The Importance of PR in the Insurtech Industry

Not a luxury, but an essential. Why insurtech PR is so important when you’re looking to make headway in the industry.

Let’s start with a trio of urban legends

One of the most common mistakes people make when deciding on how to promote their brand is to assume everyone takes in industry information the same way that they do; that they visit the same websites, consume the same media, respect the same figureheads, and so on. This is an incorrect assumption. And a potentially dangerous one at that, as it could mean vital opportunities are missed, and energies are focused on areas which do not result in a great deal of traction.

Another widely believed myth is that having the best data and a skilful team is enough — equip yourself with the right people and tools, and customers will flock. They won’t. Not if you keep these wonderful things a secret, simply by failing to promote them to the right audiences.

To complete our trio of PR’s urban legends, another PR pit people fall into is thinking that once a PR company is appointed, their work is done — all they need to do is sit back and watch the coverage roll in. While selecting a specialist insurtech PR company will make the journey a lot easier, and generate bountiful results, like anything in life, the more time and energy you give, the better the outcomes you will receive.

It can’t just be ‘PR’. It has to be great PR

Despite the title of this blog, it would seem a little crass to insist that insurtech PR is important in the industry. We might be biased, but we think it’s obvious that if you invest in your brand’s publicity and promotion, you’ll see a marked return from that investment. And we’re pretty sure that if you’re reading this, you already have a good understanding of why PR is paramount to the success of an insurtech. Certainly, you will if you’re working in the insurtech industry and have seen first-hand the results that concerted PR efforts can bring.

So, we’ll ramp things up a notch and shift the focus to take a more in-depth look at why good PR specifically is so important to the growth and success of an insurtech.

Why we always do our homework

At the start of this blog, we talked about a common misperception: that people tend to assume others consume media in the same way that they do. We’ve all thought that at some point in our lives. It’s an instinct created by our human narcissistic tendencies. But assessing our own behaviours will never help us understand the behaviours of others, which is why a good PR company working with an insurtech will conduct extensive research as part of their due diligence.

As part of our strategic planning, we survey members of your key target audiences to ask them outright where they go for their industry news and knowledge. We comb through media outlets, analysing the topics hot on their agenda and their favoured subject types. We collate information from journalists to find out, not just what has been, but what is coming up, so we can be ready with our contribution when the time is right.

No shortcuts to great insurtech PR

Like you, although we have all the tools at our fingertips, we also understand the importance of real-life knowledge. Our strategy work takes time, as it requires structured collaboration to pool insight and knowledge followed by a substantial piece of desk research and analysis, but this is time well-spent, as the intelligence collated at the strategy phase of the campaign directly informs the tactical phase. Jumping ahead to media pitches and content creation would expose a lack of rigour and adequate thought. This would be achingly obvious in any industry, but especially in one which is still in its infancy and in which a large proportion of thorough, data-driven individuals work. 

Applying real-world knowledge to data

No longer is PR perceived as a fluffy nice-to-do. Data analytics means metric possibilities are extensive and reports can be tailored to your desired outcomes. Establishing your objectives in the strategy portion of our planning is essential. Unless you know what your goals are, it’s impossible to determine how successful the PR has been at achieving them.

You will likely have multiple goals, all with different levels of priority. This could include driving leads, building brand awareness, increasing visibility and securing more opportunities to put your business and your people on the industry radar, for example. These goals inform the PR, feeding into messages and actions and providing the benchmarks of success.

Always a foot into the future

A good PR campaign is never stuck in the past — it’s fluid and progresses as the world around it does. While it’s important to have a plan, it’s just as important to allow for agility within that plan. While PR professionals may try, no one can accurately predict the future of the communications industry, any better than insurtech experts can be sure what’s around the corner in their sector. That’s why your PR consultancy should be keeping abreast of the times and leveraging new opportunities wherever relevant. For example, by securing you slots on podcasts, if that aligns with your strategy; booking you for interviews with target media outlets; scanning for speaking opportunities and thought leadership openings; pitching article ideas to editors — all these actions can complement your PR and bring you closer to your ultimate goals.

Great PR is arguably more critical in insurtech than in many other industry verticals, due to its competitive nature. What’s different about you, is a question that your PR will address. Once the answer is clear (which it will be — crystal — following the strategy portion of the work) an effective PR campaign will not aim to make you all things to all people by spreading your reach so thinly it’s at risk of dilution. Instead, focus is the order of the day. If you’re going to do anything, do it well. If one of your key objectives is your CEO being recognised as a respected thought leader, that’s where the main focus should be. Secondary objectives will be worked towards too, with a proportionate ratio of the budget and time assigned to those.

Don’t be a stranger

Measure. Check. Adjust. That’s how some of the best PR results are gleaned. No longer does PR need to be a guessing game, with arbitrary figures used to justify the time spent. Now, as data and analytics are plentiful, measurements are available to test how well a campaign performed, whether that’s assessing how many unique visitors have been driven to a website, or gauging awareness among industry experts.

A great insurtech PR agency has no fear about advising you that you can’t be a stranger. If you want the media, influencers and analysts to find you, you need to make it as easy as possible for them. Get involved in the conversation on social, be available for interviews, respond to requests promptly, create a high-quality and accessible asset library, and make sure you have professional headshots of your main spokespeople. Your PR will guide you on all these things, ensuring you’re ready for when opportunity knocks.

Always asking ‘why’

Finally, great PR will always focus on the ‘why’. Why are you in the business of insurtech; why is what you’re innovating so important; why should customers come to you over your competition? The language chosen to communicate this ‘why’ is all-important and, while your tone of voice will always remain, word choice sometimes needs to change depending on your target audience. An experienced insurtech PR understands this, cuts out the jargon and gets to the point while keeping things interesting.

Patching PR in after the start-up phase is perfectly possible, but if the opportunity is there to introduce it from the start, our advice is to do so. It saves time retro-fitting owned media content, revisiting long-forgotten values and re-educating a team suspicious of sudden-onset PR activity.