2025-01-31 08:55:48
Last updated: January 30, 2025
In this report, we share our team’s findings on the top 8 insurance SEO agencies of 2025. During the course of our analysis, we examined 54 SEO agencies that either specialize in working in the insurance industry or have a strong portfolio of insurance clients. We then ranked them based on the following factors:
Below the table, we provide a brief description of each agency’s focus, as well as the types of insurance clients they’re most adept at working with.
| Rank | Company | Established | Founder Led | Leadership Experience Score | Average Review Score | Median Employee Tenure | Media References | Notable Clients | Focus |
| 1 | First Page Sage | 2009 | Yes | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.3 years | ~700 | Assured Partners, Newfront Insurance, Advisors Excel | Thought leadership-based SEO for small to midsized insurance agencies |
| 2 | Clay Agency | 2016 | Yes | 4.4 | 4.6 | 2.4 years | ~340 | Hogue Insurance Agency, Midsouth Benefits | Conversion rate optimization for SEO, UI/UX design, web design |
| 3 | REQ | 2008 | No | 4.7 | 4.5 | 3.9 years | ~240 | WellNet | Combined branding, advertising, and SEO for insurance companies |
| 4 | Agency Marketing Machine | 2013 | Yes | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.8 years | ~40 | KWS Insurance, Ferrulo Insurance Agencies | Social media management & SEO for insurance agencies |
| 5 | Insurance Marketing Partners | 2013 | Yes | 4.7 | 4.4 | 6.3 years | ~5 | Integrity Insurance Agency, Couri Insurance Associates | Combining paid search and geotargeted SEO for small insurance agencies |
| 6 | Musselwhite Marketing Agency | 2009 | Yes | 3.7 | 4.2 | No data | ~40 | Insurance by Castle, Stromsoe Insurance Agency | Full service digital marketing for local insurance agencies |
| 7 | Confluency Solutions | 2004 | Yes | 4.1 | 4.0 | No data | ~5 | Insurance Advantage Agency | SEO-focused website design for insurance agencies |
| 8 | LocaliQ | 2008 | No | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.6 years | ~1,250 | N/A | Geotargeted SEO for local brokers |
First Page Sage‘s approach to insurance SEO focuses on lead generation, combining SEO strategy with thought leadership content. Their campaigns are full-service, handling technical SEO, keyword research, content creation, and conversion optimization. First Page Sage works best with insurance agencies that prioritize long-term ROI over short-term results, as their stated aim is to turn insurance websites into vehicles for ongoing, organic lead generation.
Clay Agency’s approach focuses on conversion rate and UX optimization, as organic traffic is only valuable when visitors convert into sales leads. This approach is a natural fit for SEO, as both rely on an understanding of visitor psychology to be most effective. Because of Clay’s focus, their most successful clients are those with respectable organic traffic numbers, but have difficulty translating this traffic into meaningful results.
REQ straddles the line between advertising and SEO, using both to establish and promote a strong brand identity for their insurance clients. They excel at audience research and translating their understanding of customer needs into a comprehensive marketing strategy. Because of their focus on branding, REQ’s services are best suited for midsized and larger insurance firms who want to update their design language in addition to establishing a strong search presence.
Agency Marketing Machine exclusively works with insurance agencies, offering an array of marketing services. Their best work is in combining local SEO with social media to develop a strong digital presence for their clients. They’re an ideal choice for smaller insurance agencies, particularly those that are primarily B2C, as B2B clients tend to see less success from social media marketing.
Insurance Marketing Partners combines web design, local SEO, and paid search for their clients. In addition to Google, they also provide search optimization services for Bing and Yahoo, helping clients be found on a variety of search engines. While they’re a good fit for smaller insurance agencies, their smaller size can make it difficult to scale their services for clients that wish to grow.
Musselwhite Marketing Agency offers a personal touch and brings together every aspect of digital marketing under one roof. In addition to SEO, they offer paid search, email marketing, and online video marketing for their insurance clients. As with Insurance Marketing Partners, however, Musselwhite’s smaller size makes it difficult for their services to scale and they work best with smaller, local agencies.
Confluency Solutions priority is SEO-focused web design, working exclusively with insurance agencies to build mobile and search-optimized websites. They also offer social media marketing and paid search, making them a good fit for small agencies that value rapid lead generation over long-term ROI.
LocaliQ focuses on providing geotargeted SEO for smaller insurance agencies, but unlike the other agencies on this list, they have a deep pool of talent to draw from. This makes their services more scalable, allowing their campaigns to grow with their clients’ needs. Because LocaliQ services prioritize technical SEO, keyword research, and optimization of existing content, they work best with insurance agencies that have strong writers on staff, or otherwise are able to produce their own content.
2025-01-31 08:40:46
Last updated January 30, 2024
This report provides our findings on 2025’s top real estate SEO agencies, based on:
Because real estate SEO is a complex niche, our study includes many ad agencies that work across a variety of non-traditional SEO channels (social media, video marketing, etc). These channels make up a critical element of an efficient SEO strategy, hence their inclusion in our list.
| Rank | Company | Established | Founder Led | Leadership Experience Score | Average Review Score | Median Employee Tenure | Notable Clients | Specialty |
| 1 | First Page Sage | 2009 | Yes | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.3 years | Corcoran, Apollo Group, We Buy Ugly Houses | Thought leadership-based SEO for real estate companies |
| 2 | REQ | 2008 | No | 4.6 | 4.7 | 3.9 years | The Empire State Building, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino | Branding and UX focused SEO |
| 3 | Focus Digital | 2018 | Yes | 4.3 | 4.8 | No data | N/A | SEO, content marketing, and lead generation for small businesses |
| 4 | LocaliQ | 2018 | No | 4.4 | 4.5 | 3.6 years | CuliQuip, TGM Associates | Local SEO for real estate small businesses |
| 5 | Jives Media | 2012 | Yes | 4.2 | 4.4 | 1.8 years | LBI Living, Gulf Living Group | Video production and UX design for SEO |
| 6 | Lyfe Marketing | 2011 | Yes | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.3 years | University Realty, Mastermine Investments, LLC | Combined social media marketing & SEO |
| 7 | ChatterBuzz Media | 2012 | Yes | 4.3 | 4.2 | 3.4 years | Orlando Regional Realtor Association | Technical SEO & paid search |
The sections below outline each company in further detail, offering additional insights about the company and who they might be best suited for.
First Page Sage is the top real estate SEO agency in the US. Their approach to SEO generates MQLs through thought leadership content that provides readers with the best possible answer to their search while also directing conversations about important real estate concepts. Their main service combines technical SEO, keyword research, and ghostwriting expert-level content with the goal of turning the company’s website into an organic lead generation machine. Their experience providing SEO to real estate firms is wide-ranging, ranging from agencies, development companies, lenders, and investment funds.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| First Page Sage offers “excellent SEO services” to its real estate clients, with their “longer alignment period” resulting in “highly targeted content“. |
REQ is an ad agency that blurs the line between digital marketing and SEO, utilizing a holistic approach to consult, optimize, and create content on behalf of clients. Ultimately, they specialize in branding, finding a unique language for your company that distinguishes it from your competition. By taking these tools typically used to create customer personas for SEO purposes, their audience research provides clients with the tools needed to craft a unique vernacular that speaks directly to the needs of their audience.
Branding services, however, are not necessary for every company—larger real estate companies who need to refresh their visual and commercial language in addition to increasing their online visibility are the best fit for REQs services.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| REQ boasts “excellent team and strategy”, and they “provide a deep bench of expertise.” Some clients, however, feel that REQ could do more to “look for different ways to pitch services”. |
Focus Digital is a boutique firm that has excellent SEO chops but offers affordable prices due to their smaller headcount. Their strategy focuses on writing targeted content for high-intent keywords, measuring their results in qualified leads as opposed to leading indicators like traffic or rankings. They are a great choice for small businesses looking for high-end SEO services at a reasonable rate.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| Focus Digital “meticulously focuses” on each client and is “in a constant state of innovation” on the newest SEO strategies and best practices. |
LocaliQ specializes in local SEO for small businesses, working with multi-family housing providers, new home builders, realtors, and property developers. Their services are scalable, and can expand with their clients’ successes and needs.
Their SEO service focuses on on-site optimization and keyword research over content creation, and clients will benefit most when they have an in-house content production team already in place.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| Most LocaliQ customers report having a “a good working relationship” and that teams “go the extra mile” to ensure that their clients get the results they need. Some, however, report that they are “not satisfied”. |
Jives Media takes a holistic approach to marketing, offering social media and video marketing services in addition to their SEO services in order to increase audience engagement and drive conversions. They focus more on paid search than most SEO agencies, which can generate excellent short-term results for clients seeking to test out new keywords or find new audiences. While they do offer content production, their focus is on video content rather than SEO content.
The services offered at Jives Media make them an ideal fit for someone a) seeking to solidify their branding via video marketing or b) wish to invest in a new website design but have existing high-quality content.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| Jives Media brings value with a “unique quick turnaround time” and “their level of professionalism is impressive.” |
Lyfe Marketing offers social media marketing services in addition to SEO, helping clients increase the conversion rates of organic visitors by creating multiple touchpoints. A full service agency, they’re an ideal fit for a hands-off customer who wants to have their marketing handled entirely by a more experienced party. This makes them well suited for newer companies who lack an in-house marketing team.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| Lyfe Marketing offers a “one-stop shop for all digital marketing needs.” they also impress with their “quality service for a very fair price.” While they sometimes “miss deadlines”, but are “quick to adapt and are very responsive”. |
ChatterBuzz Media focuses on mobile and web development and technical auditing for real estate companies, finding and resolving any UX issues that stand in the way of higher conversion rates. While they do provide content creation services, it is not their main focus. This makes them a good fit for companies with existing high quality content but suffer from low conversion rates.
| Summary of Online Reviews |
| ChatterBuzz’s clients say they “really work with them as partners” because “they embrace who their clients are and what they’re doing”, though those in unique markets report that they “had to tweak a few things” |
2025-01-31 06:33:19
Last updated: January 30, 2025
Traditional marketers often think of SEO in terms of outdated practices like keyword stuffing and link buying; however, the reality of modern SEO is far more nuanced. SEO is a process requiring an intimate knowledge of a given target audience in order to create content that accurately speaks to them. Further, it requires extensive testing and analysis to ensure performance continues improving over time.
This article serves as a guide to creating your own SEO campaign, consisting of all the best practices you need to follow to produce a significant ROI. The best practices you should follow are:
The most effective way to organize an SEO campaign is to use the Corpus of Content model. In this model, marketers prioritize their most revenue-generating activities by grounding their SEO strategy with three principles:
Taken together, these principles give rise to additional best practices, beginning with keyword research.
Focusing research around topical content pillars is the most effective way to research keywords for an SEO campaign. This approach revolves around two elements:
For example, if you wished to target the “nearshore outsourcing” pillar, potential keywords would include “nearshore outsourcing services”, “nearshore outsourcing companies”, “nearshore outsourcing benefits”, and “nearshore outsourcing company”, as shown below:
An SEO campaign should target at most 4-6 pillars in order for your website to be regarded as a niche expert by Google (allowing your pages to rank more highly than those of generalist websites). Your pillars should be chosen to best represent your company’s core specialties (assuming those are where you want to focus your customer acquisition efforts). For example, a financial services firm may choose pillars such as:
They would then use these to choose keywords based on their search intent and volume, as we discuss below.
The value of keywords is measured through two criteria:
One of the easiest methods to distinguish keyword volume is by using Google autocomplete.
While it is the most accessible tool to measure keyword volume, Google autofill provides users with the least data on an individual keyword. For a more comprehensive keyword breakdown, strategists will need to work with more advanced tools. Below are the three most popular keyword research tools and the pros and cons of each.
| Engine | Pros | Cons |
| Moz |
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| SEMrush |
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| Ahrefs |
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Whatever tool is being used, it is key that marketers select keywords that appeal to various user search intents. This refers to the purpose with which users type in a particular keyword and varies in use case, as displayed in the graphic below. Targeting keywords of varying search intents that nonetheless fall into your area of expertise is the primary method by which a campaign draws online visitors further down your sales funnel toward a conversion. Targeting each stage of the search intent reduces the number of potential missed leads and maximizes those eventual conversions.
The more transactional a keyword is, the more interested its searchers are in making a purchase—and by extension, the higher the page’s conversion rate. Most transactional keywords share common phrases such as “company”, “services”, or “buy” as shown below:
| Search Intent | Buy | Commit | Evaluate |
| Keyword Example | “buy [product name]”“[service type] services” “[item name] sale/discount” |
“[product] review”“[product] vs [competitor]”
“[service] features/benefits” |
“best team management software”“[service] advantages and disadvantages” |
Reaching a target audience means formatting your content to best address their needs and interests. While the content on a page affects this outcome, the type of page used is also important to keep track of.
The most commonly used page types in an SEO campaign include:
Like most other elements of SEO, which page type to use is deeply affected by the user’s search intent. For example:
| Search Intent | Appropriate Page Types |
| Learn | Hub Page, FAQ, Blog Post |
| Explore | Hub Page, Blog Post, Report |
| Clarify | Blog Post, FAQ, Landing Page |
| Solve | Blog Post, Report, White Paper |
| Evaluate | Blog Post, Case Study |
| Confirm | Case Study, White Paper |
| Buy | Landing Page |
Gearing content according to both its designed intent and the user’s search intent makes it more likely to achieve the desired effect, moving the user further down your sales funnel until the point of an eventual conversion. This strategy, of course, depends on whether the content itself is accurately geared toward the reader.
While there are many approaches to content creation, thought leadership produces content that targets every search intent rather than just transactional searches. Thought leadership allows campaigns to not only capitalize on short term lead generation, but also nurture existing leads into customers longer term.
Thought leadership content differs from standard content marketing in that it seeks to build trust with the reader by providing them with insightful information. Doing so establishes the company as an authority in the eyes of the reader, making them more trustworthy and their product or service more appealing.
Thought leadership content possesses the following attributes:
Understanding search intent is necessary to producing thought leadership content. For example, an article targeting a research-oriented keyword like “what are solar panels?” should contain information discussing the background of solar panels, how they work, and the overall advantages/disadvantages of using solar panels. By contrast, a transactional-keyword like “[company name] solar panel review” should contain information about the performance of the company’s solar panels, a suggestion on whether or not to buy, and an appropriate link to a product/service landing page.
Thought leadership has become the de facto standard for ranking highly in the last few years. Lower effort content could rank in the mid-2000s but excellence is required nowadays, along with consistent publishing.
In addition to quality, marketing teams must also produce a high quantity of articles over the medium term (18-24 months); doing so proves to Google that the company is a consistent contributor to the dialogue in its industry.
On average, high-ROI SEO campaigns publish at least 2x a week continuously. When the campaign gets into year two, these publications can sometimes be replaced with changes made on the website, however year one should primarily focus on publication of new content. Around the 6-month mark of routine publication, most campaigns experience a bump in their rankings, as shown below:To assist with regular publishing, your team should organize their content plan using a keyword map like the one below:
| Value Rank | Keyword | Page Type | Page Location | Content Plan |
| #1 | “nearshore outsourcing” | Hub | Link from header nav under “Specialties” as “Nearshore Outsourcing” | Comprehensive descriptive page introducing searchers to how nearshore outsourcing works, expected cost savings and ROI, options for engaging, and the best way to navigate those options, with links to 8 supporting “spoke” pages in “further reading” box at bottom. |
| #2 | “nearshore outsourcing company” | Service Landing Page |
Linked from header nav under “Services” as “Nearshore Software Development” | Sales landing page containing a quick value statement at the top; validation logos; a How it Works diagram; and a brief deeper dive into Next Steps with CTAs |
| #3 | “nearshore outsourcing services” | Service Landing Page |
Included in title tag of “Nearshore Software Development” Sales LP above. | Same as above. |
| #4 | “nearshore outsourcing companies” | Comparison Table Blog | Linked from header nav under “Resources” as “The Best Nearshore Outsourcing Companies of 2021” | Comparison blog with featured table comparing 5 semi-competitors to client + client along the X axis, and various categories along the Y axis, e.g. Packages, Pricing, Notable Clients, etc + a 1-5 star score. Below table, companies are described more fully, along with Pros and Cons, in dedicated sections below. |
| #5 | “nearshore outsourcing benefits” | FAQ Blog | Linked from blog grid only as “What are the Benefits of Nearshore Outsourcing?” | List page: Immediate pros/cons list at top, followed by explanation of which companies it’s right for; companies it’s wrong for; a process diagram; and a How to Get Started section leading to a CTA. |
This calendar lays out the keyword, its page type, location, content plan, and value rank for each keyword, streamlining your team’s targeting, content creation, and publishing process.
Securing the longstanding performance of a campaign requires the ability to test its performance to identify existing strengths and weaknesses. This is a six-step process:
Often, this approach requires the implementation of a single change at a time, also called A/B Testing. This process requires patience to assess the impact of implemented changes before determining whether the change was a success or failure. Because this process consists of waiting for enough visitors to click on the page rather than a set time frame, this can be especially challenging for young campaigns that are not already getting a high amount of traffic.
As this article shows, executing a successful SEO campaign is complex and multi-dimensional. It requires an experienced team with knowledge not only of SEO best practices but also conversion optimization, UX, graphic design, and marketing analytics.
Staying up to date with the latest innovations can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned marketers. For this reason, many companies outsource their SEO campaigns to an agency that focuses solely on the discipline of SEO.
Our full-service SEO agency specializes in creating thought leadership content designed to speak to the varying search intents of your audience. Our teams handle every stage of the campaign, from keyword research to page selection to article creation, as well as conversion optimization and analytics. Feel free to contact us to discuss a future partnership.
2025-01-30 05:42:09
Last updated: Jannuary 25, 2025
Choosing the best B2B marketing channels from the many available options is a critical decision for every marketing department. To properly evaluate each channel, our team has gathered data from 150+ B2B marketing projects spanning 30+ industries between 2020 and 2024. Below, we compare the customer acquisition cost (CAC) and return on investment (ROI) of 11 different B2B marketing channels, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
| # | Channel | Average CAC | Average ROI* | Summary |
| 1 | Speaking Engagements at Industry Events | $518 | 856% | This is the most effective B2B lead generation strategy if you have an influential speaker, especially when done consistently. |
| 2 | Thought Leadership SEO | $647 | 748% | SEO is a high ROI marketing method when using the right campaign strategy, but it takes 4-6 months of dedicated labor from a specialized team before you see returns. |
| 3 | $510 | 261% | Email campaigns can be effective with the correct language that speaks to the audience’s pain points, but compiling the right lists of recipients takes 1-2 years. Email is far better at lead nurturing than lead generation. | |
| 4 | PPC/SEM | $802 | 36% | When done with precision, PPC can yield a solid ROI (though not one that can compare with organic, which substitutes creativity & time for money), but it can also turn into a money pit if utilized inconsistently. |
| 5 | Account Based Marketing (ABM) | $4,664 | 240% | ABM is beneficial for firms looking to secure a few large contracts per year, but it relies on a solid salesperson to push high value prospects through the sales funnel. |
| 6 | Webinars | $603 | 430% | Webinars are excellent for converting prospects via educational opportunities, but producing a top-notch webinar and finding the right attendees can be challenging. |
| 7 | LinkedIn Organic | $658 | 229% | LinkedIn allows you to easily reuse material from other thought leadership campaigns, is low effort, and has a reasonably strong return. There’s no reason not to do it. |
| 8 | LinkedIn Advertising | $983 | 192% | LinkedIn advertising, like ABM, allows you to target decision-makers but it can quickly grow expensive and plateau in average CAC and overall ROI. |
| 9 | Industry Trade Shows | $1,390 | 85% | In-person networking in a setting with many potential clients is powerful, but these gatherings may be costly and competitive. |
| 10 | Public Relations | $1,720 | 62% | PR is expensive but highly effective when paired with other marketing channels, particularly when building awareness or launching a new product. |
| 11 | Direct Mail | $864 | 77% | Direct mail ROI still works decently well, especially for facilities services businesses, but is challenging to quantify and most decision makers will never see your mailing. |
*3-year average
This is represented in the chart below:
We now break down each of these B2B marketing channels in more detail, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as the role they should play in your marketing program.
Speaking engagements build “expert” credibility for your company and give you the opportunity to address a captive audience that includes key decision makers. These more personable and intimate interactions create a longer-lasting impression than writing a blog post or white paper. However, one disadvantage is that, unlike a white paper or blog post, the experience is fleeting, so you must create a strong impact – thus, the quality of the speaker you send to events is what creates the ROI.
In addition to having a charismatic, accomplished speaker, your team will also need to put in the necessary work to coordinate speaking at conferences and events, which entails investigating which events your target demographic will attend and applying to speak at them. You’ll need to either:
There is a tipping point with speaking; after a few years, event organizers will begin reaching out to you regularly to book engagements.
Thought leadership SEO is the combination of creating thought leadership content to establish your business as an industry leader, and SEO, thereby growing your presence in Google’s search rankings and attracting organic traffic. It can be tailored to target lower-funnel prospects using search intent analysis, allowing you to generate genuinely interested MQLs. The thought leadership you create also serves as a body of original content content for lead nurturing, whether on your website or when repurposed for other marketing channels.
To run a successful thought leadership SEO campaign, you must:
Following these best practices will result in your website becoming a steady source of new prospects well into the future. Thought leadership isn’t without its shortcomings, however. It’s not a short-term channel, needing 4-6 months of consistent publishing before results begin to come in. It also requires a team with experience in transactional keyword research, strategic planning, and conversion rate optimization to create excellent content every week.
As a marketing channel, email is most effective when used for lead nurturing rather than lead generation. Most people disregard the bulk of their inbox, so to run a successful email campaign, you must use content and language that speaks directly to your target audience’s concerns and areas of interest at the time they receive your message.
Email marketing, like thought leadership, is best handled by a seasoned team. You’ll need a writer to develop attractive marketing material, a campaign manager to set up the calendar and list-building procedures, and an analyst to review the analytics, monitor the CRM, and recommend enhancements.
A significant disadvantage of email marketing initiatives is list building. Finding an existing and reliable list of target audience members or creating a new one can be challenging. Buying lists implies you’ll be contacting cold leads, whereas establishing a list from scratch can take years. Should you have the list already, however, it’s a very powerful way to reactivate cold leads.
For many B2B companies, PPC campaigns are the go-to approach for lead generation because of how quickly they produce results. Moreover, Google provides users with a clear picture of what is and isn’t working. It’s beneficial for testing an unexplored market for your items because of the quick turnaround time.
However, because you pay for every lead you generate, your cost will rise in lockstep with your success. This results in higher CACs (and therefore, lower ROI) than organic channels. In addition, Google increases pricing for keywords that exceed expectations, resulting in a year-over-year decrease in ROI.
Altogether, this makes for a marketing channel that is powerful but should be applied in narrow scopes, whether as a stopgap while setting up slower, higher ROI marketing channels, or as a way to test out new keywords before investing in an SEO campaign.
ABM is a high-touch but potentially high-return channel that is used only for potentially large sales. The classic example is researching a prospect’s favorite sports team and sending them tickets to a game. Creating this type of highly personalized campaign can be effective, but it is dependent on three factors:
These processes take a lot of time and work, and quickly become expensive. These factors are why traditional ABM works best in industries where a small number of high-value accounts are more important than generating many low-value leads.
Hosting webinars is an excellent approach to driving potential clients along the conversion funnel because business owners seek educational opportunities for themselves and their employees. The goal is to generate fascinating and educational content rather than a transparent sales pitch because a straightforward sales pitch would quickly fall flat.
However, two main challenges arise:
Effective webinars include original ideas and require a high production level and the ability to convey information concisely enough to keep your target audience’s attention.
The only social media network that genuinely caters to B2B marketing is LinkedIn because its subscribers actively use the platform to conduct business. It is also user-friendly, and you can easily modify content from other thought leadership campaigns for posting on LinkedIn, assuming you’ve tailored that content for the new channel. As a result, you’ll require minimal resources to begin posting, and the platform should serve as a supplemental marketing channel.
However, reworking content for LinkedIn is only a simple value-add if your company is currently doing content marketing. If you don’t already have content to repurpose, the difficulty and cost growth will increase significantly.
LinkedIn advertising shares many of its benefits and drawbacks with LinkedIn organic, with one key difference: it allows you to make use of LinkedIn’s powerful targeting options, filtering your audience by job title, company, industry, and many other parameters.
However, it comes at a significantly higher cost than using the platform organically, resulting in higher CACs. Its best use, as with many sponsored channels, is in short-term campaigns to gauge the desirability of your product in previously unexplored markets.
Trade shows and conferences are sometimes the only places where all industry participants can meet. They are valuable for networking and building face-to-face connections with clients worldwide, especially if you’re in an industry like SaaS that does not have many opportunities to meet offline. People attend these exhibits to learn about innovative technologies and solutions, and they can be an excellent source if you employ effective salespeople.
However, there are two drawbacks as follows:
Getting others to say positive things about your company is what PR agencies specialize in. Few things are more compelling than hearing from a reputable news source that a firm is worth considering as a business partner. Those same news sources have a considerably wider reach than all but the largest B2B companies, so your message will reach far more people than if you published it yourself.
Also, good press is about more than just generating new leads – it can be a great morale booster. It provides your employees a reason to be proud of their work and supports your current clients’ decision to work with you.
However, a significant disadvantage of PR is the cost, which typically is more than other channels discussed in this article. Working with a professional public relations firm might cost anywhere between $10k to $50k per month.
Simply put, we don’t recommend direct mail for most industries (with the exception of in-person services companies such as HVAC or janitorial services providers). It’s expensive, mailing lists are often almost worthless, and the ROI is low. Decision makers will often have their mail screened for them, and will rarely see your mailings at all. While direct mail might be effective in some industries, your time and budget is almost always better spent elsewhere.
B2B companies are tasked with choosing a strategic combination of marketing channels to invest in, both organic and paid. Many companies choose to work with a skilled agency partner to make the best use of their marketing budget and continue their own learning.
Our firm specializes in developing and implementing digital marketing campaigns for B2B businesses. We’ve executed successful campaigns with 100+ B2B companies including Salesforce, Verisign, and Cadence. If you’re interested in discussing a relationship, you can connect with us here.
2025-01-24 23:36:13
Last Updated: January 24, 2025
The report below contains the results of our recent analysis of EBITDA and revenue multiples for private insurance companies as of Q1 2025. The data used in this analysis was sourced from proprietary M&A databases, interviews with insurance M&A firms, and private equity networks (Sources) in the 18 months trailing its publish date.
The results of our study are shown in the EBITDA and revenue tables below. We have subdivided the data by insurance industry vertical and EBITDA/revenue value range.
| Company Type | EBITDA Range | ||
| $1M-$3M | $3-5M | $5-10M | |
| Auto | 6.2x | 7.1x | 8.5x |
| Health | 6.4x | 7.4x | 8.6x |
| Home | 6.7x | 7.4x | 8.5x |
| InsurTech | 7.8x | 8.7x | 9.2x |
| Life | 6.8x | 7.8x | 8.8x |
| Malpractice/professional liability | 7.2x | 8.6x | 9.8x |
| Renter | 6.9x | 8x | 9.9x |
| Company Type | Revenue Range | ||
| $1-3M | $3-10M | $10-25M | |
| Auto | 1.4x | 1.7x | 2.1x |
| Health | 1.7x | 2.2x | 2.4x |
| Home | 1.6x | 1.9x | 2.2x |
| InsurTech | 2.8x | 3.1x | 3.4x |
| Life | 1.4x | 1.6x | 1.9x |
| Malpractice/professional liability | 3x | 3.2x | 3.4x |
| Renter | 2.1x | 2.4x | 2.6x |
The following sections discuss current trends and challenges in the insurance M&A market as of Q2 2024. Our reserarch team also included predictions of where we see the market going next.
The insurance M&A sector saw slowdowns for larger companies in 2023 and 2024, with deal volume dropping as much as 34% due to macroeconomic turbulence stemming from rising interest rates. While there were fewer “megadeals,” smaller companies saw relatively modest impact in deal volume, suggesting that acquirers were more hesitant to pick up larger ($100M+ revenue) companies.
Despite declines in deal volume, we saw a consistent YoY increase in multiples in 2024, and that looks to be the trend in H1 2025 as well. Of all the subsectors analyzed, professional liability and insurtech were the highest performers. Our team attributes the performance of these verticals to reliable recurring revenues over the past 5 years associated with them being mostly business-facing. These verticals still saw an ~18% drop in deal volume in 2024 because of the economic softness, but as of the start of Q1 2025, there have already been more than a dozen private company deals.
The graph below plots EBITDA multiples for private insurance companies from H1 2020 to H2 2024.
Consumer-facing insurance verticals saw more severe peaks and valleys in 2023 and 2024, with drops in deal volume exceeding 27% from 2023 to 2024. The causes of this volatility were rising claims costs as a result of tighter regulatory and transparency requirements, as well as increased fraudulent activity over the last year. In 2024, M&A deal volume among consumer insurance businesses has recovered slightly.
Based on the current M&A environment, our team has the following predictions:
I hope this report adds some transparency to the opaque process of preparing your company for an M&A process. I’ve sold several businesses to both financial and strategic buyers, and wasn’t able to find much reliable data during the initial information-gathering stages.
If you have any other questions, I’m happy to provide a third-party opinion. You can reach me at the link below or through the contact page on this site.
2025-01-23 07:26:31
Last updated: January 22, 2025
This research paper will report on the lead-to-MQL conversion rate benchmarks in 30 industries, further breaking down conversion rate by channel. As a bonus, we have also parsed lead-to-MQL conversion rate by page type.
Our data has been built over 10 years servicing marketing clients via our agency, the largest in its industry. Our research team then takes that data, segments it, removes outliers, and reports on the results.
Visitors to a website become leads when they give their contact information in any form. Those leads become marketing qualified leads (MQLs) when they’re determined to be in the company’s target market and match one of its buyer personas.
This leap from lead to MQL is the first serious step in the marketing process, and a natural transition to the sales process. Most lead generation companies are expected to deliver a high percentage of MQLs, as they represent the minimum level of seriousness to warrant the attention of a member of the sales team.
The lead-to-MQL conversion rate is the percentage of leads that convert to MQLs. It’s a particularly important metric because it reflects the quality of leads, indicating how effective each of your marketing channels is and whether they’re worth their cost.
The diagram below shows the average lead-to-MQL conversion rate across all industries, marketing channels, and page types, which is 31%. As you can see, a healthy lead-to-MQL conversion rate ultimately paves the way for a higher number of closed sales.
For additional context, we’ve included in the diagram the average MQL-to-SQL conversion rate; SQL-to-opportunity conversion rate; and opportunity-to-closed conversion rate.
Our agency’s clients skew about 70% B2B, with a number of large B2C e-commerce companies represented as well. The concentration of industries can be seen in the table below, which contains all the industries for which we had enough data to produce conversion rates. As we are primarily an SEO agency, that marketing channel is more heavily represented in our data set.
| Industry | Lead-to-MQL Conversion Rate |
| Aerospace & Defense | 34% |
| Addiction Treatment | 23% |
| Automotive | 31% |
| Aviation | 37% |
| B2B SaaS | 39% |
| Biotech | 42% |
| Business Consulting | 28% |
| Commercial Insurance | 40% |
| Construction | 17% |
| Cybersecurity | 39% |
| eCommerce | 23% |
| Engineering | 35% |
| Entertainment | 34% |
| Environmental Services | 45% |
| Financial Services | 29% |
| Higher Education & College | 45% |
| HVAC Services | 42% |
| Industrial IoT | 22% |
| IT & Managed Services | 25% |
| Legal Services | 32% |
| Manufacturing | 26% |
| Medical Device | 24% |
| Oil & Gas | 32% |
| PCB Design & Manufacturing | 42% |
| Pharmaceutical | 41% |
| Real Estate | 27% |
| Software Development | 32% |
| Solar Energy | 45% |
| Transportation & Logistics | 36% |
| Channel | Lead-to-MQL Conversion Rate |
| SEO | 41% |
| PPC | 29% |
| Email Marketing | 38% |
| Webinar | 19% |
| Conferences | 28% |
| Trade Shows | 24% |
| Executive Events | 54% |
| Client Referrals | 56% |
| Social Media Marketing | 30% |
| Podcasts | 21% |
| Outdoor Advertising | 14% |
| Page Type | Lead-to-MQL Conversion Rate |
| Product Landing Page | 38% |
| Service Landing Page | 33% |
| Application Landing Page | 36% |
| Location Landing Page | 25% |
| Industry Landing Page | 35% |
| Case Study | 29% |
| Problem & Solution / FAQ Page | 23% |
| Thought Leadership Article or Blog Post | 30% |
| Hub Page | 20% |
| White Paper | 38% |
We hope these benchmarks are useful for your marketing department as it strives to guide its strategy with data-driven decisions. If you would like to order a pdf copy of this report or make contact with our agency, you may do so here.
If you’ve found this report useful, we recommend reading our other reports on conversion statistics: