As we enter December now is the time to finalize plans moving into 2021.
Specifically focusing on your Marketing Plan for 2021 is what we’re most concerned about as a Marketing Agency.
Even more specifically we want you think think about your lead and customer acquisition strategy for the new year.
Questions We’re Asking
Do you have a Lead Acquisition plan for 2021?
If not, In 2021 are you looking to gain NEW Customers?
If so, Do you currently have a overall / broad marketing plan for 2021?
If you want to bring in new customers next year and don’t have a broad marketing plan for 2021 at all we suggest at a minimum roughing out ideas you have on promoting the business. But if a big part of your strategy is new customer growth then even more important will be your lead acquisition strategy.
Here are the components of a 2021 lead acquisition strategy that you should consider
Is your website optimized for search engines (do you rank well for everything you do / sell)?
Is your website optimized to convert visitors when they get to your site?
Are you actively publishing content / blogs to your website?
Are you actively publishing content to your social media channels?
Are you actively running ads that target your primary customers to drive them to your website or to the phone?
Are you sending out at a minimum monthly emails to your email list?
If you answered No to any of these then your 2021 marketing strategy should turn those No’s to Yes’s.
Prioritize these to comprehensively attack getting new business.
If You Want to Talk With Us About Your 2021 Marketing Strategy or Have Questions, Call Us at 866-357-7422
The Question: “What should I include in my content marketing?”
Here are the things that YOU SHOULD be including in your content marketing efforts.
You don’t just need content, you need Awesome Content!
Developing relevant content does not have to be a difficult. It doesn’t require any special tools, secret or magic. It all begins with understanding who your prospects & customers are, how they behave and what they crave.
The formula: Useful x Consumable x Inspired = Innovative Content
This process begins with the creation of a piece of a REAL IDEA, Not some 2,000 word “evergreen” piece or ebook. Something Awesome. Many marketers will tell you this should be a 50 to 100 page ebook or massive how to guide. The problem is most people can’t handle it. Big = Overwhelming.
Everyone wants to believe there is a magic bullet. So create the Magic Bullet!
Highly valuable & easily consumed content is the gift that keeps on giving. This content will attract links, generate traffic and build brand awareness.
Once your content is created, blast it EVERYWHERE: Company pages, email, blog, sponsored updates, Display ads, SlideShare, PPC, Twitter, etc.
Simple Execution In many cases it is easy to develop a set of goals, but a plan is specific, executed over time and measurable. After determining what your Big Idea is going to be, write that out into a series or digestable snapshots that can easily be distributed over time. This can include videos, infographics, blog posts, 3rd party posts, podcasts, etc.
Week 1: Publish & Schedule Your Content Week 2: Conduct a Webinar Week 3: Run a Contest Week 4: Lead a Twitter Chat Week 5: Do an interview: On TV, Online, At a Conference, etc.
While all of this is running your content is being promoted though influencer outreach, promoted posts, email, sponsored updates, paid search, retargeting, organic social, organic search, etc.
Everything gets tagged and tracked for performance evaluation and follow up.
Your Blog Make your blog content diverse, relevant and structured.
Monday: Case Studies, Statistics / Infographics, Industry (35% time spent) Tuesday: Strategic Research & Analysis, Points of View, Thought Leadership (20% time spent) Wednesday: How-To Posts, Guest Blogging, Peer Content (25% time spent) Thursday: Bold Points of View / Strong Opinion, Challenger (5% time spent) Friday: Light-hearted, Cultural, Funny Amusing (15% time spent)
A Quick View SEO – Lays the groundwork Social – Fuels the content Content – Fuels the demand
Winners:
Consistently deliver content that their target wants to consume & share
PR efforts guide their vision as a leader in the space
Deliver amazing experiences on and offline
Build a thriving community
Make a plan, make it Asesome, deploy, track & measure, optimize, close new business and WIN!
Below are a handful of GIF tutorials on how to use the platform
Snapchatting a Video vs. Photo
How to Add Filters and Double Filters on Snapchat
How to Use Snapchat Video Filters
How to Save a Photo or Video on Snapchat
Accounts to Follow on Snapchat
This is just a short list of people who are killing it on the platform. There aren’t that many yet because people still aren’t taking it seriously. So get on it now.
DJ Khaled: @djkhaled305 John Bracamontes: @acumenstudio Casey Neistat: @caseyneistat John Bracamontes: @johnbracamontes Diplo: @diplo Kate Hudson: @khudsnaps Gary Vaynerchuk: @garyvee Eva Longoria: @realevalongoria
Google released a paid search update recently. It is a second line of structured snippets that can be inserted into PPC ads.
This new update gives ads more space in the search engine results pages and allows companies to callout different things about their business. Below, a shutter company, uses the headers “Styles” and “Services,” to highlight unique product offerings.
This new ad format looks great, but what it will do to help your marketing and ultimately your business?
Below are a few tips, benefits and structured snippets tests across PPC & SEO channels to highlight how this update will help drive more qualified conversions to save your business time & marketing spend.
Utilize categories to show unique product offerings
While PPC experts like us were initially loving the news of new structured snippets, our smiles began to fade as we read the fine print. There are a limited number of headers you can choose from for your snippets and there are only a few industries. The following headers are available:
Amenities
Brands
Courses
Degree programs
Destinations
Featured hotels
Insurance coverage
Neighborhoods
Service catalog
Shows
Styles
Types
Industries that really benefit from this category extension are those that have a high cost per click. Insurance keywords are responsible for 24% of Google advertising revenue, which is most likely why “Insurance Coverage” was added as a distinct header. On the same note, 4 out of the 12 headers are related to travel, which also have historically high CPCs.
In the future Google will expand the number of header options, but until then, advertisers have to get creative on ways we can utilize them. For instance, financial institutions could use the “Types” structured snippet for No-Fee Savings, High Interest Savings or list out the types of certificate of deposits they offer (3 month, 6 month, 12 month, etc).
Raise awareness for additional service lines
Your business may have one very well known product or service, but it’s struggling to get the word out about the additional items it offers. By adding structured snippets into your PPC ad account, you can use the new headers to bring attention to the business’ additional offerings.
An example of this is Drexel Online. Many people know that they offer online bachelor’s programs, but everyone may not know that they also offer master’s programs and certificates. By utilizing structured snippets, Drexel can inform searchers about other aspects of their business.
Create more effective call to actions
PPC continuously has the ability to test call to actions within search ads. With the new snippet feature, PPC ads can test more specific styles and service lines to hone in on the language and format that best connects with consumers. From these tests, your marketing team can vet the call to actions that convert the most, to identify what phrases and styles to use within SEO content, such as meta descriptions, headers, and call-to-action buttons.
Google may still choose to create their own meta description based on the search term, but in many cases your well crafted meta description will now show up with an even better chance to convert due to the PPC tests.
Save money & avoid a negative brand experience
This extra PPC snippet will enable searchers to be better at self-qualifying themselves for your business. Let’s say you own a wedding dress company. If customers are looking for a specific type of wedding dress, for example, A-Line, Mermaid, Ballgown, Trumpet, etc. and it’s not listed in your snippet, they know not to visit your website. Great! One less unqualified person potentially filling out a contact form asking your team about it.
There’s also a big cost-saving here. By having better pre-qualified leads coming to your site, it saves the call center or whomever reads submission forms time. If the call center charges per minute, every call – whether it’s profitable or not, costs your business money. However, if more incoming calls were qualified, the more profit you could get out of those calls.
In addition, setting the expectation of what your site contains before the person clicks, will help ensure that customers never have a jaded customer experience. As structured snippets give you more room to discuss your business’ offering, it could prevent shoppers from leaving a poor/mediocre review because your site doesn’t have what they’re looking for.
For example, when conducting a quick search on reseller.com ratings for “limited selection,” “small selection,” and “didn’t have,” we found time and time again that customers left mediocre reviews because the store did not carry the products that they had expected.
By using structured snippets, www.reseller.com could have set better expectations up front about what they do, and do not, carry, to avoid these negative ratings.
Learn & test for organic SEO
From Google’s past PPC tests, we predict that Google will measure the success of the new category PPC snippets, before rolling out additional rich snippets to organic SEO category pages. Currently, as the example shows below, Google indicates only the following for organic product specific pages:
Ratings by star
Number of people who rated
Price
In-Stock
Number of stores nearby
Before I click on the product in the SERPs, I already know if it’s in stock, within my price range, how many people loved or hated it, and if a store is located nearby.
In organic results, Google also has sitelinks, although these don’t show up for everyone and don’t include all styles:
Right now, these sitelinks indicate some categories, but do not touch upon all of business’ product offerings. It would be great to see a Style snippet in the SERPs before I click, indicating that RevZilla offers Motorcycle Touring, Half, Hi-viz neon, or race helmets as well as the categories pulled in through sitelinks.
In the future, as Google aims to improve user experience, it seems very likely that Google will roll out a style snippet for organic results. If it does, you’ll already have PPC data to work with to know which Types or Styles convert the best for users interested in your products.
Increase your paid search real estate
While there are pros for both PPC and SEO with the new structured snippets, there is one aspect that makes organic SEO practitioners not so happy. With this additional line of structured snippets, paid search gains a new way to obtain more real estate in the SERPs, while simultaneously pushing organic results farther down the page.
Contact us Today if you want to get your Paid Search up to date in 2016. Fill out the form on this page or give us a call!
Make 2016 The Year of Marketing Intelligence. Understand what your marketing dollars are producing for you, identify waste & optimize your marketing efforts!
Here John Bracamontes discusses what Acumen Studio does and how we can help you generate greater visibility online, generate new customers and more revenue.
Digital Marketing Digital Strategy Content Marketing Content Strategy SEO / Search Engine Optimization / Organic Search PPC / Pay Per Click / Paid Search Social Media Email Marketing Analytics, Analysis and Inisghts
Recent findings show that the use of Display Ads in Digital Marketing for Insurance Companies is nine times more effective at generating awareness than television, print or radio.
The reason for this is that many insurance companies are under utilizing display as a channel to generate awareness and direct conversion. This means a less saturated marketing landscape. (*check out these display ads from Geico) Another large reason that Display Advertising is so effective for insurance companies can be attributed to the ability to micro target and personalize.
These more relevant and personalized approaches for display ads increase their visibility as well as drive action from those who are viewing successfully placed creative and messaging.
Display Ad Success for Insurance Companies
Personalization
Segmentation
Placement
Attribution
and Measurement
To learn more about how we can drive greater awareness and new business for your insurance company, please call, email or fill out our online form.
The Original Baby Boomers are a major force in Finance today. They are the Decision Makers and they have the Money.
1. Financially-Minded Boomers are better plugged in to the internet and search than their younger counterparts (Gen X and Y) when it comes to making financial decisions.
2. Search Engines and Social Channels are highly used to compare and narrow financial choices.
3. Sponsored links and videos are effective media vehicles that connect with financially minded boomers.
These individuals are looking for resources online to help them make financial decisions and the presence of financial providers online gives those providers the ability to communicate the value of their services effectively as well as build credibility and trust.
Fill out the form below to download our full study with statistics on how they engage, where and why.
Download the Full Study on the Digitally Connected, Financially Minded Boomers
Why would anyone follow Financial Brands on Twitter? We have listed here a list of 10 Reasons why people do it.
1. They Like the Brand 2. To be notified of Offers or Promotions 3. Getting updated brand news 4. Learn about new products or services 5. They are current customers 6. To take part in competitions 7. To Tweet interesting content 8. To get something for free 9. Access to exclusive content 10. Give Brand Feedback
Affinity Insurance Marketing is suited only for the most experienced marketers. Our specialty is Digital Marketing for Affinity Insurance Groups.
Traditionally affinity insurance marketers had to build their direct marketing lists by identifying the individuals who belonged to certain groups or professions by partnering with those groups or other companies who had this information.
Now that social media has become so integrated it is extremely important to be literate in all digital mediums and channels. The members of these groups are now self identifying on these channels, we can capture their information and present information to them at the right place and right time.
Effective techniques like retargeting can be used to stay in front of these individuals during their buy cycle.
Most of the Digital Marketing Campaigns for Affinity Insurance products have been for:
Term Life
AD&D (Accidental Death and Dismemberment)
Disability
Hospital Indemnity Protection
Hospital Accident Protection
Dental Insurance
The Importance of Tracking Cross Promotion Cross Promotion of products to currently insured members is commonplace. If someone has AD&D, they may purchase Term Life or Hospital Protection, etc. The problem is that promotions in the past were basically a shot in the dark.
When promoting these products digitally you now have the ability to track at the individual level. This will provide you with insight into which products are most interesting to your currently insured members and will generate enrollments and applications quicker, while spending less money.
Target, Identify, Connect, Capture and Convert.
Download a Digital Marketing Case Study for an Affinity Insurance Term Life Product by entering your information below
Contact Us for more information on our Affinity Insurance Marketing and Digital Strategy.
