At a time when there is more capacity than demand, business really have to stand out from competitors. Speaking at Financial Promoter’s FP Live, Lois Ireson, CMO at Brit Insurance, explained how creating “the right kind of conditions” to thrive was key to being able to succeed, even amid themes of change and uncertainty.
“We have to address the question ‘what do you mean by service’,” she said, “as for each class of business it is different.”
“Only by getting to know the customer in that sector can we elevate that service, so that they understand all aspects of the proposition,” she added, highlighting the need to focus on a mindset that can draw out opportunities to retain customers and even to thrive.
Fellow panellist Alex Naylor, CMO, Chill Insurance and Findlay Guerin, Value Propositions/Growth Strategy/Innovation, Stratinn agreed, and Naylor highlighted three key areas to consider internal alignment, customer relevance and marginal gains, saying: “It’s easy to become misaligned with what people actually want.”
Technology has a role too, the panel noted, tools such as AI-powered videos that businesses to create multiple low-cost videos in double quick time. Even in a B2B market, she said, it was wise to focus on the ‘business to human’ mentality to create a best-in-class experience for the customer.
“People buy brands. Part of our job as marketers is to cheerlead, to tell stories, to engage consumers.” Ireson said, “We are sometimes too humble and expect people to ‘get’ value propositions without us even telling them.”
Ireson noted the potential for businesses to “push their people front and centre” and avoid the ‘trap’ of being too corporate in messaging. “People make connections based on how comfortable they feel with the brand,” she said.
One way was to allow team members to try out ideas. She suggested that smaller teams can often be more nimble and that “not everything may work, but at least give them a chance to do it”.
The panel agreed that a greater use of branded digital, on-demand channels was a useful tool for not only encouraging customer retention, but also for behaviour segmentation modelling.