I have spent a good part of this semester trying to understand how an integrated marketing communication plan could help my firm. You see, my career has spanned over 30 years in the insurance industry and the last 24 years have been in sales on the insurance broker side. As a result, I have viewed my through the lenses cursed with knowledge (Heath & Heath, 2007). The challenge I saw was that our firm offers a service that is experienced differently depending on the user. In fact, many times the employees who work for our clients “experience” our service with only a vague awareness of who we are. How do you then differentiate your service from the competition? Last week, an article in an industry online periodical caught my eye. The article was from “Trusted Advisor”, a company our firm has used to help our sales people gain more business. It was titled “Ten Myths about Selling Intangible Service”. Here is a link to the entire article: http://trustedadvisor.com/articles/ten-myths-about-selling-intangible-services. I recommend you read it because it has universal application.
The main idea in the article was that to successfully market an intangible but valuable service you need to create an environment that is “all about the client” so that you can earn their trust. It got me thinking about what we do for our clients and that an effective integrated marketing communication strategy should be designed to include all of the departments and how they interact to serve the clients’ needs. It includes all the ways the client will experience our firm. This not only includes the obvious customer service but also all of the ways the departments within the firm need to work to make the client feel that we care about them. For example, in creating employee communication pieces for the client, are they written in a way so that people who are not in our industry understand how the benefits apply to them? Do we go the extra mile to make sure we help clients and their employees navigate the complex health care system? An integrated marketing communication strategy for a firm such as ours has to include the clients’ needs as central to our existence so that we gain their trust. An intangible service must be experienced first and then value is determined by the user.
If your employer offers a health insurance program there is a good chance that you have experienced the service of a broker even though it may not have been apparent. Your first encounter may have been with the communication you received when you first became eligible for the plans. Did the plan choices seem clear to you? If not, were you provided with resources (not from the insurance company) to obtain additional information and clarification? Even if your human resources manager was your main point of contact, it was more than likely the benefits broker that helped design the benefit communication campaign. Have you ever had an issue with a denied claim or in obtaining a referral for a procedure that you needed? Who helped you with the claim or advocated on your behalf to obtain the approvals from the insurance companies? It is highly likely that a firm such as ours was involved. Did you feel it was all about you?
References
Heath, C & Heath, D. (2007). Made to stick: Why some ideas die and others survive. Random House
Ten myths about selling intangible service. (2015, July 8). [Blog Post]. Retrieved from: http://trustedadvisor.com/articles/ten-myths-about-selling-intangible-services