Insurance Digital Marketing Tips to Weather Winter Storms with Ease

Insurance Digital Marketing Tips to Weather Winter Storms with Ease

Spencer Breidenbach, BrightFire Manager of Strategic Partnerships, was recently invited onto The Insurance Dream Podcast with Abe Boling, host of the podcast, to share key insights on how insurance agencies can leverage digital marketing to maintain policyholder satisfaction during winter storms.

Get a summary of the podcast episode below, and listen to the full podcast episode from The Insurance Dream here.

Podcast Episode Summary

As unprecedented winter storms sweep across the South, many agencies are closing their physical offices and altering their hours of operation. Below are several digital marketing tools and tips to keep in mind to ensure your agency is set up for success during inclement weather by keeping policyholders and prospects satisfied and well-informed that you’re ready to help if needed.

1. Optimize Your Agency Website

  • Ensure claims submission instructions are easily accessible on your website and updated for storm-specific needs.
  • With claims likely on the rise, it’s important to promote and highlight self-service tools on your website to reduce phone call wait times, such as online claims filing. You can also consider being proactive and promoting policy change requests and specific types of insurance months prior to various seasons to protect policyholders against things like hurricanes, floods, snow, wildfires, and more.
  • If you have a BrightFire insurance agency website, you can use Notification Bars and Promo Panels to display critical updates, such as emergency contact numbers for your agency, temporary claims procedures, or winter storm preparation tips.
  • If you don’t have your typical setup to handle calls from home, ensure you also have webchat enabled on your website to engage with visitors in real time and offer an alternative method for customers to speak with your agency.

2. Update Your Local Business Listings

  • Update your Google Business Profile, Yelp, and other important listings with changes to your hours of operation.
  • Create a standard process within the office to determine what staff member will update your listings when the office closes for inclement weather and holidays.
  • You can also post important updates to Google and indicate whether your agency’s physical office is closed and/or only taking appointments.

3. Leverage Social Media

  • Post real-time updates for your followers on how your team is doing, changes to your hours of operation, safety tips, and links to self-service resources on your website.
  • Engage your followers and ask how they are doing. Ensure they know your team is available and ready to provide support in any way possible.
  • You can also share community resources like fundraisers, shelters, food banks, and emergency hotlines. Be sure to tag any organizations you mention in your posts to maximize visibility.

4. Communicate Via Email & Text Message

  • Send out emails and text message alerts about agency closures, updated contact methods, and online self-service tools.
  • Send an email newsletter to policyholders on how to prepare their homes and cars for winter storms, what to do during a storm, and any important steps to take after it passes.
  • Consider using webchat and text messaging to head off claims surges and direct people to the appropriate resources within your website.
  • At BrightFire, insurance agencies can seamlessly manage all of their BrightFire services within a single dashboard and leverage our Unified Messaging Inbox to send and respond to text messages, webchats, direct messages, social media comments, and more.

5. Review & Pause Your Google Paid Ads

  • This is a time when consumers are thinking about insurance quite a bit, so if your agency isn’t well-equipped to handle quote requests or if you don’t think people will be requesting quotes because everyone will be filing claims for the short term, consider pausing your campaign to avoid wasting your budget.

6. Request Reviews After the Storm

  • If your team had a positive experience with a policyholder during the winter storm, don’t be afraid to ask them to leave a positive review about how your agency supported them on review platforms like Google, Yelp, and Better Business Bureau.

Questions?

If you have any questions about what we discussed in the podcast episode or how BrightFire’s digital marketing solutions can help your agency maintain policyholder satisfaction during winter storms, please schedule a personalized consultation with a Sales Advisor.

Share this post

We're here to help!