Smaller Life Insurers Continue Fight for Consumer Mindshare

Executives at small and midsize life insurers are still hungry for ways to stand out on social media services, and on mobile devices.

Many of the presenters who spoke last week in Destin, Florida, at the Life Insurers Council's annual meeting and marketing conference, talked about strategies smaller life insurers can use to capture consumer mindshare.

(Related: Insurers Report Mixed Preneed Product Results)

The LIC is part of LOMA, which, in turn, is part of LL Global Inc. — the umbrella organization for both LIMRA and LOMA. The council's event in Florida attracted about 100 executives from small and midsize life insurers, including 22 company presidents and chief executive officers, according to the LIC.

Mark Singleton is taking over from Tammy Schultz this year as LIC's chair.

Schultz is the executive vice president of global preneed business at Assurant's American Memorial Life unit.

Singleton is the president of 5Star Life Insurance Company, an arm of the Armed Forces Benefit Association. The association has been attracting attention to its website with news items and announcements about matters such as Black History Month and the impact of the recent federal government shutdown on some members' families.

At the LIC event in Florida, Ryan Thogmartin, owner of Disrupt Media, talked about ideas for branding and social media strategies for companies involved in the funeral profession.

Amanda Wallace, head of direct-to-consumer marketing at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, talked about direct-to-consumer marketing basics.

Sandeep Kharidhi, vice president of product management at Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions, talked about use of data analytics in finding attractive customers. Lexis Nexis demonstrated its focus on small and midsize life insurers as a growth market for data analytics tools by serving as a meeting sponsor.

When the LIC conducted an instant poll of executives at the event, 25% of the 56 participating attendees said their companies are working on new websites, portals or other, similar types of technology projects for 2019; just 2% said their companies are working on new administration systems, according to a summary posted on the LIC Twitter feed.

About 21% said their companies are hoping to release new products in 2019, and 13% said their companies are working on new underwriting or policy issue processes, according to the instant poll summary.