Insurance marketing on a shoestring

Reports suggest that insurance spending is starting to return to normal. The insurance industry has much to do to regain the trust of the UK public, is your marketing ready to bolster public trust and help you take a slice of the action?

Last week Go Compare reported that car insurance volumes had started to recover in May, and were on average flat year-on-year between 9 and 23 May, following the 25% dip they experienced the month previous.

The insurance industry has much to do to regain the trust of the UK public. Many UK consumers feel that insurers have unfairly held back business interruption claims and should have done more to support their clients during the Coronavirus crisis through measures such a premium holidays and refunds.

However, these same consumers will admit that insurance is a necessary evil. Therefore those carriers and brokers that can show what they have done to help their local communities could see new business coming their way should they market themselves correctly.

Marketing on a shoestring

Rightly or wrongly, one of the first budgets to get cut during times of crisis is marketing. Therefore, many marketing teams are working with very little budget and some also with reduced headcounts.

However, activity is clearly needed so where should they focus the little spend they have left?

When deciding it is important for marketing managers to consider value for money rather than simple cost. Whilst it can be tempting to cut whichever agency costs you the most, that can often be an error as they may be producing more value per pound than those that are cheaper.

Consider how they report to you. If the agency is reporting to you correctly they should be able to tell you exactly what they are doing, what the results of what they are doing are, and how those measure against the KPIs for marketing that you have no doubt re-evaluated due to current circumstances. If they do not measure well against the newly adjusted KPIs then they should be considered one possible area for saving money.

Also think about how you can reuse anything that is being produced by agencies. If an agency is producing great content for a PR campaign, how can you reuse that yourself for your client communications or internal comms? It is more important than ever to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck.

You also need to consider what contracts you have in place. Some retainer contracts will tie you into working with an agency/freelancer for a set amount of time and should you break the contract you may find yourself liable to large charges or possibly even legal action. Make sure you stick to any notice periods and if an agreement outside of the contract terms is reached, make sure to properly and legally document it.

Finally, make sure any agencies that you do keep on know that their spend is limited. You don’t want them to waste your time pitching you projects that involve high spend when that spend just isn’t going to happen. If you have a good enough relationship with them, and their own overheads are low enough, they may even find a way to reduce their costs for you for a set period of time in order to thank you for your continued support of their business.