What keeps insurtech marketers up at night? If it’s not the latest regulatory headache, it’s likely the Sisyphean task of standing out and staying relevant in a noisy industry grappling with external forces of change. The digitalization of insurance in a time of economic and environmental uncertainty is complicated, more so than is already the standard. And while insurtech solutions aim to simplify and solve problems for carriers and insurance professionals, communicating those advantages in a way that breaks through the noise and motivates your buyer is tricky.
INK works with a variety of insurtech and fintech market challengers and incumbents. Here are some of the ways we might clear the hurdles of today’s insurance market to reach brand strength and differentiation — and most importantly your customers! — in this twisting and turning market.
Challenge 1: Establishing Brand Credibility in a Crowded Market
The insurtech market is growing up, and more and more challengers are competing for a share of the market already dominated by legacy vendors. Marketers have to be louder, bolder, and faster than competitors to get noticed and build credibility with customers. But with smaller deal sizes and declining funding in some segments, marketing budgets have taken a hit. How do we do more with less?
Have a nimble trade and top-tier media strategy. Media coverage can expose your brand to wide, relevant audiences, educate the industry on your value prop, and give your sales team validation material to use with prospects. At INK, we know insurance trade media are covering the insurtech space most regularly, and love speaking with C-level tech execs and seeing customer use cases. Top tier media will cover insurtech but it takes platform data and bold market insights to snag their attention. For both media types, if you align to breaking news and trending topics, but do so in data-driven and genuinely helpful ways, you’ll see success.
Target other places your audience is gathering information. Carriers and insurance professionals are often turning to their peers online to understand how technology can solve challenges. Many insurtech vendors are talking about themselves and their products online, but are you talking enough about industry problems and how to solve them? By aligning your thought leadership to pain points and questions insurance professionals are researching, you will show up more organically. Targeting the forums where these conversations are happening is a smart add to your comms strategy.
Always remember this is a people business. In insurance, who you know matters. Your brand will benefit from executives who post regularly with company updates and their thoughts and insights on the industry. This works best through LinkedIn and earned media bylines. Insurance companies don’t want to work with a vendor, they want to work with people they trust. Put a face on your company name, and let people know who your leaders are.
Challenge 2: Standing Out Among Growing Competition
Differentiation is challenging in a sector where new features and innovations are quickly matched by competitors. Both challenger and legacy insurtechs often find their messaging gets lost in a sea of similar claims. Let’s end the leapfrogging.
Create future-focused messaging. Focus your narrative and key messages on where your company is headed in the long-term, so you don’t get stuck in an endless cycle of one-upping. On the other hand, your product messaging will need frequent updates to stay relevant, so design it to be versatile and easy to refresh without requiring a complete overhaul with every update. Remember, people don’t buy features; they buy solutions to their problems. By focusing on the solutions your products holistically provide, you can simply update the product details as developments or features are introduced. This way, you’ll maintain a consistent message about your value without impacting your budget or timeline.
The analysts are your friends. Build and maintain strong ties with industry analysts to ensure your solutions are accurately represented in their reports and recommendations. Their endorsements can enhance your visibility in the market and further differentiate you from competitors.
Challenge 3: Competing Against Your Customers’ Internal Processes
The biggest barrier between you and your target customer may be the allure of inaction. Many of our clients say their customers are their biggest competition! It’s not easy to get your foot in the door with insurance companies when you are offering “groundbreaking, innovative” solutions. That sounds like a lot of work. Convincing insurers to adopt new technology involves overcoming their inertia and apprehension related to high implementation costs and short-term loss of productivity.
Emphasize the cost of inaction. Per the principles of behavioral science, your prospective customers are more likely to be motivated by the fear of loss than by potential gains. Emphasize the risks of not adopting new technology by showing them how staying the same can be costlier than making a change.
Build a compelling case. Address their concerns, one by one. Develop web and sales enablement materials that highlight successful implementations. Include key metrics like speed of implementation and immediate and projected ROI.
Use your happy customers as advocates. Develop a customer advocacy program that incentivizes your best customers to become vocal advocates for your business. Create advisory boards and have them participate in case studies, webinars, media interviews, and events. Don’t just ask for favors, give them rewards for being your advocate, like referral bonuses, extra features, custom development time, or preferred customer support status.
Challenge 4: Defending Your Position
Both challengers and legacy vendors face constant efforts from competitors to undermine their positions, often in sales conversations or marketing materials. Insurtech challengers, especially in the hazard or risk technology spaces, tend to focus on “break the models” positioning. They emphasize having the newest and most advanced technology and nimble, responsive teams. Established vendors, meanwhile, must continuously project innovation to avoid being seen as outdated or complex.
Demonstrate the power of your product. Validate the strength of your technology by using it to derive insights about big industry issues. Do you have a predictive hazard model? Use it to analyze regions with high exposure to timely perils and publish instructive reports. Is claims fraud detection more your space? Publish quarterly or bi-annual insights about fraudulent activity, noting which methods are picking up steam. This proof-based marketing is both engaging and informative for insurance companies, who get a taste of the power of your product.
Partner with influencers. Make friends with the movers and shakers of the insurtech world. Identify influential people like consultants with large, targeted LinkedIn followings, Substack creators, podcast hosts, or organizers of small industry events. Engage and collaborate with them to share your story with their curated follower base. Their endorsements can help solidify your position among a targeted audience.
Enhancing Your Insurtech Brand Through Strategic Communications
The good news? You don’t need to clear all these hurdles overnight to make meaningful progress. You deserve a communications program that fits your business priorities and balances quick wins with long-term success — and a proactive partner to help you prioritize and seize new opportunities.
If you found yourself nodding along to any of the challenges above, let’s connect. At INK, we thrive in the complexity that defines the insurtech space, and we help brands like yours achieve clarity and distinction. Let’s explore how our communication strategies can support the next phase of your business.
