Summary
The Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA) is a trade organization of the leaders, and leading companies, in affinity benefits distribution and direct marketing. Affinity is any partnership that brings a large group of consumers together based on a common relationship. Historically, affinity benefits were from associations like the AMA, ABA, AVMA, etc. and the definitions of affinity have expanded greatly to credit unions, clubs, financial institutions and much more. Product providers have also changed including cyber security, pet insurance, and wellness to traditional products such as Health, Life, Auto, and P&C.
The disruption in the affinity benefits market has been at an incredible pace the last five years stemming from changes in the association market, insurance industry regulation (i.e. the ACA), and the entire marketing landscape due to digital transformation, new technologies, and customer user experience. PIMA’s goal is to provide insight into this rapidly evolving world to its members thus the introduction of the rebranded annual meeting, now referred to as the Industry Insights Conference.
This conference offers a deep dive into the trends and changes affecting the affinity market landscape. Industry leaders and experts address how to adapt and grow in this continuing transformation from a marketing, regulatory and technology perspective. The goal was to establish PIMA’s branded conferences in the insuretech, fintech, and traditional insurance market spaces to broaden PIMA’s appeal, increase awareness, membership, and attendance in an industry where major disruption is occurring. Not an easy task!
Components of PIMA’s Integrated Marketing Campaign
PIMA struck the right chord with this mix of integrated components that included social media, e-marketing, public relations, print, banner ads, mobile app, and the introduction of a meeting micro site. With user experience (UX) and a fully branded design concept top of mind, the launch of the micro site offered our members a modern and fresh take on not only the digital transformation but also set the stage for the conference transformation.
Execution – It’s a new day, literally a new day
With the rebranded Industry Insights Conference, Bostrom knew the key to reinforcing these new conference elements was to start marketing efforts earlier and to introduce the new concept in a visual and profound way. PIMA launched its integrated marketing campaign in October and it lasted until January. Working from the theme Affinity Strong, the design inspired the image of a strong bond of connectedness in the affinity community and the use of bold, dark colors that would draw the eye to key messaging. These visual elements were on every piece of marketing including the pre-meeting promotional and onsite brochures, email templates, display banners/signage, speaker presentations, mobile app and ad campaigns. During the conference, we introduced new networking opportunities for our attendees that included connecting with each other ahead of time on the PIMA mobile app and with help from our meeting planners, attendees could connect on-site via networking pods that added another element to the overall conference experience.
Outcome
The results of the campaign exceeded all revenue goals (an increase of 6.5% more in total revenue than budgeted), attendance goals (achieved highest attendance in 3 years), and profitability goals (made $51K more in profit than projected). PIMA also gained four new members, which is great for a trade organization.
Our e-marketing efforts included 18 total conference related emails with 65% total open rates and 25% unique open rates and 21% clicks. These mailings directed our recipients to the newly launched micro site with 190 unique visitors and 475 web page views. Our users increased year over year by 16% and users spent more than one minute – more time on the site than the year before — showing much stronger engagement. The official PIMA Twitter account garnered over 44K impressions, nearly 200 profile visits, 20 mentions, 880 link clicks, and 8 new followers.
Rich Media
Story – Bill Suneson
The Bostrom team understood what it meant to be Affinity Strong – an idea that speaks to how our industry continues to acclimate to a continuum of changes through strength in leadership, leveraging opportunities and industry vision. In an effort to move from this idea of disruption to transformation, the new integrated marketing campaign that Bostrom was able to implement provided us with the tools to set a new PIMA standard utilizing the trends and technology at our disposal that garnered real results. This new conference format offered our attendees an unparalleled experience – from new networking opportunities to exceeding our expectations in revenue and engagement.
Closing
If your association or non-profit wishes to learn more about how integrated marketing campaigns can re-position the organization when it is experiencing industry disruption, contact Bostrom at solutions@bostrom.com or 312-644-0828.