The major upheaval of 2020 has changed nearly every industry, and that includes insurance. People have dealt with health fears, job loss and uncertainty about the future, and that tends to make people look seriously at their coverage.  If you haven’t changed your marketing plan in a while, it might be time to account for those changes and adjust your approach.

Here are some of the insurance marketing trends you might want to adopt in 2021:

Trust and transparency

Right now, consumers are paying close attention to what and who companies support, and how transparent and trustworthy they are in their messaging. Whatever your company’s mission is, make sure your marketing aligns with that. 

If your company does a lot of good through charity work, helping the community or fundraising, don’t be afraid to work that into your marketing. It helps express how your company practices its mission, and encourages others to get involved.

Storytelling

Your products are important, but it’s not necessarily your products that are going to convince someone to buy from your company. It can be a challenge to stand out in the insurance world, but that’s where storytelling comes in.

Sharing your story through marketing means allowing people to see the human side of your company, and what you do. It could be as simple as sharing more pictures of your day-to-day or some “get to know me” posts about your employees. The goal is to showcase who your customers would actually be working with, so they can start to associate your company with the people who make it great.

Testimonial videos

If you’ve ever bought anything on Amazon, you know how valuable reviews can be. Reviews are going to be key for insurance, too. 

One of the best ways to convince someone to work with you is to introduce them to happy customers. Sure, written online reviews are helpful, convenient and essential. But you can also go one step further and compile some video testimonials. 

It might be more work to gather and edit video footage, but video became more popular than ever over the past year. In 2021, 93% of marketers who use video said it was an important part of their marketing strategy. On top of that, 87% of those marketers said using video resulted in a positive ROI - a huge jump from only 33% in 2015. 

Video makes a website feel much more dynamic, it’s simple to share on social media, and it shows potential customers how your business has helped real people in a time of need.

Data integration

The key to truly exceptional marketing is to know your customer. Know their goals, their wants and their expectations for your company. The more you know, the better you’ll be at speaking to them and their needs. 

Data integration is a great way to do just that. It means taking all that data you might get from your sales, website analytics and email marketing and compiling it in a way that tells a more complete story. There are so many software solutions that specialize in data integration and make it easy to see what the numbers really mean.

Data integration makes those numbers more accessible so you can use them to make more effective marketing content. 

Clear Communication

For most companies, they had to adjust the way they worked with clients in 2020. Post-pandemic, some of those changes are here to stay. Whether you’ve created entirely new systems or are reverting back to some older ones, it’s important that your customers know what’s going on. In 2021, you might want to assess where and how you communicate with your customers, and if it seems to be a working system.

The same goes for launching a new product or announcing changes. Do your current and potential customers know where your company releases that information? Is there a place they can go to offer feedback, or ask questions? If your company is on social media, it’s reassuring for customers to see that there is regular communication and prompt responses from the business.

Insurance marketing trends in 2021 skew a little more casual, friendly and open, so don’t worry about making everything look perfect. Focus on the heart and mission of your business, and use your marketing to share that message with your customers.