Should Insurance Agents Invest In Insurance Agency Press Releases?
Should small, and medium size insurance agencies put money into press announcements? The inference here is that larger agencies are already investing in this important marketing activity - which is an accurate depiction. Carry out the large brokers know something smaller agencies do not? Press announcements, which today are also known as news releases, provide agencies with many insurance agency marketing benefits. The two main types of distribution services, fee based releases and free releases. Small agencies with modest budgets plus some more time can consider most of the free distribution services. A few of these include: - Brian Lock Insurance
PRLog
Newsvine
Newswire Today
Free Press Release
PR.com
i-Newswire
24-7
PR-Inside
There are lots of free distribution services, a few of which also provide premium fee based release services. Agents and brokers which can allocate plan for more comprehensive distribution should look into fee based or subscription providers. Some the greater known fee based services are:
PRWeb
PR Newswire
Marketwired
BusinessWire
Why would insurance agents use pr releases to enhance their insurance agency marketing initiatives?
Expand market presence - deliver a refined message to a broad target market. - Brian Lock Insurance
Reach new markets - alert new target markets, especially verticals, of products and services.
Create name recognition - helps target prospects "know" your agency when contacting them or quoting.
Define expertise - alerts prospects of deep industry knowledge (compliance and group benefits, trucking insurance, risk retention groups, restaurant insurance, etc.).
Improve insurance agency search engine optimisation - though search engines like google argue for the contrary, search engine optimization specialists have proven that pr releases positively influence insurance agency SEO (SERPs).
Attract media attention - Properly executed, insurance agency press announcements could be distributed to tens of thousands of news subscribers and tens of thousands journalists and bloggers.
Increase online traffic - pr releases engages readers and directs these to see your website.
Boost social networking traffic - most press release services allow readers to talk about the production via social media marketing.
What should agents include in their releases? Here are some of the common components that ought to be included in every release:
Headline - ensure it is short, pithy and relevant.
Summary - a fast description from the release, with greater granularity compared to headline, enough to whet the appetite of a perspective reader.
Dateline - usually includes the release date and originating town of issuer.
Introduction - first paragraph within a press release, that generally gives basic solutions to the questions of who, what, where, when and why.
Body - the content of the release including quotations, details, background and metrics etc.
About - most include a brief "about" section, providing information regarding the corporation issuing the discharge, website link and other information vital that you the issuer.
Media contact information - name, phone number, e-mail address, mailing address, or any other contact info for that release contact person.
Most services offer guidelines, release examples and FAQs to aid brokers and agents with press release basics. Finding worthy topics may well be easier than agents might think. New insurance agency webinars or webinar programs, new lines of economic, new employees, new offices, new carrier relationships, innovative products and repair announcements, new website resources, upcoming speaking engagements or trade show exhibitions, and content/video libraries are topics which can be helped by a release. Agencies can either staff this work internally. Alternatively, outsource the initiative to a proficient insurance agency marketing and PR organization.
