How to Make Your Advertising More Engaging

Insurance related advertisements are usually not very unique. In fact, a common perception is that they are dull, boring and uninspiring. Especially, if you have a lot on your plate already, taking the time to craft thoughtful and interesting advertisements can be an afterthought. The truth is, unless you already have a large group of established and loyal clients, you’re going to need to rely on advertising. With that said, it won’t do you any good to have ads that look the same as every other agent. Instead you need to find ways to stand out from the competition and find creative ways to engage with your clients. To help spark some creative ideas, we’ve put together a list of some of the best tips to keep in mind when developing your marketing materials. 

1.Prepare, Research and Segment 

Before you even begin to create your advertisements, you will need some preparations. Since people of different ages, locations and other demographics all have distinct preferences, it will pay off to do a sufficient amount of research into each group at hand. To make this process easier, take similar clients and segment them into separate groups. This way, you’ll be able to easily identify all of your target markets and create unique ads for each group. Try thinking about the common pain points, concerns, values and needs of the groups, and then start developing ideas for copy and images based on these preferences. For example, when marketing towards retired folks, you may base your copywriting around financial stability, while you could take a more family-based approach for younger viewers. 

2.Develop Emotional and Compelling Stories

Depending on the type of advertisement that you are investing in, it can be worthwhile to tell a compelling and relatable story, instead of simply laying out a product’s benefits. Especially if you are using an advertisement that is a longer format like email or video, this tactic can be quite effective. When telling your story you want to make it appeal to people’s emotions, while sending a strong message without outright saying “buy a policy today.” Think about real people who you may have helped in the past, and have benefited from the coverage you provided them with. For example, you could talk about a family whose child experienced an injury, and if it weren’t for insurance, they would be in thousands of dollars of debt. The most important thing is that your story is real, authentic and appeals to the masses. 

3.Use Humor When Appropriate

Another technique that can be useful especially among the younger to middle aged demographic is using humor in your advertisements. Buying insurance is often thought of as a daunting and mind-numbing task for consumers, but it doesn’t have to be. When crafting copy, developing video and images or creating slogans, think about funny yet relatable material. An example of a funny insurance based advertisement was the old Geico commercials featuring a caveman figure. While this character was very silly and initially didn’t seem to have anything to do with insurance, the witness left a memorable image in viewers minds. If you plan to use humor in your advertising, it’s important to keep in mind that the message and imagery should always align with the tone of your brand and should never be offensive.

4.Invest in Strong Visuals 

It’s not all about the copy. In fact, the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words,” stands true in the world of advertising. As mentioned, when talking about the Geico commercial, visuals can leave lasting impressions in the minds of consumers, causing them to associate the imagery with your brand. When developing ideas, make sure that you focus on high quality images, graphics and videos that resonate with your targeted demographic. Another tip is to not overcomplicate things. Oftentimes some of the most effective visuals are simple graphics or symbols, and not highly produced imagery. The same is true for videos. If you opt in to use video marketing, make the content short, engaging and be sure to post them on the platform that resonates with the segmented group. YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram are all great places to showcase your video content.

5.Be Creative in Your Approach

While up to this point we’ve mainly mentioned the traditional modes of marketing such as display, social media and video advertisements, finding unique ways to display your message can set you apart from the crowd. Here are a couple example of advertising ideas that you may not have thought of before:

• Collaborations: Teaming up with other businesses or like minded professionals can be a great way to spread your message. One idea is to hold sponsored videos of you and another industry professional discussing topics that are important to consumers. You could also consider approaching local businesses to collaborate with to make a more niche campaign.
• Interactive Ads: Interactive advertisements is a unique and exciting way to engage with your audience. Some ideas include insurance-related polls, quizzes, or competitions. You can even entice people to participate by offering discounts or fun prizes. What’s important is that by interacting with your ad, they remember your brand and are informed about your services. 
• Educational Content: Providing your audience with educational material within your advertising, helps inform consumers while also helping to establish yourself as a trustworthy individual. This practice is more commonly used in certain long-form ads like email. For example, within an email message, you could embed links to informative posts or downloadable content. Focus the material on common concerns, questions or misconceptions.

6.Be Relevant and Up-to-Date

Since the insurance industry and the state of the country is always changing, you should try your best to reflect this in your ads. Pay attention to industry shifts such as changes in regulations, as well as new technologies and other industry trends. If something is interesting and affects you, there’s a good chance that it will interest and affect consumers as well. You could even combine humor with recent industry developments or innovations such as making a joke about artificial intelligence. Additionally, it pays off to be up to date about current events and try to create some ads based on them. For example, if you are selling home insurance, you could talk about this past year’s natural disasters. Another example was the opportunity that the COVID-19 pandemic presented for advertising especially when it came to health insurance. 

7.Consider Incorporating Testimonials 

With so many insurance agents in the market, sometimes your word can only go so far in the eyes of consumers. One way to combat this is by incorporating positive customer testimonials into your advertising materials. While the more traditional method is to include these testimonials on your personal website you could also include them in your video, audio or social media advertisements. When encouraging clients to provide testimonials, try to get them to be as specific and personal as possible. The more relatable they are, the more moving the ad will be. You can also try to offer rewards or discounts to clients who help you with this word-of-mouth marketing technique. 

8.Monitor and Make Changes 

One of the most important things to do to have effective advertising goes beyond just creating interesting content. In order to be successful, you must also monitor the performance of your ads on a regular basis. In the digital age that we live in, we are lucky to have so many performance and tracking tools at our fingertips, so we encourage you to make good use of them.

Along with a variety of online platforms and softwares, each social media ad platform also has tools that provide helpful insights. Some of the most important areas to pay close attention to are the number of impressions, clicks and conversions that an ad is receiving. Another useful tool that many platforms offer is A/B testing which allows you to test two different ads against one another. In general you should allow an ad to run for at least a couple weeks, but ideally one month before gauging its quality. After gaining a general consensus of what your targeted audience prefers and what they don’t, make adjustments and continue to monitor performance. 

Closing Thoughts

In an overly competitive industry where things are always evolving, it doesn’t do you any good to have dull, boring advertisements. In order to stand out from the competition and appeal to more interested consumers, you must first understand your audience and segment them according to their demographics and preferences. Additionally, by investing in unique strategies like storytelling, creative visuals, humor, collaborations, interactive formats, educational content, relevant topics and testimonials, you’ll be sure to provide consumers with a breath of fresh air. When formulating specific ideas, it’s crucial to remember that your content should leave a lasting impression in the minds of your audience. By using these strategies, you will be able to establish yourself as an unforgettable agent, and will in turn entice more soon-to-be clients. 

At Benepath our mission is to connect more interested consumers with agents such as yourself with our exclusive lead generation services. If you’re looking for a new way to increase your contact and sales rate, we’ve got you covered. We specialize in generating insurance data leads and inbound phone calls all of which are produced in real-time giving you the best chance to succeed. We have leads in the following verticals: individual health, Medicare, life, group health and commercial insurance. If you’d like to learn more about what our services can do for you, fill out a form or give us a call today at 888-684-312.