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Life Health > Life Insurance

What's your Web presence?

By Jim Brogan

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Several years ago, I was evaluating the overall effectiveness of my marketing efforts. In my view, successful marketing results in a prospective client who is primed and ready to “buy” me before they ever step foot in my office. In other words, before I physically meet with them, they are already 70 percent to 80 percent of the way toward hiring me.

As baby boomers age and place themselves squarely into my target market (age 60-75), it was becoming more and more clear to me that I needed effective web branding. After all, aging boomers are very active on the web, and I’ve found that most will do some kind of web research before coming into my office.

I felt I was falling woefully short in establishing my online brand. I had to ask myself several questions:

  • How easy is it to find me on the Web?
  • Once someone has landed on my website, how long do they stay there?
  • How much can a prospect actually get to know me through my website?
  • Is there anything particularly unique about my website?

How do you go about developing a Web presence that affirmatively answers these questions? It all begins with an effective website. However, I’m a big believer that your website should stand out from the crowd. This takes time and energy.

See also: 3 SEO basics to get your website noticed

Multimedia content

This whole Web development area is one with which I had very little expertise. So, I had to hire someone to help me. This is a job you can certainly outsource, but I believe your efforts should result in a vibrant, evolving online presence. I’m not typically a fan of “template” websites. This is a less expense way to develop a site. However, there are many template Web providers who can provide a site that does not actually look like a template, which is key.

Perhaps the most important element is to ensure that the prospective client can get to know you through your website. I have quite a bit of multimedia content on my site. Whether it’s leveraging my radio show, TV appearances, my weekly radio features, etc., consumers can get to know me and hear my messaging before ever stepping foot into my office.

It’s quite easy to develop multimedia content. Even if you don’t have any radio or TV exposure, you can easily record audio and video clips sharing ideas that can enhance people’s retirement lifestyle.

I’ve talked a lot in this column about the importance of your client message. If you show people things they’ve never heard before, and you explain it in a way people can understand, you’ll stand above most other advisors in your marketplace. By using multimedia in your website delivery, you can establish your identity as a leading expert in your community.

For more from Jim Brogan, see:

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