Starting a new auto insurance business is never easy. But no one tells you how difficult it will be, especially in generating auto insurance leads, until you experience the process yourself. Even those who actually warned you to hit the jackpot, it isn’t that simple to picture the situation.
But what is exactly difficult about businesses and companies? Finding funds to start them? Or maybe getting clients and new deals to make sure you get ROI and the revenue you’re expecting?
Well, the list is quite long, but we would focus on generating leads and prospects before anything else once you have established your business already.
Why? Because without them you will not last long and go bankrupt in a matter of weeks or a few months.
If you own an auto insurance company, work as an agent offering and selling them, or are directly related to this field and business, you will notice how quick it is to reach the point we previously mentioned if you’re unable to generate auto insurance leads.
And if you are here, that means you either have an idea or want to avoid reaching that point. The good news is that we have the steps you should know about, and don’t worry; you will get those leads with the strategies we can share with you here.
Make Sure to Partner with Auto-Dealers & Centers
Traditionally, buying a car or bike was done offline, and you always had to visit the store and place where you could see the car you wanted.
Right now, in 2021, online shopping is a necessity not only because of the pandemic but rather the comfort most buyers are trying to access.
However, we don’t want to focus on that part either. Although online auto dealers and aggregators are an important part of the ecosystem, the offline part of the buying process is still very important.
Even though clients have done extensive research online, people visit dealers to test drive the vehicles, negotiate and make a purchase decision. If you don’t believe us, keep these percentages in mind: About 50% of buyers research online, but over 60% decide to visit the place to decide between buying the car or not.
Now, how does this involve your auto insurance business?
Once a customer has decided to purchase a car or bike, the next step is the insurance conversation.
Although they are aware that insurance is mandatory, buyers want the best coverage. At this time, the dealer will always be the most influential person to provide a recommendation or sell the insurance.
This is when you enter. The dealer can work with you to recommend your insurance services, and you can offer a commission to the dealer in return for his recommendation.
You would normally offer this to your agents in case you have a company or what you earn as one.
These leads are highly qualified as they are at the end of the process of purchasing the vehicle, and they are trying to find the service without having to look too much into it if possible.
People must have insurance for any new or used car they purchase. This can be done by asking local dealers to help you.
Service centers are the same: If potential clients have questions about their insurance terms or price, staff members can ask them if they would be willing to answer your call. Referrals from trusted businesses are a great way to get auto insurance leads that are also qualified.
Take Part in Local Shows
Going back to what we were mentioning about offline events and interactions, local auto shows play a crucial role in finding new leads and potential clients.
Right now, people love visiting them because many exotic cars are exhibited. Still, over 70% of the people there are just trying to find a modest option and get the insurance along the way if possible. This is your moment.
You can find a wide range of auto shows, including vintage, luxury, motorbikes, and commercial ones, you could visit to get the leads you need.
You can narrow down the events based on your offerings and products. Sites such as 10times.com can help you find the event schedule.
An important point to note here is, if you’re a company that wants to send your field sales team to find potential customers, you can use a mobile CRM app to speed up lead capture into your system.
It could be difficult to manually enter leads later so that it might take some effort and time.
Just remember to choose the most suitable auto shows based not only on your offerings and insurance alternatives but also on the target audience you have designated for your business or the company you work for as an agent.
Don’t Forget About Advertising in Gas Stations
For some people, it may sound odd considering that not too many people pay attention to the advertisement in the stations… or that’s what they think.
If you think about it carefully, nearly every driver stops at a gas station at some point in the week and, sometimes, almost every day.
Taking this to your advantage by placing the right ads in the station can be a huge boost for your auto insurance company because many of those drivers are searching for a new one.
Being seen can increase exposure and lead acquisition. Flyers, posters, and business cards are affordable.
Don’t worry; most gas station owners will let you post your information on a billboard near the cash register completely free or by paying them the ad space.
A referral system is also possible since many potential partners will not turn down a new source of income.
The US has more than 121,000 gas stations. So, you can have a good idea of how many potential clients are using them every day.
If you want to know how many stations your state or city has in specific, it is as easy as doing a quick search on Google.
We also suggest you work with the most visited ones and try to place one or two flyers in the further ones in the area.
Get Listed on Google & Reach a High Position
Your business could benefit from being ranked highly in Google for the relevant keywords that people search. Yes, we are talking about SEO in specific, and in case you are confused, this depends on the search volume and competition of the famous keywords everyone mentions whenever it is named.
To make it simple to understand, here’s an example.
You want to be found when buyers search for “auto insurance,” which probably has about one million searches everyone month.
But what does this tell you? Those are people searching for information about auto insurance, including rates, quotes, and frequently asked questions, so you need to make sure your website appears whenever they search for it.
You need both site authority and context to rank well in Google’s indexed search results to get those qualified leads, but also use better keywords than just “auto insurance.”
Others like “auto insurance in Florida” can work better since long keywords are less contested.
Now, search engines like Google and Bing will see links and valuable insurance content as evidence that your website and business are credible sources for related keywords and topics you wish to rank well for.
Search engines are more inclined to view you as an authority in insurance or the best option for ranking for the relevant insurance terms with great content and SEO.
Your site’s context is created by performing keyword research, creating valuable content about insurance, and targeting the right terms on-page.
These tactics can help you get more insurance leads by covering 75% of your SEO. It is very repeatable and can bring you large-scale returns if it is done well.
Optimization: Web Pages Need Attention
Entering the online lead generation, we will start with the most crucial yet usually missed part of generating auto insurance leads, website, and web pages.
If you don’t know it, keep in mind that your website must be the foundation of all your online lead generation efforts.
No matter how many people visit your website via social media, Google, or word-of-mouth, if they leave, it is pointless.
Also, if you don’t have one in the first place, you won’t have a stable, trustworthy, and trackable place to send your leads and future clients. Therefore, take the time to build it and when doing it, or if you already have it, make sure you optimize your pages.
Your website needs to be optimized to persuade individuals to do something, the so-called actions you want them to take, whatever that action may be.
Lead generation is about capturing a prospect’s contact information. This includes their name, email address, and phone number. So you might want to focus on those actions, but for it, you need to have pages that invite them without being too pushy and still include enough information and additional details.
Does it make sense? If not, now you know how complicated web optimization can be.
Now, how can you do this? Although it’s easy to create a website these days, this doesn’t guarantee that it will be optimized for lead collection.
You can choose to hire an expert that knows about UX and UI to ensure the quality and navigation on your site, or take the time to learn and find the most comfortable alternatives while designing it.
You Need Personalized Email Marketing
It doesn’t matter who asks us; we will always think that email marketing is one of the best ways to drive leads as long as the emails you send are personalized according to the person.
You are probably thinking that sending emails is already annoying and time-consuming to add the personalization aspect to the task. However, with so many platforms to help you, personalizing them is a piece of cake and a great boost for your marketing strategy.
Besides, personalized emails generate up to six times more revenue than non-personalized emails and campaigns, so you shouldn’t be lazy and, instead, focus on changing your efforts today.
If you are already using email marketing, we don’t need to tell you to use your email platform to personalize your email. Still, if you aren’t yet, we suggest you find the most suitable one and start personalizing your email greeting to include the recipient’s name.
Group your contacts by name, location, purchase history, or expressed interests, so you can know what greeting will be included and how the emails will be sent.
It is hard to believe, but this little touch can increase your leads and build brand loyalty with potential customers.
When you start sending those emails, it’s important to track your success since it will help you modify, adapt, and evolve each email and generate more leads.
You need to determine if the strategy is working to check the email to see if people are clicking on links.
Track which links are being clicked the most if you have multiple links within your email. You can be more efficient by learning your subscribers’ habits and knowing what to add, delete, or change.
High-Value Content Is Everything – Change Our Minds
That was clearly figurative because it is impossible to change our minds regarding content and how crucial its value is.
Suppose you don’t understand what we are referring to. In that case, we will make it simple: If you want to generate auto insurance leads with your efforts, website, and more online strategies, you should be able to provide valuable content for your clients or audience.
For those who don’t know, content helps with search engine optimization for your website; it shows your knowledge as a business and generates leads for you. It is that simple.
However, keep in mind that content is more than blog posts and what you know in social media.
Suppose you want your strategy to work and the content not to go to waste. In that case, you should start implementing e-books, guides, graphics, and a wide variety of content formats with interesting and useful info, which can be educative or entertaining.
While keeping your content clean for your website, the previous options won’t be free or accessible for everyone.
Instead, the content will be locked. For people to gain access, they will need to provide specific information, like their emails, phone number, or anything that allows you to contact them later and consider them leads. If they don’t do it, they weren’t qualified auto insurance leads in the first place.
If your ideal customer is in the auto insurance field (clearly), you can create content that explains why insurance is essential and how much you can help them with your services, but without talking about you, you, and more you throughout the content.
Find out about your audience and write about the topic they are most interested in. Then, promote the content accordingly.
Build Healthy Relationships with Your Prospects
Consumers and brands can be friends as long as you know how to build relationships without making your customers feel overwhelmed by all the services and options you offer.
If you still think everything has to be a buyer-seller relationship, you won’t be able to get too far with your auto insurance company.
Nowadays, clients want to feel connected, and when you build a healthy relationship, they will feel more motivated to get your products or services. It is that simple.
For this, you can invite them to connect whenever you have the chance, whether it’s by asking for user-generated content, sharing funny videos via social media, or offering content for free (without asking for contact info).
You should give them reasons to visit your blog each time you post a new article and to leave comments about their experiences on your social media. Maybe use fun strategies and activities that invite more people to join.
It doesn’t have to be that difficult.
Many auto insurance companies or agents believe the interaction must be elaborated. Still, simple emojis and liking your visitors and leads comments or sharing content with them is enough to bring them to your site, make them stay, or finally take the step of buying insurance.
Rely on Guest Post Strategies
Some people underestimate how much guest posting can do for them. However, you need to remember from now on that it is one of the most powerful strategies to generate more leads.
The logic behind the strategy is that you bring an audience from other related businesses that can be highly interested in your services but have been unable to find someone providing them until now.
Guest posts might be accepted on related blogs within your industry. To know about it, ask the authors or owners. Some pages might have specific guidelines for guest posting, so you ought to follow them if you want this to work out.
Make a series of pitching ideas and send them out.
Now, who will write it? You have two options: Either you can write the guest posts yourself or hire someone else to do it.
Many blogs allow you to include one to two links to your website within your posts.
All may not follow these links, but it doesn’t affect lead generation since you want people to click, nothing more since the rest is supposed to be handled on your website.
Selling Auto Insurance on LinkedIn
Usually, people associate LinkedIn with social media for employees trying to find companies and new jobs.
However, it is the place to pour all your efforts since the traffic you need and wants for your site to generate leads is right there… waiting for you.
To attract it on social media, you will need to post high-quality content and add value. Share the article on LinkedIn with the option given and then link your website in it or add it to your profile.
This will drive more visitors to your site and establish you as an authority as an agent or company. You will be seen as an expert in your field and gain trust from prospects.
LinkedIn makes it easy to find prospects and can be easily used to build your network and connect with more people.
You can also ask for referrals and business from people you meet. In no time, you will build your empire and without having to pay a single penny.
To fine-tune your LinkedIn outreach, use automation tools that help you with LinkedIn’s data-rich filters and identify your ideal targets, handle personal messages and follow-ups to reach the most qualified leads.
Advertising on Newspapers Still Works
Advertising in newspapers is an effective and timeless way to create awareness about your services.
Many would think it is dead since printed issues aren’t as bought as before, but digital options are always read by the same people who used to buy them and many more.
This means you can now advertise to digital newspaper subscribers, thanks to the growth of digital newspapers.
These best practices will help you make the most out of your newspaper advertisement.
If you want to apply for one, focus on making a compelling headline. Keep in mind that there are many news stories and advertisements out there to distract your reader, so your advert must stand out.
In addition, make sure to highlight the benefits of your insurance policy and give a clear call to action.
Print ads should mention your website address or phone number so that leads and prospects can access all your information.
When advertising digitally, don’t forget to link the CTA (e.g., learn more, purchase now) to your website.
And remember, you don’t want to overload your leads with information. This is because newspapers are already very text-heavy, so more visual elements like graphics with minimal text can help draw attention to your message.
Vital for Lead Generation: Referrals
Referrals from current insureds are a great way to generate auto insurance leads because people trust their friends and family members. If you are offering a great service already, they won’t hesitate to actually recommend you to others.
Over 80% of buyers trust a friend’s referral more than any other type of marketing. If you aren’t implementing referrals and relying on them a bit more, the bottom line is that you are missing out on many quality leads.
As long as your existing insured base is happy with your service, it’s a great source of leads.
Ask existing insureds if they know of any friends who might be in need of insurance policies similar to yours.
A referral program can be set up that offers insureds discounts or gifts if their friends choose to work with you, thanks to their mention about your insurance services.
Everyone Loves Social Media
Social media platforms can be used in conjunction with SEO and the general optimization of your content and web pages.
Social media allows you to share content that your audience is interested in, and the valuable content we have been discussing can be shared.
This can include useful information for small businesses owners or funny videos and memes related to the industry. It isn’t always about insurances all over again. You can get creative, and with the options like reels, posts, and more, you will definitely get more leads if you forget about selling for a couple of minutes.
You can create value through social media and generate leads without spending money on advertising even when the option is available.
However, we don’t condemn this since social media paid ads are great because you can set a budget and stop them whenever necessary.
Just make sure you build some organic audience and have a specific number of followers.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Auto Insurance Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Auto Insurance Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Auto Insurance Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.