Insights

Rising Catastrophic Losses Underscore the Importance of Property Valuation
For the past several years, catastrophic insurance claims of all types have been occurring more frequently and with increasing severity. The Insurance Information Institute reported $92 billion of insured losses in the United States in 2021 as a result of natural catastrophes to include severe storms, wind, hail, wildfire, flood, and earthquake. Overall economic losses totaled an estimated $169 billion. Insured losses during the first half of 2022 totaled $19 billion...

4 Benefits of Email Marketing for Insurance Agencies
Are you overlooking email marketing? Many independent insurance brokers and agents are focusing on social media and local SEO, but email marketing still maintains impressive results. In fact, email has some of the highest ROI rates of any online marketing channel. Consider the following statistics: About half of an email list will either open or...

Help Your Clients Identify Their Covered Collectibles
Collectibles come in all shapes and sizes, from antiques and stamps to action figures and comic books. And because many millions of people are collectors, your existing client base likely includes collectors, even if they don’t realize it. You can help your clients to identify their covered collectibles by discovering any items they value,...

Diversify and Grow Your Agency
As an independent agency principal, it can feel like a real challenge to maintain and grow your business. The challenges come in many forms: soft markets, direct insurance sales competitors, and changing government regulations to name a few. To counter this, it’s important for agents to have at least a general plan for moving forward. New...

Digital Marketing Fundamentals for Insurance Agents
The ever-changing digital marketing landscape can be overwhelming for independent insurance agents. What works and what doesn’t? Where should you spend your limited resources? Perhaps the best method is to allocate some energy across the fundamental online marketing channels. By doing so, you can reach clients and prospects in a variety of ways,...

What the Growth of Self-Storage Means For Insurance Agents
The self-storage industry is one of the fastest growing areas of the commercial real estate industry. Not only has there been a rapid expansion in the recent past, there is also a real demand from the public to support it, and many self-storage facilities are independently owned. Consequently, there is a solid opportunity for independent agents...

Marketing Automation for Insurance Agents
Like most independent Insurance agents, you now have more tools and avenues than ever to market your business. At the same time, you may have an overwhelming amount of new email contacts and social media relationships to keep track of and nurture. While all of these new marketing technologies are helpful, it can also dilute your focus, spread you...

Reputation Management for Insurance Agents
With the advent of online reviews and social networks, independent insurance agents need to be proactive in maintaining and building a great reputation online. Most professionals and businesses will have an issue with a customer at some point. While it’s ideal to resolve the issue before it becomes a potential online reputation problem, this...

Grow Your Agency with Collectibles Insurance
Both collectors and independent agents will benefit from specialized insurance for collectibles. Why Purchase a Separate Collectibles Insurance Policy? Collectors need specialized coverage. In many cases, the full value of collections can only be covered by a collectibles insurance policy. These policies offer more complete coverage than...

Ladder Safety: Choosing the Right Ladder
Ladders are a commonly used tool at self-storage facilities. Owners and managers can minimize potentially unsafe ladder usage by initially choosing the right ladder. Choosing the Right Ladder Portable step ladders, straight ladders and extension ladders are probably the most commonly used ladders at self-storage facilities. Here are a few safety...

3 Free and Effective Ways to Market Your Insurance Agency Online
Online marketing doesn’t have to involve large advertising costs. It’s very possible to grow your insurance agency with “earned media,” including local search optimization, blogging, and social media. Local Search Claim and Optimize your Google Local Page As we discussed in a previous blog post, claiming and optimizing your Google places page is...

The 4 Elements of Cyber-Liability Risk Management
The majority of businesses do not have adequate cyber-liability risk management procedures in place. Moreover, many do not understand the four fundamental elements of risk management as they apply to cyber-liability exposures. Risk Avoidance Avoiding the activities that could cause risk will, of course, help businesses avoid risk overall. There...

Protecting Your Clients’ Wine Collections
Like an increasing number of individuals, some of your clients may be wine collectors. Many wine collections are increasing in value, and collectors may be inadequately insured. The U.S. Wine Market Is Growing The U.S. is now the largest wine market in the world in terms of revenue. According to Impact Databank, the estimated retail value of wine...

See You In Las Vegas! Meet The MiniCo Executives and Learn About Cyber-Liability Exposures
MiniCo will be on the road this week attending the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas. The expo is one of the largest events in the self-storage industry, and we look forward to meeting and speaking with a wide range of self-storage industry professionals. If you are planning to attend the expo, I hope you will stop by the MiniCo booth...

4 Essential Steps in Art Collection Management
If you’re an agent who insures clients with art collections, it’s crucial to make sure your customers have well-researched, written records of their pieces. While a professional appraiser will likely have a role, you can advise your accounts to also maintain an ongoing process of research and documentation. The following is an overview: 1....

Claim Your Business Listings To Get More Leads Online
Claiming your own online local business listings is at the core of any successful digital insurance marketing presence. If you follow the best practices, you’ll see increased referral traffic to your website – and even phone calls - from your listings at these sites. What Are Local Business Listing Pages? Local business directories contain your...

How Strong Can You Make Your Insurance Business?
Protecting your business so that it will and can continue to thrive over the years should be a huge part of your business plan. Ask yourself this question, “What would you do if you lost one of your major clients?” Many small business owners rely on a few large clients to maintain their business. This happens because when times are good, there is...

What Can Insurance Blogging do for Your Business?
Blogging is one of the most powerful and cost effective marketing tools encountered in business. Blogging can help your insurance agency increase its website visibility. When preparing to start a blog for your agency there are a few tips you should consider. To gain the most from your writing: Write a blog every other day; assign each agent the...

Risk Transfer and Contract Language
During the recent Self Storage Association Executive Ski Workshop, self-storage industry professionals provided updates about the ongoing uptick in development within the industry. After a devastating recession and long recovery period, the economy is improving, occupancy levels are on the rise, and a sense of optimism has returned to the...

Power of the Like Button – Social Media
When social media was created, the like button was just for pictures and personal postings. Now days, social media is being used as a marketing tool in every type of industry. Companies have incorporated social media as part of their annual operational budgets. Value is there if you put the work into it. Results will come over time, not...

Marketing Tactics ~ Estimate vs. Proposal
Have you thought about the difference between an estimate and a proposal? How could this affect a potential client buying decision? You are an insurance agent, meeting with a new client for the first time and they tell you to send them an estimate of the cost of coverage for their new business. After going over their needs, you send them a one...
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