Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Coming into aep, this is what you need to know. The more that you can prepare, it's putting everything into play. So then that way, going into aep, you can concentrate on what's going to move the needle the most.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: If you're, you know, creating this content, you're kind of getting ahead of the curve, right?
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Absolutely. Keep producing content.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Very important to be organized and have your messaging lined up and automated if possible.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Think everywhere. Think of all those online directories from Yelp to, to your local Siri, Apple, all of that. You want to own your online presence.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Today we are preparing you for aep. And as of this publishing date, we are just over a month away from aep. So everything that we're going to talk to you today is about auditing your process and making sure that everything is set in place so that you can focus on what matters come October. And, and that means selling and spending time with your clients. So Jo, we know that AEP is the busy season for the health part of our business.
First things first, right off the top, what mindset should insurance agents be in when they're preparing their marketing for a busy season like this?
[00:01:07] Speaker A: I think it's all about being motivated and trying to get ahead. You know, you know you're going to be busy, you know you're going to be non stop selling. It's the craziest time of the year. Many people don't take a day off during it. You work long hours, you work weekends because there's just so much, so much work to be done that the more that we can prepare, especially from the marketing perspective, the more that you can prepare. Think about those email campaigns, think about, you know, keeping in touch with your current audience, still building lead lists and doing those outreach efforts. It's putting everything into place. So then that way going into aep, you can concentrate on what's going to move the needle the most, which is connecting with your clients and potential clients and getting those sales done.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's make this easy and help set our audience up for success by breaking down six parts of marketing that if you set it today or prepare yourself today, you'll be in a much better position come aep.
So the first thing, Jo, I want to talk about is how our audience can make sure that they're discoverable during the most important time of the year. So that means we'll start with Google and making sure that our audience is discoverable where the audience is. Their audience is searching. So Jo, what advice do you have if you are auditing and optimizing your Google presence.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: So Google My business is definitely going to come into play here. You're going to want to make sure that you own your Google profile. Some people own their profiles, but they don't optimize their profiles. So they leave fields empty, they leave hours empty, they leave a lot of critical information empty. And they're not asking for reviews from clients that they've worked with in the past. Those Google, those Google My business profiles. When you get those reviews, Google will rank you higher because they know, okay, customers are actually liking them, they're getting good reviews, they're quality. So let's deliver quality. The other thing, once you go past Google my business is the actual Google search results. You want to make sure that, that you're showing up for your area. So if I'm a Medicare agent in this area and I want to show up, I want people to be able to put in their Medicare agent near me and have Jo Barker insurance, because I'm in Seminole, show up for people that are in my local area. So optimizing your website, optimizing your online presence, your social media accounts, think everywhere, Think of all those online directories from Yelp to your, your local Siri, Apple, all of that. You want to own your online presence.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: And when you're looking at those things, it's so important that how you show up is consistent across all of those platforms that you just mentioned. So a consistency in how your title is displayed, how your name is displayed, how your business is displayed. There's also an importance on recency when it comes to how you maintain your Google business profile. This isn't something that you can set and then, you know, forget about it. In six months, when you're asking for those reviews, recency matters. And if you're keeping your presence updated with new photos and things of that nature, those things are positive signals as well. And it shows that you're active, you're engaged, and those are things that the algorithm will be looking for as well.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: And make sure under Google My Business, you're checking that category. So what is it that you're actually showing up for? And you're categorized as a lot of people, you'd be surprised that they categorized themselves under the wrong category. So just double check all of that. And it's always good to just do a search. So in your local area, put that information in there, Medicare agent near me, see who's popping up, see what websites and see what directories are popping up. That's your guide right there of who Google is giving credit to.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Yeah, one little bonus nugget because I do think that that's a great piece of advice is when you do see who is showing up, if it's not you, then that's your homework assignment. What, what criteria do you see your competition using that is getting them to show up and, and try to narrow that gap. And searching for yourself is a great way to do that. And Jo, what advice do you have for agents out there who do want to optimize their Google presence for those local near me searches?
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Yeah, you have to start with Google. My business, Google, my business is, is popping up. And so you wanna make sure, you know, for example, I live and work in the Seminole area. So I wanna make sure that I'm popping up for the Seminole city location here in Florid.
Make sure my Google my business has my address, my business address on there. I would make sure that my website has my business address on there. All of my social media channels have to have my business address on there. In addition to that, I don't want to just say I'm Jo Barker Insurance. So it can say Jo Barker Insurance, insurance agent, Seminole. And add in those cities into those. There's SEO that's applied, so search engine optimization, that's applied to both the website and your social media accounts. So it's across the board everywhere. Make sure you're peppering in that city location, anywhere that you can from Google, my business website, Facebook, LinkedIn, anywhere where you're out there. If you want to show up for that city location, include it and make sure it's there. And you mentioned it earlier, it's vital to make sure they all match. So making sure you have the same name, the same phone number and the same address across all of those channels is vital because especially with AI, if anybody's searching on AI, if AI starts to lose faith that they have correct information because there's wrong information, it can actually hurt your ranking. And so that's something that you want to be careful of and just double check it as you're going into aep. Check that digital presence.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And these are things that are great to do across the calendar year, but especially before AEP begins. Jo, once people find you, it's now important to earn their trust and earn their decision.
So let's talk about building trust.
What type of content should our audience be creating ahead of AEP to capture trust?
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Anything that's going to provide value to your target audience. So if there is those frequently asked questions that you get, provide those answers. Any type of educational content that you can release that's going to answer the client or the potential client's question before they ever meet you, give the answers and put them online. Basically what you want to do is you want to answer everything for them so they start building the trust before you've ever even met them. And you're not asking for anything in return to do that. You're just being helpful and you're trying to help everybody out there. And that's where you'll start to see people connect with you because they know you're providing value. So they'll follow, they'll get their information from you. And then the hope is, is that they are going to connect with you because they've built that trust with you.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: What does that do for the sales cycle as well? Because if, if you're, you know, creating this content, you're kind of getting ahead of the curve, right?
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. So you don't even realize it's happening because you're creating so much great content and you're putting it out there and you're going to see the views go up. Don't worry too much in the beginning about the likes and the followers pay more attention to the impressions, especially now with social media. Social media isn't necessarily just delivering based on likes. Those impressions are critical now because they're sharing content that's resonating with more than just the people who follow you. So it's really important to watch those impressions. Put content, put content out there, keep producing content. You're going to see people who connect with you, and by the time they reach out to you, they've already built a relationship with you because you did all that work to get them ready. Now, if you start now, are you going to have all of that ranking by aep? Probably not. But think about how far ahead you're going to be to next year. And if you're providing education and you're providing, say it's the basic Medicare answers to basic questions, that's evergreen content, so you don't have to worry about it expiring or going away. It's the basic education of Medicare. So that is where I would start anything that's going to last me over time. And don't be afraid to answer the same question multiple times, you know, especially those questions that, you know, people ask all the time. Don't be afraid to keep reiterating content, asking that same question and just giving a little bit of a different spin each time.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: And we also know in the age of AI that it can be hard to stand out, especially if you're in a saturated market and you're selling the same products, especially during AEP as your competition. So when we're also building trust, it's also important to build a differentiation from your competition.
What does that look like in practice, Jo?
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Well, I think it comes out in your personality. So we are what set us apart. So I think we say it all the time. There's hundreds of thousands of digital marketers out there, and we're all out here talking about the same channels and the same type of tactics. But what sets us apart is the way that we present it and what we bring to our audiences. So people are going to connect with certain people and not with others. But the only way to make sure you're in the game is to be producing content like the, like your neighbor or your competitor is. If they're the only ones out there, then there's nobody else for them to connect with. One of the things that we hear a lot from agents and advisors is, oh, well, that video has been out there. Five other people have already done it. It's oversaturated. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if other people have done it. The fact is, is if you grab the attention of somebody and they are asking those type of questions, you want to make sure that you are the one providing the answers to that and you don't want to give them an excuse to go elsewhere because you don't have enough content out there. So create the content, even if it's the basic questions that you think everybody knows. I promise you, they don't. We deal with it all the time with marketing, where we think somebody knows what prompting us and, and then we realize, wait a minute, people don't even know what we're talking about when we say the word prompting, then we have to go back and make a video on it, which that's all quality content though, because we're ed, we're educating, and that's where people really need to get their mindset. Not so much selling. The sales will come. It's the education that's key and providing value that's key.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Let's keep this conversation moving, Jo, and talk about segmenting audiences, especially when you might, you know, sell multiple products and Medicare is just one of them. Heading into aep, it's very important to be organized and, and have your messaging lined up and automated if possible. So when we're talking about segmentation and email communication when it comes to aep, what can agents start doing right now.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: It's critical to make sure that you know who you're talking to. The last thing you want to do is diminish the trust that you've built over the time because you're sending the wrong message to the wrong people. So if you have certain people that you do not need to hit with AEP messaging because they're not on a, that's, that's for open enrollment right now. Get them into their own list so you can sort it by the type of product.
It's really critical, especially when you're dealing with lead list. So people that you've, you've captured their contact information, but you don't necessarily have a relationship with them. It's very different than how you're going to talk to somebody who you've sold a plan to in the past and you have a relationship, right? And so those conversations are completely different. You want to segment those lists and you want to make sure that you're building journeys and that you're building nurture campaigns that fit whoever that audience is. And so that way, if you have a lead list, you're trying to get them to a point to where you're providing enough value and then they want to maybe schedule an appointment with you to, to, to chat. If it's a current customer, you want to make sure that they're reviewing their plans and that if they have any questions, they're reaching out to you because you know there's plenty of other agents that are reaching out to them. So you want to protect that relationship and make sure that they know that you're still there.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: What is one email sequence? If a new agent out there is preparing for their first aep, what is one email sequence that they could get started on this week and have and have ready to go and set up. What advice would you have?
[00:12:05] Speaker A: I think, you know, the more value you can bring and the more creative you can get with it. So things we've done in the past is the five things you didn't know about. You know, basic Medicare.
It's those educational pieces that you put out there letting people know, hey, this is, this is what's coming up. And, and here's what you need to know about it. Coming into aep, this is what you need to know.
Setting appointments for them, getting those emails ready for them to schedule a call with you to review their plan to make sure that their plan is still the best fit. The more that you can prepare those emails to deploy during AEP or right as AEP hits That will save you time once you get going and then go ahead and schedule them to release.
So you want to make sure that you're preparing all of that ahead of time and it's just saving you time later because later you're going to be busy selling, you're going to be on the phone a lot and you're going to be talking a lot.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: And this is what this episode is all about. Trying to make sure that you don't have to be doing all of these things last minute while you're also trying to be there for your clients.
Jo, what role does AI play in that process or how can it help?
[00:13:07] Speaker A: I think it can inspire the content so you can work with AI and treat it as your virtual assistant and have it act as a content developer for you, content creation creator for you. Tell it exactly what you're trying to do. Make sure you put in there that, hey, know the CMS rules or know the rules around marketing for aep. Understand the rules of when I can and can't do things. It obviously is never going to act as compliance, but it can at least get in those guardrails that are, that are publicly known out there where it can pull it in from those sources and then the more that you can use it to, to create content. Think about your social media. Yeah, you're going to be busy during aep. You're probably not going to have time to be posting on social media all the time. So go ahead and start preparing those posts and start utilizing AI to help you create those content. Ideas, help it, even if you have ideas, help it to put in a prompt in there and ask it if it's a good idea. Tell it, tell it. Say, hey, tell me what the pros and cons are if I was to do this in AEP during aep is would this work? Just see what it is. You can use it as a sounding board. The best advice I have though is don't copy and paste. And I know we say that all the time, but it happens. Please do not copy and paste that content. People are going to know immediately that it's AI generated and then that trust goes down. Well.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: And email is such a, you know, relatively speaking, an intimate form of communication. I mean that is a one to one ratio where you are interrupting their day, you're interrupting their inbox. And so that aspect of it all matters too.
And that word trust is of course important. Let's keep talking about content though, because you just mentioned it and that and that keeps us moving and then we'll talk about social media a little bit more as well. But when we are thinking about what content we can create today, efficiency matters too. You could get in front of the camera for 10 minutes today and have all of October's content already planned and scheduled. And then if you just do that a couple more times, you've got all of AEP taken care of. If you just sit down and create a few pieces of anchor content this month before AEP begins. So Jo, we have a great podcast episode on this process, but can we give a high level overview of what an efficient anchor piece of content can do for you? And when building a content strategy, it's
[00:15:23] Speaker A: taking one topic and it's creating one long piece of content and then making sure that you're breaking it down to reutilize that across all the channels. So you could start with and use AI to help you here. You could start with utilizing AI for the top 10 frequently asked questions about Medicare. Go ahead and get that going and then from there, create a video on it from there. Now you've got, you know, you're obviously going to take it out of AI and you're going to put changes in there to make sure that it sounds like you and it's something that you would communicate. Make a video script out of that, do a quick video on it, especially if it's the top 10 things. Not only do you have one long form piece of content for YouTube, but now all of a sudden you've got 10 shorts. For those 10 items that you can utilize across social media, put the article on your website, take snippets of that article and use it with graphics that you're also putting out on social media. You can take one piece of content and turn it into 30 pieces and easily just make sure that you're recording and just get comfortable doing it. There's so many tools out there that can help you and utilizing those AI tools to even help with the content takes a huge lift off of it.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: And we'll link to that longer episode about how to create a month's worth of content in one day in the description below. So if you want to take a deeper dive, please check that out. And as promised, we will have a deeper dive for social media optimization and AEP and next week, so be sure to tune in for that. But let's, let's talk about social media quickly, Jo, because it's all a part, it's all connected here. When someone discovers you on Google, they are, there's a chance that they're going to go look for you on social media. So when it comes to aep, what role does social media play in the consumer journey? But also for our agents out there,
[00:17:01] Speaker A: it's a touch point. So you have to be where your audience is spending time. We know that 65/community, they're spending time on Facebook. That's between, between YouTube and Facebook. Those are the top two platforms where they're spending their time. If they're going to spend two to three hours a day there on social media, meet them where they're at. That's why it's critical to have content over there. If you're comfortable making videos, get on YouTube. We know they're on YouTube. We know that's where they're researching. We know that the 65/community likes to do their own research. We also know that once they've done their research, they like to call somebody and they want that re reassurance from an agent. So that is why it's critical is because they're out there researching themselves already and you want to make sure your content is popping up there. So when it's time for them to reach out, which they always do, that they're calling you. Otherwise your competitor is ahead of you.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Last but not least, I want to get into referrals because we know that that can be a gold mine for our.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: It should be a gold mine.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. So let's end with that and talk about referrals. When is the right time to ask for one and how does that fit into an overall marketing strategy?
[00:18:01] Speaker A: I think it can easily be put into the marketing strategy if you build it in there from the very beginning. So we know it should still be a top channel for anybody doing business. Referrals will always be up there. The digital channels and everything else are meant to complement and amplify those efforts. They're not meant to be the end all, be all. So referrals are absolutely critical. But there's easy ways to put that in there. It could be right after that selling. You know that you had a good experience with somebody asking them to leave you a Google review. We know there's going to be issues with Google because not everybody has a Gmail. And so from there ask them to go on Facebook and leave you a review. Take those testimonials and put those testimonials across your social media and then send them an email and say thank you so much for the review. If there's any of your friends or family that you believe I could be helpful with here's the services that I offer. Please, you know, please be sure to send them my way. It's very simple and it doesn't have to be pressuring. It's more just organically that you're, that you're putting that in there. It's also okay to post and say hey, if you know anybody who has questions or looking for help, that's why I'm here. Those educational webinars are incredible for that of just, it's because it's not intrusive and it's just saying, hey, I'm going to be answering frequently asked questions and providing education.
And here's the window where I'm either going to be at the library or I'm going to be online helping you. Please let your friends and family know in case any of them have questions, they can tune in. Yeah, it's very. And there's no commitment really from the person besides to be there and learn. And I can tell you there's a lot of confusion around Medicare and there's a lot of the consumers have a lot of questions. That's why they're googling and they're researching so much is because it can be very confusing.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: And when they are asking those questions, we want you to show up. And so that's what all of this is about is, is getting discovered, having an opportunity to build that trust, move a prospect closer to a decision and then if they have a great experience with you, ask for that referral. This is all a part of a marketing system and in pre AEP marketing checklist we are going to be providing actual checklist in the description down below. So if you need to refer back to anything that we talked about today, please download that and audit your process before AEP begins. But Jo, before we go, what do you think is something that can move the needle the most for our audience if they're, if they do one thing
[00:20:20] Speaker A: today, Email marketing, it's the most underutilized channel and it's people, you know, you spend so much money on those lists and you spend so much time and effort in building those relationships. Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with all of them. And it's low cost. It's why it has one of the highest ROIs out of all of the channels. So if I had any recommendation it would be getting prepared those journeys based off of the segments that we talked about earlier. If it's a lead list, start preparing that journey for that lead list. If it's your current clients, start preparing that journey and what that looks like.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Great advice Jo, and if you need any help throughout the month of September and of course through aep, although I have a feeling you'll be busy, you can always reach out to the Amerilife Marketing mentors and we will help guide you and create a custom strategy that can get you through the busy season. Jo, thank you so much for your insight today. Whenever you're watching this, good luck this AEP season and we'll see you next time.
