(note: this is the 2nd in a five part marketing series from Will Alverson. Article 1️⃣ can be found HERE)
Marketing your insurance business against massive, multi-billion dollar players can seem like a daunting task. With a strategy that highlights what makes you and your business unique and authentic, however, it can be much easier to find success than one might think. This is part two of a five part series on how to market your insurance business against significantly larger players. In part one, we discussed the value of creating authentic content or “thought leadership”
In part two, we’ll discuss how to create a public relations (PR) strategy and mobilize the media to your cause. Let’s dive in.
What is a Successful PR Strategy?
The goal of a successful PR strategy is to place a narrative you have created in front of a number of people you would not be able to reach on your own. When run well, you can achieve millions of viewers on your announcement and your company dominating Google search results for as low as a thousand dollars. This can be accomplished through press releases; short announcements from your organization that are sent through a distribution network and “picked up” or shared by various media outlets. A press release can be pertaining to a major new deal you have closed, a key new hire, or a new investment or partnership, among other things.
In addition to running successful press releases, working with a dedicated PR agency or representative can help you maintain a steady flow of media mentions and stories about your business, reaching new audiences consistently. Depending on the goals of your business, you can choose to run press releases internally, or consider hiring an agency to achieve more exposure.
A successful PR strategy doesn’t just put out communications and press releases, but is effective at managing these communications through email, social media, your website, and throughout your network.
Why have a PR Strategy?
PR is different from marketing in that it focuses on the media and your brand’s representation in the media. A well run PR strategy can help you reach new audiences and achieve massive amounts of visibility with your announcements. PR also helps you control narratives and appear bigger than you or your organization might actually be. Let’s say a prospective client types your company name into Google, what will they see? For many orgs, they may be buried on search results, or some irrelevant information might appear. With a solid PR strategy, however, your company website and news of your successes will dominate the search, bringing credibility and trust to your brand. Consistent media engagement keeps you top of mind with your existing network, and keeps that audience growing at the same time.
How PR Works
While a successful PR strategy involves communication between press, partners, and marketing channels, we’ll focus this on how to turn any story or announcement into headline news. There’s two simple approaches to this:
News Wires –
Newswires, such as Businesswire, or PRNewswire offer you the ability to publish an announcement, or press release to their distribution networks. These distribution networks include everything from major publications to niche industry newsletters. The exposure you can achieve from releasing an announcement on a newswire is substantial and, with some consistency, can help you create a narrative that shows how active your organization is.
PR agencies –
For larger announcements or organizations looking to make more frequent appearances in the media, working with a PR agency can be remarkably valuable. Agencies will help write the stories, optimize distribution, manage marketing the release, and pitch unique spins on the story to key industry publications. While news wires will get the announcement into newsletters and various online publications, an agency can get in-depth, exclusive stories featured more prominently in major publications – industry focused or otherwise.
How to run a successful press release
Whether it be a client announcement or a notable new hire you want to tell the world about, follow these steps to run a successful press release:
- Write a compelling press release that fits in line with the brand story you are trying to tell your audience.
- Coordinate with all involved parties on crafting an announcement – get quotes, collaborate on writing the release, and coordinate marketing when it goes out – web, social, email. Publish the release to your website and send out social posts as soon as it goes live on the newswire. Share the news in your next email newsletter.
- Be ready to handle an influx of communications. Expect your inbox to become a mess temporarily with outreach from journalists, prospects, and potential partners.
- Prepare ahead of time to maximize the impact of the press release. Think about how you can best capitalize on the new website traffic and visibility; especially the short intense burst of visibility in the beginning. Perhaps add a unique offering / deal on the homepage of your website or offer a time-sensitive incentive for people to follow your social media and subscribe to your email list.
- Stretch the news out as much as possible. The traffic and awareness from a well run press release can last a while, so while you don’t want to be publishing stale news for too long, continue to be active on your marketing channels to maximize the impact and retain as much audience as possible.
Growing your audience and staying top of mind amongst that audience is critical for any marketing function, and a good PR strategy is a valuable weapon as you look to market yourself against larger competitors.
Stay tuned for the next part of this series, where we will discuss how to get the absolute most out of conferences and industry events.
About William Alverson
Will Alverson is the President of the Insurance Nerds Career Center. He has previously led marketing at various financial services organizations within the Insurtech, Venture Capital, and Private Equity sectors.
Will Alverson is the President of the Insurance Nerds Career Center. He has previously led marketing at various financial services organizations within the Insurtech, Venture Capital, and Private Equity sectors.
