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Over the last six months, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) marketing and advertising services contract – FloodSmart – has gone through some changes. You can see some of them just by visiting the FloodSmart website at www.FloodSmart.gov. As our agents who sell NFIP flood insurance through their private insurance companies know, FloodSmart touches every element of the NFIP’s marketing needs across all mediums – print, broadcast, and the web.
For seven years, FloodSmart has been assisting agents with referrals, information, and marketing activities. Now we are stepping it up a notch with the FloodSmart Communications and Media Plans. The Communications Plan will work toward consumer retention, policy winback, and agent and industry programs. The Media Plan identifies program goals, target audiences, and the strategy for each form of media (radio, television, print, and online). The “new” FloodSmart was launched into action early this summer.
Agent Newsletter and Field Guide
As part of the Communications Plan, new agent outreach programs will include fresh communications vehicles such as a bimonthly newsletter that will contain links to FloodSmart initiatives and tools. The agents’ newsletter in particular will undergo an overhaul to provide newsworthy content with links to everything from new radio spots and media outreach initiatives to tools available on FloodSmart websites (www.Agents.FloodSmart.gov and www.FloodSmart.gov). These and other forms of communication will be sent to insurance agents, Write Your Own (WYO) Companies, the FEMA regions, industry partners, and other stakeholders. In addition, an Agent’s Field Guide is being produced to assist insurance agents in educating consumers about their flood risk and helping them buy flood insurance.
Usability Studies
FloodSmart will conduct a usability study on both websites, which will be updated with new content, statistics, and tools. The Agents.FloodSmart.gov website will be redesigned over the next 18 months. The consumer-oriented FloodSmart.gov website also will be enhanced with the introduction of a Partner section for stakeholders.
The FloodSmart Media Program
With the August launch of two new radio commercials, FloodSmart’s media program became more robust. Working in tandem with the web team, the media strategy team is analyzing all web data to optimize FloodSmart online and digital advertising efforts to increase traffic and click through rates on FloodSmart’s websites.
Introduced by FloodSmart this summer, the new Levee Simulator is available on FloodSmart.gov. Designed to illustrate for the consumer the different ways a levee can fail, the simulator covers every type of levee failure and reminds everyone that simply living near a levee doesn’t guarantee your home’s protection.
Also on FloodSmart.gov, a recently released consumer testimonial video titled The Day the Levee Breached documents the story of the Lusk family, homeowners insured by the NFIP, and how they were able to recover from the devastation of flooding. Coming in September on Agents.FloodSmart.gov, a video testimonial will tout the benefits of selling flood insurance through the eyes of one NFIP insurance agent in the mid-Atlantic region.
Ensuring that FloodSmart does not work in a vacuum, but instead coordinates its communications and outreach strategies, the team is working directly with other offices within FEMA (such as RiskMAP and FEMA External Affairs) and with agencies such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Cross-organizational coordination will seek to send a consistent and powerful message to consumers about flooding, their flood risk, and how they can work to mitigate that risk by purchasing flood insurance through the NFIP.
For more information about FloodSmart, visit www.FloodSmart.gov.
For more information about FEMA and the NFIP, visit http://www.fema.gov/business/nfip/. |
