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The goal of marketing is pretty straightforward: to connect the right product or service with the right audience. How you do that is a bit more complex.

There are several marketing services available, from research and AI website optimization to transcreation. And there are different ways to build and execute a marketing strategy for your health insurance plan.

These days, most health insurance companies rely on both an in-house agency and one or more external agencies to handle their marketing duties. In the paragraphs below, I discuss the benefits of bringing a full-service agency like DMW on board to partner with your creative team.

Taking it in-house

In-house agencies have steadily grown in popularity. According to research by the World Federation of Advertisers and The Observatory International in December 2023, 66% of brands have in-house agencies and 21% are actively considering one — this is a 16% and 17% increase (respectively) from 2020.

It’s not surprising — in-house agencies are staffed by people who are part of your company’s culture and interact with your brand every day, so they’re likely to have a thorough understanding of your brand, familiarity with compliance protocols, and easy access to decision-makers.

Most health insurance companies use an in-house agency and at least one external agency. Often, internal agencies focus on day-to-day creative, internal communications, and corporate messaging — leaving large-scale omnichannel campaign work to external agencies.

We’re united by a common goal: to help clients enroll and retain more members so they can enrich the community.

Companies that market health insurance plans may also rely on external agencies to share the workload during busy times, such as Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) and Open Enrollment Period (OEP), OEP for ACA marketplace plans, and OEP for employer-sponsored plans. In fact, Marketing Dive reports that 92% of survey respondents worked with an external agency to help when their internal agency was too busy and to handle areas in which their internal agency lacked expertise.

If you have an in-house agency, you’re in good company. Yet, as robust as it may be, there are advantages to adding an external agency to the mix, too.

Partnering with a full-service agency

Working with a full-service, direct response marketing agency like DMW is the best way to make a connection with prospects and maintain that connection with your members. Here are 5 advantages of partnering with a full-service agency like DMW.

1. Measurable results from industry experts.
DMW has over 40 years of experience in direct response (DR) health insurance marketing. Unlike a general advertising agency, we produce a return on investment (ROI) on every project, every media buy, and in every medium — from optimizing your direct response TV (DRTV) buy to timing your direct mail for delivery at just the right time.

Philadelphia’s own John Wanamaker famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half!” If he had worked with a direct response agency worth half its salt, he would’ve known the value of his advertising spend.

2. Specialized services — under one roof.
We have experience marketing Medicare Advantage plans as “all-in-one” plans. It’s a popular term because it succinctly communicates the plan is convenient, easy to use, and a solution for all your health care needs. It’s not surprising that recent research shows benefits are key when choosing a Medicare plan. It is interesting to see that the same research shows convenience is the most important quality Medicare recipients consider when evaluating a plan’s benefits.

So, we’re taking a play from our own playbook: DMW is an all-in-one agency. The marketing services we offer allow you to leverage breadth and depth across disciplines: strategy and research, creative, digital and social, marketing analytics, media, as well as print production and fulfillment. On top of that, we take care of everything under one roof — providing convenience.

3. More from your creative.
You won’t get off-the-shelf creative. We thoughtfully craft everything we develop to differentiate your brand and articulate your offerings, so they align with your target audience’s needs, wants, and expectations. Our proven success in marketing multi-regional health plans demonstrates that we know how to customize creative for each unique market without sacrificing efficiency.

4. Decades of experience.
We know the health insurance industry, and we’re invested in our clients. From our hands-on leadership team to our passionate Creative Directors and Account Managers, we’re united by a common goal: to help clients enroll and retain more members so they can enrich the community.

DMW is staffed by industry experts in the healthcare, health insurance, Medicare, and advertising industries, guaranteeing our clients always have access to the most knowledgeable resources. As an agency, we’ve been committed to providing DR marketing solutions for the health insurance industry for more than 40 years. We have a remarkable average employee tenure of 10 years. In fact, 25% of our employees have been with the agency for more than 15 years!

5. True partnership.
We value every client relationship. We view ourselves as a seamless extension of your marketing team, fully integrated in your business.

As the title of this blog post suggests, if your marketing team includes an in-house agency and/or other external agencies like a brand agency, we’ll gladly take a seat at the table, too. In fact, we see a notable improvement in marketing performance when we work with clients and their strategic partners from the outset. Collaborative relationships, especially during busy times, can only help us in achieving your lead goals, enrollment goals, retention goals, and more over the long term.

Let’s work together to make your next marketing effort a success

DMW is staffed by professionals who truly understand your business: what keeps you up at night, what stands in your way, and what sets you apart. We’re really good at what we do, and it shows.

Whether you want to launch a new product or service, expand your reach, grow market share, or strengthen customer retention, look to DMW. We’d love to partner with you and inspire your health insurance marketing.