Although insurance is one of the most competitive and lucrative sectors when it comes to online marketing, it is still something which is not understood by most insurance professionals.
It’s quite a contradiction really, but it’s not so surprising when you learn that the average age of an insurance broker or financial adviser here in Australia is north of fifty.
Websites Don’t Work!
When I was working on launching my own insurance firm back in 2009 I had the idea of using the internet to gather leads for my business.
Of course that strategy was nothing new even then, but it was still discounted by many industry veterans when I floated the idea with them.
The response I received from many other successful financial advisers and insurance brokers was the same, and that was that websites simply did not work for insurance advice businesses!
I heard all sorts of horror stories about firms which had spent many thousands on websites which had failed to deliver a single lead.
Sadly most of these people believed that that ‘the Internet’ was the problem, when in fact it was their poorly designed websites that were the real problem.
Opportunities
Like many other business owners who have done the same, I believe I have proved that you can build a successful insurance business with leads gathered predominantly via the internet.
Although back in 2009 many industry professionals doubted this strategy, it’s fair to say that most of them would have changed their minds by now.
In the four years since I started my business, the industry has certainly changed and many advisers and brokers are worried about online players eating into their traditional client basis.
Most insurance advisers are now in one of two camps; those who fear the rise of online insurance and want to fight against it, and those who realise the benefits and want to be a part of it.
This is where I believe there are huge opportunities for online marketing experts to join forces with traditional insurance players in order to grab a piece of the online insurance pie.
With the sheer size of the competition it’s unreasonable to think that you can go out there and dominate, but there are still plenty of great opportunities to carve out profitable niches.
Marketing.com.au would like to thank Shane for taking the time to share this great article with us.
Shane Moore, Managing Director, Trade Risk
Shane is the founder and managing director of Trade Risk, a Brisbane based insurance firm that specialises in the building industry. Trade Risk relies on its website and other technologies to assist its clients in all states and territories of Australia.