Direct Insurers Still Can’t Compete on Main Street

Billion-dollar advertising budgets can buy a lot of online real estate. But all the web promotions and pay-per-click ads on Google can’t put direct insurers on the ground in every community across the country. For this reason, the Internet is the great equalizer.

Rough Notes’ eMarketing Agency of the Month for May, Encharter Insurance, is the model for using a web presence to establish local roots. Encharter CEO Ken Peterson even created the term “localness” to explain how employees of his four insurance agency offices increase productivity by helping clients grow their assets, both business and personal.

One of the most successful tools Peterson uses at his agency group is, the “Encharter Partners Program”, which essentially allows business partners to share a coupon and link to their own websites on a dedicated Encharter website page. The coupons are seen by over 15,000 personal line holders, making it a win-win.

Encharter doesn’t stop there. In true Astonish Results form, the agency has also spearheaded a successful social media internship program with UMass Amherst, used local reviews and email marketing to strengthen client bonds, hosted seminars to help local businesses better understand social media, and instituted a “Go Green” initiative to reduce paper consumption and support charity.

Perhaps most importantly, Encharter has seen a 35% increase in the number of deals closed each month since implementing their digital marketing system with Astonish Results.

Given the right people, process, tools, and insurance marketing partner in place, any agency can accomplish what Encharter has and will accomplish, as long as they are focused on FINDING, SELLING, and KEEPING more customers profitably. Hundred million-dollar budgets can buy a lot of clicks and leads, but it will never buy the long-term loyalty of business partners or the community support earned by genuine “localness.”

Click here to read the Rough Notes article entitled “New England Agency Ties Marketing to Mission – Electronically.”

If you want the tools and knowledge to be more like Encharter, visit www.astonishresults.com or call us today at 1.888.899.1936. We look forward to sharing the GREATEST DIGITAL MARKETING SYSTEM IN THE WORLD with you and your team!