Proper Insurance Can Help Your Brand or Small Business Marketing

A fascinating new study on shifting customer insurance demands in the digital age from Accenture looked at over 33,000 insurance customers in 18 different markets, in order to identify the latest trends and types of customers. Since we’re talking business insurance here, let’s assume that extrapolating the findings of the survey to the commercial coverage market will hold water, with a few possible caveats.

Here’s what the poll revealed about what insurance owners want from their insurer:

  • Nomads, which are typically freelancers, early technology adopters, media types, and start-uppers are ready and willing to switch to digital insurance only. They’re not as keen on talking to insurance agents and would rather have a tailored solution for their business insurance, not a pre-packaged one. They know that their data is worth money and would like their insurer to be aware of this. Furthermore, they’d willingly buy insurance from non-traditional companies like Google or Amazon.
  • Hunters care most about the price-to-value ratio of the service they’re buying. They’re by no means digitally illiterate, but still prefer one-on-one human interaction, when buying insurance. They want to talk to experts, will seek out advice from existing customers of their insurer to-be and don’t necessarily want to explore alternative options for buying insurance (such as insurance as an ‘add-on’ feature or insurance from non-traditional providers). If you will, these are traditional small-to-medium sized companies that deal more in the offline than the on-.
  • Finally, quality seekers are self-explanatory in a name. These are the most brand-loyal customers of them all, who value human interaction, although exploring digital avenues does not fall outside of their scope. Money is of less interest to them than the integrity of their provider. Translated into the business world, these are the up-and-coming larger companies who have supposedly overcome a series of financial hurdles and can now afford to provide – and demand – quality products and services.

This being said, it’s an absolute no-brainer that all companies, be they freelance endeavors, fledgling local brands, or growing medium companies need insurance. If quality, trust, and loyalty are key elements in making it big in the business world, they are all also qualities insurance can buy. However, the point of the above categorization was to explain that different types of coverage holders come with very discrete types of needs in terms of insurance—and how it can help with their marketing and brand-growing efforts.

In the following, let’s explore how different types of insurance, suited for various types of companies, can help propel your marketing and corporate branding efforts.

Liability insuranceLiability insurance

By and large, this is the one type of insurance which fits all sizes, types, and industries for a company. It really doesn’t matter if you’re an established name in your particular niche of the marker, a solopreneur, or a start-up in gaming design and development, let’s say. Liability policies, also known Errors & Omissions coverage, will basically help you wriggle your way out of legal battles over your work. And, as anyone who’s ever ventured out into the business field knows, there’s little else that can damage your reputation than word through the grapevine that you’re being sued.

So, yes, liability insurance is pretty much a no-brainer if you want your marketing efforts to be on point. If need be, combine this type of coverage with the efforts of a good in-house or outsourced PR crisis team and you might just dodge several bullets shot at your brand.

Property insuranceProperty insurance

Do you rent or own our company headquarters and branches? If so, you need property insurance. Two important things to note here: property insurance only covers damage done by fire, storms, or theft, not natural disasters. For the latter, if your business is located in an area that’s prone to such phenomena, you need to consider a separate type of coverage. The other notable aspect to business property insurance is that it covers business equipment – but not in the case of freelancers or professionals who work at home. Regular homeowners’ insurance doesn’t typically cover damage to your professional equipment, so such professionals are best advised to look into office insurance that also covers work-at-home arrangements.

The interesting thing about how property insurance can help your brand is that it usually also comes with business interruption insurance, which can come in very handy in terms of marketing. If for any of the above reasons, you’re forced to shut down the shop/restaurant/factory, business interruption insurance will help you communicate with your clients about a clear timeframe when they should expect business to pick back up where it left off.

Workers’ compensation insurance

Do you have at least one employee? Then you’ll need to provide coverage for them: health insurance, disability and death benefits, and so on. What does this have to do with growing your brand? Consider the fact that we live in the age of Glassdoor, Yelp, LinkedIn and other community-based review websites—and, likely, the first places a prospective client will want to see what you’re about. A well-insured employee, with plenty of benefits, is much more likely to be a happy employee, ready and willing to tell the world what a great start-up/family business/small company they’re working for. And, as the saying goes, good news travels fast.