So I was driving down a pretty well trafficked road that I use pretty regularly.  The difference is that yesterday I noticed two large billboards for Geico.  Now this is a company whose rates, service, website, etc. are supposedly excellent.

Now this is not to discount advertising or continuing to market to a new audience it is just to say that if you are really good you should also be worth sharing.  Your millions of customers, if they really liked you, should be willing to share you with their tens of millions of friends.  Granted this billboard goes hand in hand with the letter I also received yesterday from Geico, actually slightly interesting that in case I spoke Spanish they put the letter in English on one side and Spanish on the other.  Although I appreciate the efficient use of paper, a little bit of available research by your direct mail division could avid this silliness.  This letter was accompanied by one from State Farm that was just as silly, seriously if all you can talk about is discounts you really need to re-think your marketing.

Sort of obvious that advertising car insurance will not disappear, at least not in the near future.  It also will likely still treat the american public like a bunch of idiots who are only concerned with discounts and average savings.   Feel free to read an earlier post on why saving $500 is a bad thing.   Instead of advertising why don’t you focus on making your customers advocates for your company?  Make sure that every effort is made to provide consistent rates.  Stop charging more money year to year when the customer is already profitable.  Be proactive in your efforts to keep up with your customers rather than just waiting on them to call.  What if instead of boring, useless direct mail pieces you hired some people to call your customers and make them feel like you want them to stay…on second thought don’t take my advice.  It is much more fun to take business from you.