Whether or not it currently poses an immediate safety threat to the majority of Americans, the Ebola virus is on American soil—and chances are, your customers and clients are aware of it. Ebola does have the potential to have an effect on insurance coverage for the people you serve, especially if you sell products such as travel insurance or coverage to waste removal companies that handle medical waste.
You can be an expert resource to the insurance brokers and agents with whom you do business during the Ebola outbreak by conducting a reach-out and education campaign to answer their questions on how Ebola would impact the coverage they sell. This will help you build your relationships, as well as getting you in front of prospective partners through search and social media. Here are a few ideas for how to do it.
Take questions via social media. You can use social media to invite people to ask you questions about how Ebola could affect various types of insurance coverage. On Twitter, ask people to use a hashtag to help you find and organize their questions. On Facebook, invite users to post their questions on your wall.
Film a webinar. This is especially appropriate if a certain segment of your audience base definitely will be affected by Ebola. Film a webinar discussing how the disease will impact coverage, the difficulties their clients may face for getting coverage in certain areas because of the Ebola outbreak, and solutions insurance agents can offer their customers. Post it on your website and then publicize it across all your social media platforms, or offer a limited-time sign-up period. Don’t forget to leave time to answer questions.
Write a fact sheet. You can develop a quick, one-page fact sheet targeting insurance agents and brokers who sell each type of product you work with that’s affected by the disease. Once you have it written, there are a few things you can do with it. You can publicize it across your social media platforms, or email it personally to your most important customers in the areas that will be affected. You can also put it into e-zines that target specific subsets of customers.
Write a brief report. If the coverage issues that will impact your customers are going to be fairly in-depth, it might make more sense to write a report going into the questions in more detail. The report shouldn’t be too long, as insurance agents and brokers will most likely not have time to read something lengthy and will appreciate it if you can distill the information in a form they can easily digest. Offer the report for free on your website, email it to business partners for whom it is most relevant, and publicize it on social media.
Getting the word out about how Ebola could affect insurance coverage isn’t just a public service. It benefits both you and the insurance agents and brokers you serve by showing them that you’re alert to their needs and concerned about the coverage issues their customers face. It also positions you as an expert resource—not just to your existing business partners, but to prospective partners. With a conscientious outreach campaign, you can make a good impression on both.
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