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"The portal helps us to realize the requirements of digitization"
What advantages and future prospects do marketing portals of the insurance industry offer?
An interview with Georg Kaldewei, Head of Marketing at LVM Versicherung.
As a core marketing portal, the LVM Insurance has been using the Local Brand X Marketing Portal since October 2016. The web-to-print solution offers LVM shop stewards the opportunity to choose from a pool of marketing tools and to create and order them with minimal effort. From the ad management to the motion picture film, complete business processes and cross-media media production can be managed and handled more efficiently.
Interview with Georg Kaldewei
Mr. Kaldewei, how did the use of a marketing portal optimize your sales and brand management?
We launched our new marketing portal in October of last year. Previously, there were many different online applications for different purposes in our company: In addition to the large billboard booking tool, there was a separate online store for giveaways, a gadget generator and so on. With the LVM marketing portal, we have transformed all these parallel worlds into one central application. This has made the situation much easier for everyone involved - for our insurance agencies as well as for our field staff and marketing staff - media breaks have been broken, and so far manual processes have been heavily automated. In short, the marketing portal helps us to realize the important requirements of digitization: time savings and transparency.
Can measurable successes already be demonstrated?
We have received very good feedback from our agencies so far. Also our concerns that the changeover could be difficult have not been confirmed. We presented the tool at many events in order to enter into dialogue with the agencies and thus get feedback directly. Above all, the constant availability and single sign-on, ie the single sign-on for all services, have convinced many users immediately. By the end of the year, further evaluations will be integrated, then we can see if and how the ordering behavior of our shop stewards has changed. This enables us to continuously develop the marketing portal.
What are the most important practical requirements for a marketing portal?
Above all, it has to be intuitive for the users. We work with 2,300 agencies, and in the long run, up to 7,000 people will use the system. They all have different technical background knowledge. Implementing marketing and sales campaigns has to be as easy and fast as booking a holiday with the portal. Complicated software applications are simply not accepted by the users.
How does your company prepare for the new communication channels of the future?
LVM provides its insurance agencies with the tools and know-how needed to implement local and regional marketing measures. In the future, we must expand this marketing kit and ensure that all important and relevant instruments are made available to the insurance agencies. Of course, it is important to set the course even more strongly in the direction of digitization in the future and to keep up with the times. In order to identify these trends at an early stage, we have already set up our own project in the company.
Keyword digitization: How do you rate the relationship between print and online for the future?
Currently, our marketing efforts are increasingly being arrested in the classic media world. But today this already includes far more channels than just print. Of course, the world is becoming more digital, no question. This development must also be reflected in marketing. At the same time, there will still be large-format advertising, the classic radio ad or the local daily newspaper. Print and online offer different possibilities as well as purposes and partly serve other target groups. Our task is to interlink as possible all relevant channels and make sense of them.
Where are the greatest potentials and challenges for the marketing portal of the future?
In my view, the greatest potential and, at the same time, the biggest challenge lies precisely in the heterogeneity of the marketing instruments and channels. We have to design them in such a way that they are applicable against the background of increasing individualization. With the traditional print ad, this works very well with standardized specifications for customizable image and text fields. Such functionalities must also be transferable to the increasing range of digital instruments.
Comprehensive marketing automation at LVM Versicherung
LVM Insurance has been using the marketing portal since 2016. The web-to-print solution offers both internal and external users the opportunity to choose from a pool of marketing tools and to create and order them in a personalized way without great effort. From the ad management to the motion picture film, complete business processes and cross-media media production can be managed and handled more efficiently.
This article was published in the magazine for the AMC Spring Meeting 2017. The magazine is available as a PDF.
To the reference of the LVM insurance