http://avanzacom.net/wp The Financial Services Communications Blog Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:41:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A recent Accenture survey highlighted the importance of educating purchasers of financial services products. According to the global survey, two thirds of customers were dissatisfied with their life insurers. What’s more, nearly half said they’d switch companies if it made financial sense to do so. As if that weren’t bad enough, ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=25 We just finished Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM). This laudable campaign has attempted to raise consumer awareness about how life insurance helps families achieve financial security. After spending more than $100 million over the years to educate the public about life insurance, the LIFE Foundation must be disappointed in the ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=23 Since the concept of "content marketing" seems hot these days, here's a mini case study that illustrates the difference between a content-marketing web approach (educate through content, then sell) and a traditional  approach (sell, then educate, maybe). I zeroed in on what I call life-transition or life-event content. Insurance companies have ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=22 There's been a lot of talk lately about "Content Marketing." So much so that I've been wondering whether CM might become just another fad . . . what blogs were before tweets hit the fan. But I think the CM concept might have wings. That's because CM rests on some timeless ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=21 It's amazing how quickly words become toxic. Given everything that's happened in the economy recently, you better be careful uttering the words "bailout" or "bonus." Another untouchable term is "free lunch seminar." Remember those? Until last year's regulatory offensive, financial advisors touted such seminars as a way for pre-retirees and retirees ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=20 Have you seen Axa Equitable's new MyRetirementShop.com web site? It's a content-driven site designed to provide lifestyle-related information and services to retirees and preretirees. I recently checked it out and was struck by a few things. The breadth of the site is amazing. It ranges from home and family issues, ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=19 When it comes to financial planning, U.S. women may lack confidence, but are serious about building their financial knowledge, especially about planning for—and living in—retirement. That's the bottom line of a new study from Allianz Life. This comes as little surprise, of course. But what's really interesting is that almost half ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=18 Making the case for long-term care insurance has just gotten easier. That's because the government has released new life-expectancy data, along with a new warning that Social Security does not pay for long-term care expenses. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, age-adjusted death rates dropped sharply between 2005 and ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=17 If your job (or one of your many jobs) is to attract your company's distributors, then you've probably noticed something by now: They are independent "cats." By this I mean, much as real cats do, they do things on their own schedule and for their own reasons. How to ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=16 "Is there anything in the world more dependable than the ebb and flow of the tides?" asks a recent John Hancock trade press ad. Yes, the copy answers . . . long-term care insurance from John Hancock. "Since the beginning," the ad continues, "the tides have marked the passage of time, ... http://avanzacom.net/wp/?p=15