Regardless of whether you have an all-singing email service provider, or simply use your office Outlook system, if done properly (with the necessary email marketing permissions in place) email marketing is arguably your most effective digital marketing tool.

Our top tips for improvements are to listen to what your customers are struggling with and use your emails to provide support, ideas and solutions.

Give your emails personality, use a tone-of-voice that supports your brand, and give them a compelling subject line (we suggest around 50 characters).

Keep your emails short and single-minded and write for the quick read ‘on the go’, rather than the long read at a desk.

And don’t forget to monitor open-rates and click-throughs if you have that data available. It’s a great way to see what’s resonating with your audience and to make further improvements.

If you’re interested in finding out how your email marketing stacks up against your broker peers, then head to Marketing Elevator to find out.

Got a specific question about email marketing? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

When it comes to social media marketing, our first tip is to make sure you’re on the platforms where your customers are. Seems simple, right? There’s little benefit wasting time, energy and resources posting business updates on Facebook, if your clients are all on LinkedIn.

A quick review of your social media accounts, including how many followers you have and what engagement you’re getting is a good start.

Is your profile updated? Are your posts showcasing your expertise? Are you posting too little or too much?

Score your social media marketing by heading over to Marketing Elevator and answering a few short questions. You can even see how you compare to your broker peers.

Got a specific question about social media? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

We know not everyone has the luxury of a design studio at their disposal, but simple things can make the communications you produce look professional. Use high resolution images that don’t look pixilated and blurry. Are you using your logo correctly – not stretching it out of shape? Is there a specially designed version to be used on different coloured backgrounds? Do you have a company font that you should be using and certain company colours?

Make sure you’re designing with your audience in mind. Are things laid out in a way that is well signposted for your clients? Do you have a strong and clear call-to-action, so they know how to get in touch with you to do business?

It takes a special skill to be a copywriter, but keeping sentences short and easy to digest all helps the reader. Double-check your spelling and grammar. There’s a great webinar about ‘How to write copy that gets read’ on Broker Mentor, that’s well worth a watch to help you here.

We’ve a ready-made suite of professionally designed and copywritten marketing templates available for you to use on Broker Create too. You can upload your logo and company details into the online tool and download content on underinsurance, cyber, risk management and much more.

Got a specific question about design or copywriting? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

Events and trade shows are a good way to get out from behind the desk and showcase your company. Something as simple as having a pull-up banner behind you with your brokerage name and website address is a great advertisement and can be eye-catching and look professional.

Consider having some useful branded merchandise to give to clients and prospects to keep you top of mind.

Make a note of what your competitors' stands are like and what works well (and not so well). Gathering feedback and having a post-event debrief is a great way to evaluate the return on investment. How many conversations did you have and how many leads were generated? Is it worth attending that event or trade show again?

Got a specific question about events? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

Whether it’s quantitative (questionnaire) or qualitative (focus groups) research, taking a moment to pause and reflect by asking your clients for their feedback is a great way to ensure you’re still delivering on meeting their needs (and can do something about it if you aren’t).

A customer satisfaction survey is one way to feed into demonstrating your commitment to delivering good customer outcomes for your clients (Consumer Duty). We’ve a handy customer satisfaction survey template on Broker Create to help.

Got a specific question about research? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

Content marketing is the art of achieving your growth targets by communicating with your prospects and customers, but without actually having to sell to them. A great place to start is by creating a content calendar, helping you to co-ordinate your marketing activity across all of your available communication channels and ensure you hit those all-important deadlines.

Thinking about dedicating a certain month to promoting a particular product? Attending a trade show or event? Make a note of your key dates first. Consider messages that are more relevant at certain times of the year and what your audience will be interested in hearing about. An example of this could be risk management information that’s linked to the changing seasons.

If you’re needing inspiration, then check out the free marketing templates on Broker Create. Here you’ll find approved content ready for you to use on underinsurance, cyber, seasonal risk management and much more.

Got a specific question about content creation? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

If you already use it, you’ll know that Google Analytics is an amazing tool for marketing and business development. Without its insight on metrics such as users, popular pages and engagement, many decisions can end up being made by intuition, or even guesswork.

Ensuring your website has some form of analytics available shows a commitment to understanding marketing with data.

If you’re interested in improving your online presence, ask us for your Digital Aptitude Report. This bespoke report analyses and scores your company website and social media (including whether you have web analytics or not).

Got a specific question about website analytics? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

Your brand is a powerful differentiator. Effective branding reassures, it delivers credibility and builds trust. The more appealing and positive it is to customers, the more likely they are to buy from you.

Are you presenting the most engaging image of your business across your marketing communications and appealing to your target audience?

If you do a quick review of your website, social media, emails, newsletters, branded merchandise etc, will potential clients be impressed by what they see? Is your brand identity consistent? If you laid everything out side by side on a table, would it look like it all came from the one same place?

We’re big advocates of video content and producing a corporate video is a great way to build trust and gravitas in your brand. It doesn’t have to cost the earth! Ask us about our video creation support.

Got a specific question about brand? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com

When did you last update your website? A month ago? A year? Longer? A really good website can create valuable brand equity and a growing business should look to invest in a constantly evolving and quality site.

An unloved website can quickly repel potential new clients, who may decide whether or not to call you based on their immediate perception of your business, as they see it through the lens of your website.

Every time you update and improve your website, Google recalculates your website’s position on the relevant search page. So, if your competitors are consistently improving their website, your page ranking may quickly begin to slide.

If you’re thinking about improving your website, or maybe you’ve recently launched a new website, ask us for your Digital Aptitude Report. This bespoke report analyses your company’s website and social media, scoring you on a range of metrics from loading speed, to search engine optimisation and content and design. You’ll even see how you benchmark against your broker peers. Once recommended changes have been implemented, we can re-score your website to see how its improved.

Got a specific question about website best practice? Drop us a line at marketingsupport@aviva.com