The winds of change: what the B2B Marketing revolution means for the Commercial Insurance Industry

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Bob Dylan

Insurindex was set up to showcase the best brands in the Insurance business. Yes, those good old ‘boring’ insurance businesses that no-one purportedly understands, trusts, or cares a jot about until the renewal comes around…or when bad things happen.

Bob Dylan once croakily sang ‘The Times they are a changin’’, and in a similar fashion the world of business-to-business marketing is about to change massively.

“The start of a whole new ballgame is just over the horizon for B2B brands, with 2024 shaping up to a time of significant changes.” Forbes Magazine

 So, what are these changes and why do they matter to Insurers?

First, B-to-B is now big business and growing faster than traditional consumer sectors, hence it’s becoming interesting to investors and marketers. This year for the first time ever a Cannes Lions B-to-B award was announced with one of the Grand Prix winners Michelob showing some amazing work on, of all things, organic farming contacts.

Insurance has got to be as least as interesting as organic farming contracts, surely?

Second, it’s been realised (and proven) that B-to-B marketing has previously been too narrowly focused on short term sales rather than brand building and there has been little or no creative marketing (hence the ‘boring’ moniker doesn’t only apply to insurance).

Finally, it’s also evident that many b-to-b businesses may be big, but they just aren’t that well known, or making the most of their growth. Enter Marketing stage right…Ta dah.

Insurindex has featured various proof points about how important brand is becoming to Insurance;  for example analysis done by Gracechurch and ICMR in 2022 showed how brand-building strongly aligns with growth.

So, successful insurers will need to invest in strong brands, and some already are, so if you aren’t getting with the programme, as croaky Bob warned; ‘you better start swimmin’…