Pinko Marketing: How It Can Help Your Insurance Business
I've been reading quite a bit about Pinko Marketing lately. And while I find the historical reference behind the movement a tad unsettling, I do think Pinko marketers are onto something. And whether or not you agree with their manifesto, the tenets of Pinko marketing can—and should—be adapted by anyone looking to advance in the marketplace. 
Courtesy of Tara Hunt, author of HorsePigCow, here are the five basic principles of Pinko marketing:
- Focus on inbound, rather than outbound messages
- Be a community advocate (not a corporate evangelist) ...you are part of the community you serve or you aren't pinko
- No less than 100% authenticity and ethics
- Serve niche markets ...don't go for the mass ...be patient
- Use open source thinking ...operate with utter transparency, develop your product openly, care about community first, consider open sourcing
I really dig these principles and I think using them as the underpinning of your insurance business is a good idea. Because I've said it before and I think it's still true—that insurance professionals, along with used car salesmen, tend to be seen as the bottom feeders of sales, at least in the eyes of some consumers.
And yet, people still buy your product. They buy to alleviate the risk of losing their homes, their cars, their health, their lives, etc. Sometimes they buy because their state requires them to. But despite these circumstances, I think you'll find that the sooner you modify your business practices, the more clients you'll keep and the more referrals you'll receive.
And you never know...making changes in one area of your life just might bring positive change to other areas as well. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone.
Comments
That's awesome! Bring the revolution into the insurance industry!
That rocks. :)
Posted by: Tara 'Miss Rogue' Hunt | August 15, 2006 12:51 AM
Interesting stuff – Go Pinko!
I do have to disagree with the perception of insurance professionals being bottom feeders (pretty harsh words – everyone knows that stockbrokers are the bottom feeders in the financial services market :) ). I think the real image issue for insurance professionals is more of a reduction in perceived value of agents as new insurance business models have emerged – namely agentless insurance companies.
Insurance sales was and is a noble profession. I think companies like GEICO, who replaced traditional agents with call center employees and computer programs, have been a factor in changing consumer perception in regard to insurance agents. I mean, if you can just go online and get insurance, what good is an insurance agent anyway?
However, I think anyone who has had a good agent can attest to the fact that having an insurance agent on your side in a time of need is an important thing – something that companies like Progressive have seemed to wake up to with their Progressive Direct service.
One last thing though – insurance agents also get a bad name because of the bad seeds out there. When I was an agent I was always amazed to get my monthly insurance newsletter from the state that listed all of the people who were busted for violating insurance laws and regulations. I am talking pages of these people! So if you are an insurance agent you should be keeping an eye on your fellow agents and self-policing your industry whenever possible. All of those bad seeds out there are detracting from your professions image – and that is going to only make your job harder.
Posted by: James Omdahl | August 15, 2006 03:03 PM
Good thoughts, James. And actually, your last point is exactly what I was trying (and probably failed) to get at, which is that a few bad agents seem to be spoiling things for the rest of the industry. I also think insurers have been portrayed, at times, less than favorably since last year's hurricane season.
We discussed the industry image at length a couple months ago with our post, Can The Insurance Industry Turn it Around? and I still very much agree with the comments surrounding the post.
As you stated so well back in April, good agents can still come out on top:
"Use the media, use the internet, find like-minded pissed-off insurance agents and form an organization bent on cleaning up the industry. I guess my point is, do something. As an agent, you have more power than you think."
Posted by: Megan Mahan | August 15, 2006 05:53 PM