Stirring the Marketing Mix Good program marketing is choosing appropriate channels, turning on the creativity and hustle.


You have to promote the business and you have to become an expert.


Geoffrey McKernan, NSM Insurance Group


Good marketing is based on strong branding. “What is the message you want to get to the community?” Geoffrey McKernan said. “The community is the independent agents as well as the end user. That’s very important. How do we get to them?” Most programs employ a mix of email and online collateral materials. McKernan said a core element remains “feet on the street.” Five business development representatives work on McKernan’s inventory of programs. The team attends more than 40 conferences and trade shows each year.


Marketing efforts should also be directed at the ultimate insureds, rather than simply to their brokers or agents. That generates action at the ground level and quickly demonstrates credibility in the market to agents who otherwise might have been less-motivated to present the program. “If we’re doing homebuilders, we go to homebuilders. If we do condominiums on the coast, we go to those,” McKernan said. “We have our underwriters speak to the end user so that they can see we have an expertise. That’s all about marketing.”


Richard Augustyn recommends working with associations to develop effective entry points to members; that can make a sizable difference in initiating marketing for a new program. Augustyn recommends working with associations to develop effective entry points to members; that can make a sizable difference in initiating marketing for a new program.


Target Market conferences formerly included feature sessions on outstanding marketing efforts, offering a $1,000 prize to the most


creative ideas, Glenn Clark said. One winner: a program administrator targeting swimming pool contractors offered a branded “key” commonly used to turn swimming pool valves. Clark reports that the attention has since turned from individual initiatives to broader discussions exploring best practices for program administrators.


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