Social Media for After Sales Support

In my last article “Digital Marketing Imperatives for Health Insurers” I had written about the importance of digital marketing for insurance companies.  In the advent of digital age, every business model must use social media and digital communication not just for promoting products or services but for the customer supports and sales after queries.  Social media and digital communication always put you on an upper hand.

Herewith I would like to discuss with you, one realistic case which happens with me last week. I have opted for ING Vyasa life insurance policy since last four years.  When an investment queries has started floating around year end, like every other tax payer I was chasing my investment partner to get the updated statements for financial year.  Being course I dropped one email to ING Life for my life insurance annual certificate in the month of 30th January 2012 even I have posted my query on ING LIFE Facebook Page; I have wasted next two weeks for waiting their reply and finally visited their office and collected my statement for the cost of three productive hours.  After more than two months I have received ING life mail…  LOL :)

The above case is the best example, not just the small businesses but big giants like ING also far behind to adopt social media and digital communication practices. While promoting DSIJ.in on various social and digital platforms, I have come across with lot of after sales queries and few complaints. I have taken care to reply them immediately and assured them to provide quick solution to their problem within stipulated time.  I have given training to our CSR team to handle the digital media for sales support.

While handling unsatisfied customers problem on social media and digital communication, you need to be a very patient and same time very authoritative. Assurance with reaction time need to be pitched logically and deliver the promises on the time is the key to success in social media and digital communication sales support.  While replying complaints on social media, keep in mind other fellow members keeping watch on your reply, you need to be polite and must clear you position without hard hitting words. Here is one example of our social media support activity. 

These days your consumer use social media and digital communication platform extensively, they would love if you present on it. While pitching your sales calls you need to assured them good support. I had very bad experience with DELL India & LG India Facebook fan page support.  The biggest brand’s social media managers easily ignore their customer complaints or revert after long time. While handling sales support on social media and digital communication you need to reply very fast and win your customer faith. Lot of customer get frustrated cause ignorance or delay in after sales support.  Prepare yourself to handle complaint on Social media and digital communication platform and be the king.

Digital Marketing Imperatives for Health Insurers

While drafting digital marketing strategy for DSIJ.IN forthcoming insurance segment and researching on proposed co-branding activity for India’s biggest health insurance company, I have found few imperative.  While interacting with few samples we were analyzed their perception on health insurance and how they approach online health insurance online content (consumption pattern). Outcome ... the health insurers, broadly, are lagging in key digital marketing tactics that could help them reach a new generation of customers. The health insurance industry has been slow to adopt digital marketing when it comes to communicating with customers and customer service.

Here are 5 Digital Marketing Imperatives for Health Insurer

Build Opt-In Database:

Lot of historical marketing data has dump, rejuvenate it. Broader classification and segmentation help to pitch the specific product. Go for opt in list approach build your sales funnel.  Awareness to consideration and consideration to action which is the flow need to adopted by health insurer digital marketing head. 

ME ON GO … Mobile Mania:

Here in India we have lot of reasons to greet our TG, adopt festival and event association strategy with smart marketing messages. (Celebrating Health Day, Child Day etc.)

Enabling Social Agents: 

Social Agents is one of the best viral mechanisms available for health insurer, how you implement it smartly and engage your community around your offering makes the difference. Money Control Facebook fan page is the best example for BSFI segment.

An Affiliation Way:

Since long time I have try to convince Indian digital marketing community to take on affiliation seriously. This is the best way to extend your digital sales force and reach out our TG through your strategic business partner.

  

Claim Organic Position:

SEO is in your plate already, here you need little creative in terms of content. Sharing content matrix is the key which help health insurance brand stand out in organic competition.  Apollo Munich video content is one of the best content in market these days.

Health insurers who are proactive in adopting digital branding best practices can close the awareness gap and drive more health policy sales through internet marketing.  According to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) reports, more than 90% of Indian population is uninsured these days. But the Health Insurers aren’t connecting with likely target audience at those times is because they're not where people are communicating. There's a terrific opportunity for Health Insurers, but they need to jump on digital bandwagon and build a multichannel digital marketing strategy.

Digital Marketing for Indian Financial Services

Most of the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BSFI) companies in India still practicing traditional marketing channel to spread financial awareness of their products or services. Marketing paws of Indian financial giants are still hesitating to enter into digital space without knowing its strength and future prospects. Digital marketing for financial services in India still consider as no man’s land.

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance company’s marketers have been slow to adapt to new Web 2.0 techniques. All leading equity broking firms in India concentrate on their product enhancement and push their services through traditional sales channel. Indian Banking services are far behind as compare to international banking firms in terms of Digital Marketing tactics adoptions. I have been observed Indian insurance companies are early adopter of digital marketing tactics perhaps they haven’t utilized this channel except Google ad words or display advertising.

Few financial content publishing firms like India Infoline, MoneyControl.com and DSIJ.in has successfully established their digital business model. Few mutual funds like DSP Black Rock and Reliance Mutual Fund smartly promote their services by facebook. In insurance segment Reliance Life Insurance and SBI Life really doing well in the social media front. What about the rest, their target audiences adopting digital media furiously and started consuming financial content enormously, where are they?

The financial content publishing firms like India Infoline, MoneyControl.com has crack the success code and enjoying early digital adopter benefits. Money Control is the best example how one should design and develop their online financial content publishing business model and engage financial consumers on digital platform. Few portals for loan and insurance services provide comparisons and recommendations have been fetching good traffic. Dalal Street Investment Journal’s Stock Market Simulation Game is the best example of creating awareness and engaging financial target audience smartly on digital platform.

Given the challenges now faced within financial services, it’s crucial that companies rethink and adjust the way they acquire new customers and retain current ones.  Banking and Financial Services and Insurance companies need to be thinking about how they are creating brand advocates within the customer base. The biggest challenge in front Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BSFI) companies are lack of experience with new digital marketing platforms.

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BSFI) companies marketing head should adopt experimentation with other digital tools rather than just Ad word or display. Digital tools such as social networks, viral video, and blogs, and moving toward relationship-marketing activities that build and maintain long customer relationships-and this require investment in digital front. While working on Dalal Street Investment Journal digital channel, I have been analyzed the concentrated digital marketing efforts and long term planning definitely reward handsome returns on investment.

Digital Branding to GEN next

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The consumption of media has evolved over the past two decades with the onset of World Wide Web: people now preferred to read news online, download music from web has pushed CDs/DVDs market down and operate their financial transactions online. People communicate with friends and family over the Facebook, Skype or chatting instead of picking up the phone. Technological advancement will surely drive more changes in near future. Today’s teenager or younger, as they grow up to be paying consumers more tech-savvy and demanding more speedy and action oriented services. Their preferences will affect how information is consumed and paid for.

The research found 11 key trends in today’s teenager:

• Print media and radio are in crisis
• Internet is all pervasive and convergence is here
• Teenagers are mobile centric
• They do not use email much
• Those in developed market are more cautious on spending
• They do not want to pay and they hate advertisements
• Gender stereotypes are reinforced in media consuming habits
• The younger generation is time constrained
• The world is indeed flat
• They trust their parents the most
• They care about the environment

Internet has had a major effect on media consumption, the consumption media has been evolving especially since the advent of the internet. Being a brand manager’s one should take this point into considerations while writing story board for upcoming brands.

Generation next will drive the second change. Today’s teenagers will be tomorrow’s paying consumers as they start earnings. Their habits, attitude, preferences will have a profound effect on how media is consumed and paid for. This generation without doubts are the major driving forces to change brand consumption and brand engagement. They are technologically more literate and are the forefront of the on-going digital revolutions. As gen next will change as they grow older (wiser) and start their work life, their present behaviors are strong indicators how things could evolve over the next 10 years. The world is becoming flatter and globalized, their remains strong socio-cultural and political difference between countries and genders (a risk of stereotyping?) that shape behaviors and attitude, which are reflected in the consumption of media, preferences for BRANDS.

It’s so difficult to say what might survive and what might not in this rat race. Trust is supremely subjective. Let see how brands react to trust factor, Digitally.

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Digital Marketing success depend upon how you will effectively use Online Marketing Tools and Technique

Being an online marketer I am always in search of free online marketing tools and technique, which will provide me a great advantage over my competitor’s and helps to improve my ROI. Every day thousand of free online tools and services landed on no man’s land, even newbie’s not fully understand how to use them.

So, here are the 5 online tools that you must have in order to succeed with internet marketing.

One: Blog or a Website

More people these days are choosing to have a blog over a website, but that is your personal choice. No matter which one you choose, you need to have one or the other because this is where you are going to send people to find your internet business. Plus, this is the best way to provide your customers with good information, products they can buy and free things that you give away. This will help you get a lot of traffic if you use it effectively.

Two: Autoresponder

This is very important when you want to be successful with internet marketing. The reason for this is that when people visit your website or blog, they won’t always get something from you the first time they see it. When people get online, it usually takes someone 5 to 7 times of seeing something before they decide to get it. By having an autoresponder, you will be able to capture their contact information so you can keep in touch with them and keep them interested in your products and business.

Three: Online Newsletter

This is very important to use with the autoresponder because you have to offer your customers something in exchange for their contact information. By giving them free eBooks, software and other good, quality information, you will have a much easier time of getting them to part with their information. Plus, with the newsletter, you will be able to keep in touch with them a couple of times a month, which will help to build trust with them.

Four: Ad Tracking Software

This is very important when you do business online because you need to know where your traffic is coming from. With internet marketing, this is one of the online tools that will help you see what marketing methods are effective and which ones need work. This is imperative to getting the most traffic as you can from your marketing efforts.

Five: Social Bookmarking

The internet population is growing rapidly day by day, every single hour 4 thousand new blog and 2 thousand new website launches. You can found millions of result come through search engine for single key word, in such situation potential buyer really mess with his wants and preferences for future purchasing decision. The social bookmarking really plays an important role in the web 2.0 success. Social bookmarking provides users to bookmark their favorite website, and publish it publicly by tags, which help search engine ranking also, so social bookmarking is very powerful tool for online marketer.

These are the 5 most important online marketing tools that you need in order to find success with digital marketing. There are many other tools that are important also, but these are very important to the success of any online business.

Marketing Integration is a Journey, not a Destination

Integrated marketing. It seems like such a simple concept -- a common sense notion that a brand's marketing teams, both traditional and digital, need to be united in their efforts and messages. But in practice, is it really that simple?

Yesterday I was realized how difficult to find the solution within the meeting agenda, no one interested to discuss about the future activity, only stress on last week performances and upcoming targets. Same time we must think about innovative and impactful promotional methods, which is really impact (positive) on our future marketing plan.

However, David pointed out, "Meetings are an important part of mix, but they aren't a panacea." In integrating marketing efforts for hexpress portfolio, he said many of the needed changes involved shifts in mindsets rather than schedules. After all, Internet marketing departments will instinctually try to hold on to their power and budgets. True integration of efforts requires buy-in among top executives, he noted.

"If you want integration to happen, you have to be clear about your goals and objectives, as a leader, you have to throw yourself into that."

Overall, I identified three major challenges when it comes to integrating marketing efforts. The first is integrating digital with non-digital efforts-- a fairly straightforward challenge. The second challenge is integrating digital efforts among themselves and being able to measure the value of an entire digital campaign.

However, collectively, the audience members were optimistic that their integration efforts would be making great strides over the coming year.

"It's interesting how optimistic we are about the future; we face both people challenges and technical challenges. But the technical issues, we can overcome. At the end of the day, it's not a tools issue. It's an organizational issue."

Regardless, the panelists pointed out that the goal of "getting integrated" is not a finite task. that digital marketing integration is coming about because digital media have become widely accepted. However, new applications and techniques are emerging every day. And as new opportunities emerge, marketing organizations will continue to be challenged to integrate those opportunities with their existing efforts.

Integrated marketing is an ideal that has yet to be fully realized. It’s a quest that has no concrete destination. Marketing integration is being discussed within their organizations, but efforts are not as organized as they should be. The largest obstacles to integration, according to me, exist silos within different marketing units.
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