How do you find the perfect marketing talent for your InsureTech digital campaigns? With so many candidates out there, the search can feel overwhelming, especially when you're trying to pinpoint the skills that truly matter. What abilities should you focus on to ensure your campaigns resonate and deliver results?

As you read on, we’ll break down an easy way to evaluate the digital marketing skills your candidates bring to the table.You'll have a clear plan to figure out if a candidate is the right match for your needs and can help your campaigns succeed. 

Digital Marketing Matter in InsureTech

Digital marketing fuels growth – and online campaigns reach potential customers where they spend most of their time: the internet. Good digital strategies highlight your unique value, boost company's visibility and customer reach, making it easier to grow their brand and attract new clients.That’s why bringing in the right marketers can really boost your online presence and improve your conversion rates.

InsureTech companies need marketers who can turn complex products into engaging digital campaigns. These experts create content that connects with your audience on different online platforms. They use data to fine-tune strategies and get the best return on your marketing budget. Plus, they keep you ahead of competitors by tapping into the latest digital trends, making sure your message stands out in a busy online space.

They can also bring unique value to the table. They understand both the intricacies of insurance and the nuances of digital marketing. This combination allows them to:

• Craft clear, engaging messages that explain your innovative products. For example, they might create an interactive infographic that simplifies how your AI-powered claims process works, making it easy for potential customers to understand.
• Target and engage the right audience through tailored digital campaigns. They could design a social media campaign that speaks directly to millennials about the benefits of your on-demand insurance app, using language and visuals that resonate with this demographic.
• Utilize InsureTech-specific tools and platforms to maximize marketing effectiveness. These marketers might leverage insurance comparison websites or partner with fintech influencers to boost your visibility and credibility in the digital space.

Let's look into some numbers that highlight the impact of digital marketing:

• With effective optimization, this form of digital marketing – pay-per-click (PPC) can result in average returns of $2 for every $1 spent – a 200% ROI, according to data by Wordstream.
• According to an infographic by Demand Metric – companies with active blogs generate 67% more monthly leads compared to those without regular blog content.
• Forbes Advisor reports that 74% of companies see increased lead generation through content marketing.

Key Skills for InsureTech Marketing Professionals

Finding marketers who really get digital campaigns isn’t as easy as it sounds. You want candidates who can not only build and optimize complex funnels but also bring a creative spark to the table. The best candidates will have a solid mix of technical knowledge and creativity. Plus, they should understand the ins and outs of insurance products, turning complex ideas into engaging campaigns that catch attention.

Look for these key skills when evaluating potential hires for your marketing team:

1. Data Analysis and Interpretation

• Look for candidates who can dive deep into complex data sets and extract meaningful insights. They should be able to analyze customer behavior patterns, campaign performance metrics, and market trends to guide your marketing decisions.
• Your ideal hire should know how to turn data into actionable marketing strategies. For example, they might use website traffic data to optimize your content calendar or leverage customer segmentation data to personalize email campaigns.
• Prioritize marketers who understand insurance-specific metrics like loss ratios or customer lifetime value. They should be able to track and interpret KPIs unique to InsureTech, such as policy renewal rates or digital quote completion rates.

2. Digital Campaign Management

• Marketers should know how to orchestrate multi-channel digital campaigns across social media, email, and paid advertising. They should be able to create a cohesive strategy that guides potential customers from awareness to purchase, like a campaign that introduces your new cyber insurance product across platforms.
• Your ideal marketer should know the ins and outs of various digital marketing platforms and how to leverage each one effectively. For instance, they might use LinkedIn for B2B lead generation, Instagram for brand awareness, and Google Ads for targeting high-intent searchers.
• Look for marketers who have a track record of optimizing ROI campaigns to squeeze the most value from your marketing budget. They should be able to continuously refine your campaigns, perhaps by A/B testing ad copy or adjusting bidding strategies to lower customer acquisition costs.

3. Content Creation and Storytelling

• Find marketers who can create engaging content that simplifies complex InsureTech concepts. They should be able to craft blog posts, infographics, or videos that explain topics like parametric insurance or blockchain in insurance in an easy-to-understand way.
• Your ideal candidate should adapt content for various platforms and audiences seamlessly. They might create short, snappy social media posts for Millennials or Gen-Zs and more detailed whitepapers for corporate clients.
• Look for storytellers who can build trust and credibility through compelling narratives. They should be able to share customer success stories or showcase your company's innovative approach to insurance in a way that resonates with your target audience.

4. Understanding of InsureTech Products and Services

• Seek marketers who understand traditional insurance products and how technology is transforming them. They should be able to explain how your AI-powered underwriting process or blockchain-based claims system improves upon conventional methods.
• Your ideal candidate can effectively communicate the advantages of InsureTech solutions to potential customers. Look for someone who can highlight how your on-demand insurance app saves time and money compared to traditional policies.
• Prioritize marketers who grasp the entire insurance value chain and customer pain points. They should understand how your products address specific needs, like offering instant coverage for gig economy workers or personalized policies based on IoT data.

5. Regulatory Compliance Awareness

• Look for marketers who are well-versed in insurance marketing regulations. They should know how to navigate state-specific rules and avoid common compliance pitfalls in your marketing campaigns.
• Your ideal candidate can create marketing materials that are both compelling and compliant. Can they craft a catchy slogan for your new life insurance product without running afoul of regulatory guidelines?
• Understanding data privacy laws and their marketing implications is a must. They should know how to collect and use customer data responsibly, ensuring your campaigns comply with regulations like GDPR or CCPA.

6. Performance Marketing and Optimization

• Seek marketers with hands-on experience in SEO, SEM, and other performance marketing channels. They should be able to boost your website's search rankings and manage effective paid search campaigns for your InsureTech products.
• Your ideal candidate should excel at A/B testing and conversion rate optimization. Consider asking yourself: how would they approach testing different landing pages for your new cyber insurance offering to maximize sign-ups?
• Look for marketers who can measure and report on marketing performance clearly and concisely. They should be able to create dashboards that track key metrics and provide actionable insights to improve your marketing ROI.

Technical Proficiencies to Look For InsureTech Marketing Candidates

What does an InsureTech marketer bring to the table? For digital campaigns to hit the mark, you need a mix of creativity, insurance knowledge, and good technical skills. The right tools can boost your marketing – which will help you reach more customers and drive those conversions. So when you're hiring, find these professionals who are at ease with various marketing technologies.

Here are key areas to consider:

1. Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing automation tools can boost your InsureTech campaigns. Look for candidates experienced with platforms like HubSpot, Marketo, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud. They should be able to set up automated email campaigns and create optimized marketing workflows that nurture leads effectively.

2. Analytics Platforms

Your ideal candidate should be proficient in Google Analytics and insurance-specific analytics platforms. They should also be able to set up custom reports and dashboards to track your most important metrics.

3. CRM Systems

CRM systems form the backbone of effective InsureTech marketing. Look for candidates familiar with platforms like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics. They should know how to leverage CRM data for marketing and integrate these systems with other marketing tools.

4. Social Media Management Tools

Social media is a powerful way to boost your InsureTech brand’s visibility. Statista’s data shows that over five billion people were using social media globally in 2024, and that number is expected to top six billion by 2028. This growth can really enhance your digital marketing efforts. 

When hiring, look for candidates who know their way around tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Buffer for managing content, and who also understand social media analytics and have experience with paid campaigns.

5. Additional Technical Skills

Technical skills can really make a difference between a good InsureTech marketer and a great one. Look for candidates who know a bit of HTML and CSS for crafting emails and landing pages. They should also be familiar with marketing APIs and understand how various tools in a marketing tech stack work together.

How to Assess InsureTech Marketing Candidates

How do you find the standout marketers from the average ones? Evaluating InsureTech marketing candidates calls for a smart approach. Now that you already know what skills they should possess – you'll also want to check their skills, experience, and how well they fit with your team. 

Here’s a straightforward way to spot the top talent for driving your digital marketing efforts:

Start by looking at their portfolio and past campaigns. Seek out evidence of success in digital marketing, especially within the insurance or financial services sectors. Ask for specific results from their previous work and see how they explain complex insurance concepts in simple, engaging ways. This will help you narrow down candidates who could thrive in your InsureTech environment.

• Conduct practical assessments: Give candidates a real-world marketing challenge to tackle, like creating a mock campaign for a new InsureTech product launch. This will show off their creativity, strategic thinking, and technical skills.
• Ask behavioral interview questions: Dive into their past experiences with questions like, “Can you describe a time when you had to market a complex insurance product to a skeptical audience? How did you handle it?”
• Evaluate their industry knowledge: Check their understanding of InsureTech trends and challenges. Ask them how they think emerging technologies like AI or blockchain might shape insurance marketing in the future.
• Evaluate their data skills: Give them a set of marketing metrics and see how they analyze the data. For example, show them click-through rates and conversion numbers from a campaign and ask how they’d use this info to improve future efforts.
• Test their adaptability: InsureTech is always changing, so look for candidates who can adjust quickly. Ask them about a time they had to change a marketing strategy on the fly because of new regulations or technology, and how they handled it.

Hiring the right digital marketing talent can significantly boost your InsureTech company's growth. Seek candidates who combine technical skills, industry knowledge, and creativity. A strong marketer will understand InsureTech intricacies and be able to explain these concepts in a way that engages and converts your target audience.

Looking to enhance your InsureTech marketing team with top talent? At Strategic Recruiting Partners, we connect InsureTech companies with skilled digital marketers who can drive your growth. Reach out to us today and let’s start building a team that will boost your InsureTech brand and help you succeed.

The ultimate test of capability comes from the interview.  This is where the organization and candidate have the opportunity to size each other up in person.  Asking the right questions on both sides is important in order to gain a complete picture of a future partnership.  It is important for the organization to prepare questions that will uncover the candidate’s capability based on skill set, motivation and cultural fit.

When it comes to filling a vacancy there are two big frustrations.  The first is finding qualified talent that is open to hearing more about the opportunity.  The second is finding the right questions to ask during the hiring conversation that will reveal if that candidate is a good fit.

The old standards, such as “What is your biggest weakness?” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” are still in rotation, despite being less than helpful in determining a candidate’s true abilities and/or cultural fit.  It seems that just when a company has the interview question dilemma sorted out, the roster of questions and answers appear online. 

To truly peel away the onion that is the candidate, interview questions need to elicit truthful answers that give insight on that candidate’s behavior, skill set and cultural fit.  This is the premise of the behavioral interview.  The concept of a behavioral interview is based upon the notion that past performance predicts future behavior.

There is a simple formula that can be used to create behavior questions based upon the opportunity and culture:

Standard question (“Tell me a time when…”) + Behaviors required by the position (organized, autonomous, etc.) + Real life work situation = great behavioral-based question.

It is also good to add some unexpected questions to the mix.  Here are a few that can show a candidate’s true colors.

• What is a favorite app on your phone right now?
• If I asked you to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture, what steps would you take?
• When do you feel that you are doing your best work?
• How did you get to this stage of your career?
• Give me your personal definition of success.

When formulating questions, try to use the future tense.  Questions about the future cause the candidate to stop and think.  Getting them slightly off track usually garners more genuine answers.

There is nothing wrong with going online to see what questions other organizations are using.  This type of research can be invaluable in formulating questions.  There are even lists of questions that people say are their favorites.  Check out one of these lists by clicking here. [<- INSERT  http://www.eremedia.com/ere/62-interview-questions-people-said-were-their-favorites/]

The ultimate goal of an interview is to gain more insight.  Great interview questions are the means of gathering this information.  Getting the candidates to think on their feet during this process can help determine if they are the right fit for the position and organization.

Too many times interviews are not as effective as they can be.  Biases can cloud judgment or a lack of transparency about the process can turn off top talent.  Interviews should be viewed as hiring conversations, it is a time for both interviewer and interviewee to determine if they are compatible. 

Over the next three articles, we will explore ways to conduct more successful interviews that ultimately increase new-hire performance and decrease time of training to proficiency.  Keep reading to where we begin with preparing yourself for the interview.

Interviewing is a skill that requires practice for both the interviewer and interviewee.  Active job-seekers usually have an advantage, making it important for interviewers to find ways to hone their skills.  One great way to do this is to conduct a few stay interviews with existing team members.  Stay interviews are one-on-one structured retention interviews between a manager and a highly valued “at-risk-of-leaving team member.”  This activity will exercise interviewing skills while reconnecting with top performers.

Just as great candidates properly prepare for an interview, so do great interviewers.  Define the needs, both in skill set and attitude, for the position.  If this is not done, the person hired is usually someone who the interviewer connects with due to similar personalities, not necessarily the person that is the best fit for the position and/or organization.  Determine behavioral indicators and a scoring method by analyzing the traits in both the top and poor  performers.  This will allow candidates to be ranked based on core competencies and cultural fit.

The interview is the first impression a candidate will have on the organization.  Make it count by being on time, prepared, and respectful of their time.  Take the time to review the candidate’s resume and do a quick search on social media to learn more about them.  Too many times interviewers give off the impression that their time is more valuable than the candidate’s.  This does not bode well in a candidate-driven job market.  Focus on the candidate.  If possible, conduct the interview in a conference room to remain free from distractions.

According to Amanda Augustine, 20% of the interview should be used to confirm skill set.  The remaining 80% should be determining cultural fit.  In many cases, hiring decisions are made in the first 2-3 minutes.  These decisions are based on biases which include dress, handshake or the mental picture of a candidate based on their resume.  It is important to remember that a handshake or interview attire DO NOT indicate interpersonal skills or ability to perform.  Keep an open mind and listen to the candidate.  Ask follow-up questions.  It is in these follow-up questions that usually reveal more than their resume.

Be transparent about the process, including next steps and decision-making timeline.  It is also very important to close the loop on each and every applicant.  This shows that the organization respects the candidate’s time and effort enough to let them know of their decision.

Interviewing can be stressful for both the interviewer and candidate.  Proper preparation can relieve this stress and allow for a better interview experience.  Determining behavioral indicators can help create a level “playing field” and expedite the decision-making process.  Next time, we will continue the discussion with a deeper look at conducting behavioral interviews.

There is a smaller candidate pool than ever before with baby boomers retiring in large numbers and not enough people in Generation X to fill all of the voids. Therefore, top talent is in strong demand and the competition to procure this talent is fierce. Bringing in the best talent to interview for your opportunity begins not only with clarity of who it is you are seeking, but also by making it easy to apply for the vacancy.

With the candidate-driven market, top talent will not spend time completing a lengthy application process. Applications that require a candidate to first complete a registration process is a huge turnoff. A great example of this are applications that require the candidate to answer questions or input data that is already given on their resume. These types of application processes result in higher abandon rates.

Determining who to interview can be a challenge since resumes and cover letters do not do candidates justice. They do not show the full scope and depth of knowledge and experience. It is important to understand that the resume is simply a means of learning the candidate’s basic information, from which they can only expound upon during an interview.

When reviewing resumes, put yourself in the candidate’s shoes. Look for potential while reading between the lines to discover what is not written on the document such as transferable skills, creativity, and inquisitiveness. These are the qualities in a great candidate that go far beyond education.

When you have determined who to invite to interview, make scheduling the interview easy for both you and the candidate. While calling the candidate personally to set up the interview is preferred, in some cases this results in a loop of telephone tag. If this occurs, or if you are interviewing someone who is not local, consider using an online calendar. That way you can provide times that work for you and the candidate can select a time that also works for them.

Careful review of resumes is an important step in the interview process. It allows you to get to know the candidates on paper and determine what additional information is needed. From that, you can begin to develop unique questions for each candidate to determine fit, not only for the position, but for the organization as well.