What is eCollateral and why is it important for insurance agency marketing and leads? Let’s start with a definition. Marketing collateral is a collection of media that supports the sale of a product, or service. This collateral helps to increase sales and marketing effectiveness. This type of collateral often includes branding. eCollateral, also known as digital fulfillment or marketing collateral, is an electronic version of collateral.
The traditional, paper-based, insurance marketing collateral was an integral part any insurance agency marketing program. It was often tightly integrated to produce leads for insurance agencies. For example, 20 years ago, agents would “canvass” their prospects by sending snail mail or dropping off targeted collateral. With so many agencies now using web centric communication such as personalized emailings and other web marketing initiatives to reach their prospects, eCollateral should be used more often than traditional paper-based collateral materials. The eCollateral must be seamlessly integrated into any broker-based marketing or lead handling process.
Many agencies don’t have a clearly defined and documented lead handling process. Agents still lack professional eCollateral for digital fulfillment. Agents might have used “leave behind” in the past to describe the practice of leaving behind a brochure and agency brochure at the end of each sales call. Although there are still ways to do this, communication today is more email-based and web-based. Quality eCollateral is essential for every agency.
Agents will need to evaluate their eCollateral offerings in order to integrate them into their lead generation and marketing programs. It is often overlooked, but this is an important tactical component that agents should use every day.
Let’s take, for example, an inbound lead from an insurance agency. Inbound leads can come in many forms and may include a variety of products. You can find lead sources both digital and traditional, such as:
- Call us
- Use the web form
- Appointment Setting (Telemarketing Campaign)
- Response to email campaign
- Word of mouth
- Traditional Advertisement
- Referral
- Pay per click (PPC).
- Social Media
- Banner Ad
In this example, let’s assume that the lead came from an inbound email campaign. The prospect filled out a web form. Your Producer reached out to the prospect and qualified them. Then, a one-week later, he scheduled an on-site meeting. The next steps of the lead handling process, which are crucial, require professional eCollateral and should be well organized. The Producer will have a week to continue building rapport with the people who were involved in the initial conference call. This is a chance to show professionalism, credibility and organization. The person has one week to set the expectations for what should have been a wonderful first meeting. This is an example of a leadership handling process that integrates eCollateral.
- Send an Outlook invitation to a professional, with contact information for the agent, immediately.
- Follow up 48-72 hours later with an email and attached electronic collateral about the agency and/or any specific solutions or information relevant to the prospect. The information should be concise and professional. A one- or two-page Company PDF, or Case Study (or both) would be ideal. The Case Study should directly address the prospect’s needs. It should include P&C, Benefits and PLI. The eCollateral must be current, branded, and communicate the professionalism and value proposition for the agency.
- Follow-up one day prior to the meeting with a quick email.
This would work well for meetings that are scheduled one week after the initial conference call. However, it would be necessary to modify the process if the meeting is scheduled closer to the first call or further away from the initial call. No matter the latency in scheduling, a professional eCollateral PDF of one to two pages will convey professionalism and expertise. This should be a top priority marketing item if your agency doesn’t have an eCollateral content library to your producers.