even when we don’t. This may be unconscious, but the result is the same, a half-hearted attempt in order to skirt ridicule or judgment.

3) They don't enjoy marketing in practice.

From the outside marketing looks easy and fun, but the work itself is just (if not more) difficult than every other task inside an insurance agency. When their expectations of joy in marketing do not materialize in the short-term they give up.

4) They don't want to stand against traditionalists.

There are many corners of the insurance industry where marketing is still seen as petty, shallow work needed by those who can't "Produce."

Many agents do not want to buck this cultural ideal and risk being ostracized from the group.

5) They don't play the long game.

Marketing is long-game. Marketing is an investment in the public perception of your business. Marketing answers the question, at scale, "Can I trust this business?"

Just like building trust one-on-one, developing a trustworthy brand through marketing takes time. Time most insurance agents are unwilling to give.

Unabashed disapproval

The fear, naivete, and cynism felt by many insurance agents are harbingers of the scarcity mindset driving their decision to table a determined marketing campaign.

In fairness, these are paralyzing emotional responses creating honest stress for agency owners and producers alike. That doesn't mean I approve of the widespread acquiescence to a scarcity mindset.

Just because we're responding to something real, doesn't mean that response is appropriate.

I unabashedly disapprove of not prioritizing marketing and giving in to scarcity.

...but the blame does not lie 100 percent with the agents themselves.

There has to be a better way

Something is wrong with the way that insurance marketing is being taught throughout the industry.

If there is anyone who deserves the blame, it is me.

Commonly shared marketing ideas are too theoretical and etherial. Agents browse a blog post or skip through a podcast, feel a moment's worth of inspiration and then fall back into old habits and routines.

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

We must break the cycle and build up new habits...new routines...new skillsets...in order to achieve new results.

The current standard of insurance marketing education will never create the conditions for genuine change.

Yes, tactics. Yes, strategy. Yes, tools.

...but also mindset, leadership, and culture.

...also psychology, philosophy, and communication.

The days of chasing the latest shiny tactics must come to end.

You deserve better.

It's time to upgrade. Start here.

Hanley

P.S. In an effort to help those who want help, I'm investing myself in a community of people willing to invest in themselves. Join here.

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image credit: Scott Young