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So you work in what some – okay, many – consider to be a very boring industry.  Insurance.  Not a particularly sexy field.  But people need it.

So how then do you market an unexciting industry to an online audience when by reputation alone, this sector does no more than muster a yawn at the best of times?

How do you deal with the challenge of increasing the number of visitors to an insurance website and converting them into actual leads when the field you’re marketing is not the most interesting?

Content Marketing.
Let’s get the obvious out the way.  Yes.  People don’t like reading something boring, uninteresting or difficult understand.  This is especially so when it relates to products that seem to have no real-life application or tangibility.  

And whilst you’re navigating the content marketing trail, you’ll find yourself knocking your head against the wall – often.  Because trying to get a remarkably large audience to hear your voice in a marketplace that is extraordinarily overcrowded is hard.  

But content marketing works.  It’s how you tell the story that will determine how well that content will gain traction.

So how do you do it?

1. Rethink the usability of your content
Just because you think your insurance product or service is perceived to be the kind of subject matter that is something other than interesting – doesn’t make it so.

As Lauren Pope summarized in her ‘Pleading the case for bread and butter content’ presentation, the key is creating the “stuff that answers questions like who, what, where, when, why, how much and helps users to accomplish the task they came to your website with in mind”.

It’s what’s known as a static or evergreen content strategy.  It has no reliance on trying to go viral every day.  Instead, the main objective is twofold – (1) to consistently produce useful content centred on addressing people’s real-life actual concerns – and (2) to develop content that echoes your brand’s aims and values - as a means to build reliable steady traffic week after week.

2.  Producing content that isn’t necessarily related to your insurance products
By understanding the challenges that your clients struggle with you are able to produce content that will provide them with the tools and resources to help them manage those struggles better – assist them in solving problems.  

You are delivering solutions without directly selling your products – an approach that has a massive impact on consumer engagement, retention and also conversion.

In addition, you are establishing yourself as an authority in your industry, motivating customers to repeatedly turn to you for professional advice.  

The takeaway here is to think beyond just insurance products and services.  

Research what your target market is looking for and cater to those needs.  This is how trust is built. And this is how higher customer retention is ultimately achieved.

3.  Use a blend of content to become a master story teller
Remember.  You are not creating content for yourself.  And not everyone is an insurance broker who understands the – let’s face it – mind-numbingly uninspiring industry jargon.

You are writing for an audience who wants to hear a story that presents an idea or concept that they can relate to on an emotive level and that is relevant to the things that people are concerned about today.  

So figure out your buyer personas, establish where they are, and communicate your content to them in a way you know they will relate to.  Infographics, blogs, video, data – the list is pretty endless.  Once you’ve built up a steady stream of traffic, gaining traction shouldn’t be difficult.

And keep in mind that it’s been suggested that 57% of a purchase decision is complete before an average customer even calls a salesperson.  This means you need to be delivering content that contains the information that those customers are searching for constantly so that you aren’t unwittingly excluded from the buying process.

4.  Constantly review your content
In order to be sure that your content remains consistently useful and applicable, you need to evaluate its relevancy to your target market continuously.  This can be achieved through customer and topical surveys, as well as proper keyword research.  

Further, as Quicksprout also suggests, use other online tools to come up with ideas for new content.  Portent is great for generating potential blog post titles related to your industry.  Do a keyword search in Twitter and see what people are tweeting about in real time.  Then create blog posts related to these topics.   Visit Quora and find out what questions people are asking or do a blog search and establish which are getting the most comments or shares and formulate blog topics around those. Also, use Brandcore, a Content Marketing Platform, to plan your Brand stategy and Marketing plan, create, discover and distribute relevant content and reach your audience through the right Social Media channels.

The results of these actions will assist you in measuring the quality of your existing content, its usability in terms of whether customers can actually take it and apply it to real-life situations, and also its reliability.

5.  Use content marketing in synergy with other digital marketing activities
Social media marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Mobile marketing, Email marketing, Affiliate marketing - these are all means to elevate and drive your content marketing activities so that your content can reach your target audience.

And through the myriad of analytics tools available today, you will be able to track the results of your online activities at any given time enabling you to adjust your overall marketing strategy accordingly.

Measurability is crucial for determining conversion and retention rates, as well as for the ever critical ROI.

Conclusion
There is no such thing as a boring industry or one that isn’t marketable.  And using content marketing should help you achieve the results you want provided you are prepared to invest the time and effort needed.

Keep in mind that you will need a good few months to create the high quality content required to implement your content marketing plan.  And then be sure that you market that content effectively, strategically, for no amount of good content will gain you the lead generation that you want unless it’s marketed properly.