The Secret to Creating Marketing Materials for OEP That Sell

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The Open Enrollment Period, also known as OEP, is the window when someone can enroll in a health insurance plan or switch to a different one. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare Advantage, and Medigap all have specific open enrollment periods. The periods may vary from state to state. 

OEP is a crucial window for health insurance and Medicare brokers and agents, because it’s when the pool of potential applicants and switchers is the most concentrated.  

Due to the short timeframe for selling and the federal government’s marketing limitations, competition among health brokers and agents is fierce. To have a successful selling season, you must create clear, persuasive, and most of all, compliant marketing materials.  

We’ll provide some clarity on how to understand your audience and craft messages that connect and convert. Learn how to choose the right channels and refine your materials using data and insights. We’ll wrap things up with how to turn your marketing materials strategy into action.

Shortcuts:

Market the Right Message to the Right Audience

Crafting Clear, Compliant Messaging

Designing Visually Engaging Materials

Choosing the Right Channels and Formats

Turning OEP Marketing Strategy into Action

Market the Right Message to the Right Audience

Have you created a detailed customer persona that describes your ideal OEP customer yet? You need one that goes far beyond address, phone number, and email address. 

If not, ask yourself the following questions to paint a clear picture of who is most likely to buy the insurance product you’re selling:

  • How old are they?
  • Are they married?
  • Do they have children?
  • What is their income bracket?
  • What industry do they work in? 
  • Do they work for an employer or are they self-employed?
  • Are they active on social media?
  • What is their education level?
  • Which insurance solutions may solve their pain points?

By grouping people based on similar characteristics, you can form market segments. The profiles will help you personalize your marketing communications.  

What Will Your Target Audience Respond To?

Age and generational differences often influence whether your message will resonate with readers. Choose your tone and words accordingly. Seniors have seen hundreds of thousands of ads in their lifetimes. You’re unlikely to win them over with flashy, sensational ads or wording. In fact, those types of ads are likely to have the opposite effect of what you’re striving for. 

Simple, straightforward messaging will help inspire trust with the senior set. They’ll also be looking for value, a.k.a. getting the most benefit for the price. Your younger segments focus more on price and convenience. Win them over with price comparisons and digital accessibility. 

Address Common Pain Points

Health insurance is complicated, even for people who know a lot about it. Each plan has its own set of rules, regulations, limits, and constraints. 

The best thing you can do is acknowledge the confusion right from the start. Express empathy and reassure your audience that they don’t have to face decision-making alone. 

You’re here to provide information and resources that help them make sense of it all, paving the way for an easy application with the best health plan.

Crafting Clear, Compliant Messaging

Clear, compliant messaging serves a dual purpose; it inspires trust and helps avoid regulatory pitfalls. 

Your communications with customers must balance clarity with gentle persuasion. At the same time, your messages must adhere to CMS guidelines and industry standards. We’ve broken down the essential elements of what goes into clear, compliant messaging in OEP marketing communications. 

Simplicity and Clarity

Insurance policy wording is full of legal jargon, which is unfamiliar to most people. 

Use plain language to demystify choices. Avoid insurance jargon and confusing terms. Explain benefits and features clearly. Make sure customers know what steps to take, and they’re aware of deadlines. 

Emotional Connection and Trust

Given the high cost of health insurance and the severity of health conditions, health insurance is a highly emotional topic for many people. Consumers are worried about keeping up with rising premiums. High deductibles and out-of-pocket costs add to their emotional burden.

Storytelling helps bring that all-important human connection to your insurance sales messaging. Case studies and testimonials help your customers go from feeling lost and hopeless to confident in their choices. 

Compliance and Transparency

Depending on the infraction, penalties for failing to comply with CMS regulatory guidelines for health insurance marketing range from fines to imprisonment. 

The Federal Trade Commission provides these tips and reminders for marketing health insurance:

  • Be honest and truthful.
  • Stay up to date on the telemarketing rules for OEP. 
  • Don’t mislead consumers to believe you’re someone you’re not.

Be sure to include disclaimers, plan identifiers, and required language to ensure clarity and transparency.

Building Brand Recognition

While each health plan has its own branding, customers will recognize your expertise when you build your own brand recognition. 

You can create your own visual identity by using the same tone, logo, colors, and core message across all marketing channels. Consistency in branding will give you a trustworthy, recognizable presence on and offline. 

Where you present your marketing communications is just as important as how you present them. There are several ways to increase your exposure online and in your community. 

Post on social media outlets, get involved in your community, and establish partnerships to maintain your brand’s visibility.

Designing Visually Engaging Materials {#designing} 

The internet makes it easy for consumers to work with brokers and agents nationwide. How can you design visually engaging materials that set your brand apart? What can you offer consumers that they can’t get from your competitors? 

Visual Hierarchy and Readability

What is the key thing you want your readers to know? Follow these tips:

  • Create a strong design that places the most critical information center stage. 
  • Use less important information to fill out and enhance the page. 
  • Make your designs scannable by using headers and bullets (lists like this are easier to read). Select legible fonts. 
  • Use white spaces to help declutter your design.

Color, Imagery, and Branding

Use color palettes that align with your brand across all your marketing materials. The consistency will give your brand an instant identity. 

Imagery is especially important in your marketing materials, as you’re selling intangible products. The right images will help tell the story about the importance of healthcare insurance. Select images that are inclusive, empathetic, and authentic to appeal to all demographics. 

Accessibility and Usability

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 70 million adults in the United States live with some sort of disability. Create ADA-compliant marketing materials to reach the broadest possible audience. Use larger font sizes and contrasting colors. Also, use alt text for digital communications. 

Screen-Sharing

Most insurance agents today leverage virtual appointments. They save time, travel costs, and other expenses. Furthermore, many customers also prefer virtual appointments. 

A phone conversation won’t be as effective as a virtual appointment, where you can share a slide presentation with a client virtually. With a screen-sharing toolscreen-sharing tool, you can share the exact slides you want to share at the appropriate times. 

Design slides with hierarchy, readability, color branding, imagery, and accessibility, as noted in the sections above, for optimal engagement. 

Choosing the Right Channels and Formats

A great design will increase your engagement, but you still need to make the effort to get your messaging in front of consumers. You can accomplish that by posting on multiple digital channels, personalizing messages for your target audiences, and finding the balance between educating customers and strategizing for sales.

Multi-Channel Approach

By posting your messages on and offline, you can meet customers exactly where they are, exactly at the time they’re looking for health insurance. 

Try out the following communication channels for an effective OEP marketing campaign:

  • Print brochures
  • Mailers
  • Email strings
  • Social media platforms
  • Landing pages

The right combination of marketing materials and sales outreach sets you up for broader visibility and reinforces your message. 

Personalization and Direct Response Tools

Cold outreach efforts may bring some results, but you’ll have better results if you personalize your communications. Personalized communications let your customers know that you know enough about them to meaningfully provide help. Your CRM can be a goldmine of information for creating personalized messages. Be sure to personalize your follow-ups, too. 

Today, digital technology helps bring responses back to you quickly. Create QR codes and personalized URLs to keep fast responses coming in. Interactive tools make it simple for customers to move to the next step in the sales process. 

Educational vs. Promotional Balance

With so many healthcare insurance choices and different rules for each, customers can quickly become overwhelmed and frustrated. Temper their anxiety by highlighting the value and expertise you bring to the table. 

Build credibility through education. Once you garner some interest, move into promotional calls to action. Offer helpful guides, provide answers to frequently asked questions, and pull up some personalized plan comparisons. 

By selecting the right channels, sending personalized messages, and educating customers, you will inspire informed decision-making while driving engagement.

Contact Information

You’ll want to make sure customers can contact you quickly while their interest is high. 

Place your contact information at the bottom of your marketing material. Include your name, company name, address, phone number, and social media handles to give them multiple opportunities to connect with you.

Place your contact information in the same place on all materials for consistency and to reinforce your brand. 

Description of Your Business

Customers will want to know a little about you and your business before deciding to work together. The best way to inform them is to write a description about who you are, what credentials you have, and a little about your business. 

Focus on sales and marketing solutions and what sets you apart, yet keep it concise. Use simple, customer-friendly language. 

Customer Testimonials and Reviews

The internet makes it relatively easy for customers to research you and your business’s reputation. Yet, why make them do the work of finding reviews? 

Place reviews and testimonials from your clients on your marketing materials to build social proof that you’re as good as you claim to be. Customer reviews and comments will reassure customers of your expertise and professionalism. 

Compelling Call-to-Action

Every marketing piece should have a clear purpose that leads to a specific call to action, whether it’s to learn more, direct them to a landing page, or encourage them to contact you. 

Once you’ve captured a customer’s interest, keep the moment going with a clear call to action. Use strong verbs like “Call”, “Visit”, or “Enroll Now”. Make sure the colors make the call-to-action button stand out. 

Turning OEP Marketing Strategies into Action

A stellar OEP marketing strategy starts with understanding your target audience and marketing to engage them. Craft clear, concise, and compliant messaging that speaks to who you are and how you can provide solutions. 

Design materials that prioritize key information with supporting details. Leverage color, imagery, and branding in a visually appealing, meaningful way. Utilize the right formats and leverage multi-channel marketing strategies to reach the widest audience possible. 

Start planning your marketing strategy early so you can get off the ground running when OEP begins. Finally, put some thought into crafting a visible, compelling call to action. 

You can effectively put all these tips and strategies to work in your slide presentation for in-salesperson and virtual appointments. With CrankWheel, your customers can access your presentation with no downloads or delays. You can use your brand colors for consistent styling. 

Sign up today for a free trial of CrankWheel’s screen-sharing software and make it part of your OEP sales strategy.