Savvy insurance marketers are using new tactics to ensure tailored, customized communications that speak directly to targeted consumers. From personalized websites to green initiatives, insurance marketers are leveraging these tactics not only to reach their target audience, but also to appeal to potential customers. Below, Tim Hendricks of Vertis Communications outlines the top five strategies insurance marketers should consider to cut through the clutter in today’s crowded marketplace:

1. Implement Personalized URLs (pURLs) to Increase One-to-One Communication with Targeted Consumers

Personalized URLs—personalized website landing pages or microsites— enable companies to provide a customized online experience for each consumer. In tandem with print initiatives, pURLs have proven effective in offering customized and relevant communication with consumers; an important aspect to consider, given more than half of U.S. consumers state that they are more receptive to emails from marketers that target their personal interests. By implementing pURLs into marketing initiatives, including offline mailings, insurers can open a new set of communications channels with current and prospective customers and increase response rates over traditional print-only direct mail efforts. Vertis has worked with insurance marketers in the past to develop multi-channel marketing campaigns that have yielded up to a 122% ROI on every dollar invested in a pURL program.

Through the targeted and direct interaction provided by pURLs, insurers are able to capture users’ profile answers and store them in a database, helping to provide insights into the needs, interests and preferences of consumers. These insights permit insurers to add value by engaging their audience in more direct and meaningful ways. For example, insurers who use pURLs are able to identify when weight management is a concern as it relates to consumers’ wellness goals. Armed with this data, they can then tailor future print and electronic communications to provide fitness and nutrition information, along with incentives like discounts on gym memberships.

2. Use Multi-Channel Brand- Building to Increase Awareness among Consumers

Research polls have shown that brand awareness and trust are important aspects for insurance consumers. With 65% of online adults stating that a brand name they know and trust has a significant impact on their choice of home insurance provider, insurance marketers have a tremendous opportunity to1 leverage multi-channel brand-building to penetrate often overcrowded insurance markets and establish credibility among potentially better-known competitors. For insurers struggling due to lack of brand awareness, incremental support to typical print marketing in the form of newspaper inserts and Run of Paper (ROP) ads can help to create a ground-up awareness among consumers to place (and keep) an insurer top-ofmind. An overhaul of overall brand platform, including messaging and images that highlight the brand’s strengths, can also help to create an emotional connection and build consumer trust, while repetition of that platform across mediums will translate into message retention. When implementing multichannel brand building, personalization of communications can ensure that measurable results are captured and leveraged to inform future marketing efforts. For example, including a unique 800 number on inserts and ROP provides a direct consumer response opportunity and also enables the insurer to track lead sources to better identify the most powerful marketing channels. Insurers leveraging multiple channels for communication will create a cohesive brand platform, deliver unified messages that penetrate consumer awareness and secure measurable marketing results to fuel ongoing communications strategies.

3. Go Green to Save Green and Reduce your Carbon Footprint Insurance marketers can leverage green initiatives in a number of ways to streamline marketing practices, reduce production costs and communicate an authentic ecoresponsibility message to the 60% of U.S. adults who are concerned about the environment2. Examining workflow process – from inventory management to proof routing - is an important first step in implementing best practices for sustainability, and one that can have a dramatic production and cost benefit while also reducing environmental impact. Redesigning creative templates with production feasibility in mind, evaluating current asset libraries and examining current paper stock usage are other areas that an insurance company can assess to help “green” its practices and achieve cost and corporate citizenship goals. Vertis Communications worked closely with a leading healthcare provider on its green initiatives, extensively auditing existing marketing practices and program elements, including member welcome kits, prescription benefit information, fulfillment wallet cards, etc. Vertis’ innovative digital workflow solutions resulted in 27% less paper consumption, 18% inventory reduction and 15% lower electricity usage and helped the client fulfill its “go green” company-wide mission to conduct all aspects of its business in a safe, environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.

Insurers considering implementing eco initiatives can consider some of the below options to develop more cost-effective and green marketing strategies,  including:

Re-Engineer Workflow

• Implement enabling technology to inventory image and content assets, dynamic template design, proof routing, distribution set-up and execution to ensure quality and accuracy

• Develop online (soft) proofing for reviews and approvals of designs, to achieve Communicate reduced waste and quicker turn-around

• Automate distribution of multi-channel communications

Redesign of Creative Templates

• Eliminate unnecessary carriers and inserts

• Streamline production specifications for usage of paper stocks

• Implement high-speed digital printing, inline finishing and inserting

• Centralize approved templates, graphics and copy into an asset library

4. Implement Hispanic Marketing Initiatives

The Hispanic population is one of the country’s fastest-growing consumer groups and will continue to yield a strong spending power over the coming years. By 2014, one person out of every six living in the U.S. will be of Hispanic origin, representing an anticipated $1.3 trillion in disposable income.3 To attract the attention of this substantial audience of potential customers, insurance marketers must work to develop campaigns that address the unique cultural needs and values of the Hispanic community. Additionally, insurers should consider developing new communications formats to reach this audience and take into consideration issues such as identifying relevant spokespeople and the integrating Spanish language messages.

Vertis Customer Focus data revealed behavioral data and cultural insights that insurance marketers can leverage to help develop marketing communications specifically targeted to the Hispanic consumer, including:

• Launch bilingual efforts for greater cultural relevance and brand authenticity

Over 90% of U.S. Hispanics rate the Spanish language as the most important element of their culture to preserve4.

• Feature family-based imagery to build an emotional connection with the audience

45% of Hispanics (as compared to just 21% of the general consumer market) consider their family to be the source of their satisfaction5. Prior success includes marketing an insurer’s status as a large, family-owned company.

• Leverage direct mail as the backbone of the marketing mix due to its effectiveness in reaching the Hispanic audience

In general, U.S. Hispanic households are 3.5 times more likely to respond to direct mail than non-Hispanic households, and 72% indicate they read all of their mail, including direct marketing6.

• Use incentive-based direct mail referral programs

Of the U.S. Hispanic adults who read direct mail, 43% responded to collateral featuring a gift-with-purchase incentive7, with prepaid service cards generating the strongest response. In tandem with studies showing the importance of family for U.S. Hispanics, experience has shown that pre-paid services that help the audience maintain strong ties to friends and family are the most effective.

• Develop a Sponsorship/ Spokesperson Partnership with an Celebrity Individual who has Roots within the Hispanic Community

Watching sports with friends and family is a key pastime for many Hispanics, with professional soccer earning nearly 54% viewership8. Previous partnerships leveraging Mexican athletes have proven successful in reaching targeted Hispanic consumers who partake in this popular pastime.

By developing marketing communications that are tailored to the cultural and emotional values of the Hispanic consumer, insurance marketers can expand their outreach to this growing consumer base and anticipate substantial ROI from their efforts. 5. Support Agents’ Responses to Leads

As agents remain the primary channel through which individuals purchase life insurance, the importance of an agents’ ability to respond in real time must be a top priority. A marketing asset database and digitization of workflow can ensure agents respond in real time, resulting in an increased conversion of leads. Today’s agents are under increasing pressure as more consumers research and even purchase insurance online and failure to respond to a lead in real time with relevant collateral reduces the opportunity to close the deal. Thus, a challenge for marketers often stems from the cumbersome fulfillment processes involving manual forms, faxes, emails, and phone calls, all being placed by hundreds – or even thousands – of agents nationwide.

For insurers who struggle with delayed response time, new digital solutions can help decrease the time between agents’ receipt of a lead and the prospect’s receipt of the requested materials. In prior experience, Vertis Communications addressed this response-time challenge by implementing a targeted marketing asset database with digital workflow, enabling agents to fulfill consumers’ requests for information as soon as the requests were placed by creating and deploying the necessary collateral independently. Vertis’ solution created a process for agents that was simple and secure and empowered them to complete lead fulfillment needs end to end, from viewing designs, products, and collateral specific to a state and market to building templates, populating consumer-specific information, obtaining fulfillment pricing and proofing final documents. The result was a reduction in agent fulfillment time from 22 days to just 3 days, while digitizing the workflow process resulted in reduced waste and lower out-of-pocket costs.

As the insurance landscape continues to change, new marketing tactics have become insurers’ best opportunity to not only identify new target consumers but also communicate with them more effectively. Companies should consider the above tactics as unique opportunities to develop new best practices for marketing communications and consumer engagement and response, and as a way to achieve greater ROI on insurance marketing initiatives.

1 Mitchell, Chad. “The U.S. Home Insurance Buyer’s Journey,” Forrester Research. January 12, 2010. 2 Noble, Steven. Green Marketing Will Grow in 2009: Successful Green Strategies Save Costs and Generate Additional Revenues,” Forrester Research. July 16, 2009.

3 “Report: The Hispanic-American Market.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from http://www.alliedmedia. com/Hispanic%20Market/hispanicreport. html.

4 Barber, Tamara. “Hispanic Consumers Offer Opportunities In A Recession,” Forrester Research. July 20, 2009.

5 “Report: The Hispanic-American Market.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from http://www.alliedmedia. com/Hispanic%20Market/hispanicreport. html.

6 Sonderup, Laura. “Hispanic Marketing: A Critical Market Segment.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from http://www.ad-mktreview. com/public_html/docs/fs075.html. 7 Vertis Customer Focus® Opiniones Insurance, 2009.

8 “Report: The Hispanic-American Market.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from http://www.alliedmedia. com/Hispanic%20Market/hispanicreport. html.