Friday, February 15, 2019

Digital Trends Lead Insurance Marketing Change

Digital marketing dominates professional advice for insurance marketers this year, from e-mail to social media to online search. However, whether insurance marketing via digital or traditional channels such as direct mail, there are some general trends affecting success in 2019, per the American Agents Alliance. First comes the continued value of cultivating brand advocates with testimonials, referrals and word of mouth. Quoting Forbes magazine, "the top four most-trusted sources of advertising are people you know, branded sites, editorial sites, and reviews." A myopic focus on impersonal advertising will miss these important lead drivers. The personal touch needs to extend into offering targeted, personalized digital and print content that is useful and engaging, as well as client interaction that is real and humanized, not generic and automated. Insurance agency/broker marketing agencies like EaseCentral and OutboundEngine offer some advice on where to focus digital marketing energies more specifically in 2019. Start by revisiting e-mail strategy. With an average $32 return per $1 spent in 2018, e-mail remains an attractive direct marketing option especially because it also offers opportunities for the forwarding, social sharing, and referral business in line with the general trends noted above. Another tried-and-true digital driver, paid and organic search engine ranking, still matters, but search strategy needs an important tweak this year to cater to growth of voice searches. EaseCentral points out that ComScore forecasts close to 50% of all searches will be made through voice search by 2020. Plus, due to the increasing use of voice searches, Google and other search engines are beginning to factor it into their algorithms. Mobile optimization will play a big role in effective leveraging of voice search since these searches occur mainly on mobile devices. Social platforms offer some unique advantages for insurance marketers looking for a way to humanize and personalize, say with personalized customer service via Facebook and LinkedIn. Opportunities for direct marketing with promoted posts and social ads can use social media platforms' increasing ability to target zip codes, professions and other demographics to hone response. Finally, video is now a proven response driver in digital marketing for almost all industries, with online video projected to account for 80% of all web traffic in 2019 per Cisco research. For more detail, see our website blog post at https://www.acculistusa.com/digital-options-lead-2019-insurance-marketing-trends/

Monday, February 11, 2019

Business Periodicals Retain Marketing Clout

A recent blog post from B2B marketing agency Weidert argues that trade publications remain vital to B2B marketing. Whether online or in print, trade magazines retain reputation and authority with their vertical audiences, and many people trust information from these niche publications more than any other source, says Weidert blog author Tammy Borden. Borden notes that while circulation and ad spending for printed magazines may have dipped, digital editions are thriving. That contention is borne out by the latest PwC ad spending forecast, which sees an upward five-year path for trade magazine ad revenues from 2018 to 2022, albeit slight at 0.6%. The overall positive trend is because digital ad growth (9.3%) will offset print losses (-8.4%). In fact, PwC predicts that the digital ad spend will overtake print spending this year. Borden cites the multiple attractions of digital publications for business marketers, such as growing readership: According to the 2018 Mequoda Magazine Consumer Study, 42.4% of U.S. adults read at least one digital magazine per month — a 15% increase in three years. Plus, there are also now digital magazine marketplaces like Magzter and Zinio that allow readers to access thousands of B2B trade titles in one place, further expanding audience reach. For content marketers, digital content is especially appealing because it can not only link to websites but can be SEO-optimized to leverage online impact. Borden still touts the marketing value of printed trade periodicals as well. She points to a survey finding that more than 32% subscribe to one or two print magazines compared with only 18% for digital publications. Plus, the print version of a publication (like direct mail) offers a richer sensory experience (visual and tactile) and a shelf life unmatched by digital. With the option to place advertising or content in both print and digital versions of a respected business periodical, marketers can maximize audience preferences and reach. For more, see our website blog post at https://www.acculistusa.com/business-periodicals-retain-digital-print-influence/