How to Engage Your Local Community in a Digital World

Agency Revolution | Posted: 3/2/2021

Local Engagement for Insurance Agents
Local engagement for insurance is a popular marketing topic, and for good reason. Engagement is what customers crave, and they punish companies that don’t create relationships by walking away or clicking a button. Agency Revolution makes digital communications a breeze with Fuse™, our intelligent automated marketing platform; but local engagement is a marketing endeavor that requires technology and feet on the ground.

So what is local engagement for insurance agents? Simply put, local engagement is the interactions you have with people in your community. The key to successful local engagement is to make those interactions frequent and meaningful, and to complement them with online engagement.

You can engage local prospects and customers more often when you use social media, your website, local forums, and other community platforms. You make those interactions meaningful by being a professional resource and actively supporting the community. Online or offline, building strong relationships is the lifeblood of any agency, and local engagement is the foundation for local relationship marketing.

How to Engage Customers in Insurance
Your digital platforms should include a modern, professional insurance website and social media profiles that showcase the solutions you offer and make visitors feel welcome, comfortable, and curious. When you’re building local platforms, it’s essential to understand that local engagement for insurance is more about the community than it is about insurance.  

Creating value for your customers, in-person and online, doesn’t have to be “all business.” Of course, your prospects and customers need you to be a trusted and knowledgeable insurance resource — but they also want you to be an accessible, relatable person who is a member of their community. You can be that person when you reach out through community engagement.

Community Engagement Examples
Step Up to the Plate
Your community likely has little league baseball, church softball leagues, and other community sports teams. These teams are supported by the community you serve, so they can often be in need. Step up and fill that need by getting involved.

Community sports teams need help with staffing, uniforms, equipment, and more. If you can’t spring for uniforms, how about coaching T-ball on Saturdays? Too busy? Offer to provide snacks and refreshments for games and bring them in person. Put a face to your brand out in the community enough, and you could end up being a local favorite!

Buy Here, Pay Here
If you buy most of your personal items and business supplies online, start buying local products and services in your community, and it could pay off big time. Sure, you may pay more but consider the ROI:
1.    You’re giving the very thing you’re asking — support for local business.
2.    You get opportunities to develop relationships that can turn into more relationships via referrals, and so on.
3.    You build your brand just by getting out and about (and spending a few dollars!).
4.    Other local businesses need help with employee benefits, commercial insurance, and other products and services you provide. Who do you think they’ll turn to when they’re ready to buy?

Learn Your Lesson
Schools in your community can often be underfunded and understaffed, presenting your agency with the perfect opportunity to get involved. Most of your prospects and customers likely have a soft spot for children and education, and so should your agency. Spring festivals, concessions at ball games, school fundraisers, and volunteering are a few opportunities that come to mind.

Did you know many PTAs and PTOs welcome non-parents? These critical and well-known organizations often encourage local leaders and businesses to join and make a difference in schools and your community. Imagine the relationships you can build and the community engagement you can achieve through a community organization like that.

Make it Personal
Not into coaching, your budget is tight, and kids not your favorite demographic? The pandemic gives you the opportunity to make a critical difference in your community. Support groups that deliver food to shut-ins. Start a fundraiser to help front-line workers. Dedicate part of your online presence to promote local support groups. These are but a few of the many safe ways to help those impacted by the pandemic. In good times and bad, when you support your community, everyone wins.

Being an active, contributing member of your local community may be the unique selling point you’ll need to succeed with local insurance marketing. Local engagement for insurance isn’t complicated, but it is something you must commit to long-term to grow your business. So hit the streets in your community and let people know who you are. Then pitch in and become a force for good. You handle the leg work and we’ll help you get the word out with Spark™, our digital engagement platform tailored for insurance.

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