The seven Ps of marketing is a well-established formula to evaluate both your business strategy and marketing mix by analysing seven key customer touch points. Insurance is a unique business area, so even general business theory needs to be tailored to our industry’s specific needs. How does the seven Ps apply to insurance broking?
1. Product
An insurance policy can be different every time it is received. The service and the add-ons one gets can be different for otherwise identical products and the information a consumer gets is greatly influenced by the way in which a insurance broker deals with a customer.
What you need to ask: What are the key differences in the insurance products? How do these relate to the target market?
2. Price
There are many, often similar, offerings and competition can default to price where an insurance broker cannot differentiate themselves on other bases. Prices are freely available online so insurance brokers need to focus on non-price differences.
What you need to ask: What other services do I offer other than price? Eg speed, knowledge, choice of insurer, personal service?
3. Physical distribution
Communicating the service is critical and you need to ensure that the distribution of information, including physical contact, is in line with consumer needs.
What you need to ask: How can I ensure my communications are consistent and hit the right touch points at all stages of communicating with the client?
4. Promotion and advertising
Online marketing has reduced the pressure on advertising. Getting messages out has become more straightforward. The importance of social media has increased enormously.
What you need to ask: What channels are most appropriate for my target customer groups? How should these be used most effectively?
5. People
As consumers can obtain the same deal from many different brokers or businesses, every touch point becomes important with a service that is intangible.
What you need to ask: Are my people upholding the values we are portraying to the market?
6. Process
Marketers need to be aware of every process step a consumer goes through and how to deal with it – right from when a consumer starts looking for insurance until they fill out the forms.
What you need to ask: What steps are consumers taking on their journey with me? How can I ensure the process is optimised for them and espouses our value proposition?
7. Physical evidence
Financial services are intangible, but it is essential that you examine whether there is a consistency of look and feel of documentation, particularly of your own brand, at all stages of the process.
What you need to ask: Are all my public-facing touch points – documentation, websites, office branding, uniforms etc – consistent and in line with our value proposition? Do I have a strong brand?
