Many agencies really like insuring certain types of risk but are not focused on marketing to these niches. When you have a specific niche such as appealing to a high net worth client or motorcycle enthusiasts on the personal lines side or you specialize in specific businesses such as artisan contractors or restaurants, instead of focusing all of your marketing efforts trying to capture anyone interested in any type of insurance, you should spend some (if not all) of your marketing efforts on targeting your ideal clientele.
There are many different benefits to niche marketing and writing these unique niches. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits.
Before we even start to think about marketing, two of the biggest benefits to targeting niches are focused more on your sales and service side of the business. First, by driving more business that is in one niche, you grow your expertise with that particular business. We all know that there can be some very unique items associated with almost all lines of business. The more that you focus on a particular risk, the more you will learn about coverages and exclusions associated with that particular type of risk. This leads into the second value in this section which is obtaining the correct markets for this type of risk. Whether or not you have a formal program set up to place this business, with enough volume, you will be able to establish the markets that serve these risks better and can provide your clients (and prospects) with the best combination of coverage and price. In addition, you can identify key value added services that are appealing to the client, this helps build a wedge between you and your competition.
In terms of marketing, there are both traditional (offline) and digital ways to market the business that can help drive more business the more you focus on the niche. In the traditional marketing area you can much more easily create a name for yourself within a particular industry than as a general agent. One way that this will occur is more organic. By becoming well known as the leader in the industry you are much more likely to get referrals from your clients as they interact with others in this industry. By sheer volume, you are more likely to get more referrals and when you layer on your expertise, markets, and name recognition, you can create a snowball in your referrals.
Another more traditional way to market your to your niche is through industry associations and trade shows. Once you have the expertise and markets, attending trade shows and being endorsed by associations where people are typically passionate about their interest or business becomes an excellent expenditure of your marketing efforts.
Niche marketing online can have an even more profound effect. This is mostly due to being able to break down the traditional restraints created by geography. If you are an expert within a particular industry, you can work your way into other states online in a way that cannot be done with more traditional marketing efforts. As with most online marketing, niche marketing is focused on speaking to two different entities.
First, by driving niche content, anyone that is reading about you online, whether it is through a blog, post, tweet, or even an online banner advertisement, you immediately improve your odds of engaging with a customer that views you as an expert in that niche. You can also use this content to drive more proactive digital marketing using emails and social media ads based on interests. All of these types of digital engagements promote you as an expert in the niche and make it more likely that your prospects will contact you for their needs.
Every agency should determine how to use niche marketing to their advantage. For some agencies this may be minimal if they are more focused on a particular community and aren’t looking to expand their offerings. For some agencies, they solely focus on niches and don’t write a lot (if any) other business. For most agencies, a combination of niche marketing and community or geographical marketing drive the best combination of industry specific and local clients.
We know that getting started with something like this can be difficult or seem overwhelming, so feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear any questions that you might have or even some feedback that you may have for us. As always, we hope to hear from you soon!
