portant in the marketing of any product; however, depending upon the product, a greater or lesser emphasis is placed on the various elements in developing the promotional mix.
With respect to term life insurance, public relations is important to the extent that the underwriting company will bepositively perceived by both the general public, and by inde pendent inusrance agents expected to market the product directly to consumers. Similarly, product publicity is impor tant to the extent that (1) term insurance as a concept is positively perceived by the general public, and (2) the parti cular term insurance product offered by an underwriter is posi tively perceived by the independent insurance agents expected to market the product directly to consumers. 3
Sales promotion has only a limited application in the pro motional mix for term life insurance. Its greatest value is in the provision of incentive compensation awards for independent insurance agents attaining specified sales goals. Advertising, by contrast to sales promotion, plays a significant role in the marketing of term life insurance. While advertising is not expected to be able to close a sale, it is expected to attract the target market to the product. It serves, for term insur ance, as a primary source of sales leads.
Personal selling is the most important element of the pro motional mix for term life insurance. Few term insurance sales can be completed in the absence of effective personal selling. Life insurance, as a concept, is a difficult product to sell, because most people tend to associate the product with death, as opposed to protection. A high level of personal selling is, thus, required in the product's promotional mix, in order to effectively deliver the product message of protection. Effec tive personal selling is the key to closing a term life insurance sale.
Target marketing is a part of marketing process analy sis. Marketing process an...