Well, in addition to my fluffy marketing side, for the past six months I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of bridal shops popping up in Edinburgh.
These aren’t just your ordinary high street offerings. These are bespoke designer shops. Recession or no recession it seems that brides are still willing to splash out when it comes to the big day.
It just proves that, despite the gloomy economic outlook, life doesn’t stand still. People still get married, have children and buy houses.
Life goes on, and if people really want to, they will find the money to fund these life changing events. Why then, is it so difficult to get people to part with their money when it comes to buying protection insurance?
We all know the main reason of course. People don’t see protection as an aspirational product. It isn’t something tangible like a new car and appears to offer no immediate benefit.
It’s unlikely that a client will rush out and boast to their friends that they are the proud owners of life and critical illness cover or break the news to family that they have decided to take the plunge and say ‘I do’ to an income protection policy.
But that purchase could be the most important one of their lives and we need to find a way of letting people know this.
Turning to social media and the internet is the answer. It offers a huge opportunity to reach out to a wide audience and a platform on which to grow the protection market and bring in more business for brokers.
I’m tempted to stand outside the bridal shops and wax lyrical to brides-to-be about the importance of having a financial safety net in place, as they embark on their married life. I won’t of course.
But brokers can help to get the message out there in a less ‘in your face’ way that the need for protection insurance is as strong as ever.
Roger Edwards is proposition director at Bright Grey & Scottish Provident
