AgenciesOnline Launches Bank-Owned Insurance Agency Solution!

Dec. 1, 2009 - PRLog -- Chapin, South Carolina - AgenciesOnline.biz announces its new system of integrating communications, marketing and technology for bank-owned agencies.

AO includes an array of marketing materials for use on the bank agency's website, as sales aids, as email blasts, and to prospect for new clients and to service existing ones.

Why AgenciesOnline now?

The status of insurance agency marketing is at its lowest ebb in years for these reasons.

1.   The complexities of marketing caused by the “Age of Communications” have essentially transformed this cornerstone activity of agency growth into an almost impossible task for any bank insurance agency to handle.

2.   Public awareness of insurance has been heightened in recent years by the vast amount of money (billions of dollars) poured into all kinds of advertising (Internet, TV, print…the GEICOS of the world).

3.   Competition, exacerbated by the soft market and tough economy, has relegated agency marketing activities to a much lower priority.

4.   Even at this low priority level, marketing by financial institution agencies is becoming more complex with the ever-expanding legal restrictions.

AO believes that the bank agency owner/manager simply has neither the time nor the expertise to effectively market their agency.        
                       
The Internet

The percentage of insurance buyers going to the Internet to obtain price estimates BEFORE they go to their agents (or to buy directly on line), is said to be 75% of auto insurance buyers, and above 50% for homeowners insurance buyers.

Direct writers and carrier websites keep gaining new auto business at the expense of independent agents, says a J.D. Powers nationwide survey of 8,400 policyholders, who bought from 18 major Personal Lines carriers. In 2009, 44% of new auto insurance buyers bought directly from the insurer, rather than through an agent - a 3% year-to-year increase. The good news: consumers who use independent agents report significantly higher satisfaction levels, and are far more likely to buy bundled Auto/HO packages than those who purchased online or through direct writers.

“Bank agency internet sites are primarily brochures” says Val Jordan, President of AgenciesOnline and one of the best-known insurance consultants to financial institutions.  “Few insurance agency websites are interactive, difficult to navigate, and hardly any of the sites get return visitors.”

“Yes, marketing insurance is more than ‘just’ publishing a website. To enhance agency sites, we incorporate the use of audio, videos, on-line chat systems, “smart forms” for quoting, service functions right on line…and personalized e-mail newsletters, with videos,  that connect directly to the agency site”.

Integrating marketing activities with agency management systems is an essential tool provided by AgenciesOnline. The “AO Resources Guide” is a full-fledged marketing system utilized by agency personnel as they work with clients or prospects. It includes an ever-growing number of marketing campaigns, print on demand, sales and servicing tools.

George Nordhaus, most-published author on insurance marketing and Chairman of AO, believes " the younger generation, such as the Millennials, will not only do business on the Internet, but also use the new communications tools of social networking (Facebook, Twitter, et al.) in ways we can’t even imagine now."

“Financial institutions in insurance now have an opportunity to move into the new world of communications, marketing and technology.  The necessary investment is minimal compared to the potential benefits of giving our sales and service personnel the proper tools for the time. That’s what AgenciesOnline is all about”, according to Jamie Hamilton, President of HLIC, a bank-owned agency in Grand Junction, Colorado.

To find out more about AgenciesOnline, visit its website @ www.agenciesonline.biz.  Or call Val Jordan at 888-985-3331 X225.

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Provides marketing, communications, pr, and technology to insurance agencies throughout the United States. From website design to full marketing campaigns and strategic planning, AO is a key member of every agency's marketing staff.