Kevin Foley is the owner of PFT&K Insurance Brokers in New Jersey, where gay civil unions have been legal since 2006. Recognizing an opportunity to court the insurance needs of his state’s LGBT market, for 12 months Foley advertised in a monthly gay publications with a specific toll free 800 number, so he could directly measure the ad’s impact, touting his firm’s mutli-car insurance discounts for LGBT families. “In 12 months, I had one call,” he tells Insurance Journal. “I don’t know what conclusion to draw from this anecdote, but I offer it for what it’s worth.” Does that represent the failure of gay New Jersey couples to latch on to special deals tailored just for them? Or the failure of ad campaigns in gay print media that nobody reads?
Or maybe it’s because the gays are much more tech-savvy than those breeders, and we disproportionately prefer to get auto insurance rates online. Which PFT&K’s terrible, terrible website doesn’t allow.
Qjersey
Who the hell calls anymore? Everyone checks out a website first.
Notice he didn’t say where he advertised. If it was in OUT In Jersey, no shock there, as it has poor circulation and distribution.
And does anyone actually read the non sex, non bar/club ads in the gay party papers anyway?
Lukas P.
Gee, did he place his add and the phonebook too?
My primary care doc is gay, the dentist isn’t, my attorney WAS gay until he retired [!] and passed his firm onto his straight neice — who’s still wonderful. The “tax guy” is a lesbian. Yes I allow a straight man to cut my hair — he’s a neighbor, and he’s very good! Our auto and homeowners’ etc. insurance agent is a member of the family. The optician is super-Gay!
Point is: once people find an insurance agent/doctor/hair person/trainer etc., they don’t usually switch unless they’re unhappy or they move. If they’re just now finding one or wanting a new one, they may ask friends as to who’s good, may check out names/references online, or may meet or hear about someone who’s “really” good and check that person out.
I hate to admit this, but I don’t read the ads in the gay papers, or the straight papers. I do read some of the news items and columnists. Where I used to live, I did find a real estate agent because she wrote a column in the gay paper and I did check her rep/creds out online.
Just placing an ad doesn’t get people to notice you or switch to you. You have to network, develop a reputation, and have a solid online presence.
Hyhybt
What’s the picture from?
Lukas P.
I meant “did he place an ad” in the phone book.
Phonebooks get delivered here every six months or so, it seems. We put them in the recycling bin. People somewhere must be using them because they keep getting printed, but…….
Joey
@Hyhybt: That’s a scene from Saturday Night Live’s The Ambiguously Gay Duo.
Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambiguously_Gay_Duo
See the opening credits here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAYcR8w_tE
Hyhybt
@Joey: Muchas gracias con queso.
Fitz
I think most print media is dead. PLUS.. we didn’t even consider if this company’s product or price was any good.. so no amount of advertising will fix that. I used to make a point of only seeing GLBT professionals. I still try to, but i am not as rabid. I once ran into my dentist in a back room, and he flipped out, poor guy. I mean, he’s told me to open wide 100 times, and I do it ONCE and he gets all sensitive!
james_cambrdige
@fitz: bada-boom!
Dame Helga von ornstein
“Recognizing an opportunity to court the insurance needs of his state’s LGBT market, for 12 months Foley advertised in a monthly gay publications with a specific toll free 800 number, so he could directly measure the ad’s impact, touting his firm’s mutli-car insurance discounts for LGBT families. ”
The grammar is a bit misleading but if I am interpreting it right it says he advertised in only ONE magazine for one year. There was his mistake right there. If after three months you are getting no where then start looking at other gay magazines and websites. Who ever this agent is clearly does not understand marketing in the new mass media market.
There are blogs out there (strait and gay) that literally make no sense at all and amount to journalistic nightmares but are getting in excess of one million hits per month. That is where you want to go to get your name out there.
Steve
When I notice an ad for a product or service that I need or want, I do not just pick up the phone. I first use the web to check out the firms web site and reputation. Then I contact only vendors that have good reputations, at the phone numbers that I know for sure to be the right numbers.
A different phone number seen in one add might not be the same company. Sometimes unethical or dishonest people try to use someones reputation to get CC numbers or deposits. It’s a form of identity theft. So, I cross check the contact information against the BBB, the business license, and maybe some other resources, and use only the vetted contact info.
When I am buying an inexpensive thing, I might be less careful. But expensive things come from vetted vendors only. And, intangible things, like insurance, require especially careful vetting. The thing that you buy when you buy insurance is a promise. And, that promise is only as good as the reputation of the vendor.
Kevin Foley
Thanks for all your comments. I wish I had this insight before I made the effort.