[Editor’s Note: We ask PR and marketing leaders to tell us about people who’ve influenced them, the best advice they’ve received and trends. This week we speak with Emil Janssens, head of marketing & communications, Allianz Global.]
I’ve been lucky to have managers early in my career who were all about positivity, optimism, professionalism and pragmatism; they were people who stressed making things happen. They shaped and strengthened my professional business demeanor. Their advice was consistent: You have to build relationships first. You have to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and empathize with their position. Client focus is fundamental to marketing, especially in markets where there are a lot of suppliers to choose from.
Although I was happy with my job and life in the Netherlands, I still wanted to kick-start my international career. I backpacked in Australia and Asia after college and did an internship in the U.K. Still I had an urge to go abroad again. When a colleague approached me to work for an international part of Allianz, I sought advice from my network. After their advice to follow my gut, I never looked back and had amazing years in London and now in New York. Sometimes even though you don’t know what’s next you have to jump in with both feet and get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
We live in an era of email, text messages and social media where we’re all required to do several things at once. Multitasking is taking its toll, though, and technology is making us less efficient. This is why we transformed most of our marketing and communication into compact, concise formats. Our stakeholders don’t have the time to digest all the information we used to put out there. It was information overload.
We are transforming our marketing communication channels and analyzing how digitalization can help us in a whole spectrum of activities: market research (data), content marketing (digital documents, infographics), digital marketing (social media, email blasts, apps, websites), internal and external communications and media relations. We reassess this regularly because marketing communications tools and channels change so fast. It’s key to stay on top of new platforms and channels and revise your strategy where needed.
Content marketing, such as publications, infographics and video for platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter, continues to grow in importance.Those platforms are keys to staying relevant with our target group. Relationship building in B2B remains fundamental to increasing sales, but various opportunities require differing approaches. Email still is the best way to reach our audience; event marketing, sponsorships and personal interaction remain excellent ways to create a unique experience for our brand. As we are in a people business, through events and sponsorships we offer a platform to our sales and underwriting teams to engage with clients and brokers. This has evolved into an excellent way to build relationships, display thought leadership, exchange knowledge and create an experience. Through these activities we are building loyalty and generating new business.
I think we are just at the beginning of a digital revolution in marketing and communications.With an unlimited budget I definitely would invest in this space to make sure we’re on top of the latest developments. Allianz is an established and well-known brand in Europe, particularly in Germany. Here in the U.S. we have just started this amazing journey to build the brand. It’s a very exciting challenge. It’s an entirely new marketing and communications game. In the end, it’s clients first: Where are they (online), what do they want and expect? The exciting challenge of my role is ensuring all the pieces fit together seamlessly (marketing, internal and external) and the firm speaks with one voice. This can be challenging since we are targeting different audiences, but it’s essential to ensure there is consistency in our messaging.
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