Pat Alexander

A few weeks ago I had the honor of be a presenter at the PIIAC Annual Conference. My afternoon workshop was “Your Brand, the Web and Social Media”. I love doing this session. Since the landscape of the subject matter is constantly changing it is always a challenge to be as current as possible. I am no expert in any of these fields but I do have lots of working experience and study on these subjects and their interconnectivity. I find that many insurance agencies don’t have grasp of the importance of this. When doing this workshop I like to find an agency in the area that is doing all of these things really well.  Besides the audience learning awesome, practical information, I get to learn new things as well.

There is much debate about this. There is proof in both opinions. Some very successfull websites just don’t appeal to me. They look junkie or have no “personality”. But it is easy to see what your next steps are. They use big colored buttons to guide you through what you need to do. However, I do believe that a site can be both really functional, clean and nice looking. An example of this would be GRSites. I subscribe to this site and use it to build custom buttons for websites. My comments about this site:

• It is clean and easy to read.
• It is clear by their use of buttons what you need to do to subscribe.
• In the subscription section of the site you are easily led through the process of creating and customizing your buttons.
• Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

I very much dislike websites with black or dark backgrounds as I find them hard to read. So I just move on. If a site is not easy to navigate and information is not easily accessible, I am not spending anytime there unless it is my only alternative.

I spend a good deal of time working with agencies to design the look and content of their websites. Most of them have very strong opinions about their look. I think their look is an important part of presenting themselves to the public and represents their brand and many of them have an idea based on printed materials that they use to promote their business. Most of my clients are usually stuck on content. Some are even paralyzed to move forward because they have no idea what their site should say or do. They also have trouble envisioning how their website should be a tool for their clients or how to attract prospects.

Just recently I received an email from one of my clients that read:

Pat:

I had a client come by this week who had received the names of several potential advisors to utilize. She said she got on all the web sites and really liked mine the best and that’s how she decided to come see me!

I wanted to share that with you! So thanks for doing such a great job on the site!

Martin Day, CFP®
Financial Advisor
1200 S. Main St., Ste. 1600 • Grapevine, TX 76051
P. 817.865.1810 • F. 817.424.1404

Box Financial Advisors

Now, how the look of the site would attract clients was not a discussion Martin and I had. Our discussions revolved more around content and functionality and a bit on the design. But what a wonderful thing to know that you have a site that a prospect would think enough of and gathered enough information from to contact you. I think it is a balance of all of these issues that need to be considered when working on your site.

If you are looking for someone to help you with your site, check out Agency Web Strategy. This site provides you with information about my services in website design and creation. What are your questions and concerns about creating or updating your website?

I have heard many people say that they don’t think social media is a very good way to meet people. Usually they say that it is only valuable to meet people face-to-face. I guess these people have forgotten how they probably first met many of their clients by a telephone call. Either the client called in as a prospect or as a new producer they spent a good deal of time making telephone calls to introduce themselves and get interest from the prospect. Also, think about those insurance carrier underwriters and brokers that you talk to almost every day. Have you met all of them in person? Did you always know them the 1st time you ever called them? My experience is that the answer is often, no I haven’t met them. But I have built some great, long term business relationships and friendships with a number of these individuals and I still haven’t met some of them.

I look at today’s social media as the new phone call. Best part is, there is no playing tag or leaving voice mail. Over the past 2 years I have met some pretty great people via social media. Sometimes I am introduced, other times, I introduce myself. Some of them I have never met and some of them I have never talked to on the phone. However, that has not impaired our ability to communicate, help each other and do business together.