It’s Christmas Eve. Let’s Go to Grandmother’s House (on Facebook)!
December 20, 2011 by Charles Wasilewski · 1 Comment
“Over the river and through the woods,
To Grandmother’s house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Through (the) white and drifted snow!”
– traditional children’s song
Those who don’t get to Grandmother’s house by horse and sleigh (or airplane, bus, car, or train) are now traveling there via Facebook. They’re going to all kinds of places on the social networking site.
Facebook.com was the most-visited web site on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009, and on New Year’s Day 2010, according to data reported by Experian Hitwise. “Facebook” was also Read more
I Called You. Now Play a Bunch of Ads. Please!
September 13, 2011 by Charles Wasilewski · 1 Comment
I was reviewing some Forrester data about mobile marketing — 21% of mobile phone owners used a smart phone to access the Internet in 2009, up from 11% in 2006 — and recalled a recent experience with a mobile “marketer” (using the term loosely, of course).
I wanted to do something American one nice summer weekend: See a movie. I was in the car with my family (not driving, of course). We had agreed on the movie, “Lincoln Lawyer.” (Admittedly, seeing a movie spur-of-the-moment was more spontaneous than I’m known to be. But maybe that serves me right, as you’ll see in a moment.)
So I looked up the phone number of a local theater on a mobile telephone.
I’d called movie theaters in the past from an old-fashioned landline telephone, and had been able to quickly find out movie times.
Silly me.
Read more
E-Mail “Grew A Facebook”
February 15, 2011 by Charles Wasilewski · Leave a Comment
Facebook passed 500 million users in 2010.
E-mail added 500 million users in 2010.
An article in Econsultancy.com’s blog reported:
“According to Royal Pingdom, 107 trillion email messages were sent in total last year. That works out to 294bn per day. There were nearly 2bn email users and 3bn email accounts, and the ranks of the emailing grew by nearly 500m. In other words, last year, email grew a Facebook last year.”
Royal Pingdom, a monitoring company, recently posted numbers about e-mail, social media, Web sites, etc. Read more
Guest Blogger Nibby Priest, GoVaughn.com Insurance: “High-Touch Relationships”
August 6, 2010 by admin · 4 Comments
For Aartrijk’s new series of guest bloggers from in and around the insurance industry, we welcome Nibby Priest of GoVaughn.com Insurance Agency, a full-service independent agency headquartered in Henderson, Kentucky, and serving Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
About Nibby: Nibby began his insurance career in August 1983 as a part-time employee in his father’s business, then joined the agency full-time in 1986 after graduating from Eastern Kentucky University. Nibby is known nationally for his insurance agency automation consulting work with the AGENA Corporation and National Users of AGENA Systems. He has also worked extensively with Henderson Community College as an instructor in various computer-related classes.
1. What has happened in the past year with your agency/firm now in the area of branding? What changes or initiatives have you been working on? What is the top challenge right now for companies like yours?
We are trying to brand more with our online name GoVaughn.com Insurance, instead of our old, long name Vaughn Insurance Agency Co.
We have dropped our Yellow Pages, TV, radio and newspaper advertisements. Our biggest challenge is making sense out of it all, even though we know that the time we are spending in social media and new media (online advertising) is really the right way to go.
Guest Blogger Pat Alexander, InsuranceEcoSystem.com Founder: ‘Brand and Message Are Inseparable’
July 26, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Pat Alexander, founder of InsuranceEcosystem.com
The Aartrijk team is pleased to welcome — for the first time — guest bloggers from in and around the insurance industry, starting this month.
To kick off this occasional series, we welcome Pat Alexander, founder of industry blog InsuranceEcosystem.com and a Brand Camp 2009 alumna.
About Pat: In 2009, she launched InsuranceEcosystem.com as a resource for the insurance industry and a way to spark more conversation about her areas of expertise in independent agencies, coaching and technology. She describes Insurance Ecosystem as a blog that “provide[s] you with communicators that don’t normally blog but have great views and information to share. Each of these individuals … [has] so much to contribute in their area of expertise.”
1. What has happened in the past year with your firm now in the area of branding? What changes or initiatives have you been working on?
After Aartrijk Brand Camp 2009, I developed a plan to redesign my primary Web site, PatAlexander.com, and give it a fresh look and to develop a blog where individuals of interest to insurance agents could blog regularly or at their whim. Developing this blog included developing a brand for it as well as an audience.
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan, Episode 19: Having Fun Growing Business
May 11, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
“On Point, with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan” is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
Linda Rey is a second-generation agent and owner of Rey Insurance in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Frank Rey founded the agency in 1978 to serve bilingual clients in the local community.
Linda discusses how she has incorporated the use of social media into the agency’s marketing strategy. For Linda, it was an “effective way to be present, visible, and increase awareness and exposure.”
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan, Episode 17: Integrating the Social Web in a Large Agency
April 13, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
So, how does a large independent agency with multiple offices approach new marketing and communications opportunities on the social Web? They apply it first inside their own firm.
Peter and Rick spoke with two representatives in IT and communications at a forward-thinking independent agency, Holmes Murphy Insurance. Based in Des Moines, Holmes Murphy has 13 offices in 11 states, 500 employees, and 77 years in the market. Read more
You Want Help with Social Media!
October 3, 2009 by Peter van Aartrijk · Leave a Comment
Aartrijk Brand Camp—held in Chicago Sept. 28-30, 2009 and continuing on the virtual calendar of online conversation—was all about the risk and opportunity of social media in our Wonderful World of Insurance.
We had pre-surveyed attendees at Aartrijk Brand Camp. These were agents, brokers, carriers, association executives, media reps, and business partners such as technology firms.
In sum, you have genuine concerns and questions around the impact and application of social media. You are being cautious about stepping into fray.
Here are some top issues you are having with all the excitement behind Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc.:
Social media appears to be a time vampire. How do you manage the time you and your people spend with it?
How do you show a return on the effort? One survey respondent said: “While time spent on informing/communicating with fans helps build relationships, does that turn into referrals?” And sales?
We don’t know where or how to start with social media. We need a plan and a budget and somebody in charge—who is that going to be?
The internal battles are brutal. How do we get our management on board? And our legal beagles are putting the kybosh on us branding folks—the IT department isn’t helpful either. One of you said, “The current rule is to run all printed copy past the marketing and legal departments. Social [media] requires a more relaxed, conversational tone to be authentic and trustworthy…[But] it is viewed as more of a risk than an opportunity.”
We’re not sure when we should start! One of you said: “Maybe it’s better not to put a toe in the water until this new frontier matures.”
Who in insurance has gone before us? What are the best practices around building brand awareness with social media? “We need success stories.”
Who is this for? Is social media best for business-to-business? Business-to-consumer? Both? Neither?
Finally, do insurance and financial services play a role at all in social media? Do consumers care about us? We’re not worthy! We’re just not cool enough!
Ah, yes, great questions. Stay tuned for some solutions offered up by Brand Camp attendees.
– Peter van Aartrijk
Follow Aartrijk on Twitter: @Aartrijk. Follow Brand Camp conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ABC09.