Can Insurance Agents Advertise Themselves?
As an insurance agent, your customers are your lifeblood. Advertising is a fantastic way of reaching out to your customer base and drawing in new leads. Without it, the growth of your insurance business can be hampered severely. However, many states and companies have strict rules on advertising. Can insurance agents advertise themselves?
While insurance agents can advertise themselves to their potential customers, it is critical that any advertisement follows the strict guidelines provided by the state and their parent company. If an ad is found to have misleading wording or information, an insurance agent can find themselves facing questions from a number of sources.
Just at face value, this can make any advertising venture sound like a potential career-ender. However, it does not have to be so! After all, as Business 2 Community reports, without marketing and ergo advertising, your business might have to close due to lack of sales. The first thing you must know to be successful is the rules for insurance agent advertising.
Knowing the Regulations
While the world of advertising is ever-changing, there are some fields and industries where it can be a little more difficult to do so than others. As an example, a retail store might not have as stringent expectations as an insurance agent. This can make it very difficult for those in the trickier fields to find their footing.
What makes it particularly hard for insurance agents is the fact that they aren’t just facing regulations from the state or federal government. They also may face specific edicts from their parent companies as well! Why so much regulation?
The reason for this is because, as an insurance agent, they want you to be completely transparent with your potential clients and not mislead them into purchasing things they don’t need, or that may suddenly adversely affect your clients. After all, insurance is meant to protect people, not harm them in the long run.
Before you can advertise, there is a level of research you must do in order to safeguard yourself. Knowing the rules and regulations, one will have to contend with allows you to navigate more easily and create effective advertising without incurring concern.
What Are Your State’s Laws?
While state laws vary, the good news is that an insurance agent can find the regulations easily. Simply check around online! States will have the rules and regulations on everything from content to wording you will need to abide by, available for viewing and even download so that you can study and pick them apart in your own time.
However, for some insurance agents, this can soon become an unruly task.
If you are licensed in more than one state, you will need to find the rules for each. Not all of the states maintain the same regulations, which can make universal advertising nigh impossible.
While that means more ad work on your end, it may be something simple that one can eliminate from their ad and rerun. An example of this is some states require licensure on ads, others do not.
An insurance agent will also need to be sure they make notes for every aspect of advertising they plan on trying out.
States actually govern all types of advertising that one can imagine. This even includes web content, which refers to websites, social media, platform ads, and more. Be sure to really scrutinize these areas to be sure any present efforts or planned efforts are to code.
What Does Your Company Say about Advertising?
“Company” can mean many things when it comes to insurance agents. Some agents franchise out of larger companies and set up their own offices or have their own insurance practice. Aside from that, a company can also refer to the insurers the agents answer to. Both instances of these can have some effect on how advertising is handled.
Just like an insurance agent or any other business, a company has to control how its brand is viewed and be sure its image is never tarnished. Because of this, there may be certain press information that you will need to receive or review from your company in order to proceed with advertising.
Some insurers may even have strict guidelines on the mention of their company or any deals they may be running. To be sure that you do not fall out of the company’s graces, be sure to read all promotional press material, rules, and advice on pursuing advertising. It can help you navigate ad creative and maybe even some of those state regulations!
Keep Everything - And We Mean Everything
Audit: It’s the word no one wants to hear in nearly any context. It is certainly not a term that one would expect when talking about advertising. However, many states have the capacity to audit an insurance agent or insurers advertising for their own records and regulation improvement. As such, they require you to maintain a record of your advertising efforts.
How far back should your records go? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer or year-long run for an advertisement audit. Just like regulations, each state has different lengths of time that they want you to maintain.
The best thing to do is keep copies of everything. If your state permits it, consider making a digital copy on a hard drive to save space.
How to Advertise as an Insurance Agent
So now that you know all of the do’s and don’ts, it is time to start advertising! After all, despite all the regulations, you can find insurance ads everywhere! Where do you start? The truth is, in the past, one might look at a billboard or radio for ad space. With modern technology, the easiest way to reach your audience is online.
What Are Some Ways You Can Advertise Online?
Through online marketing and advertising, there are several different ways you can reach your ideal customer and bring them into you. Some of them are free, and some of them cost just a little. The imperative thing is how much elbow grease you put into your advertising machine!
Here are some ideas to help get your online advertising wheels turning as you create a marketing plan:
Create your own business website using SEO
Start a social media presence and post regularly with creative and interactive content
Explore your options through PPC sources, such as Facebook/Instagram advertising, Google Ads, and more
Writing isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do, especially if your schedule is already full of selling insurance. If any of this sounds like just too much to add to your plate, you can always outsource the writing to someone else.
Get Your Advertising Started Today!
Just because state laws and company rules may make it difficult, insurance agent advertising isn’t impossible. Through some careful research, you can make a marketing and advertising campaign that will help you find that core audience and get them to give you a call. Simply take the time to review the restrictions first to find how to work with them.
Always remember to keep copies of your advertising efforts for potential audits. While keeping all the documentation is a hassle and making copies every time for every new thing is tedious, it will keep you out of issues with the law. Also, it doesn’t hurt the appearance of your insurance agent company in the slightest when you work with the government!
While a website, social media, and PPC are great starts to online advertising, the world of online marketing is so much bigger. These are just some of the basic and average ways businesses try to reach their customer base. Explore every opportunity possible and look for new ways to get the word out there about your company. Don’t let the preliminary research stop you from growing as an insurance agent.
