Early on in my career, I worked in the financial sector on Wall Street. While there were many perks to the job, there was also no freedom, no personal satisfaction, and no vision. I felt I was just a number, doing nothing and achieving nothing. I was depressed and I hated it. After less than a year, I packed up and left New York City to head home to upstate Albany.

When my father-in-law heard I was moving back home, he asked me to come work for him. I began selling insurance, but I soon discovered that not only did I despise cold calling, I was also really awful at it. Making a list of 200 people and harassing them to buy my product was not my idea of fun.

The life of a salesman ultimately didn’t pan out for me, but the one thing I did like about the job was making connections. I built a referral base through the leads and customers I met along the way. At a Chamber of Commerce event in 2008, someone asked me to connect with them on LinkedIn. Though I wasn’t really into social media, I realized it was a place I could reach smart people who were embracing a new form of communication. Like a brick wall, it hit me—the successful people weren’t just sharing content, they were creating it. I immediately saw immense marketing potential.

From there, I began my love affair with digital marketing for the insurance industry. I established a blog about insurance as a branded website on RyanHanley.com, and every time I learned about a new insurance coverage, I’d write a post. It took me posting twice a week for nine months to get my first call for a lead, but the first call I got blew my mind. A woman said she had been reading my blog and wanted a quote, and she’d be willing to buy, no matter what the price. After that, there were no more cold calls for me.

I spearheaded a successful YouTube campaign called “100 Questions in 100 Days,” where I answered consumer questions about insurance in short videos. I did this as branded content for an agency, where we soon were getting 50 internet leads per week and closing 50 percent of them.

The best career decision I ever made was to follow the instinct to merge insurance and marketing. It’s opened every door I could have ever wanted, and today, 60 of the biggest insurance companies are my clients through my content marketing firm Agency Nation. I’m the SVP of Marketing at TrustedChoice.com, and I assist independent insurance professionals to connect with people and generate leads and sales.

The following are some things I learned along my journey that might help steer yours:

Don’t be afraid to go after what you want

When I was younger, I wanted to be an astronomer, and then a mechanical engineer. I worked jobs that didn’t feel right just because I got a paycheck. It wasn’t until I embraced the fact that it was OK to be an insurance marketer that I truly began to shine. It’s not a little boy’s dream to do this. Initially, I hated insurance. Now I’m the biggest insurance nerd you can find. It’s what makes me feel like I’m providing value to the world. Even if your career wasn’t what you envisioned for yourself, if it makes you happy, jump into it 100 percent.

Try a new method to gain customers

There is no way that my independent insurance clients could invest as much money into advertising as huge companies. However, I could afford to publish content for them on my blog, LinkedIn and YouTube. Though I had my naysayers—many people thought I was wasting time with that “digital marketing nonsense”—it’s what worked in the end. I took a chance on it, and it made me as successful as I am today. Don’t be afraid to go after new methods of attracting leads, even if they’re not the “done thing.”

Create content to attract leads

When you do something right, customers will come to you. Customers won’t know that you’re worth their time unless they have previous experience with you, or you show your worth through great content. Through your content, you can provide them with a path to success as well as establish your thought leadership. With your content, they can research insurance coverage, choose which one is right for them and then come to you when they’re ready to make a purchase. Creating content that provides value is essential, no matter what business you’re in.

Focus on the customer experience

Content is tied into the customer experience. It’s not just about good customer service. You have to figure out what your clients want, and then provide them the solutions with your content. You have to educate and empower customers through social media, email marketing, texting and other forms of digital marketing.  

I truly believe that customers are better off when they’re served by a good independent agent. I’ve dedicated my career to helping independent agents connect with people and draw leads away from big corporations.

Last year, Geico spent 1.1 billion on advertising, while the entire independent insurance agency industry spent just over 400 million. Despite the monetary difference in ad spend, I feel that our product is better. Through digital marketing, independent insurance agents can start to take some of that market share back.

Lessons learned

Whatever industry you’re in, these points can help you be more effective at connecting with customers and achieving both your personal and business aspirations. When you do it right and provide useful content—they call you. A tidal wave is coming, and the ability to adapt and evolve is going to impact an entire generation of consumers. It’s the biggest risk, but also the largest opportunity. Be the solution your customers want.

Ryan Hanley is the Vice President of Marketing at TrustedChoice.com and the Managing Editor of Agency Nation. He is also a speaker, podcaster and author of the Amazon best-seller, "Content Warfare." Ryan has over 12 years of insurance expertise and blogs frequently on a wide array of insurance topics, including business and homeowners’ insurance.