What is a Field Marketing Organization?

First things first, let’s start out with a definition. As we mentioned in the intro, FMO stands for field marketing organization.

But it’s not the only type of marketing and sales support for independent insurance agents.

There are also IMOs, or Independent Marketing Organizations. They’re essentially the same thing as an FMO, but IMOs have a few nuances to be mindful of.

Some FMOs focus more on health insurance products, while IMOs tend to focus on life insurance products. Also, IMOs might a bit smaller than an FMO, and might not pay agents as much in commission as some FMOs.

And then because we love acronyms in the insurance industry, independent agents can also work with NMOs, more commonly referred to as National Marketing Offices. You might hear an FMO or IMO refer to themselves as an NMO. There’s no difference between the terminology, it’s just a more neutral term that can be used to indicate a marketing organization has a national presence.

So, FMO, IMO, or NMO, what do these organizations do for your insurance business? We facilitate a business relationship between insurance carriers and the independent insurance agents offering their products.

I say we, because, spoiler alert! Ritter Insurance Marketing is in fact a national field marketing organization.

And like other FMOs, we have relationships with carriers, so we’re able to assist you in contracting to sell their products.

That can sometimes be challenging on your own, but we don’t stop there. Partnering with an FMO like ours gives you support in all the areas of your insurance business.

So yes, we offer our agents contracting assistance. But we also help with marketing dollars, sales, commissions, client retention, education, technology, and even back-office support.

Want all the details? Head over to the next lesson in this module to find out more.

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