The former CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, once said: “Your brand is not what you sell; it’s the experience you deliver.” Although his focus was on selling footwear, the same applies to the insurance industry. Insurance marketing isn’t often discussed, but it is vital to the continued success of insurance companies as it directly ties into the customer experience with your brand. However, sprucing up branding for an industry that has sold the same products since the 17th century is challenging. So, what can we do to modernize it?
The first step in building a modern brand in a traditional insurance market is to establish a set of core values that work in tandem with the products and services you’re selling. This will help you find an audience to connect with. Most insurance companies list integrity, collaboration or teamwork, and being“customer first” as some of their core values. These core values should translate into your brand personality and give you a sense of direction. Will your brand be outgoing and customer-centric like Progressive and Geico, or will you have a more serious tone like Prudential? Either way, modernizing your brand means following traditional marketing principles with a modern lens.
Equally important is using technology to further modernize your brand and improve the customer experience. While this means using strategy to optimize search engines to make it easier for potential customers to find you, it also entails ensuring current clients are satisfied. For example, consumers today value companies that have an app, giving clients the option for self-service in the form of making their own payments, having access to their ID cards at all times or making claims. To clients, this level of convenience is priceless, and for insurance companies, this might ease some of the workload.
At the same time, using social media is a must for an insurance company looking to successfully brand itself. Remembering those core values, insurance companies should be using social media to further showcase their personalities and take advantage of the fact that they can connect to potential and current customers. This could be done by simply staying active online and responding to customer questions and concerns, showing that the company does care about what clients have to say.
Personally, I think companies tend to forget that they have the ability to hear what customers have to say directly. Social media platforms can be used to see where your company and brand could use improvement along with what customers enjoy about your brand.
Ultimately, in an industry as traditional as insurance, modernizing your brand might seem like a daunting task, but it’s an opportunity to stand out and connect with your audience in new ways. By combining core values with innovative technology and authentic social media engagement, insurance companies can create a brand experience that feels both timeless and fresh. The key is to embrace the challenge and remember that your brand is not just what you sell — it’s the trust and connection you build with your customers.