The conference calendar has certainly swung into second gear over the last few weeks, and Phonexa had a presence at four separate marketing events in New York with Insurtech Insights America, Affiliate Summit East (ASE), MailCon, and LendIt Fintech.
The Phonexa team navigated miles of conference floor real estate, talked to hundreds of industry-leading leadgen executives, and consumed enough happy hour cocktails to sink a cruise ship.
Here are the key takeaways from the week-long conference-going.
May 25 to 26
Chief Operations Officer Jeff Schaffer: Unwrapping the Gift of ‘Insurance-in-A-Box’
For Schaffer, Insurtech Insights America put a bright spotlight on the trend of non-traditional insurance sellers entering the space by leveraging third-party solutions to sell insurance to their existing customer bases.
“With the increase of interest rates, inflation, and the difficulty that banks and major financial institutions are having with making money from lending and other core business activities, we are seeing a massive proliferation of embedded insurance programs or ‘insurance-in-a-box’ solutions being marketed to these institutions,” said Schaffer. “Banks, credit unions, and other sizable organizations that aren’t built to sell insurance are heartily embracing these elegant and surprisingly robust turnkey solutions that do not require substantial infrastructure and operational investments in order to create new revenue streams from their existing captive audiences.”
Chief Revenue Officer Nasser Aftab: Technology & AI Are Helping Insurance Carriers Vet More High-Intent Leads
In another perspective, Aftab highlighted how technology and AI are driving the change for agencies to underwrite more qualified policies amid economic uncertainty.
“Insurance companies are experiencing losses to their lead buying strategy above the threshold they’re willing to accept. As a result, they’ve turned down the spigot as far as buying from various publishers,” said Aftab. “They’re trying to find new and innovative ways to reduce their budgets on their lead buying initiatives and improve their organic marketing strategies to sell more insurance policies through those channels. However, there are many back-end AI, automation tools, and data platforms geared towards the retention of their clientele while being hyper-focused on speed-to-contact to getting a policy quoted, offered, signed, and sold. This approach focuses on spending less upfront and relying more on organic marketing and new technology that complements their back-end processes.”
Did you miss our article on the importance of call tracking for insurance businesses? Click here to learn more.
May 24 to 25
Director of Business Development for Home Services Patrick Boyd: The Unforgivable Lack of Focus on Lead Quality
On the leadgen side of things at ASE, Boyd recognized the intentional marketing gap among publishers who solely focus on lead volume instead of holding conversations around the quality and intent of leads they sell.
“One thing that didn’t differentiate with many attending publishers is that they didn’t talk about the quality of their leads,” said Boyd. “In the last few months, we’ve led discussions around where Phonexa and other martech can sit in the middle of lead transactions to vet qualified data. I didn’t talk to many publishers who could convey the true value of their leads.”
Chief Strategy Officer Amanda Farris: Partnerships Elevate Brand Awareness & Impact
Especially in the post-Covid-19 conference world, Farris has recognized the elevated inclination toward using people and personal connections to build better brand awareness and business partnerships.
“It boils down to finding a centralized location where everyone is, placing yourself in the middle of everything, and then connecting with people through personalized interactions,” said Farris. “What I’ve learned is that people are more conducive to having in-depth conversations about their workflows and other topics in an uncontrolled environment around a dinner table or networking lounge versus on the exhibition floor where the main focus is to sell something. This way, we get to know people as we merge work and life to build stronger connections and associate these connections with our brands.”
Vice President of Partnerships Sara Malo: Investing in Networking Results in an Immeasurable ROI
“Now is the right time to invest in meeting rooms, outside meeting areas, dinners, and happy hour networking events instead of relying on booths. It’s important to pay attention to what events are going on and what you already have tentatively planned around conferences,” said Malo. “Time allocation is hugely important, and making yourself visible and available, especially when new things pop up, is critical.”
Interested in what a Phonexa Partnership entails? Check out our Partnership Portal or contact Amanda Farris or Sara Malo.
May 23
Events like MailCon have the power to unite industry veterans and newcomers alike under one roof for collaboration and partnerships. This is precisely what Malo and Aftab explained in their observations from the networking soiree at the ultra-posh 48 Lounge in Time Square.
Malo: More Companies Are Embracing the Potential of Personalized Interactions
“There’s nothing conference-goers value more than personal encounters and their time with partners or event organizers. To that end, I see that MailCon and other similar networking events have embraced the power of personalized interactions with every single attendee,” said Malo. “This simple act results in great feedback after the event, which always makes people want to return to do business with you.”
Aftab: MailCon’s Growth Is Scaling an Entire Industry
“MailCon has officially arrived! The brand is scaling and gaining traction in a significant way. We see an influx of diverse brands across various verticals leveraging MailCon’s platform by participating in an industry-leading event,” said Aftab. “MailCon is a well-oiled machine that is making a sizable impact on this ever-evolving industry.”
MailCon is the world’s preeminent email and omnichannel marketing conference that connects its global community of marketing professionals with the latest technology, trends, and strategies in email marketing, lead generation, marketing automation, and mobile and omnichannel marketing. MailCon is owned and operated by Phonexa.
Learn more about how MailCon is leading the change in the email and omnichannel marketing landscape with annual conferences and networking events.
May 23 to 24
Director of Business Development for Financial Services Redha Benchetrat: Growing Popularity of Cryptocurrency Calls for New Martech Solutions
Benchetrat yielded a slew of new and innovative opportunities for tech expansion from participating at LendIt Fintech.
“This year’s LendIt Fintech heavily focused on digitizing all practices by showcasing new tech infrastructure for marketing, the continued implementation of cryptocurrency, and how technology ties all of this together,” said Benchetrat. “We see finance companies moving deeper toward digitized and automated marketing efforts while also actioning data insights to increase customer retention and loyalty, and prioritizing the overall customer experience.”
The next marketing technology conference is always around the corner, and Phonexa teams are always on the ground with a massive slate of offerings beyond the all-in-one marketing automation solution for calls, leads, clicks, email, SMS, accounting, and more. You can keep track of our travels on our Events page.
Working with Phonexa means that you’re always ahead of the competition with a first look at cutting-edge, all-encompassing marketing technology, partnerships that make a difference, and so much more.
Schedule a consultation to discover which of Phonexa’s all-in-one marketing solutions can best scale your business and drive your strategy.
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