Throughout the early and mid-1990s, direct mail was king and seminars were queen if you were marketing LTCI. These two avenues were the most efficient and effective ways to reach seniors. Things, however, have changed. Not only have the demographics of the market changed, but we are dealing with a more-educated consumer who can access information at the click of a mouse.
Today, you can find more Web sites on the Internet about long term care than you will ever have time to read. The problem is, most of the information available on the Internet is outdated, nothing more than a regurgitation of old insurance carrier brochures that give consumers just enough information to make them dangerous. How can you use Internet technology, keep your information relevant, and enhance your marketing efforts? Here are four guidelines you should use when developing your Web site:
1. Provide the information and answers the client is looking for.
2. Present accurate and information with good visual appeal.
3. Have open access.
4. Contain tools that will help visitors work through some of the complex financial issues surrounding LTCI.
Let's take a look at each of these items individually.
Provide information and answers
First and foremost, the content on your Web site must be relevant. It cannot be an electronic regurgitation of a carrier brochure. Use content that helps move your Web site visitors further along the decision-making process. There should be a brief discussion of what long-term care is and why it is important to the client. This should be followed by an explanation about what LTCI is and why people benefit from making it a part of their financial portfolio.
Too many LTCI Web sites today just contain page after page of statistics. The majority of consumers do not believe that they are or will become a statistic. Many consumers consider the use of statistics a scare tactic. Instead of motivating them to action, it evokes the opposite reaction. If you do need a few statistics to convey your concept, be judicious in their use. Studies today show that consumers want to feel empowered during the decision-making process. They do not want to feel they have been led by the nose and manipulated by statistics or information that may or may not be relevant to them.
Your Web site should also contain information regarding Medicare and Medicaid. If your state offers a partnership program, that information should be included, as well. A discussion of tax issues and how they apply to tax-qualified LTCI needs to be addressed. You are aiming to offer a thorough explanation of the problem while motivating the visitor to contact you for a solution.
Accurate information with good visual appeal
Make sure you keep your Web site content up-to-date and accurate. The content of your site is a direct reflection on you. If your visitors do not feel your information can be trusted, they will most likely feel the same about you.
A professional should develop your Web site. Many consumers, including baby boomers, use the Internet for both personal and business use every day. They are used to professionally designed sites. If your site is nothing more than a few poorly put together pages, it will reflect badly on your professional image.
Your site also needs to be easy to navigate, and information must be easily accessible. Marketing research has shown that if visitors become frustrated while trying to navigate a site, they will leave. Try to present your content in a logical manner that leads your prospective client through a step-by-step learning process.
Open access to information
Do not require your visitors to provide personal information in order to view your site. If you require a name, email, or phone number, most visitors will either give you dummy information or leave your site and look for information elsewhere. The idea is to have a Web site in which your information is so well presented that it projects a sense of professionalism and confidence to your visitor. It should make them want to contact you for further information.
Personalized tools and calculators
Be sure your Web site contains tools and calculators that help make the visit more personal. If you are going to have cost-of-care information, make it relative to your client and have it reflect cost-of-care numbers for the major cities in your state. Have interactive charts that will help explain complex topics such as saving premiums to self-insure, the impact of inflation on both daily benefit and elimination periods, and recouping premiums. Your interactive charts must allow the visitor to enter their age, interest rates, and tax brackets.
Your charts become more effective and have greater influence when information is personalized and based specifically on each client's particular information. When examples use interest rates or tax brackets, the impact is more powerful and more realistic. A successful Web site should make each visitor feel that the site has been designed especially for them.
One final thought
A Web site is not an electronic yellow page ad. It is part TV commercial and infomercial, part encyclopedia, part resume, part public relations vehicle, and most importantly, part of your sales presentation. In order for your Web site to help increase your sales, you must market it. You must make people aware that you have one.
There are many effective ways to market a Web site, but the simplest and most important is to make sure you place your Web address on your business cards and letterhead and mention it on your voicemail system.
Take a hard look at your Web site. Does it really project the image you want to convey as a professional? Or if you do not currently have a Web site, then you are trying to compete without the means that consumers and boomers are using on a daily basis to get the information they need to make crucial decisions. We have moved into a new era, and in order to create a successful practice and continue to grow, we need to possess and use the tools of that era.
Phillip Sullivan is president of SellingLTC.com LLC, a marketing company that specializes in providing LTCI sales and marketing solutions for insurance carriers, general agencies, and independent producers. Mr. Sullivan has over 30 years' direct sales success, with the last 15 years dedicated exclusively to LTCI. He can be reached at 877-603-2771 or psullivan@sellingltc.com. For more information, visit www.sellingltc.com.
