In the January 2018 edition of Masters of Marketing, ITC Marketing Coordinator Emily Nguyen discusses how ideation can help insurance agents, small business owners, and entrepreneurs to attract business, streamline processes, and innovate.

1. Think Like a Marketer
Marketing Ideation for Insurance Agents
Emily Nguyen
Marketing Coordinator

2. Housekeeping
• A recording of this presentation will be posted at
resources.getitc.com/masters-of-marketing
• Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #MastersMktg.
(Follow us at @InsTechCorp!)
• Leave questions in the webinar chat box.
• Join us on February 15th at 12 p.m. CT for 10 Email Marketing Faux
Pas You’re Probably Making, hosted by AgencyBuzz Product
Manager Heather Cherry.

3. A little about me
• Part of the ITC tribe since
2016
• Content, email, social
media, marketing
materials, and more!

4. A little about you
• You are a marketer
• Website? Advertising?
Email? SEO?
• Doing a lot with a little

5. Thinking like a marketer
• Be open
• Be a sponge
• Be flexible
• Be ready to change
• Don’t be like HeiHei

6. The ideation thing
• It’s brainstorming

7. BusinessJournal
“Ideation is the raw materials that innovation is made of.”
“The better the materials, or ideas, the more stable and
monumental the innovation is.”

8. Key considerations, pt. I
• Ideation is part of your overall marketing strategy.
• Once you’ve identified your marketing goals, it’s time
to brainstorm how to reach them.
Learn how to create a marketing plan for your agency:
resources.getitc.com/modern-agency

9. Get into the mindset
“The relationship between ideation and marketing should be
based on relentless challenging of assumptions and
beliefs, even if they are ingrained to the point of bias.”
“Great marketing ideas happen when a product, service, or
company is viewed without assumptions and beliefs first,
then [with] the litmus test of assumptions and beliefs added.”

10. Brainstorming exercises
• Here are a few exercises
to get creative juices
flowing
• Good for groups
• Can be modified to work
for the individual

11. Brainwriting
• Write a problem on a few
sheets of paper.
• Ex - “Generating More
Walk-Ins”
• Each participant gets a
sheet.
• Participants will write their
ideas on that topic for two
minutes.
• After two minutes, pass the
papers on to the next person.
• The next person reads what
was written and adds to it.
• Repeat.
• Good for: Presenting ideas
equally, with plenty of details

12. Pain and gain
• Identify a type of
customer to your agency.
• Identify the pains that
drove the person to
become a customer.
• Think about the gains, or
positives, that drove them
to seek out your agency.
• Repeat this process for
multiple types of
customers or lines of
business
• Good for: Deeply
understanding types of
people your agency
serves

13. Going all out
• Let your imagination run
wild.
• Think of the most
extreme solutions to your
given problem.
• Discuss these in detail.
• Aim to prompt now but
more realistic concepts to
pursue.
• Then, think of how an
idea could be scaled
down.
• Good for: Uncovering
new strategies

14. Building and breaking
• Build up a specific idea
• Grow it to a broad
perspective
• Or, break a general idea
down into small parts
• Use the smalls to expand
on new details
• Good for: Completing or
polishing up ideas

15. Other resources
• Pull inspiration from your
daily life.
• Look at your competition.
• Look outside the insurance
industry.

16. Get inspired
• Subscribe to newsletters
• Attend webinars
• Read online articles
• Follow interesting people
on social media
• Attend conferences and
events

17. Shameless plug alert!
www.resources.getitc.com
• Blog posts
• Operation Agency Success
Videos
• This is the Way profiles
• Whitepapers
• E-books
• How-To Guides
• Webinars

18. “Write this down” - George Strait
• Keep track of your ideas
by writing them down.
• Add them to your
calendar for follow up.
• Trello

19. Make ideas last
• Keep your ideas visible
• Map them out
• Add stakes
• Action

20. Key considerations, pt. II
• Have a good handle on
who your audience is.
• Go back to your mission
statement.

21. A big idea
• Ideation as a foundation
for change
• Use it to challenge
assumptions
• Think outside the box

22. Thank You
resources.getitc.com/masters-of-marketing