It’s been all the rage amongst marketers over the last few years, but which account-based marketing tactics work best for insurance brokers?
It’s no secret that marketing has seen some drastic changes over the last few years. Specifically, traditional marketing that pushes products or services through authoritative messaging has taken a backseat to inbound marketing, which reaches prospects through engagement.
Even more recently, account based marketing has evolved to work in tandem with inbound marketing, resulting in a more focused outreach with higher conversion rates. However, it takes a little work to achieve those results, and it starts with knowing which account based marketing tactics work for your specific product or service.
What is account-based marketing?
Account-based marketing is a strategy in which marketers target individual accounts as though they are their own markets. So, if you’re selling insurance, instead of creating one single campaign and delivering it to Company A, Company B, and Company C, you would instead create personalized campaigns for each of those companies.
If that sounds like a lot of work, well, it is. But the nuances of account-based marketing tactics are worth the return. According to ITSMA, approximately 85% of marketers who measure ROI reported higher returns from account based marketing than any other kind of marketing, and many of those marketers reported significant increases.
How it works
Account-based marketing tactics work because they provide a focused target audience with meaningful information that engages them in conversation. For this to happen, it’s critical that marketing and sales are aligned. When a campaign goes live, it isn’t enough to sit back and wait for the calls to come in. (They won’t.) Sales teams need to proactively follow-up with prospects, but they can only do that if they know what marketing is up to.
Account-based marketing generates leads when it prompts engagement. In this way, it works similarly to inbound marketing. The prep work is a little different, but in the end, the idea is to bring the customers to you rather than bringing a product or service to them.
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Setting the stage for account-based marketing tactics
Setting that stage to fill your pipeline means identifying and researching your target audiences, finding out company size, who the leaders are, their revenue, and what industry they’re a part of. You’ll also need to decide which channels you’ll use to reach your target.
Once you’ve laid the foundation, you’re ready to create content, which is where strategic tactics come heavily into play. The content needs to be meaningful, but it also needs to be engaging.
The following account-based marketing tactics can be very useful for insurance brokers. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should give you some good ideas and hopefully help you to trigger some of your own.
Tactic #1: Create offers that require meetings
Let’s go back to our health insurance example. When you suggest you can help improve employee benefit reviews, offer to do a free analysis of how the target’s current health offering compares to other offerings at similar price levels. It’s extra work, sure, but if they accept, it guarantees a meeting where you can pitch your sale.
Tactic #2: Innovative direct mailing
Contrary to popular belief, direct mail isn’t dead. In fact, it’s one of the more interesting account-based marketing tactics as long as you have a unique approach. For example, someone selling workers compensation insurance might send a mock first aid kit with some bandages and other inexpensive medical items to a key decision maker. In addition, the kit contains data on workers compensation statistics for the target’s specific industry and proposes there’s a way to save money on their monthly premiums. Whether or not the target converts, you’ll certainly have made an impression.
Tactic #3: Personalized content
Everybody likes something personalized. In the case of insurance, it can also be extremely beneficial to making a sale. Let’s say you’re selling liability insurance to a business. Compile stats on liability claims at similar businesses and compare premiums, demonstrating how your target could be paying less given their claims track record.
Tactic #4: Get social
Social is a crucial tool for account-based marketing. Find your target’s social handles and give them a shout-out or a retweet, or mention them in a blog post. Most companies are notified when they’re mentioned on a social platform, and many of them will respond in some way.
Tactic #5: Account-based retargeting
Another great way to reach your targets is to invest in account-based retargeting. The strategy here requires some monitoring technology, but the idea is that as your target surfs the web, they’ll be served ads for your product. If they click on one, it should direct them to something meaningful, like a white paper. If they click that, send them to a case study. From there, a consultation sign-up. The more they click, the closer you get to a meeting.
Keep track of your leads with Blitz’s cutting edge CRM software. Schedule a free demo today to see how we can help you spend more time generating leads and less time chasing after them.
Have you used account based marketing tactics to sell insurance? What strategies have worked best for you? Tell us your experiences in the comments below.