Ensure success

General insurance (GI) is an incredibly competitive market, with everyone from banks and supermarkets to aggregators and intermediaries wanting a slice of the action. There is clearly an opportunity for mortgage brokers to make more revenue from general insurance sales too, but in view of such competition, is it realistic for mortgage intermediaries to compete effectively in this space?

I would argue that it is. Mortgage brokers are already in a stronger position than their specialist general insurance broker counterparts. While they struggle to get in front of consumers, figures from the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries reveal that 90% of people believe seeing an adviser is important to them.

People value advice on their mortgage, and this provides you with solid opportunities to discuss their other financial needs. Where the big general insurance players would appear to have the upper hand however is in their marketing budgets. Marketing spending by the big general insurance firms is enormous. At the beginning of 2009, ‘Aleksandr the Meerkat’ hit our TV screens, and his popularity as the face of comparethemarket.com resulted in an 83% increase in traffic to the website. So an effective marketing campaign is an essential component to successful sales and revenue generation, but marketing need not cost the earth.

Regardless of the size of the marketing budget available to you, you have to be smarter about where you spend your money. Consider how you have allocated your marketing spend in the past and ask yourself whether that split is still applicable.

What can you do to make sure as much of your budget is spent on getting in front of your customers? Will direct marketing, either by mail or electronically, deliver a better return than continuing to advertise in your local newspaper or on yell.com? Arguably, direct marketing is more measurable, as it allows you to target your clients individually. When it comes to justifying marketing spend to the bean counters, bulletproof numbers on how much actual revenue was generated are hard to argue against.

Make the most of your clients

Most intermediaries have a strong client bank that is unfortunately often underused. Even when your clients are spending less, keep in contact with them, so they know that you have not forgotten them – and more importantly, so they do not forget you.

Sending regular, relevant direct mails and emails, whether it is to provide product information, suggestions or simple tips as to how to take preventative measures to minimise flood damage. By keeping in touch, you’ll ensure that your brand is top of mind when they do want to buy.

The important thing to remember in any form of marketing or communications is aligning your messages to your customer’s ‘pain’ points. It is no secret that consumers are less likely to spend on anything right now that is not a necessity. So fine-tune the content of any marketing collateral to emphasise value and protection, as well as cost savings, if you can demonstrate this. And if you have customer testimonials, consider how you can use them. People are more likely to come to you if someone – even a complete stranger – has recommended your services.

If you do not have a ready bank of marketing collateral at your fingertips especially if you are looking to promote new lines of insurance, do not spend time, effort and expense in sourcing a designer or a copywriter, and the hassle of ensuring materials are FSA-compliant. Instead, investigate the marketing support services that intermediary-friendly GI distributors have available. Some are free and others can be accessed at heavily discounted rates negotiated by the distributor. These marketing toolkits are generally sourced online, can be tailored to your own brand and messaging and – best of all – are all FSA-compliant.

Also, do not discount the idea of online activity. Search out those distributors who can give you access to customer-friendly aggregator sites, allowing you to extend the product range available to your clients without having to go to the effort of sourcing it yourself. Many of these solutions can be white-labelled and inserted into your own client-facing website, allowing you to conduct email campaigns pushing traffic to that area of your site and generating both brand awareness and sales opportunities.

Get your marketing campaign in shape, so it can deliver results that will have a positive effect on your business.

Nigel Payne is managing director of Assurant Intermediary