ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE

8/9/2019 ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE

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ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE

Definition of Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to

hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the

risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a

guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a companyselling the insurance; an insured is the person or entity buying the insurance. The insurance rate

is a factor used to determine the amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance

coverage, called the premium. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk,

has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.

One Definition Of Advertising Is: "Advertising is the non personal communication of

information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by

identified sponsors through the various media."(Bovey, 1992, p. 7) So much for academic

doubletalk. Now let's take this statement apart and see what it means.

NON-PERSONAL

First, what is "no- personal"? There are two basic ways to sell anything: personally and non-

personally. Personal selling requires the seller and the buyer to get together. There are

advantages and disadvantages to this. The first advantage is time: the seller has time to discuss in

detail everything about the product. The buyer has time to ask questions, get answers, and

examine evidence for or against purchase.

A second advantage of personal selling is that the seller can see you. the person rheas selling to.

Rhea can see your face; see how the sales message is getting across. If you yawn or your eyes

shift away, you're obviously bored, and the seller can change approach. Rhea can also see if

you're hooked, see what features or benefits have your attention, and emphasize them to close the

sale.

Finally, the seller can easily locate potential buyers. If you enter a store, you probably have an

interest in something that store sells. Street vendors and door-to-door sellers can simply shout at

possibilities, like the Hyde Park (London) vendors who call out, "I say there, Guv'nor, can you

use a set of these dishes?", or knock at the door and start their spiel with an attention grabber.

From there on they fit their message to the individual customer, taking all the time a customer iswilling to give them.

Disadvantages do exist. Personal selling is, naturally enough, expensive, since it is labor-

intensive and deals with only one buyer at a time. Just imagine trying to sell chewing gum or

guitar picks one-on-one; it would cost a dollar a stick or pick.


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In addition, its advantage of time is also a disadvantage. Personal selling is time-consuming.

Selling a stereo or a car can take days, and major computer and airplane sales can take years.

Nonetheless, although personal selling results in more rejections than sales, and can be nerve-

racking, frustrating and ego destroying for the salesperson, when the salesperson is good it is

more directed and successful than advertising.

From the above, it appears that personal selling is much better than advertising, which is non-

personal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling: there is very

little time in which to present the sales message, there is no way to know just who the customer

is or how rhea is responding to the message, the message cannot be changed in mid-course to suit

the customer's reactions.

Then why bother with advertising? Because its advantages exactly replace the disadvantages of

personal selling and can emulate some of the advantages. First let's look at the latter.

First, advertising has, comparatively speaking, all the time in the world. Unlike personal selling,

the sales message and its presentation does not have to be created on the spot with the customer

watching. It can be created in as many ways as the writer can conceive, be rewritten, tested,

modified, injected with every trick and appeal known to affect consumers. (Some of the latter is

the content of this book.)

Second, although advertisers may not see the individual customer, nor be able to modify the

sales message according to that individual's reactions at the time, it does have research about

customers. The research can identify potential customers, find what message elements might

influence them, and figure out how best to get that message to them. Although the research is

meaningless when applied to any particular individual, it is effective when applied to large

groups of customers.

Third, and perhaps of most importance, advertising can be far cheaper per potential customer

than personal selling. Personal selling is extremely labor-intensive, dealing with one customer at

a time. Advertising deals with hundreds, thousands, or millions of customers at a time, reducing

the cost per customer to mere pennies. In fact, advertising costs are determined in part using a

formula to determine, not cost per potential customer, but cost per thousand potential customers.

Thus, it appears that advertising is a good idea as a sales tool. For small ticket items, such as

chewing gum and guitar picks, advertising is cost effective to do the entire selling job. For large

ticket items, such as cars and computers, advertising can do a large part of the selling job, and

personal selling is used to complete and close the sale.


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Advertising Is Non-Personal, But Effective.

COMMUNICATION

Communication means not only speech or pictures, but any way one person can pass

information, ideas or feelings to another. Thus communication uses all of the senses: smell,

touch, taste, sound and sight. Of the five, only two are really useful in advertising -- sound and

sight.

SMELL

Smell is an extremely strong form of communication. However, when it comes to advertising, it

is not very useful. A smell can immediately evoke memories. Remember times when you've

smelled something and what memories came to your mind. The smell could be a perfume or

aftershave that reminds you of Sheila or George. It could be popcorn, newly mown grass, char-

broiling steak, or roses. Any smell can conjure up a memory for you.

However, that is smell's greatest problem for advertising. Although a smell can evoke a memory,

everyone's memories are different. For example, the smell of hay in a cow barn always reminds

me of my grandfather's farm in Indiana and the fun I had there as a child. To others, however,

that same smell makes them think a cow had an accident in the living room, not at all the same

response as mine. If an advertiser wanted to make me nostalgic about farms and grandparents,

the smell would be perfect. To others the smell might evoke ideas of cow accidents or the pain of

having to buck bales on a hot summer day, neither image of much use in making a product

appealing.

The point is, the effect of using smell in advertising cannot be controlled by the advertiser.

Although many people smell the same things, what they associate with those smells varies with

each person. Without some control, smell is a very weak form of communication for advertising.

Touch

Touch has a limitation that makes it of little use to advertising -- the customer has to come in

actual contact with the item to be touched. Thus the item must actually exist and be put in a

medium that can carry it. This puts touch more in the realm of personal selling than advertising.

It is possible to use touch for a limited number of products. For example, samples of cloth or

paper can be bound into magazines. The potential customer can thus feel percale or the texture of

corduroy; tell through touch the difference between slick magazine stock, embossing, Classic

Laid or 100% rag paper. However, for the majority of products touch is useless for advertising.


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Taste

Taste is probably the least useful communication channel available to advertising. Like touch,

taste requires the potential customer to come in actual physical contact with the product.

However, taste is even more limited than touch. There are few products other than food for

which taste is a major selling point, and there is virtually no medium in which an ad can be

placed that people are likely to lick; I'm sure few people are going to lick a magazine page or the

TV screen, nor get much sense of what the product tastes like from them. It is possible to use

direct mail, sending samples to homes, but that is an expensive way to advertise.

Thus, taste is much more effective in personal selling, such as sampling foods in supermarkets or

in door-to-door sales.

The remaining two senses, sound and sight, are the most effective and easily used channels of

communication available to advertising. For these reasons virtually all advertising relies on them.

Sound

Sound is extremely useful for advertising. It can be used in a variety of media, from radio and

television to the new technology of binding micro-sound chips in magazines to present 20-

second sales messages. It is also capable of presenting words and "theatre of the mind."

Words, the method by which humans communicate their ideas and feelings, are presented by

sound, by speaking aloud. Through the use of words it is possible to deliver logical arguments,

discuss pros and cons, and evoke emotions.

More, through the use of sound it is possible to create what is called "the theatre of the mind."

What this means is that sound can conjure in the listener's mind images and actions that don't

necessarily exist. For example, if you want to create before the mind's eye the image of a party,

you need merely use the sound effects of people talking and laughing, the tinkle of glasses and

ice, perhaps music in the background. Even easier, tape record a party and play it back. To evoke

images of a soft spring day the sounds of a breeze rustling leaves, the chirrup of insects, the soft

call of birds is sufficient. The listener's mind will take those sounds, combine them, make sense

of them, and create an image suited to their individual taste. For example, a beer commercial

may play the sounds of a bar in the background, and the listener may imagine themselves in theirown favorite bar, and perhaps ordering that brand of beer.

Thus sound, in the forms of words and effects, are quite useful to the advertiser in affecting a

listener.


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Sight

Sight is arguably the most useful of the communication channels available to the advertiser.

Through sight it is possible to use both words and images effectively.

Words do not have to be spoken to be understood. They can be printed, as well. Although it is

difficult to put in written words the emotional impact possible in spoken words, with their

inflections and subtle sound cues, nevertheless written words are unsurpassed for getting across

and explaining complex ideas or arguments.

There is an additional factor in sight that makes it excellent for advertising. The old cliche, "A

picture is worth a thousand words," is correct. Think how long it takes to describe something as

opposed to showing a picture of it. No matter how many words you use, some details will be left

out that are visible at a glance. Thus sight can quickly and concisely show a customer what the

advertiser wants her to see, be it a product or how buying the product can benefit rher.

The five forms of human communication can be used to send any message to potential

customers. However, not all five are equal. Smell, touch and taste are of little use, but sound and

sight are of great value and effectiveness.

INFORMATION

Information is defined as knowledge, facts or news. However, you should bear in mind that one

person's information is another person's scam, particularly when advertisers talk about their

products.

Information comes in many forms. It can be complete or incomplete. It can be biased or

deceptive. Complete information is telling someone everything there is to know about

something: what it is, what it looks like, how it works, what its benefits and drawbacks are.

However, to provide complete information about anything is time consuming and difficult. For

example, to tell all about a car would require its appearance, manufacture and manufacturer,

what percentage of parts are made in which countries, cost of upkeep, mileage (city and

highway), cost (basic and with any and all combination of options), sales and excise taxes per

state, preparation costs, insurance costs per state and locale, ride characteristics (noise by db

interior and exterior, ergs required for steering and braking, relative comfort of seats, length ofreach required to use controls, degrees of lean when cornering), acceleration, braking distance at

many different speeds, etc.. All of this would require a documentary, not a commercial.

Complete information is impossible to provide in an ad.

Thus, for advertising, information must of necessity be incomplete, not discussing everything

there is to know about the subject. In advertising, what appears is everything the writer thinks the


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customer needs to know about the product in order to make a decision about the product. That

information will generally be about how the product can benefit the customer.

There is, of course, the concept of affirmative disclosure. This concept requires an advertiser to

provide customers with any information that could materially affect their purchase decision.

Lewis A. England, FTC Chair in 1974, said:

"Sometimes the consumer is provided not with information he wants but only with the

information the seller wants him to have. Sellers, for instance, are not inclined to advertise

negative aspects their products even though those aspects may be of primary concern to the

consumer, particularly if they involve considerations of health or safety . . . "

The Federal Trade Commission deals with such omissions by demanding affirmative disclosure

of such information, and backs up their demands with the force of law.

Bias is being partial towards something, feeling that something is better or worse than other

things. Biased information about a product is that which emphasizes what is good and ignores

what is bad about it. In advertising this is not only normal, but necessary. Of course an advertiser

is biased toward her own product and against the competition: selling her product is the way rhe

makes her money, and her competition's sales reduce that income. Thus any advertising will use

words and images that show how good rhea product is and/or how poor rhea competition's is.

This is biased information,

Different Types of Advertising

Advertising is the promotion of a companys products and services carried out primarily to drive

sales of the products and services but also to build a brand identity and communicate changes or

new product /services to the customers. Advertising has become an essential element of the

corporate world and hence the companies allot a considerable amount of revenues as their

advertising budget. There are several reasons for advertising some of which are as follows:

y Increasing the sales of the product/servicey Creating and maintaining a brand identity or brand image.y Communicating a change in the existing product line.y Introduction of a new product or service.y Increasing the buzz-value of the brand or the company.

Thus, several reasons for advertising and similarly there exist various media which can be

effectively used for advertising. Based on these criteria there can be several branches of

advertising. Mentioned below are the various categories or types of advertising:


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Print Advertising Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers

the print media have always been a popular advertising medium. Advertising products via

newspapers or magazines is a common practice. In addition to this, the print media also offers

options like promotional brochures and fliers for advertising purposes. Often the newspapers and

the magazines sell the advertising space according to the area occupied by the advertisement, the

position of the advertisement (front page/middle page), as well as the readership of the

publications. For instance an advertisement in a relatively new and less popular newspaper

would cost far less than placing an advertisement in a popular newspaper with a high readership.

The price of print ads also depend on the supplement in which they appear, for example an

advertisement in the glossy supplement costs way higher than that in the newspaper supplement

which uses a mediocre quality paper.

Outdoor Advertising Billboards, Kiosks, Tradeshows and Events

Outdoor advertising is also a very popular form of advertising, which makes use of several toolsand techniques to attract the customers outdoors. The most common examples of outdoor

advertising are billboards, kiosks, and also several events and tradeshows organized by the

company. The billboard advertising is very popular however has to be really terse and catchy in

order to grab the attention of the passers by. The kiosks not only provide an easy outlet for the

company products but also make for an effective advertising tool to promote the companys

products. Organizing several events or sponsoring them makes for an excellent advertising

opportunity. The company can organize trade fairs, or even exhibitions for advertising their

products. If not this, the company can organize several events that are closely associated with

their field. For instance a company that manufactures sports utilities can sponsor a sports

tournament to advertise its products.

Broadcast advertising Television, Radio and the Internet

Broadcast advertising is a very popular advertising medium that constitutes of several branches

like television, radio or the Internet. Television advertisements have been very popular ever since

they have been introduced. The cost of television advertising often depends on the duration of

the advertisement, the time of broadcast (prime time/peak time), and of course the popularity of

the television channel on which the advertisement is going to be broadcasted. The radio might

have lost its charm owing to the new age media however the radio remains to be the choice ofsmall-scale advertisers. The radio jingles have been very popular advertising media and have a

large impact on the audience, which is evident in the fact that many people still remember and

enjoy the popular radio jingles.


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Covert Advertising Advertising in Movies

Covert advertising is a unique kind of advertising in which a product or a particular brand is

incorporated in some entertainment and media channels like movies, television shows or even

sports. There is no commercial in the entertainment but the brand or the product is subtly( or

sometimes evidently) showcased in the entertainment show. Some of the famous examples for

this sort of advertising have to be the appearance of brand Nokia which is displayed on Tom

Cruises phone in the movie Minority Report, or the use ofCadillac cars in the movie Matrix

Reloaded.

Surrogate Advertising Advertising Indirectly

Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is

banned by law. Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are injurious to heath

are prohibited by law in several countries and hence these companies have to come up withseveral other products that might have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the

cigarettes or beer bottles of the same brand. Common examples include Fosters and Kingfisher

beer brands, which are often seen to promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertising.

Public Service Advertising Advertising for Social Causes

Public service advertising is a technique that makes use of advertising as an effective

communication medium to convey socially relevant messaged about important matters and social

welfare causes like AIDS, energy conservation, political integrity, deforestation, illiteracy,

poverty and so on. David Ogilvy who is considered to be one of the pioneers of advertising and

marketing concepts had reportedly encouraged the use of advertising field for a social cause.

Ogilvy once said, "Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest - it is much

too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes.". Today public service advertising has

been increasingly used in a non-commercial fashion in several countries across the world in

order to promote various social causes. In USA, the radio and television stations are granted on

the basis of a fixed amount of Public service advertisements aired by the channel.

Celebrity advertising

although the audience is getting smarter and smarter and the modern day consumer getting

immune to the exaggerated claims made in a majority of advertisements, there exist a section of

advertisers that still bank upon celebrities and their popularity for advertising their products.

Using celebrities for advertising involves signing up celebrities for advertising campaigns, which

consist of all sorts of advertising including, television ads or even print advertisements.


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Advertising; New Effort by Insurance Institute

LEAD: IN carrying out the industry's mandate, the 29-year-old Insurance Information Institute

publishes brochures, monographs and books; does original research; sponsors seminars, and

trains speakers for radio and television.

IN carrying out the industry's mandate, the 29-year-old Insurance Information Institute publishes

brochures, monographs and books; does original research; sponsors seminars, and trains speakers

for radio and television.

In the last five years it has discovered the mass-communications value of advertising. At first the

commitment was a small one, an inexpensive print effort in the so-called thought-leader

magazines, or small-circulation intellectual publications. Then it moved cautiously into

television, and before you knew it the institute was spending millions of dollars annually on such

causes as cracking down on drunken driving and curbing liability litigation.

Mechlin D. Moore, president of the institute, and Alan M. Siegel, chairman of Siegel & Gale, the

design firm that does its advertising, have a number of stories that they say show the

effectiveness of their efforts.

At the moment they are awaiting the beginning of the 1988 advertising campaign, which, despite

the great successes of recent television commercials, will be entirely in magazines. The reason,

Mr. Siegel said, is that the client wants to give a selectively targeted audience a lot of

information and offer even more information through couponed ads.

With a $6 million budget, it will run 74 two-page black-and-white spreads between now and

Dec. 31 in magazines.

''We will reach 74 percent of all adults, 18 and above, about 11 times,'' said Eliot Pussman,

executive vice president of Siegel & Gale.

This year's campaign, Mr. Siegel said, ''extends the image campaign to explain how the

insurance mechanism works, speaking of the benefits in addition to economic protection.''

Using specific examples, ads tell all the things that insurance companies did for a homeowner

and a small business that were burned out. Another ad talks about help following theft in both a

home and a business.

The magazines on the schedule are a combination of business publications and news weeklies:

Time, Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Venture, Money,

Fortune and Inc.


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The media buying is being handled for Siegel & Gale by the well-known SFM Media

Corporation, since setting up a media department is something Siegel & Gale, which is basically

a design firm interested in corporate identity programs, is not prepared to do.

Mr. Siegel said about 30 percent of the company's revenues were currently coming from

advertising.

The advertising world apparently is like a black hole. People who never expected to be part of it

suddenly find themselves in it and, frequently, thriving. It usually happens simply enough when

a client, who admires the firm's communications abilities and creative talents, pushes the supplier

into the business.

For art studios and identity firms this is no giant step. In the case of Siegel & Gale the

metamorphosis was almost inevitable given the fact that Alan Siegel began his business career at

Batten, Barton, and Durstine & Osborn.

Most advertising clients of the 20-year-old Siegel & Gale, a subsidiary of Britain's Saatchi &

Saatchi, started as clients for identity programs. The clients, some of which have only assigned

projects, include USX; Chubb Group of Insurance Companies; General Electric Information

Services, Capital Holding, Mellon Bank, J.C. Penney, Citicorp and the American Stock

Exchange.

The Insurance Information Institute is the biggest advertising client. It started advertising

because the 300-or-so property insurance companies making up its membership felt that there

were issues that called for an industry point of view.

The institute's first campaign had to do with the dangers of drunken driving. That was followed

by a promotion for air bags and then by a campaign dealing with what it identified as ''civil

justice problems,'' or the explosion of liability suits. Last year, the advertising on television

addressed itself to the industry's contributions in the area of auto, product and workplace safety.

When you want to advertise about your truck insurance products and services, you have so many

options. You can choose from the different types of advertising available to you to convey your

message.

You can use TV advertising, press advertising, mobile billboard, web advertising, phone calls,

word of mouth advertising, yellow page advertising, radio advertising, product placement and so

on for commercial truck insurance and cargo insurance advertisements.

The effectiveness of a truck insurance advertising depends on its use, target, investment, creation

and implementation. The effectiveness is also affected by the support of one to another. In a


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communication program, the medium has role to play. The effectiveness depends on the playing

that role successfully.

You may be provided with biased information about the effectiveness of a truck insurance

advertising type, by the players working in that field of truck insurance. So for a neutral idea on

the effectiveness you have to see all the perspectives.

Every commercial truck and cargo advertising type has its effectiveness in some places and in

some situations. It depends on when and how you use it. Make an advertising campaign

innovative and interesting to get success with it. To see an example of a good advertisement see

National Independent Truckers Insurance Company, RRG. created TV commercial at

So many variables decide the effectiveness of the advertising type in case of truck insurance and

cargo insurance. The size of ad, time of placement, target audience, the advertisement itself etc

decide the effectiveness of that type of advertising. Creativity is another big factor in cargo and

truck insurance advertising.

Following are the factors that help in measuring effectiveness of a type of

advertising used in commercial truck and cargo insurance. They are the metrics in

advertising.

Impressions- Number of people exposed to the advertisement.

Frequency - number of times your truck insurance advertising reached each people

Clickthroughs The number of people who clicked on your advertisement

Post-impression visitors Visit by the visitor, at a later timeWebsite traffic in unique visitors increase in word-of-mouth

Sales what is the number of sales, amount of sale etc. Some of the statistics that shows the

effectiveness and increase in the use of different advertising type.

In US traditional media is still have a big place in advertising. There are 13,599 radio stations,

2,890 broadcast TV stations, plus unlimited cable and satellite TV outlets, 2,366 daily

newspapers, thousands of internet sites are working in the advertising field. There are also other

players like direct mail, magazines, outdoor advertising, and other special and alternative

advertising working in advertising.

The revenue earning is varies according to the number of players. Radio earns $20 billion

annually, TV stations, cable, satellite TV stations together earn $67 billion, newspapers earn $49

billion, direct mail earns $24 billion, outdoor advertising earn $6.8 billion annually in revenue.


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New media and technologies in advertising like blogs, mobile phone based advertising,

podcasting, satellite radio, cable TV programming on-demand and online social networks are

also doing well now.

In general, considering each one alone, Press is the highest proportion revenue earner in

advertising. TV comes in the second position. Internet is growing at a very fast rate. Its share is

rising in the advertising industry (source: Advertising Association).

Search marketing represents 39% of all online advertising spending and will account for 44% of

online ad spending in 2010. Share of the different search engine marketing ways are 51% on paid

search ads, 12% on search marketing agency fees for paid search, 6% on paid inclusion, 11% on

search marketing agency fees for optimization, 10% on contextual ads and 11% on other areas of

search marketing. ---- Forrester Research

According to a prediction, online advertising market will grow nearly $10 billion over the next

few years. Internet advertising will increase from $6.6 billion in 2003 to $16.1 billion in 2009. ---

- Jupiter

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Insurance Advertising - Discover How Independent Insurance Agents Generate

Leads

Each day, more and more Insurance Agents are leaving the captive corporate world to venture

into the realm of independent insurance agent. Rather than being locked into selling one major

insurance carrier's branded product line, they opt to offer a larger variety of policies, services and

costs; coinciding with the demand of consumers wanting to have choices and options at

competitive prices.

As we are well aware, this is no longer a "seller's market", but an "informed buyer's". People, in

general, are armed with more information than ever before. So, how do you, the independent

insurance agent, stand out from the other 100's of agents in your city? What marketing avenues

are available to you so that you capture the prospective buyer's attention and convert them into a

prospect and ultimately a long-term client? And which ones work?


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Regardless of your target audience, whether you have inched your focus to be product specific,

or if you are targeting a certain population segment; you need to investigate the various forms of

advertising available to you, the costs of such programs and the pros and cons.

Below is a breakdown of the most commonly used forms of advertising for the independent

insurance agency, and the pros and cons of each.

Television Advertising

As the average American spends more time in front of the television, it should be no surprise that

this is one of the most sought after forms of marketing available.

Pros:

Ability to reach a larger and more diverse segment of the insurance seeking population

You can specify time of day and network, reaching your intended audience easier

Since most consumers are engaged by a combination of movement, color, what they see and

what they hear, this gives most businesses a platform to achieve full sensory contact

Gives a business instant credibility and prestige

Cons:

Cost for the commercial air time and/or multiple runs

Cost for hiring a marketing agency to lay-out and film your insurance commercial

Consumer expectation - no longer are we impressed with someone reading off a teleprompt,

they want to be entertained

Competition for the consumer's attention

Popularity of digital recorders has increased, giving consumers the ability to fast-forward

through commercials when watching their favorite shows

Many experts would agree that if you have the extra capital in your marketing budget to

incorporate television into your advertising that you should. However, it is important that you

research different advertising firms to help you explore your options with regards to creating

your on-air advertisement, the best way to target your audience and keep within your plannedbudget.


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Newspaper advertising and local weekly shoppers

With regards to print advertisements, some independent agents turn to local newspapers and

weekly shoppers to advertise their agencies. Since many households either subscribe to at least

one newspaper, or pick them up at their local newsstands, it is a fast and simple way to gain

recognition by consumers.

Pros:

Ability to reach more than one target audience by placing various advertisements in the

different sections of a newspaper

You have the choice of large or small circulation papers to advertise your insurance agency

Consumers who turn to the newspapers and weekly shoppers are looking for advertisers who

offer deals or bargains

Multiple advertisement ad sizes to correspond with various budgets

Cons:

Newspapers and weekly shoppers are usually read once and discarded

Smaller advertisements have a more difficult time standing out when placed next to a larger ad

Quality of the print may distort images and photos in a way that can hurt your marketing

rather than help

Ads, regardless of size, have to compete for the reader's attention

Like television advertising, it would be prudent to consult with a professional marketing firm,

preferably one that specializes in insurance marketing, to help you design an advertisement that

best captures your targeted audience's attention. The smaller the ad space the less detailed and

complicated the ad should be.

Also keep in mind the days the most sought after papers and weekly shoppers are printed. The

rates for a large advertisement over the weekend will be greater than the same sized ad featured

all week long.

Billboards and Signs.

While most forms of outdoor advertising are contained within billboards and large signage, some

independent agencies have broadened the term to include park benches, posters and seat rails at

public transit stops. This form of marketing has become a popular, less costly way, when

compared with television and print advertising, to reach a larger audience in major metropolitan

areas.


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Pros:

Potential clients cannot simply discard or "turn off" outdoor advertising

Name recognition is higher with those consumers who walk or drive the same route each day

Billboards and signs vary in price due to size and location making it is easier to find one in

your budget

Cons:

More often than not, outdoor advertisements do not fully engage a consumer's attention for

more than a few seconds

Advertisements have to be simple and interesting enough for the consumer to remember

Outdoor advertisements are usually contracted for a longer period of time than most

independent agencies had anticipated securing them for

Posters and bench signs at public transit stops work well in major metropolitan areas where

lower, middle and upper class alike share the same transportation systems, however, not as

effective in areas where public transportation is not as common

If you feel various forms of outdoor advertising would be a compliment to your business and

marketing plan, consider placement wisely. Consult many firms for input and advice on the best

way to stretch your marketing dollar and how they can help you create eye-catching and simple

designs for your sign.

Internet Advertising.

Roughly 90% of all the households across the United States have access to the internet either athome, at work or at school; making advertising on the internet the fastest growing marketing

medium for independent insurance agents. That household percentage goes even higher for those

families with a combined income of $100k or more. However, internet advertising gaining its

strength only in the last decade or so, there is still a lot an independent agent would need to

research, as with any form of advertising, before making a financial commitment.

Pros:

Cost- you can spend much or as little as your budget allows

Levels the playing field - the internet gives the independent agent a chance to compete withthe large insurance carriers with regards to search engine placement

Whether a web site, a PDF brochure, an affiliated network or a video; any and all forms of

advertising can be featured and found on the internet

Advertisement exposure is voluntary. Only the websites relevant to a consumer's online search

will pull up for them to look at. Someone searching for insurance agents in their area are more

often than not, looking for an agent to speak with


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Cons:

People expect to be educated or informed by an agent's personal website - having out-dated

information or poor graphics can actually hurt your credibility .

The ever changing internet - each of the major search engines change what they search for onwebsites constantly with regards to how well they rank. Staying on top of these changes can be

very time consuming or expensive if you pay a firm to do this for you.

Fear of identity theft - consumers are becoming skeptical of entering their personal contact

information online for fear they will have their personal information stolen or sold to

telemarketing companies and be subject to unwanted emails or phone calls

There are so many options and services available to the independent insurance agent to

effectively market themselves and attract more leads. The form of advertising you choose will

depend largely on the audience you intend to target, the area in which you do business, and

ultimately your budget. Be sure to ask questions. Know what you are getting and what you are

not with whatever forms of marketing you decide to use.

The 2009 Thumbnail Media Planner.

A Buyer's Market

The Opportunity: Because of reduced 2009 ad budgets and the weakened economy, 2009 will be

a strong buyers market for some media, but not for others. The 2009 Thumbnail Media Planner

includes our exclusive media market outlook and pricing forecasts for each major national and

local advertising medium.

New Features Added in '09

Because of the future growth of online video, social media, and mobile phone advertising, we

have added special updates for you.

We Synthesize the Important Media Data for You

Every year we research and synthesize the most important media information for you--trends,

costs & more--for all major media.

Population and Marketing statistics.

y Audience information for all media.y Media cost estimates for all media.y Research & issues when you need to know.y Market by market planning resources.


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Advertising Costs & Media Data.

The 2009 Thumbnail Media Planner provides information

and rates for all major national and local media, including

the Top 100 Markets. Some examples:

Includes...

< Market Research: Population trends, market sizes, marketing and ad spending, efficiency

benchmarks

< Television Advertising: Network, spot, cable television trends, including 2009 costs (CPP)

< Radio Advertising: Network and spot radio trends, including 2009 costs (CPP)

< Magazine Advertising: Data and page costs for over 70 top magazines in 17 categories

< Newspaper Advertising: Information and cost benchmarks

< Internet advertising: Trends and cost estimators for online advertising

< Direct marketing: Direct mail cost estimator and results benchmarks< New Media: Dozens of Non Traditional Media ideas

< Local Market Advertising: Top 100 Market Planner, including population and average media

costs by

market for spot television, cable radio, newspapers and out of home media

< Advertising Research: Heads up findings on latest media effectiveness studies & much more!

Reap the Benefits of Thumbnail Planning

We call it a Thumbnail Media Planner because thats what it is: a short cut planning tool

created

by a big agency media director to help you quickly do exploratory plans, quickly evaluatealternatives and

new ideas, save time by discarding impractical ideas without zillions of hours of staff work,

immediately

answer many questions in meetings, and much more. Intelligent use of the Planner can save you

and

your staff tons of time while improving the quality of your work.

Fast Media Facts at your fingertips!

The Thumbnail Media Planner was created to solve the problem of how to save time when

deciding on a media plan. In an effort to make the job of Marketing Directors, entrepreneurs andagency personnel easier, we at 2020 Marketing Communications have created a media planning

reference that is essential and easy to work with. In fact, ours is the ONLY reference of its kind

on the market!

Our combined experience in advertising has demonstrated to us that a media plan should reflect

the best use of the clients marketing budget whenever possible. Media buying requires up to

date knowledge and understanding of cyclical and diverging trends. The Thumbnail Media


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Planner can be used to create a media plan on the fly as a rough sketch for feasibility, in

meetings or on the way to a meeting, in the hotel, on the plane, or even in the taxi! Its a great

way to double-check or explore new options while saving time and effort.

Regardless of the industry, media buying is both a science and an art. Knowing how to apply

current data and trends to current opportunities is a must. A media plan shouldnt be an endless

dead end street, but be doable in minutes, and then pursued if found profitable. Sketch a rough

Thumbnail media plan in just minutes instead of hours!

A media plan that takes into account ALL the various media planning factors is going to be more

effective and comprehensive than one that does not. Media buying that does not take make use of

the best scenario media plan out of several will usually fail. Media planning requires several

sketches to arrive at a winning scenario. The Thumbnail Media Planner gives you the right tool

to make quick sketches and move more quickly and easily to the next stage.

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Bibliography.

http://www.directtruckinsurance.com.

http://www.eziearticles.com

http://www.coverneinsurance.com

http://www.directtruckinsurance.com

http://www.6izzle.com/author.aspauthor=11807

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~tafline/rhe.html

Documents

ADVERTISING IN INSURANCE