Insurance information everywhere – What to read, what to read, what to read…
If clients don’t like or are uninspired by the headlines you give your insurance marketing material they will not read your content no matter how wisdom laden and clever it is.
To some extent the fact that you have got as far as opening my musings here, is testament to a point I will be making later on in my blog i.e.. if you are going to broadcast communications and share insight that you want your customers to read, its perhaps never been more imperative to make your headlines (as far as is sensible) rise above the mass of material that they are constantly being invited to read and GRAB CUSTOMER ATTENTION.
If you do this they are far more likely to be read your news, whitepapers and reports, which is the very thing you wanted them to do in the first place. After all what's the point of spending all that money and time if your articles are not going to be read.
Now I’m not saying that you need to go over the top, but in a broker market that is full of rather homogenous and very conservative copy, I just think things could be better.
Insurance marketing today...
The insurance world is awash with companies broadcasting messages across a bewildering number of channels all vying for customer ‘mindshare’ that largely says:
‘Look at us we’re special and different’ (buy from us)
‘Check us out aren’t we clever’ (buy from us)
Never before have customers been confronted with so much media, so much choice.
A quick look at just one channel, Social Media, shows that the sheer volume of content out there means that, with the best will in the world, great wholesome and useful broker content is very easily missed.
Against this backdrop if you are spending your hard earned cash producing communications for your customers it’s essential that you make what you have to say STAND OUT.
As a precursor to writing this blog my company youTalk-insurance did some research in Social Media that involved scanning broker Twitter accounts. This work revealed that many brokers were as a matter of course were producing some really good content for consumers (full of great advice, hints and tips), but sadly all too often engagement just wasn't there.
Here are 7 useful hints and tips that will help you to secure customer engagement - Write SENSATIONAL and INTERESTING headlines...
- Keep your headlines short – Brevity is king
- Make it personal ‘you’ and ‘your’ work very well – ‘You Appeal’ works. Make your headline resonate on a personal level
- Ask questions and use question marks??? ‘Are you ready for?’ Question marks help with engagement and help to arouse curiosity
- Try to avoid being too salesy – this can be a real turn off. Brokers that produce articles (content) which is aimed at educating and informing customers seem to get better engagement. Remember, sales messages can sometimes be a real turn off
- Use images – ‘If a picture paints a 1,000 words’ as the song goes – Use interesting images to accompany headlines. This is very pertinent to Twitter where there is a massive body of evidence to suggest that Tweets with an attached image get far more engagement
- Numbers work – If your article has a list of salient ‘must know’ points use this in the title of your content e.g.. ‘7 things you need to know about’ – it helps to orientate your reader and manage their expectations. The logic follows that if they read your first point and it interests them they are far more likely to continue to to read the whole article
- Think about energy inducing action orientated buzz words that elicit an emotional reaction and arouse curiosity
The Great News
With some subtle tweaks to your approach, that won’t actually cost any money (just your thinking time), you have a great opportunity to punch well above your weight (Social Media is incredibly democratic like that) and out gun your competitors, some of whom will doubtless want to stay fastened to the staid rather dull end of the communications playground.
Comments
Paul Jones replied on Permalink
Sensational headlines
Hi Paul
As one marketer to another, just letting you know that I like reading your blogs. They're full of practical, common sense. :-)
Cheers
Paul
Robin Belsom replied on Permalink
7 tips
Paul
Some very sound advice presented in your usual engaging style. If only some of the markteers out there would take your advice on board and realise that it takes me than a brand name to capture theinterest of the reader. Keep up the good work.
Pam Grover-Mitchell replied on Permalink
Insurance Marketing
Marketing is something we claims professionals don't do enough of and it contributes to our remaining the unsung heroes of the insurance industry despite our having been at the sharp end of it for years! It doesn't have to be that way and as you say, changing it isn't hard: it's about differentiation (i.e. what makes you, YOU and special) thought leadership rather than sales - or put even more simply, asking rather than selling - and finally, substance: easy for us since if we didn't know what we were talking about, we wouldn't make a living. Well done you, Paul, for putting it so succinctly.
Paul Rich replied on Permalink
Insurance marketing
Great article - thanks for sharing. I will certainly be looking to put some of these things into practice.
John Blakemore replied on Permalink
Insightfully, you used one of
Insightfully, you used one of my favorite words to describe our market -"homogeneous". The other that often springs to mind is "mediocrity", yet there seems an overwhelming desire to cloud this with mystique that achieves little more than increase expenses. How refreshing to read your blog that isn't afraid to allude to the "Emperors New Clothes" and remind us of the value of sticking to the basics.
Chris replied on Permalink
blog
Great content marketing is all about informating, educating, and entertaining. I think the key term you use is creating a social media democracy but I think what YouTalk Insurance is helping to do is to create a social media meritocracy in insurance thought leadership. You're doing some great work and I for one frequently share your content on twitter and LinkedIn.
Chris Davies replied on Permalink
Paul,
Paul,
You are on the money here.
As a percentage of revenue, our digital marketing and communications spend is substantially higher than our peers yet we are only latterly beginning to get more bang for or buck from learning the lesson you articulate so eloquently here:
IMPACT IS EVERYTHING.
Even if your underlying content is streets ahead of your competitors, it might as well not exist if no one sees it.
Well done for highlighting this.
Mike Greenland replied on Permalink
Simple and straightforward.
Simple and straightforward. Love it!
The fact I read this proves the points you're making. Too much content I see falls into that 'aren't we great' category, it doesn't create the vision for me. 'What does it mean for you, what does it mean for your customer, what does it mean for their customers...' that's the continuous loop most people forget.
Ruth Polyblank replied on Permalink
Good points, well made Paul!
Good points, well made Paul!
In an omni channel world where customers are more demading then ever, simply pushing out crafted communications about the produts that insurers and brokers want to promote just won't cut it!
I hope these 7 tips help guide others to consider ther audience when designing content.
Jonathan Bogan replied on Permalink
Spot on Paul, 7 simple steps
Spot on Paul, 7 simple steps that we will be putting into practice! As industry we are very good at telling our clients how good WE ARE and chucking in a lot of insurance jargon for good measure. Most of this means very little to our clients. As you say, marketing should be about adding value through education and valuable information.
Al Taitt replied on Permalink
This is a great article, with
This is a great article, with simple yet effective pointers and solutions to an age old problem. More of the same please!!
Brad Harmsworth replied on Permalink
I see this quite often. Still
I see this quite often. Still thik our sector has still some way to go in terms of communicating with clients.
Still some good tips shared here.
Collin Fennelly replied on Permalink
Agree with the points made
Agree with the points made here. Certainly food for thought.
some useful things to consider.
Neil McSherry replied on Permalink
Stop wasting your money on insurance marketing that is not being
Great article Paul - nice and simple.Hope you are in great form.
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