Social Media Portal

How healthcare and insurance company Benenden markets its brand in a digital space

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and what do you do there for Benenden?

Lawrence Christensen (LC): I?m Lawrence Christensen, group marketing director at Benenden. I have board level responsibility for all our marketing and product development activity across the full range of products.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about Benenden, what is it and what does company do?

LC: Benenden is a mutual, member-led organisation providing a range of low cost healthcare and insurance products for the individual and corporate markets. It has a UK-wide membership of almost 900,000 people and has been in operation since 1905.

SMP: Who are your target audience and why?

LC: Since January 2013, we?ve been targeting the open UK market as well our traditional public sector base. This was in response to pressures on public sector from Government austerity measures, resulting in our traditional markets shrinking. A typical member could be from any demographic group in UK life considering private healthcare reassurance on top of NHS provision.

SMP: Briefly, what does your job entail and what does a typical day look like?

LC: My role at Benenden entails working with departmental heads to research, develop and implement marketing strategy across our range of products, whilst securing board approval for this strategy. In a typical day I could be meeting new agencies, signing off on new activity, reviewing our successes or prepping for a presentation to the board ? no two days are ever the same.

SMP: What makes it a great job?

LC: Working for an organisation that is unique but is only starting on its journey to bring its model to national awareness.

I thrive on being part of an organisation that has been around over 100 years, but is still a challenger brand taking on the PMI market as a genuine alternative model to insurance based healthcare. As a mutual we rightly place huge emphasis on engaging with our membership and a great aspect of the role are the relationships you build with the individuals across the UK who are key to the democratic heartbeat of the organisation. It is not about a transitional customer and company model but all of us sharing membership as equal custodians of an altruistic mutual fund.

SMP: It?s a brand with a lot of heritage, how are you aligning this with how audiences are interacting with brands now i.e. through mobile, digital and social media?

LC: Benenden certainly does have a strong heritage, but equally it has continually adapted itself to changes in UK healthcare provision ? most notably the creation of the NHS, which Benenden pre-dates. We?ve never been afraid to explore new methods and so we are attracting different audiences through our full digital and social strategy. We research our audiences and grow to understand their use of the internet, so we can tailor our activity accordingly.





SMP: How did you initially attract users to site, social channels et al and how do you do it now?

LC: We identified social media as a channel we weren?t maximising even though the community-based ethos of it is right up our street as a member-led mutual. Therefore, we just got them up and running and began very much as a reactive channel. These days our content is much more audience-informed ? we use insights to ensure our topics and subject matter are relevant and engaging. The results soon show up well if you?re targeting rightly or wrongly.

SMP: What are the challenges that you?ve encountered and how are you overcoming them in what you have been doing so far at Benenden?

Our two biggest challenges in targeting the open market are very limited brand awareness of Benenden Health coupled with the purchasing power of the average UK household is under pressure with retail prices rising faster than real wages. Households are considering their expenditure and we have to demonstrate who we are, why we can be trusted and why our product is important. We?re addressing that challenge by ensuring we?re low cost and affordable but high quality and essential ? including adding value through a revitalised ?rewards? scheme and diversifying our range of products. For example, we?ve just launched a travel insurance product.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?

LC: Witnessing Benenden Health win the Moneywise Most Trusted Healthcare Provider four years in a row.

SMP: What are the main social channels (and other marketing) are you using, why and which are the most effective for Benenden?

The social channels we focus on most are Twitter, Facebook
and Linkedin. We recognise that there are a myriad of different social media channels out there, but frankly, we?re targeting our resources where our audiences are most comfortable.

Each channel serves a different purposes ? Twitter being that water cooler moment, Linkedin being the online networking event and Facebook being our website when it?s down the pub. In terms of driving real engagement, Facebook has been the most effective ? mainly due to its continued growing popularity amongst older people and how easily they can engage with our content.

SMP: What sort of activity / engagement are you receiving across the social channels that you use and how do you create / sustain this?

We saw our best engagement on social when we tapped into the ?nominate a friend? trend by asking our audience to nominate someone to receive a bouquet of flowers. Using low cost paid reach has resulted in engaged numbers going from three figures to mid-four figures, with engagement rate remaining steady between 1-2%. But we don?t want to give away all our tricks ? especially in a tough marketplace. I can say, however, that knowing what your audience likes is key and if you haven?t researched this then why not?

SMP: How are you bringing the digital and direct marketing et al together in an integrated fashion to market the brand?

LC: This year we moved towards thinking of ?content? rather than the dividing lines of direct and digital. Our different teams regularly meet and pool resource to ensure that each fantastic piece of content is maximised across the entire marketing mix. Collaborative working and removing the silos is a very important part of our business.

SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities for your sector (health the regulation and so on) and the competition that you have?

LC: Household budgets are a big challenge and one we?re well placed to tackle as we are low cost but high quality. Our marketplace is a tough one and all competitors are feeling the effects of reductions in these household budgets ? so it is becoming an aggressive marketplace.

The future of NHS funding is another major challenge and we?re working to ensure the message is heard that non-shareholder owned, member-led mutuals can help alleviate pressures on the NHS.

SMP: What is the most challenging part of building upon your brand presence in digital environments (including social media)?

That our key audience is still learning about the possibilities of the digital environment. They are enthusiastic but often not willing to participate in using all the latest ?groovy? internet tools. So we mustn?t become starry-eyed when agencies present us with the latest happening thing. We must remain focused on what our audience prefers.


SMP: What do you think is going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media, social networks and/or technology for the next 12 to 18-months and why?

LC: As much as I love the possibilities of social media, I do worry about the impact on traditional ways of communicating. It seems almost comical that family members are tweeting at each from the same sofa or standing next to each other but talking away on Facebook. We need to retain the ability to be social both offline and online, not become a nation of purely digital personalities. It will be interesting to see how developing technology such as Google Glasses enters the market and how well it kicks off.

SMP: What are your top predictions for social media for the next 12 to 18-months and what sort of impact will have on Benenden?

LC replies with:

• Not much changes ? it?s only a year after all
  
  
• A bubble will burst ? one of the top social channels may lose pace with others. At Benenden, we?ll need to ensure we?re still using the most appropriate channels
  
  
• Traditional marketing begins to makes a comeback ? retro is popular in other areas and as physical communication erodes, we could see a kneejerk reaction here too
  
  
• The 2015 General Election is continually touted as the first proper ?social media election? in the run-up, but the reality fails to live up to the hype
  
  
• Inappropriate use of Twitter will prompt a high profile legal case that sets real precedents

SMP: What are your top overall social media tips for health product/ services?

LC replies with:

• Know your audience and their preferred topics for content
  
  
• Research your chosen content topic ? don?t pretend you know what you?re talking about as someone WILL correct you
  
  
• Act and react. Act and react. Continually. If something isn?t working, move on. The digital space makes it so easy to change what you are doing
  
  
• Don?t assume social media is the magic cure for all ails ? an integrated strategy across the marketing mix is far more effective
  
  
• Address customer service standards properly ? treat your social audience with the same respect as you would those who call or write letters

SMP: Best way to contact you and Benenden?

LC: Email lawrence.christensen@benenden.co.uk   We?d love to hear from you via Twitter or Linkedin.

Now some questions for fun

SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

LC: Peanut butter on toast and orange juice.

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

LC: Does putting our four children to bed so my wife could get a break and go out running count?

SMP: If you weren?t working at Benenden what would you be doing?

LC: I always wanted to be a rally car driver.

SMP: When / where did you go on your last holiday and why?

LC: Ireland to visit friends and family.

SMP: What are the healthiest things that you done in the last two weeks and why did you do it?

LC: I have started cycling and just last night did a 13 mile off-road cyclocross trail with my best mate Colin - it was pretty intense.

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

LC: Say hello and have a chat to whoever is already on the floor.

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

LC: Ability to time travel. I want to see events as they really happened as opposed to how they are reported to the public through the media and the history books.

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