IMCA BLOG
Welcome to IMCA’s new blog. We hope this becomes your go-to resource for staying on top of trends, tools and best practices in insurance communications. IMCA leadership, as well as other communications and marketing thought leaders, will share their ideas for how we can become more innovative and strategic.
If you have topics that you’d like to see future blogs address, please email info@imcanet.com or start writing your own piece using the IMCA Guidelines for Guest Bloggers.
Communicating Your Competitive Advantage in a Hard Insurance Market
In a hard insurance market, price is no longer the key differentiator when it comes to purchasing insurance coverage.
Instead, brokers, insurance software developers, risk managers and carriers all have to find another way to claim a competitive advantage in this tight insurance marketplace. Smart marketing teams are doing this by highlighting their business’ consultative approach. This includes offering free risk management best practices, educating your audience on potential policy exclusions, providing industry-specific advisories and more.
What’s the best way to do this? Content marketing and thought leadership. Continue reading
Curious about Captives? Our Alternatives Risk Experts Tell All!
During hard markets, insurance premiums can rise regardless of a company’s safety record or financial strength. That’s why many businesses are seeking out alternative markets, like captives. But what is a captive and how do you market one? These alternative risk experts share some insights. Continue reading
The Top Insurance Terms: Multifamily Affordable Housing
Interested in learning about insuring multifamily affordable housing? Whether you’re an agent looking to specialize in a new niche or you’re just getting started in the industry, we’ve pulled together a list of terms you should know. You may face unique challenges in this industry, but as you help your customers protect and preserve affordable housing, which is a necessity for millions of people, you’ll also likely find the work highly rewarding. Continue reading
IMCA Award Recipient Demonstrates Marketing Leadership - Reprinted from Rough Notes Magazine with Permission
Jennifer Edwards, 27, brand and community program manager with Argo Group’s San Antonio office, was honored recently as the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Rising Star Award from the Insurance Marketing & Communications Association (IMCA). The award recognizes outstanding young marketing talent and future leaders in the insurance industry. Continue reading
6 Tried and True Ways to Extract Knowledge from Your Internal Experts with Ease
Time is our scarcest resource. And therefore, we’re all guilty of shelving work that isn’t a top priority. This is precisely what makes extracting content ideas from executives and internal experts a major challenge for nearly every marketing department. Insurance industry businesses are no exception. Continue reading
Staying on the Right Side of Copyright Law: IMCA Interview with Attorney Alex Montagu
Copyright laws are fuzzy, but inadvertent violations can land you in hot water. Attorney Alex Montagu has tips. Continue reading
Communicating During a Crisis: IMCA Interview with Attorney John Leon
When you're in the middle of a crisis, communications effectively can be tough. Attorney John Leon tells insurance teams how to prepare. Continue reading
The Top Insurance Terms: Marine Pollution Industry
Some of the most common terms and phrases used in the industrial pollution industry, and those specific to the insurance niche in the industry, can be confusing. Some are mysterious acronyms and others seem straightforward, but might have hidden complexities. That’s why we put together this quick reference guide to the 19 commonly used pollution industry and insurance terms. Continue reading
How Did a Tiny Team from a Small Company Win Two Awards Its First Time Out? By Pushing The Boundaries a Bit Past What Was Comfortable.
IMCA spoke with Amy Hourigan, director of marketing and communications for HAI Group, on her team’s two IMCA Showcase Awards and how she’ll push the boundaries in 2021. Continue reading
The Top Insurance Terms: Shipping Industry
As a continuation of our basic insurance terms series, we are focusing on common jargon of the shipping insurance industry. Shipping insurance has a long list of terms specific to the industry, many of which aren’t self-explanatory. From the Carmack Amendment to Inherent Vice and everything in between, we have you covered. Continue reading
Destination - Insurance Marketing and Communications
February is Insurance Careers Month. And as insurance marketing and communications professionals, many of us can agree that though we didn’t anticipate joining the hidden gem that is insurance, we’re glad we found our way here. Read on for first-hand testimonials from your peers on what inspired them to choose a career in insurance and how being in this industry has helped with their professional development. Continue reading
How the Marketing Team Can Keep Employees Engaged When Everyone's Working Remotely
To put it simply, 2020 wasn’t easy--personally or professionally. One of the biggest challenges for companies was keeping remote employees engaged, and it seems like this challenge will continue for the foreseeable future. Continue reading
The Top Insurance Terms: Marine Cargo Industry
Whether you’re just starting a marketing career in the insurance industry or have been in the same role for years, it never hurts to familiarize yourself with the top terms that you may not know. Which is why, today, we’re launching a new series of articles that feature different terms within the insurance industry. Continue reading
What Goes Into Creating an Award-Winning Print Communications Piece? We Asked Grinnell Mutual. (They Created Two.)
IMCA spoke with Jennifer Miller, integrated marketing manager at Grinnell Mutual, about the process of putting together her team’s award-winning magazine. Continue reading
How do you Win a Whopping Three IMCA Awards, Including Best in Show? One Tip: Look Beyond Current Advertising Trends
IMCA spoke with Anna Hargis, director of advertising for Shelter Insurance, on her team’s IMCA award-winning projects and where she goes for inspiration. Continue reading
Multi-Award Winner Slice Insurance Agency on Winning Big at IMCA
Doing great work is rewarding in and of itself, but getting recognized for that work is important, too—especially when you’re a startup set on reshaping the insurance industry. Marketer Emily Mertz explains. Continue reading
How Do You Turn an Elevator Speech into a Graphic Element?
IMCA spoke with Renée Lunceford, assistant vice president of marketing at Midwest Employers Casualty, on her team’s award-winning project, the value of peer feedback, and how fashion, technology, and music brands influence her team’s work. Continue reading
Communicating the Value of Diversity
In July 2020, insurance marketing and communications professionals from a variety of the industry’s top companies engaged in a virtual Peer2Peer event to discuss how they communicated the value of workplace diversity and inclusion as civil unrest spread across the U.S. and millions protested racial inequality and police brutality. The candid discussion among peers provided greater insight into best communication practices, lessons learned, and the challenges ahead as organizations strive to build and sustain diverse and inclusive cultures. Members can download the full article and non-members will need to provide some basic information to receive permission to download the article. Download the article now
Tips and Tricks for Shooting Video on your Smartphone
Want to learn how to shoot video like a pro, using only your smartphone? Risk Placement Service’s Emma Shores, an insurance marketer with a passion for video engagement, tells you how. Continue reading
Creating a Winning Entry on a Shoestring
At the 2019 IMCA Showcase Awards, UFG Insurance won Best in Show in the “Creative Development on a Shoestring” category for a video the company created for Ohio agents. The goal? To quickly and effectively inform these agents about a state supreme court ruling regarding faulty workmanship and insurance. Continue reading
How VGM Insurance Services Led Last Year's Best of Show Awards
How did a small organization competing against companies that dwarf it in size, resources and budget win the most Best of Show Awards at the 2019 Showcase? Continue reading
Catch an IMCA Rising Star
Keep your eye on these three IMCA members, who are raising the bar for insurance marketing and communications. Continue reading
2020 Marketing Resolutions
It's a new year and a new decade. In addition to personal New Year's resolutions, several IMCA board members have made professional ones as well. Continue reading
Be Strategic About Content, Even Without a Strategist
There's more to content strategy than telling a good story. Continue reading
Hiring Strategies in a Tight Job Market
In an ultra-competitive market, you need to be strategic (and patient) when filling a new or existing role. Continue Reading
Taking the (Em)Path to Human-Centered Design
In UX design, empathy is a critical component for insurance marketers who want to create user satisfaction. Continue Reading
IMCA Icon Michael Z. Stahl: A Visionary Insurance Marketer
In June 2019, IMCA introduced its first Icon Award to recognize insurance marketing leaders. The first recipient of this honor was Mike Stahl of HealthMarkets, who turned a field-based agnecy into one of the largest independent insurance agencies in the United States by strategically integrating data and technology into sales and marketing. Continue Reading
The Value of IMCA Membership
IMCA Executive Chair Valerie Foster discusses how IMCA membership has supported her career and outlines her 2019-2020 strategic priorities for the association. Continue reading
Relaunching Your Personal Brand
First impressions are lasting impressions, sometimes longer than you would like. When workplace or industry colleagues have an outdated impression of you, it can undermine your credibility and hold you back in your career. Fortunately, as marketers, we’re familiar with how branding/rebranding can reposition a company or product in the marketplace. If your personal brand is out-of-date, it might be time to rebrand yourself and introduce these colleagues to the new you. Continue reading
Creating Your Roadmap for Change
A highlight of IMCA’s 2019 Annual Conference was a panel discussion on navigating change in your marketing career. IMCA board members Anna Hargis, Rachel Harris and Angela Kim provided insight into how they’ve successfully effected and responded to change in their careers. Following is a recap of selected remarks our panelists made during this discussion. Continue reading
Building a Data-Driven Marketing Strategy
One of the highlight’s of the 2019 IMCA Annual Conference in Minneapolis was John Bell’s presentation, “Marketing in the Age of the Connected Customer.” Following the conference, John, vice president, Enterprise Digital Marketing at Travelers, has provided IMCA with these additional insights into effectively leveraging customer data. According to John, data is the key to a personalized, customer-centric marketing approach. Continue reading
How Lo(cal) Can You Go In Target Marketing?
In a digital lead-generation campaign, the Gallagher Global Brokerage Marketing team was able to successfully promote college student personal property coverage to parents (primary audience) and students (secondary). Over a two-month period, this marketing program generated more than 11x ROI for the company’s Southeast region. Continue reading
There's Something About a Sell Sheet
There are lots of good alternatives to sell sheets. Continue reading
Using Your Brand to Make an Emotional Connection
IMCA turned to brand strategist Derrick Daye for his thoughts on why today’s brands need to make an emotional connection with agents and clients. Continue reading
Upgrade Your Marketing Agency Relationships from Good to Great
Any relationship takes work. Your marketing department’s relationship with its advertising agency or design firm is no exception. In a good relationship, your agency responds to campaign requests with several creative options, helps solve business challenges and produces projects on time and on budget. A great relationship is one where the agency — with your help — develops a working understanding of your business and understands its corporate culture. Continue reading
Why You Should Enter Marketing Award Competitions
Marketing is inherently a competitive space. Our sole purpose is to drive revenue; some may disagree, but fundamentally, every activity a marketing department performs should be to support their firm’s business objectives (read: make money) through marketing strategies. Period. Meeting this objective takes many forms. We use terms like brand equity, customer journey, omni-channel, earned media and so on, evoking the occasional eye-roll from our non-marketing peers who simply don’t speak our language. Continue reading