Riding the Whirlwind

Strategic Interactive Marketing for the Insurance Industry

Key Points:

Technology can enable new paradigms but cultural and social reasons may prevent their adoption.

Action by competitors and non-competitors (e.g. media barons) may be the biggest influence.

6.1 Focus on the Market Place

6.1.1 In communicating with prospects and customers there is no universal answer for selecting which mediums to use. Principles can provide useful guides, and frameworks can help companies develop appropriate solutions for their situation. Two key principles are: 

Focus on the market place and not the technology.

Create a strategy that achieves your business objectives.

• Understanding, and then meeting the needs, or solving the problems of your customers (hereon the term customer includes prospects), needs to be the driving force, providing this also achieves your business objectives.
• Technology does provide opportunities for new paradigms, but often there are cultural and social reasons for their slow adoption.
• Actions by competitors and non-competitors (e.g. media suppliers) may be a bigger determinant of solutions.

A framework is provided which organisations can use to develop their specific offerings.

It includes models, processes, techniques, and technology solutions.

- A Framework Provides Structure -

6.1.2 A framework, consisting of a number of models, forms the basis of the recommendations. The components include:

• vision and goals.
• customers' behaviour model.
• relationship cycle.
• the acquisition & ownership cycle.
• the communications cycle.
• systems architecture.
• McKinsey's 7 S organisational model.

A Framework provides structure to the thinking and to the development.

6.1.3 Activities include:

• market research.
• development of the vision and goals through scenarios.
• development of products and services. (Note: methods for identifying these are not included as they are well established).
• development of the systems architecture.
• development of delivery mediums.
• development of organisational capabilities.
• an incremental approach to implementation.

The SIM Methodology is a series of interrelated iterative activities.

The SIM Methodology consists of activities to be used interactively.