The New Marketing: A Coming Sea Change In The Industry
A major sea change is about to occur in the life and health insurance industry.
Stated simply, by solving the publics need for actionable intelligence about its financial future, the industry will regain trust, in an unbiased way.
This will trigger what I call "The New Marketing" era, which will start with a tidal wave hitting the business in the next few years. This wave will break even as the industry is in various stages of solving its current problems (see some problems and solutions in Chart 1 on this page).
The worst problem right now is inadequate sales. This is where the New Marketing can be the answer. Well discuss it shortly.
When assessing what is coming, it helps to look at history. In this case, lets review historical trends from the viewpoint of who is looking after the consumer. Chart 2 provides my overview on this. As you can see, the trends have changed dramatically over the years, and sea changes have resulted for the industry.
In 2003, the answer to the question, "who looks after you?" is a scary one: "Oneself." The reactions of the public are (1) mistrust, and (2) need for unbiased actionable intelligence about the future.
As you can see, the industry succeeded in addressing the human condition challenges of 1925 and 1955. My belief is it can do so again with todays challengesbut only through a sea change.
This is where the New Marketing comes in. This is an umbrella term for providing the client with actionable intelligence about his or her financial future. It will reveal itself in many specific initiatives and vary from company to company, but it will always involve that actionable intelligence feature.
Such intelligence will include the good and bad news about the clients situation, will be free of all bias and will exhibit total integrity. It will not be product oriented; it will be people oriented.
