Insurance Marketing Experts Share the Importance of a Thoughtful Approach
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) and Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) have been playing an increasingly important role in business in recent years. Experts from the Insurance Marketing and Communications Association (IMCA) talk about how professionals can take DE&I and ESG seriously when communicating about brands.
IMCA marketers share their top tips for successfully incorporating DE&I and ESG into marketing and communications strategies:
- Consider whether a potential employee or partner could be a good fit for your company based on your message.
- Take the time to think about the patterns and stereotypes that commonly used images can enhance and how you can make your content more reflective of the current and future workforce.
- Give constructive feedback and acknowledge that you play an important role not only in the image of your company, but also in how others collectively perceive the world around you as a profession.
- Communicating with various stakeholders to help understand the ESG efforts can create stronger and more consistent messages.
- Remember, sometimes what you don't say can mean what you say!
What advice do IMCA experts give when contacting DE&I and ESG about insurance marketing and communications strategies?
The insurance business asked an IMCA insurance marketing expert: Marketing must now be smarter when it comes to ESG, DE&I and more as a reflection of the company. How did you consider the impact of all messages when developing your branding strategy?
Emily Hutcott, Vice President of Risk Placement Service (RPS) Marketing, former Chairman of the Board of IMCA
“Words and images have power, and because we are responsible for words and images for our brands, marketing has the power to change the world.”
Marketing is part psychology and part data science, which means that in order to be successful, we need to understand what is emotionally important to our audience. Both ESG and DE&I have come to play an important role in business decisions, and most of us agree that they will continue to grow.
Everything we post is reviewed by potential employees or business partners. Can they "see" themselves in your company? Will they take pride in naming you as a business partner or supplier based on what you post?
How many of us use "hands on keyboard" or "person looking at laptop screen"? Why are hands always the same color? Why do men always look over women's shoulders at the screen?
It requires intention, consistency and communication. We do a creative review every round so the whole team can see what images and language we're working on together.
I am proud to play a role that can change the face of our industry. When I was growing up, the ads didn't feature working mothers or multicultural families. Advertisers were forced to use these images in their creative work, and "unconventional" became the norm. Words and images have power and marketing can change the world because we are responsible for words and images for our brands. I think it's important for marketers not only to play an important role in ensuring that the image we create reflects our audience, but there are important factors that reflect the world as we know it.
We already have a lot of events, programs and initiatives related to ESG, but they are not connected to each other to tell the whole story. In particular, the business focus on ESG is an area where we can consolidate our current efforts. By balancing the relative importance of ESG to our employees, customers, and business, we can identify what is missing and focus on implementing programs to fill the gaps. Marketing has played an unexpected role.
Jessica Marshall, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer of CRC Group and Director and Treasurer of IMCA (image below)
“We understand that our audiences—customers, partners, and teammates—want to see themselves reflected in our content, and we know we do see and understand them.”
This is something we are constantly working on to create the most complete message possible. We understand that our audience - customers, partners and teammates - want to see themselves reflected in our content, and we know that we do see and understand them. That's why we always ask ourselves if the content we create helps them understand their needs, values, pain points, and thoughts.
Charlene Goodwin, Vice President of Marketing at Admiral Insurance Group and Director of IMCA
"A company's values and culture will determine how they react - or not - to a situation, and that says a lot."
Throughout my career, I've seen marketing and communications professionals increasingly engage in these kinds of conversations at the corporate level, which I think is really important. A company's values and culture will determine how they react—or don't react—to a situation, and that says a lot. Now more than ever, the words you don't say or say are just as important as what you do.
Marcomm professionals play a critical role in translating the company's values into messages, brands and actions that are authentic and deliver on their promises. Likewise, every employee has a duty to ensure that they live up to the values of the company and hold their colleagues and management accountable.
The first episode of the Peer2peer IMCA podcast features Kim Clark, #1 Amazon bestseller and a leading voice in DE&I communications and social justice messaging guide for brands. Check out this episode of the podcast for those who want to know more.
About YMCA
These three marketing experts not only have their own experience in insurance marketing, but are members of the IMCA. Founded in 1923, the North American Trade and Marketing Association is made up of professionals with experience in marketing, public relations, corporate communications, and new digital communication methods. In addition to bringing professionals together and working to improve the insurance marketing profession, the organization has also developed guidelines for maintaining brand standards in the industry.
How do you rate DE&I and ESG in your insurance marketing and communications strategy? Share your experience in the comments below.
