Focus: Promoting brokers online

It is almost impossible to switch on the TV these days without being confronted by a rotund opera singer with a dodgy moustache belting out "GoCompare!" or a talking meerkat with a distinctly Russian accent wearing a smoking jacket.

These eye-catching TV campaigns, backed by multi-million pound budgets, are the preserve of brands with deep pockets and access to the best creative talent that the media has to offer. Smaller brokers cannot compete when it comes to media spend, though the opportunity is there for smaller brands to raise their marketing profiles on a limited budget by embracing the possibilities offered by online advertising.

Historically, the industry has been slow compared to other sectors in capitalising on the power of digital marketing; the sector has been over-reliant on local press advertising and direct marketing through phone books. Just as these two media channels have been decimated by the growth of the online platform, the effectiveness of advertising on these paper dinosaurs in isolation is being called into question.

The reluctance of some brokers to integrate online communications into their marketing activities is identified by one of the biggest market players as a challenge that needs to be tackled.

Donna Gray, digital marketing manager at Aviva, says that the rate of new media adoption "varies from broker to broker, though we are doing all we can to support them in developing this form of communication".

In Gray's view, the reluctance of brokers to embrace the opportunities presented by the internet are the result of "a lack of understanding around the capabilities of digital marketing and the costs associated with it".

In a bid to build confidence and tackle this problem, Aviva launched a website and online trading platform for its brokers called Fast Trade. The idea behind the initiative is to provide brokers with an easy-to-follow means of transacting business, searching product information and sourcing instant documentation.

In addition to Fast Trade, Aviva also keeps brokers updated with the latest company news and information through its corporate umbrella website.

Feet dragging

James Simpson, director at digital marketing specialists FWD Digital, agrees with Gray: "Nobody can argue that this industry has been slow to adopt the latest marketing techniques, particularly when you compare insurers and brokers to fast-moving consumer goods. It’s no secret many are reticent. Quite often it’s because there is no one dedicated to look after digital and managers are too busy to become immersed in a discipline that requires deep knowledge and specialised skills."

Simpson also argues there is a market perception that digital can be expensive, though it can offer advertisers a relatively cheap and cost-effective direct route to market compared to the broad strokes of a large-scale brand campaign of the likes of the big aggregators.

Perry Wilson, founder of InsureandGo, argues that the tendency to dismiss an internet-based marketing initiative in favour of other methods of communicating with customers is principally due to the company’s business model.

Wilson claims that 65% of InsureandGo's business originates from web activity. This figure, though, pales against the 75% of the company’s revenue that is generated from more lucrative premiums business that are channelled through its call centre, which is linked to heavy-artillery brand campaigns run on real world poster sites.

Wilson says: "We focus heavily on traditional markets because people need to recognise the name through roadside posters and tube ads. This way, when they go online they recognise the InsureandGo brand." He adds: "The problem with activity such as email bulletins is that, while it’s so cheap to run a campaign involving 10,000 mail outs, you don’t know what you’re going to get back."

Wilson says that the Southend-based firm regularly and consistently re-evaluates its marketing activity and that a "decent", though unspecified, amount is spent on pay-per-click, e-mail and banner ads across websites.
Price drop

He adds that media-buying firms are seeing price deflation (defined in terms of the amount brands pay the media buyer if the airtime or column inches leveraged have generated worthwhile publicity and therefore good value) in traditional media at the expense of digital, which is comparatively buoyant.

"Outdoor advertising has come down a lot in price so we’re taking advantage of this and doing more branding work. Digital is a good marketing tool but it’s not the be-all and end-all," Wilson says.

Peter Elliott, head of marketing at Bluefin, suggests there is a psychological barrier at play that is holding some brokers back from engaging with internet marketing and advertising. That inertia is focused on the sometimes anarchic nature of the internet, a realm in which users can freely express opinions and repurpose content in a hyper-fast environment that operates on a 24-7 basis.

Elliott says: "The challenge for us is to ask how best to integrate new media marketing activities into the overall plan. We need to establish our marketing objectives: it would be foolish to push into online activity and social media activity without a plan. Online activity can rapidly escalate out of control and to your detriment. The internet is a wild frontier – you need to control your messages, sites and discussion groups because you can easily find yourself hijacked."
He continues: "There’s no point in tweeting for the sake of tweeting. Social media, for example, shouldn’t be entered into lightly; only with a clear plan, careful thought, due diligence and planning."

Yet, despite reluctance among some brokers to think of internet marketing and advertising as anything other than an afterthought or add-on, there are brokers and insurers of all sizes that use it as one of the main planks of their marketing strategies.

Mike Millard, director of Wedothewords – a company that specialises in helping independent insurance brokers build and maintain relationships with their customers – is a great believer in co-ordinated e-mail campaigns. He argues that “from an online perspective, we believe this market gets a better return on its marketing spend by developing websites to accommodate e-mail marketing programmes.” Millard says this on the basis that they can build simple mechanisms to capture personal information and build valuable databases.

Big or small, brokers and insurers of all sizes agree that database-driven e-mail shots help companies to leverage and retain existing customers whether they are partners or customers. Aviva’s Gray highlights: “E-mail marketing is a cost-effective method to communicate to brokers on a frequent basis. This method enables us to tailor our approach so that we are able to differentiate between our brokers’ needs rather than swamp them with unnecessary information.”
Social media

The really exciting, boundary-pushing marketing work is being done on tiny budgets in the nascent world of social media. Super-sized retail brands such as Starbucks, Burger King and Dell, as well as US president Barack Obama, have all blazed a trail for engaging with the public using social media. Meanwhile, the financial world has yet to come to terms with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Perth-based Business Insure is attempting to buck this foot-dragging trend, though, by harnessing the power of micro-blogging site Twitter (www.twitter.com/businessinsure) to impart useful, informative advice to its followers on the site.

This subtle method of soft selling is winning the company plaudits for its innovative approach, as Simpson says: “The company is using Twitter well by adding posts that do not have a sales angle, provide niche subject matter and link to good sources of information [elsewhere] on the internet.”

The company’s Twitter activity is supported by a blog, which seeks to unpick industry jargon, explain complicated policies and bust common myths with short, punchy posts. As well as carving out a reputation for being helpful and open, the Twitter account has attracted almost 800 followers: all potential customers. Business Insure’s Twitter followers represent a sizeable and growing database, which has been acquired through a free account that requires a minimal amount of maintenance and interaction compared to other, more time-intensive forms of communication.

As well as becoming involved in conversations with customers on Twitter, brands such as Hiscox also run targeted advertising campaigns on other popular social networks such as LinkedIn, which can target potential customers based on a series of specific and narrow search factors.

Hiscox is currently running a LinkedIn campaign featuring multiple-purpose units (a display box online which can be used for adverts or interactive content) and subtle links at the top of members’ profiles. Simpson says: “LinkedIn enables insurers and brokers to drill right down to their target audience by utilising the wealth of information that the site captures through members’ accounts.”
Stratified approach

Business Insure and QBE are also experimenting with new ideas in online media, targeting risk management. In this sector, risk managers in insured corporates are targeted with thought-leadership pieces (www.qbeeurope.com/rm), a creative way to engage an elusive, time-poor target audience. The contact list is alerted through e-mail and social media sites such as LinkedIn and Scribd. The same list is also used to target specific interests and issues through online communities and forums hosted on these websites.

Bluefin’s Elliott says that the group is looking to emulate the example set by companies such as Business Insure and QBE. The bulk of the company’s advertising appears in regional press, exhibitions and trade fairs. Bluefin is also a great believer in direct marketing but is looking to shift the balance, with a larger emphasis on direct e-mail activity and social media.

"You have to get the balance right between paper and electronic activity. There’s no risk with direct marketing if it’s handled professionally, though the electronic alternative can be a very powerful tool. Our spending on traditional marketing far outweighs digital but I think that will change," Elliott says.

Be warned, though. Before branching into social media, Elliott says that the first priority should be getting the basics of website design and search engine optimisation right.

He comments: "Consumers are used to highly sophisticated websites such as www.amazon.co.uk, so they increasingly expect compelling content, and functionality experiences elsewhere. Brokers in particular need to make a greater investment in their online presences. This is about having a great site and then driving traffic by using SEO and banner adverts in addition to above-the-line advertising."
Bluefin as a brand is just one year old, so the company is still focused on shaping its brand identity, yet it is already generating a corporate-focused social media policy: the company encourages employees to be active on these platforms as part of their new business drive and client relationship handling.

Elliott says: "We’re not active in social media yet but we would certainly expect employees, especially at account director level, to be on Facebook and LinkedIn: they must think about their personal online presences. We’re looking very closely at social media and what sort of presence we should have; I haven’t seen any insurers or brokers use blogs, videos or podcasts successfully. It’s perhaps a reflection of our industry and tied in with the nature of the product; it’s not high on the list of topics of conversation for most people."

Philip de Sausmarez, head of new media at QBE, says the group is just at the “very beginning of exploiting social networks” but says that it already has accounts with many video-sharing websites, social book-marking tools and social networks such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, Delicious and Vimeo.

He says: "For us, it is too early to tell for certain but some of our technical risk management documents have been read by as many as 3,000 people on Scribd in a few months. These readers are, by definition, the kind of people we want name recognition among and it has cost us nothing but some staff time."
Sausmarez is confident that the advantages of using social media are of benefit to businesses of all sizes: "From our research, it looks as though some smaller brokers are using social media networks as a kind of customer relationship management service. It’s a great idea because there is no need for IT technicians or expensive consultants [to be involved]."

Future

He expects uptake to grow exponentially as more brokers dip their toes in the water: "Any company that wishes to manage its reputation needs to look at this subject seriously. Digital marketing is the key tool. In terms of cost, social media marketing should be another part of the communications strategy, given that much of the investment is repurposing existing materials and client interactions.”
He continues: “The capital cost [ranges from] negligible to zero but digital marketing has a large element of staff commitment, both in the traditional marketing and communications function and across the business."

Sausmarez’s view is shared by Gray, who believes that “digital marketing and social media will become more important and recognised ways to reach customers.” Yet, despite encouraging signs, not everyone is convinced.

InsureandGo’s Wilson adopts a more suspicious outlook: “I’m not convinced by social media, insofar as it actually works because the messaging is so emotional as opposed to a call to action. It’s going to cost you more money because it’s not quite there yet as a fully formed marketing product.”

It is only a few early adopters in the profession that are making headway with digital marketing at the moment. Until industry online activity becomes widespread, broking will lag behind other UK business sectors that are already reaping the rewards of these largely untapped assets.

Dos and don’ts of digital marketing
DO – Use a broad combination of branded, generic and long-tail search terms in your campaign. Consumers prefer not to have to hunt long and hard for a brand’s new offering. If they can’t find what they are looking for in a couple of clicks then it is most likely that they will give up. As such, your firm’s search engine optimisation is critical in shaping how consumers navigate the web.
DO – Create landing pages with relevant information and intuitive, easy-to-navigate roadmaps. Visitors to your site are more likely to stay on your site if they can find the information they want quickly and efficiently. A good user experience should be carried through to the point at which a consumer decides to purchase a product.
DO – Keep a close eye on the blogosphere, where word-of-mouth activity is constant and relentless. Whether you like it or not, consumers will talk about your brand online. Some of the commentary will be positive but a poor customer experience can result in a well of negative discussions that stay on the internet. Use blog search engines such as Technorati and Google blog search to keep on top of what people are saying about your brand.
DON’T – Hide additional costs or have hidden extras. This will have a negative impact on the perception of your brand and could result in the consumer terminating their purchase or severing the relationship. Providing an honest user experience will breed positive sentiment and encourage a smooth transaction.
DON’T – Have different information on comparison sites from your own branded site. Incorrect or conflicting information could result in the customer feeling misled and confused, so delivering a negative user experience. Keep your affiliates up to date with the latest offers and price information.

www.comparethemeerkat.com and social media
Car insurance and social media are not the most obvious bedfellows. Most people use social networks to reconnect with friends and keep up with the latest news from their social circles. Competitive car insurance quotes are the last thing on someone’s mind as they log on to Facebook.

Unlike traditional above-the-line forms of communication such as television and radio, social media cannot be bought in the traditional sense. Advertisers need to earn their place. Instead of the hard sell, brands have to be fun and engaging, or at least useful if they are not cool, to earn a place on a Facebook member’s list of fan pages or be among those they follow on Twitter.

Comparethemarket.com – the price comparison site – changed all that. The company faced a tough challenge: to encourage people to search them out by name. With only half the advertising spend of key competitors www.gocompare.com and www.confused.com, it required something outstanding to achieve a disproportionate level of awareness.

It was no easy task. Few consumers differentiated between price comparison sites and the similar-sounding website addresses were easily confused. Comparethemarket.com needed to find a way to cut through the clutter and stand out from the crowd.
In an attempt to inject some memorable personality into the brand, the website’s advertising agency, London-based VCCP, came up with www.comparethemeerkat.com, an altogether different type of comparison site owned by Aleksandr the Meerkat.

A fully integrated campaign was launched with television at its heart, yet the narrative really took off in social media, where Aleksandr’s fans have been able to keep up with what he’s getting up to across Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The campaign has been a phenomenal success, transforming the business of www.comparethemarket.com. In the first nine weeks of the campaign, quotes increased 80% and cost-per acquisition was reduced by 73%. Spontaneous awareness almost tripled from 20% to 59%.

Equally impressive is the brand’s social media success given the nature of the business. At the time of writing, Aleksandr has more than 703,000 fans interacting with him on Facebook and nearly 36,000 followers tweeting at him on Twitter.
Cynics may question the value of this in terms of direct sales and label Aleksandr gimmicky, yet there is no doubting that the activity has produced enormous positive sentiment and goodwill towards the brand for a relatively small amount of expenditure.
Although spending on social media advertising is not measured in the UK, activity is cheap: it can cost tens of thousands of pounds if the work is carried out by an outside agency or almost nothing if handled in-house by the marketing department or communications teams. In short, social media is highly effective if well executed and planned, which means that the entry barrier is low enough for a broker or insurer of any size to begin experimenting in this nascent medium.
As Amelia Torode, head of strategy and innovation at VCCP, says: “Social media is not a replacement for a great creative idea or for a television commercial. Television adverts’ mass awareness-raising acts as a catalyst for social media activity, though it’s on the likes of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook that, in my opinion, the real fun and conversations are occurring.”