Archive for the ‘Insurance-Technologies’ Category

Insurance, Compliance, Social, & Multi-Channel Marketing – “It’s a lot to bite off all at once.” -What About Bob!

Wanted to give a quick shout-out about a Webinar I was asked to help with.

Background: Distribion, a new member of the association I’m involved in, PIMA, caught my attention at the last conference. So I decided to check out their system in an effort to better understand their value prop , especially in the context of PIMA members. After a quick, high-level demo, I could see that the tech definitely has great utility for organizations that are leveraging multi-channel marketing. Of course my expertise is about e-Commerce, Web sites, Web marketing, and Social Technologies. So it was interesting to see how Direct Mail, Call Center Marketing, and other channels can be integrated into a common dashboard.

In talking about the insurance industry, they asked me what I felt were some of the biggest challenges in the insurance space relative to Social Media Marketing. Short answer… legal and compliance issues have kept many insurance marketing organizations on the Social Tech sidelines. I shared a recent project I’m working on where I’m helping an insurance company with a pilot marketing project. I’m orchestrating a process with the carrier, a couple of their agencies, and compliance folks. Interesting.

Of course that started with a research project sponsored by the company’s marketing department where I was tasked with an assessment of the Social Media Marketing and Compliance landscape. That ended up being very helpful in bringing the legal and compliance folks up to speed on Social Technologies, breaking down some functional myths about Social, illustrating what other carriers are doing with Social, researching and describing current guidelines by the NAIC, etc.

At the time, Distribion folks reached back to me and suggested perhaps we do a joint White Paper, perhaps a joint Webinar, that brings together these Social Media Marketing and Compliance concepts together with Marketing Technology concepts. So fast forward several months and here we are.

Next week we’ll be jumping on a call to discuss these subjects. Edgar Rodriguez, Sales Exec with Distribion will be facilitating a session with myself and Deb McAlister-Holland. Deb recently joined Distribion to lead their marketing efforts – very interesting background that brings a rich perspective I’ve appreciated getting to know in preparation for this Webinar. Check out here new ecosystem at www.distributedmarketing.org

Here’s what the Agenda looks like:

• How Google Changed Marketing Forever
  
• The Empowered Customer & the Echo Chamber
  
• 21st Century Marketing in a Regulated Environment
  
• Social Media Guidelines & Compliance
  
• Empowering Producers & Local Marketing
  
• 7 Things Marketers MUST Know About Online Marketing

Again, “It’s a lot to bite off” in 60 minutes. But it seems like it should be a worthwhile effort. The ensuing White Paper should be good as well. If you have anything you really want to know, feel free to use the Comment below, Linkindin, Twitter, email, call me, etc. Happy to help in any way…

Btw, not sure how many of the attendees will be on Twitter during and after the event, but I’d like to suggest the Twitter hashtag: #MCRE for Marketing & Compliance in a Regulated Environment. In fact, I’ll make a note to stay on Twitter for a half-hour after the Webinar to kick around thoughts and ideas. Ala HubSpot, we’ll call it the “Twitter After-party!” I love it.

Links:

Register here

Linkedin Event (Click “Attending” for an easy way to Share with your Linkedin network)

Perhaps Share this post as well. The more insurance folks that assimilate some of these concepts, the better. Definitely encourage you to send it to legal and compliance folks.

Thanks!

A classic line from Jurassic Park, right? Jeff Goldblum was stating the obvious very simply yet urgently.

Question: Have you ever been driving down the interstate… in the right lane… at a normal speed of 65mph… just cruising along enjoying the drive… when all of the sudden you come upon someone driving 45, or worse yet, someone stopped in your lane??? What’s your first gut feeling?

Or maybe you’re in a hurry rushing between meetings.. perhaps returning an urgent phone call to your spouse… so you’re pushing it at 75/80mph. Again, all of the sudden you come upon someone driving really slow? What’s your gut feeling then, especially given that you’re in a time of stress?

At the far extreme, have you ever seen someone, usually from Illinois or Michigan :-0, BLOW BY at  85/90/95? Imagine the difference THEN with the guy going 45. Even if you’re going 65, that differential is big – not mention the guy going 45… or the guy why is broken down and stopped.

The interesting paradox: The people driving slow may think they are ‘safe’ but in reality, they are actually in harm’s way.

What’s the point? Does the same concept apply to Social Technologies and companies or industries moving too slow? Is there a correlation there? I think so, but like I always say, sometimes I’m out in left field. I’ve had my share of close-calls with slow or stopped traffic, close enough to know that a crash on the highway is really dangerous. We’ve all driven by them, too. Not only is that kind of accident a high-speed impact, but what happens after the main accident is often even more lethal. Consider the secondary crashes, the side impacts, spinning and crossing the median. Then there’s the rubber-neckers on the other side. Then there’s the bad feelings, anger, long-term back problems, etc. etc. Even if they DON’T wreck, it’s disruptive, isn’t it?

Please Comment below: Isn’t it critically important to, at a bare minimum, keep up with traffic? Well, Social Media Marketing for B2B AND B2C is moving at a fairly good clip right now….

Again, I’m nuts sometimes. Straighten me out.

A few of my friends leading worship at church

Busy professionals often want to know how to make the Social Web more useful for them. But there are barriers. Some comments I hear, especially from boomers in upper or senior management:

1. “Well, I’m on Linkedin and I accept people’s invitations, but I’m not really doing anything with it.”
2. “Why should I Blog? And I definitely don’t get Twitter….”
3. “My company has a policy against Social Media. So I can’t even read blogs, much less write one.”
4. “Most of my interactions with clients are confidential or proprietary. Great content, but I can’t share it on the internet.”
5. “How can blogging, Twitter, and Linkedin advance my career?”
6. “Mike, I’m not keeping up with email as it is. If I get active on Social, won’t that add more email and put me even further behind?”

All legit and common questions and comments. No doubt they all stem from ‘busy-ness’. But the question is, “Can we ignore Social media vis-a-vis our professional presence and online reputation?”

Perhaps TOGETHER we can collaborate on some real-deal answers. Tell you what: I’ll share some of my writings on “How to Become a Recognized Expert”. Please add your Comments to the discussion below.

[TIP: Click the "Subscribe" right next to the Submit button, especially the choice about getting an email for follow-up comments. That way you can see if someone comments on your comment. I know more email. But this is good email, email where you have a stake in the discussion and want to know what others are saying. If you have a couple minutes and really want to do it right, set up a Google profile, add your headshot and points of contact, web site, etc. Be logged-in when you Comment to 1. save time and 2. give people a name with a face.]

Vignette. See if you agree…

To ignore or not to ignore. Let’s use a real-life example. Is this True or False in your experience?

I have a great friend who is a Partner with a Big Four audit firm, we’ll call him Doug. Doug is a relationship manager for a handful of F100 enterprises. He has a team of “supply chain financial management” specialists, again at the F100 level, that know “supply chain financial management”about as well as anyone on the planet, with a great track record of meaningful successes in solving client problems. But if you look up “supply chain financial management”, his firm is invisible, not to mention Doug.

If you were a large enterprise finance professional in “supply chain financial management” looking for a new source of information or a new business partner/advisor/audit firm, wouldn’t you be interested in hearing from a Big Four contact, better yet, a Big Four contact in your network? Or vice-versa – If you were a Big Four sales exec, would you want your company and/or someone on your team to be “found” in the “supply chain financial management” category on Linkedin or Google?

Let’s continue with the vignette.

Here we have Doug, a Big Four “supply chain financial management” expert with no Web properties to his credit, no blog, no or minimal Linkedin, no Twitter presence.

Now let’s say one of Doug’s happy clients, Joe Jones (fictitious name), has a conversation with Chris Mann (fictitious name), a colleague from another F100 company, and a Big Four prospect, at an annual industry conference at a plush resort. Over a beverage and friendly dinner, together they chew on a common challenge relative to “supply chain financial management”.

Is this a common scenario? I think so, but sometimes I’m an idiot, too.

Joe, the happy Big Four client, references a few recent “supply chain financial management” innovations originated and orchestrated by Doug’s Big Four team, with a special emphasis on the wisdom and leadership of Doug, again the “supply chain financial management” relationship manager.

However, unfortunately, due to compliance, regulatory, and intellectual property issues, Joe the happy client can’t go into details or email/share any documentation on the innovation with Chris.

Chris says, “Gee, I’d like to talk to Doug.” Joe writes down Doug’s name on a napkin, digs his cell phone number out of his Droid, and says, “Give Doug a call. You’ll get his voice mail. Tell him I referred you. He’ll call you back within 24 hours. He’s got the answers…”

End of vignette.

First Question: Is this a desirable situation for the Big Four Sales Exec? Sure it is. SO…

Do you think Chris, the Big Four prospect, will do a little searching online, perhaps hit Linkedin, perhaps Google, search on Doug’s name at least? How will Chris start her search? Here’s a likely scenario…
Google – “Doug Smith” “Big Four name”
Chris thinks to herself, “Well, here’s a Linkedin profile, but it’s pretty thin. Wow, zero content on “supply chain financial management” – no blog link, no Twitter feed, no Recommendations… Well, maybe he doesn’t understand Linkedin… Oh well. Let me add “supply chain financial management”
Click the <Back> button a couple times to the search page..
“Doug Smith” “Big Four name” “supply chain financial management”
“Hmmm. Still nothing. Wow. Doug’s not publishing anything; neither is Big Four. Odd. Well, perhaps it’s the compliance department throwing down their gauntlet on Social Media and Web sites, etc. Well, I’ll give Doug a call, but in the meantime, let me see what I can find on ["supply chain financial management" blog]. Hmmmm. This is interesting….” Off Chris goes in other directions, potentially finding other sources.

Second Question: How is this scenario going to impact Chris’s first encounter and first impression of Doug when Doug returns the phone call?

Remember what’s at stake here. Think about the potential collateral damage to the relationship between Joe Jones, the Happy Client and Chris…and by extension the relationship between Joe and Doug.

Part 2 will be the flip side of the story. What do you think of the vignette? True or False and Why?

In getting started on Quora, I answered a question (click here) about Twitter as news medium versus Social Network. I candidly discussed some of my secret Twitter strategies. The content was subsequently re-posted on Insurance Ecosystem.

Highly recommend Insurance Ecosystem, not only as an info source, but also as a concept. Pat Alexander is one of the savviest insurance vets I know relative to insurance technology…. definitely has her finger on the pulse.

If you have Comments or questions about Twitter, click through and throw them into the post over on Insurance Ecosystem and we’ll dialog over there. Above all, don’t settle for the trite Twitter brush off, “I don’t get Twitter.” It’s already extremely influential on many levels. Highly recommend it. Read why.

Heading to the prison ministry for 72 hours. Gotta’ leave the tech in the car. JFYI.

**********

Picture from the recent ice and snow storm…

Sunrise coming over the roof caught my attention

A recurring question I’ve been asked this past week since this video launched, “Was that hard to do?”

Thought it might be useful to write about it. But in return, I’d like to ask readers to give their opinion on a question. I’ll ask the question first so you can be thinking about it.

In watching this video, how would you characterize the “commercial use” nature of it?

Yes, no doubt the intended purpose is to drive brand loyalty and attendance at future ICMG meetings. But the video is not ‘for sale’, not driving direct revenue, noone’s going to buy it, etc. In my mind, that would be a commercial use worthy of paying royalties. So if we used, for example, a U2 song as the music bed rather than the royalty free one, shouldn’t that be fine without jumping through all the IP hoops? No money is changing hands because of the song. Regardless of whether you are a legal expert or not, what do you think? What’s your gut feeling? Just curious… Plus it’s free publicity for the musical artist, too?

350+ bit.ly clicks in a week. Mission accomplished. A few tips without going into an exhaustive essay:

1. Find a theme for the video. Funny, Short, True. If these are the three keys to a viral video, how can you follow a theme through the vid that accomplishes all three? In this case, the idea came to me based on a true story of what Mark Hill I believe once said about me taking pictures at insurance conferences. “Mike, it’s like you’re on a safari! You’re taking pictures of insurance people in their native habitats!” So funny. The coup-de-gras this time around though…? I must give credit to Craig Blake who encouraged me to get a safari hat on the way to the conference – brilliant because it reinforced the theme as I got pictures and sound-bites from people.
2. Get some good media elements that support the theme – again Funny, Short, True. Good quality pictures and lots of them; sound bites and other audio elements. Of course we have to serve the ROI expectations of the vid, right? So you can’t lose focus on the economics of the thing – it’s got to serve the goal of the organization. So notice in the vid the opening question is, “What did you get out of the conference?” That serves the business purpose – simple enough. Don’t need a lot, just a representative sampling. Note that I probably got twice the number of comments that I ended up using. That’s cool. I set the expectations with the folks I interviewed. But the key to making it funny was to get them to do something funny – no small trick in a business setting – while still keeping things professional and not embarrassing, right? Thus the animal sounds. Had no idea that that would be as funny as it came out. IMHO, the really funny part is the laughter after.

What really generates “virality?”

1. Of course humor. Be careful here though. Humor’s a fine line. Get a lot of eyes and ears on the thing before you ‘Go Live.’ Funny
2. Lot’s of faces so people can say, “Hey, that’s me! I remember that! Hey Chris, look at this!” Share-able. Common sense – if you’re using public events and real people, places, and times, make sure your content positions the people in the video in a positive light. And again, get their approval all along the way. Critical.
3. Makes or proves a point so that people can use the vid to reinforce or support their efforts. “Dude, I told you you shuda come. Check out this vid of the event. Make sure you plan to come next year…” Useful.
4. Speed is everything with something like this. It’s either got to be released right away or wait until the selling season for the next event. Proximity to Event.
5. Short and sweet – Nuf said … even at 3:45 this is a tad long, but the intro and outro are key ingredients and added a minute.

Do you have anything to add? What have you seen that works? What’s your favorite B2B viral video? Key word: B2B (as opposed to B2C – tons of those..)

Thanks for reading and Sharing. Appreciate any Shares on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin. Spread the word. The world needs more stuff like this happening – very powerful communication tool for all sorts of messages.

Let me know if you want to do one for your business. I’m working on couple others as we speak. Don’t want to be the “viral video guy”, but want to help insurance folks get started.

“Thrive with Social”

Additional resources:

3 Examples of Awesome B2B Marketing Viral Videos

Live Search on Twitter

(results will vary depending on when you click through)