ORLANDO, Fla., April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The digital revolution has arrived and professional insurance agents need to master the opportunities it presents in order to continue to thrive. That message was conveyed by participants in AgentExpo 2010, a conference for independent insurance agents presented by the Professional Insurance Agents of Florida in conjunction with the PIA Western Alliance.

AgentExpo 2010 took place April 19-22 in Orlando.

"There's a whole new world out there," said PIA National Executive Vice President & CEO Leonard C. Brevik, the opening speaker at AgentExpo. "It's a world where people are always talking, interacting and doing business. It's a world where professional insurance agents can market their products and achieve greater success. It's where your current and future customers are. That's what social media is."

"Today, insurance agency owners must move beyond the head-scratching stage where they say, 'I don't understand all this social media stuff,'" Brevik said. "Social media is a new way to do business. It is a brand-new communications channel that has opened up and is fast replacing other channels. Agents cannot afford not to master it."

"Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace," Brevik said. "Social tools are all about community, they're about connecting. The only question is, will you be there to connect with your customers and potential customers?"

Brevik pointed out PIA National initiatives designed to provide agents with the tools they need to understand internet and social media marketing, including:

• A new PIA microsite, Reaching Gen Y www.piageny.com, focuses on how to reach the 20-30 year age group through website marketing. A project of The PIA Partnership, the micro site assists agents in better understanding, relating to and ultimately reaching members of the Gen Y age group as clients and customers.
• A new annual PIA publication, the PIA Agency Marketing Guide, will debut in June 2010 with a special focus on social media. Topics include: What is social media? How are other businesses using social media successfully – and unsuccessfully? What are the legal considerations in social media use? And, how can independent insurance agents best leverage this new medium to meet their goals?
• PIA members across the country can now keep up on the latest news from PIA National on Twitter.

Presenters at AgentExpo 2010 included Steve Anderson, president of The Anderson Network; David Henry, an attorney practicing in the area of insurance law; Lynne McChristian of the Insurance Information Institute; Jon Persky & Becky Lathrop of Optimum Performance Solutions; Jim Gilmore, Co-Founder, Strategic Horizons; Adam DeGraide, founder and Tim Sawyer, president of Astonish Results; Dolores Glass, Flood Communications Manager, Fidelity National Property & Casualty Insurance Group; and Robert Ray, President, National Risk Management Consultants & Intermediaries.

"PIA of Florida along with the PIA Western Alliance believes strongly that it was essential to focus on the marketing needs of the agent," said PIA of Florida President Brian Samberg. "The unqualified success of AgentExpo 2010 confirms that providing agents with a better understanding of the digital revolution, helping them create sales through technology and demonstrating effective marketing strategies for selling insurance on the web are what agents want and need."

"The goal of the Expo was to show agents how much the internet has transformed the insurance marketplace and how these new innovations can facilitate the growth of their business," said PIA of Florida CEO Mark O'Connell. "The overwhelming positive response from the agents and vendors who participated in the Expo has been encouraging and gratifying. Expo was an unqualified success!"

Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA members are Local Agents Serving Main Street America(SM). PIA's web address is www.pianet.com. 

This press release online at: http://www.pianet.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/04-29-10.htm

SOURCE National Association of Professional Insurance Agents

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