What are the top 3 learnings in my content marketing career that brought the most value? What advice do I wish I got when I started my professional journey in marketing? A few weeks ago, Better Digital Marketing, a Europe-based community of B2B marketers have reached out to me for an interview.

As I have a diverse background and not a linear career path, the interview starts with explaining how I ended up in the field of content marketing at all. During my 7+ years as a marketeer, and the few years of journalism before that, I have learned how critical it is to tap into the right questions, consider facts and divergent opinions, have the ability to “find the needles in a haystack”, and overall, have a curious and open-minded personality.

Based on my experience, I also share some recommendations for B2B marketing growth for the future, like which channels to use in 2021 and content marketing tactics that have worked well for me so far.

You can read the full interview here.

Today’s customer expects fast and relevant services from any provider. As we, Millennials are getting into our 30s and the average life insurance customer is becoming more and more tech-savvy, insurance companies are forced to invest heavily in digital transformation and offer personalized services on the market. The challenge is, how to avoid the common pitfalls on this journey of modernization? From carriers’ culture and change management to product innovation initiatives, I mapped out the smartest trends on the life insurance landscape.

The ‘Amazon Effect’

Whether we like it or not, retail markets were forever disrupted by the rise of the e-commerce industry and digital marketplaces like Amazon or Netflix. By constantly tracking customer habits and monitoring shopping patterns, these e-commerce businesses deliver personalized products for millions of people.

Insurance carriers could learn a lesson from this and get closer to their customers’ needs by introducing a customer-centric approach. Since today’s customer expects fast and relevant services from any provider, it is time for insurers to ask themselves, what do they know about their customers, and what can they predict from their behavior.

More Data for a Better Service

Different generations have distinct attitudes when it comes to sharing their personal data. In general, Millennials and Gen Z are willing to give more information in return for better service. As nowadays only 34% of Millennials in the USA own individual life policies (based on a recent LIMRA report), catering to the needs of Millennials can be the engine of growth for life insurers.

Despite the regulatory challenges and the complexities of underwriting, insurers have a lot of customer data on their hands, which could be used to drive the customization of products to better meet customer needs. While these custom offers provide value for customers, companies need to make sure that the data is used in a way that is transparent and comfortable for any policyholder. In this sense, market regulations will need to translate and understand new technologies that will contribute to these personalized offers.

Create Digital Native Products

According to a recent report on Forbes started just before the pandemic, online life insurance sales increased by more than 30% for providers with speedy apps that used data/algorithm-driven underwriting. At the same time, agent-driven sales are in decline, due to the lack of physical contact opportunities and emerging digital solutions.

An obvious reaction to these trends could be to target direct to consumer channels with new, digital native products, easing the dependency on traditional forms of underwriting. When reality around us is moving in this cadence, carriers have to navigate the market based on data-driven decisions and real-time insights.

By leveraging the capabilities of a no-code platform, insurers could develop and launch new products extremely quickly, automate any process across the entire customer lifecycle, and enable partners to distribute their products via pre-defined APIs. With the enabled self-service functionalities that these platforms can provide, applicants can see if they are qualified and then purchase a policy in a matter of minutes, instead of going through manual, paper-bound processes.

Millennials can be the engine of growth for life insurers.

Millennials can be the engine of growth for life insurers.

Dissolve Cultural Barriers in Life Insurance

We all know that life insurers have long-standing ways of doing business. Even though culture and change management within a big organization is a hurdle sometimes, it is much needed to make use of the increased availability of data.

Machine learning and AI are only tools. By applying these digital tools, insurers will have insights, but the key is what they will do with those insights and how they will process the data. Do they create agent dashboards? Will they have mobile applications where they can share information with their policyholders? Will their case underwriters trust this new system?

Overall, insurers gearing up with innovation initiatives need to understand that technology is not a silver bullet on its own. Software development and data analyst talent will only drive growth in the business if they are backed up with industry expertise and an organization that is willing to embrace new perspectives.

There is a tremendous opportunity to increase life insurance sales in today’s market. The key is creating digital native life insurance products, leveraging technology to redefine the customer journey, and embracing an innovative perspective in a D2C market.

Originally published on the Innoveo company blog at https://www.innoveo.com/news/driving-growth-in-life-insurance/

Hiring the right people is one of the most difficult aspect of building a successful company. It is essential to surround yourself with smart and driven people, in order to develop an organizational culture in which people are thriving, instead of holding them back. But how to build a team that enables co-workers to maximize their potential? 

Recruitment is a daunting process anyway, even if you sit on the stable side of the table. How do you know which questions to ask at an interview when you only have 30 minutes to figure out if a person is a good fit for your Team? How can you tell an enthusiastic candidate from an inciter, a talented person from a fraud? It’s a tougher game than Tinder.

Mindset is everything

As a Hiring Manager regardless of the industry you’re operating in, you obviously need to consider a candidate’s education and prior experience, but also what they can bring to your team as far as IQ and emotional intelligence. And the latter are more important.

An extremely successful CEO once told me that his hiring policy is that he never hires somebody who does not have at least one shitty job or failure in his resume. Why? Nothing reveals and refines our character better than the way we cope with adversity.

In other words, the applicant with a pixel-perfect CV may not be the best hire for your Team. After all, people can always learn new skills on the go, if they have the right attitude and personality. On the contrary, if they possess all the shiny diplomas, but lack the appropriate mindset for the business, that will screw the team up.

Choose people who dare to challenge the status quo

There are employees who tell their managers what they like to hear and simply carry out orders given from above. This can be comforting because it lets any Manager linger in the secure feeling of his authority. (“I’m the boss, and that is how things work around here.”)

But there are also those types of co-workers who question the current processes and ask the awkward questions. Aren’t these people are generally annoying and hard to get along with? No, they’re not, as long as they have empathy and intelligence, and therefore they are asking the right questions. Being curious and seeking answers is proven to be one of the most important trait of innovative thinkers.

Let me quote Steve Jobs here: 

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do, We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

When working for a Copenhagen-based Design Studio, I could easily see a hiring pattern within our Team. This pattern was that our CEO aimed to surround himself with “innovator” types, those who possess the confidence to speak up, ask questions and think strategically in order to put the success of the organization at the focus of every decision.

After 2 years on that job, I realized that whenever we were hiring, we were looking for people who are self-starters, who are driven by their passions and willing to try new things. Because this attitude is crucial to perform well at the job: when it comes to day-to-day work, my boss (and most likely, your boss) wants to hear solutions, not problems. Managers are interested in possibilities, not limitations.

 
A healthy amount of ego and motivation

When an employee has a negative attitude and is the first to give reasons why something cannot be done, that creates a destructive atmosphere that can easily spread to other team members in the office. On the contrary, motivated and creative people are capable to look at a challenge in front of them, grasp the necessary information, and come up with new ways of reach the target of any given organization.

How can you spot this type of applicants right at the job interview? One way is to pay attention to their concerns. Instead of asking about holiday benefits and retirement schemes, these people tend to ask you about the amount of responsibility or possibilities for self-education on the job. And that’s a good sign. A healthy amount of ego drives us to perform better.

As John Couris (CEO of Tampa General Hospital) puts it, 

“The key to leading a successful organization is developing a team that enables members to contribute to the best of their ability. By surrounding yourself with smart and driven folks, who are able to be just that - smart and driven - you will develop a culture that yields a great deal of success.”

Keep your talent engaged

If you can get hold of good candidates to join your Team today, then you’ve completed half of the equation. Once you collect all the smart and innovative people around you, you need to keep them engaged and motivated. Continuously. If you don't invest in your employees, they will begin to feel that they don't matter.

Being receptive to the emotional needs of your employees and really get to know them as people requires a lot of effort and dedication. But there is no other way to go about it if you want to build a solid foundation for your business.

Lasting and meaningful human relationships provide the basis for every successful Team, and they entail a different kind of management style than what we were probably used just a few years ago.

So forget micromanagement. Talented people love to take on responsibility, and thus you need to give them space. But hey, this is a topic for another post.

We compete in a job market where it is expected from us that we are excellent team players. The problem is that no one teaches us how to become one exactly.

In my current role, I am part of a diverse team of creatives, developers, and project managers. Some of these people are very sensitive, some of them are cold-blooded rational, and some of them don’t even speak the same language. If this isn’t complex enough, we have to manage projects and fight deadlines from 3 different continents.

This requires great teamwork. Regardless of what happens in the background, let it be our individual faults or conflicts, we have the common goal of delivering the best results to our clients – as a Team.

Here are 3 lessons I’ve learned when working in the beautiful chaos of creative agencies.

1. Listen more than you talk

When we are little, we all get taught how to talk and how to write. But how to listen? Genuinely listening to someone is hard, because our thoughts run faster than people talk. So while people are talking to us, we have some spare brain capacity left, which we can use to evaluate what they are saying, think about our grocery shopping list, or even daydream about our upcoming vacation. It requires an effort to be present in a conversation and listen without judging, predicting or concentrating on something totally different.

I find that there are two main benefits of being a good listener. First, people will like you more. Just think about it. When your partner actually listens to you, it makes you feel important and valued, right? We all like people who allow us to have a conversation about our favorite subject, which is ourselves.

Next time you’re in a team-building event, try to master this mindset and focus your interest on your team mates rather than your own stories. By paying attention to your mates, they will be inclined to like you more. Not to mention you will gain relevant insights that will help you to understand their motives and behavior as well.

This leads me to the second benefit of active listening, which is the fact that you control the conversation, not the ones who are talking. As suggested by the management trainer Chris Croft, the occasional questions like, "Where did you get this idea from?" or, "Can you tell me more about this part?," help you decide which direction should the conversation go, without being pushy or annoying.

2. Reliability is your best trait

So, wo cares if you show up 5 minutes late to a meeting? What could go wrong if you send the promised files with only 2 hours delay to a partner? The truth is, these little things add up and create an overall impression of you. 

Being reliable in a business environment means that you keep your promises and your partners can trust you. It means that you are able to keep track of overlapping tasks and get your time management system right. You could achieve this by writing down notes, establish a rule to reply to messages within 24 hours, and keeping all appointments in a system that works for you. Personally, I prefer the old-fashioned way of using a physical diary for my priorities. 

When it comes to teamwork, the other aspect of reliability is your emotional stability. Don’t you agree that your best colleagues are the ones who have a stable, positive personality and don’t have mood swings depending on the weather?

These things are so simple yet most of us struggle with them. One of my managers once told me that the fact that you are reliable would already put you ahead of 90% of your competition in any given field.

3. Learn to forgive

Although it is important to be reliable, I also believe that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously. We need to realize that mistakes are inevitable in a team situation. And we shouldn’t take them personally.

During a busy week, it can happen that your manager don’t tell you about an important plan. Your team might make a decision when you are not there and you feel left out. Maybe your colleague makes a mistake that will impact your project’s success. Maybe you make a mistake. When deadlines are tight, we tend to push ourselves a bit too far and take risks that are beyond our capacity.

These things will happen, and a good team player will let these go. Because holding on to our emotional baggage will only slow us down in the long run.

Let me quote a classic from Mark Manson here:

“You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of f*cks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a f*ck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice—well, then you’re going to get f*cked.”

Of course, there could be situations that really upset you, where you feel you weren’t treated fairly. If I feel truly hurt about something, then I communicate my feelings so my team can learn from the situation and fine-tune the process so it won’t repeat. The key here is not to wait months until destructive feelings grow inside you and you develop a negative attitude towards your colleagues.

It actually feels good to forgive and to be forgiven. And it is much better to work in a team that is able to discuss difficulties and move on, than being surrounded by people who stress on each other’s small imperfections all the time. 

Now I’m curious. What would you add to this list? Do you feel that you’re part of a good team? Let me know in the comments.

Branding isn't just for businesses any more. We live in times when recruiters can easily stalk your recent tweets or Instagram profile. And believe me, they do. Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to manage the way you're perceived on online platforms and offline interactions. With the right marketing and consistency, you can easily develop and grow your personal brand, which will help you achieve a competitive edge in whatever field you are competing in.

Your personal brand is in many ways a synonym for your reputation. It is what people think of you when you are not around. It is how people remember your work to be. It is how they perceive you when you are entering the room.

Why should you care?

Now you see, it takes consistent effort to make sure you are sending the right message in all directions so you are considered as a person of integrity – or a field expert, if that’s what you’re aiming for.

And there are so many advantages of building up your personal brand and going strategic about it.

Let’s just imagine that you are losing your job next week. If you have a solid reputation, an accountable personality, and maybe a portfolio website where you’ve built trust over the past months, you have nothing to be afraid of.

But you don’t need to unemployed in order to see the benefits of your personal brand. It can simply help you get more clients and new customers and expand your professional network. Bring authority and recognition to you in the industry you’re operating in. Or even qualify you to be invited to conferences or speaking events.

By now, I probably convinced you that your personal brand matters. In the following, I am going to tell you 5 hands-on tips on how you can build its foundation.

1. Use your LinkedIn network for recommendations

Have you ever been in the situation when you had to choose from 3-4 candidates or products, that seemed equally qualified and suitable? What did you do then? You turned for reviews and recommendations. It might sound as a no-brainer, but sometimes we tend to overlook the things that are easy and within reach. So yes, people actually read LinkedIn recommendations. So now is the time to ask some of your former supervisors or colleagues to formulate some nice thoughts about your abilities and give your skillset a couple of endorsements on your LinkedIn profile. Social proof is the basis of your personal brand.

2. Build a solid portfolio

The next step is let people see what you’re good at. Show it and don’t just tell. Having a portfolio is a great opportunity to demonstrate your capabilities, expertise, and personal style. Let it be a website, a Prezi, a Slideshare, a case study, or whatever you are comfortable with. Keep in mind that you don’t need to cover too many areas and impress everyone. Focus only on your key strengths and the kind of work that you want to be known for. (And eventually, paid for.)

3. Quantify your achievements

Many say that we live in a post-truth era, when it is extremely hard to distinguish between false and valid information. If we translate this thought into your reputation, then it’s obvious that everyone can say things like “I was managing human resources and was responsible for XYZ at an international company.” But who knows what these buzzwords actually mean? Be more concrete. Throw in some stats and numbers, and say instead: “I was managing an HR Team of 10 people. As a result of our employer satisfaction initiative, my Team decreased employer turnover by 40% in the past 3 years.” Sounds way more serious, doesn’t it.

4. Emphasize your uniqueness

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”

— Seth Godin, The Purple Cow

The essence of this quote is that you need to find your unique selling points, and build on them. Do you dance tango or collect 60’s vinyl records as a hobby? Then make it part of your personal brand, and emphasize it where it makes sense. After all, there might be 1.000.000 aspiring graphic designers out there. But how many graphic designers who re-designed their favorite vinyl records and then made a thematic blog post or Pinterest Board about them? Don’t be shy to spice up your professional reputation with some parts of your personality. You never know which experience or part your interest will connect you with other people, and make them fall in love with you as a person.

5. Be approachable

We all know the pain of networking with meaningless handshakes and a pile of business cards that we have a hard time to connect to a face 3 hours after we got them. Real networking comes from genuine human interactions, which only genuine humans can do. Where am I getting at? At the end of the day, your smile is probably more important than your logo. Your smart answers in a real-life conversations are probably more important than your business card. Your overall character and kindness in social interactions are probably more memorable than your business name.

What are your favorite personal brands that you look up to and get inspiration from? Let me know in the comments.