Revisit your marketing plan

Spring clean your website, social media, operations

Spring IS a time to refresh and regenerate as the world reawakens after the long, drab months of winter. We perform this renewal in many ways, including the age-old custom of spring cleaning. For a business, this regeneration should focus on one thing in particular: marketing.

Yes, spring should signal a time to reexamine and re-animate your marketing campaign. What aspects of your marketing are working? What are not? What needs to be updated? What needs to be added - or subtracted? Stagnation is deadly to a marketing campaign. Marketing should always move forward. And while I don't think the ancients had marketing specifically in mind when they said this, remember the old adage: "Fear not going forward slowly; fear only to stand still."

WEBSITE

Let's start with your website, the public face of your business. As the population changes, more of your customers will be people who are not only Internet-sawy, but are perfectly comfortable with shopping for insurance online.

A recent study by an Internet market research company found that 61 percent of all insurance shopping starts online, which makes it essential to present an attractive, up-to-date and easy-to-navigate website to your customers.

Unfortunately, too often we neglect this critical piece of marketing because we've "been there, done that." Studies indicate that many small- and medium-sized business owners developed their websites in the late 1990s. They had every intention of updating them, but other business realities intruded and the site has remained basically the same for all these years.

However, what hasn't remained the same is the Internet. There are better graphics, features and design concepts available now than ever before. Even more important, the Internet is far more interactive today than it ever has been, making a site launched 5 years ago as modern as a pencil is to a computer.

There is a standard dictum governing websites that if a user can't find what they are looking for in 30 seconds or less, they'll check out and head somewhere else. That gives you 30 scant seconds to get and keep your customer's attention. So the first thing you should do is check your website's design. Is it easy to navigate? Are critical elements like contact information, company information and frequently asked questions accessible? If you offer a map to your location, is it current? Are customer testimonials recent, or do they all date from years before? Nothing turns people off faster than obsolete information. They wonder how current and reliable the company offering this data is.

Check everything on your website for accuracy. What about employee photos? Are you still showing people who haven't worked there for several years? How do the photos of current employees look? Do they look like the people they're supposed to portray or does the photo of John - who's now completely bald - picture him with a hairdo from the days when disco was king?

While you're checking photos, how about those that show your location? Has your office had a face-lift in the last 10 years? Does it look nothing like your website photo? If so, how are people supposed to find it? Digital cameras make snapping new photos for your website a breeze. You don't have to be Ansel Adams to have a sharp and accurate photo representation of everyone and everything today.

Don't forget to check on any links you've listed on your website. With all of the business mergers and consolidations that have occurred over the past few years, are the links on your website still functional, or do they need to be updated?

Many websites now carry some type of interactive feature, such as a blog on which the company president or someone can write about current business conditions, new or proposed legislation or anything that affects them and their customers. Blogs are nice, but they demand a tremendous commitment of your time to keep them current. Just like your website, if your company's blog is still carrying a story many months old, it reflects on you as an outdated company. If you can't keep them current, or if you're having trouble just keeping your website up-to-date, don't start a blog.

SOCIAL MEDIA

The same thing holds true for social marketing on the Internet via such sites as Facebook or Twitter. Marketing through social media is best done on a continuing basis and again, needs to be current. If you can't find the time to update your website, don't try social marketing. Do what you can complete in your marketing quest and do it well!

Just a recommendation: Unless you have a qualified IT person on staff, work with professionals to keep your website updated. Just remind them to keep it simple, you want your website to load fast for potential customers to view it.

OPERATIONS

As long as we're talking about a spring marketing update, don't forget to update something so obvious it's easy to forget: automated voice mail messages. Whether it's one that answers for the entire company or each individual employees, make certain that everything is current. Don't have some messages talking about snowmobile coverage in the spring when it's time for boat insurance. It's easy to overlook them, but automated telephone messages represent the first or second impression of your agency. Make certain it's a positive one.

How long has it been since you were in contact with your customers? Tilings tend to slide in late autumn and early winter, with the demands of Thanksgiving and the holiday season. People are usually too busy running around to get them to talk about insurance. Spring is a perfect time to re-establish contact with all your customers. People's circumstances change; find out if you can be of assistance through policy updates. Set a goal of 10 minutes a day to reach out to your customers. People only tend to change their insurance when they need to; who do you think they're going to call if you've already been in touch with them?

Here's another reason to contact your customers: It's the perfect time for crossselling. Offering a no-charge quote is the ideal way to make new friends and potential customers.

Spring also means getting outdoors. Many towns have festivals to celebrate the return of nice weather and to kick off the spring sales season for area merchants. These events offer a golden opportunity to meet with your existing customers and make new ones, or at least new contacts.

Participating in events like this take time and planning. You'll need a booth or table display of some kind, and a banner or signage that clearly identifies your business. Plan to get to the event an hour or two early, set up your display area, and then take time to network with the other attendees. Your involvement and networking time with them can get you new clients.

While you shouldn't expect immediate results, attending these types of events really pays off in the long run. It gives your company a face in the community - your face. It also allows you to meet many people in a short period of time. If you have a giveaway that event attendees can carry away with your name on it, it's an added bonus. Use your company's partners and their resources.

Experience has shown that these fairs work and generate business for you and your company. Don't let a lack of effort stop you; with a little planning and forethought, you can be soon reaping the business benefits. Make signing up for these events a part of your spring marketing plan.

Finally, let's conclude this spring marketing tune-up by harkening back to a topic that we started with: the Internet. Are you buying Internet marketing leads for your company from an Internet leads company? If not, you could be losing out on a potential source of significant business.

"Internet leads are often the most costeffective way to market online because you can control volume, costs, risk types and you don't have to have a large marketing department to generate them," said Hunter Ingram, CEO & co-founder of HometownQuotes.

Ingram also said that Internet leads usually have low entry costs, sometimes less than $100 a month. Reliable companies make it easy return bogus leads for credit on new leads. Many Internet lead companies also offer you a volume control options, meaning you can have as few or as many as you want. These leads also can target specific towns within a chosen region.

If you don't have an Internet leads company, research the available ones. Be careful at first, because unfortunately there are scam artists out there; don't commit a ton of money to a company just because they promise the moon and stars. Look for a company that makes it easy for you to deal with them, not ones that constantly throw roadblocks up.

Like all things online, Internet leads are not for everyone. You've got to commit time and effort to them. Quick response and follow up on these leads are vital to your success. If you do it, you'll find it more than pays for itself. Consider making Internet leads a part of your spring marketing tune-up.

Tuning up your marketing campaign makes sense and can result in a significant business increase for your company. Only a finely tuned engine delivers the performance we hope for.

[Sidebar]

"Stagnation is deadly to a marketing campaign. Marketing should always move forward."

[Author Affiliation]

Jerry Thompson is corporate marketing director for The Van Dyk Group. Contact him at jerryt@ vandykgroup.com, or 609-597-1988.