2. MARKETING GOALS
THE BIG PICTURE
Set Aflac apart from other insurance
providers, by establishing Aflac as the
consumer’s insurance advocate
Authority on Health Care Reform
Expose Gaps in Major Medical
Charitable Outreach & Positive Social Impact
7. REAL COST INITIATIVE
43% of individuals are not very or not at all prepared to pay for
out-of-pocket expenses related to an unexpected illness or
accident.
25% are only prepared to pay less than $500 for themselves or
family members for out-of-pocket expenses.
Americans need a professional and credible source to provide explanations about health care reform and guide decisions regarding health insurance. Aflac is both the guide and consultant these consumers need. To establish itself as an advocate to consumers Aflac will strive to provide helpful information and individually relevant answers to any and all health insurance questions and concerns. A new digital strategy, focused on corporate-consumer engagement and national charitable outreach will connect Aflac with policyholders and the public in general.
The overall goal of Aflac’s new digital media campaign is to set Aflac apart from other insurance providers, by establishing Aflac as the consumer’s insurance advocate.Aflac will soon launch a new Internet marketing and social media campaign. This initiative will have three primary goals:1.) Establish Aflac as a consumer advocate and authority on health care reform2.) Increase awareness of medical and living expenses not covered by major medical or worker’s compensation3.) Increase Aflac’s philanthropic efforts and overall positive social impact
The affordable care act and Obama care have Americans more than a little confused about what changes health care reform will bring for them. Consequently, health care reform and related searches are among the most frequently searched topics made by Americans daily. Aflac will utilize the consumer’s need for reliable health care information to generate high search results for all topics concerning health care reform.
Establishing Aflac as an authority on health care reform and as an advocate to the consumer is the first goal of the new campaign. To do this Aflac will implement an aggressive digital marketing campaign centered on search optimized blog content regarding health care reform. The affordable care act and Obama care have Americans more than a little confused about what changes health care reform will bring for them. Consequently, health care reform and related searches are among the most frequently searched topics made by Americans daily. Aflac will utilize the consumer’s need for reliable health care information to generate high search results for all topics concerning health care reform. The new digital marketing campaign will utilize search engine optimization and googleadwords to increase search traffic to Aflac's corporate website and it's affiliated blog. The content of Aflac's corporate blog will include straightforward answers to common questions about health care reform, general helpful information relevant to changes in health insurance, and sources and links of additional information for health insurance concerns. Aflac will not promote any of it’s products in the health reform content of the corporate blog. However, if the content is relevant to gaps in major medical, the blog may reference supplemental insurance policies Aflac provides to compensate for gaps in coverage. Aside from casual mention Aflac will not promote it’s products in content created for health reform searches. The goal of the corporate blog is to be a helpful tool for policyholders and the public at large, not to generate individual policy sales. Aside from the corporate blog Aflac will create a twitter account specifically intended to engage with consumers regarding health care reform. The twitter handle of the account is @ReformFlacRep and will be operated by a team of corporate representatives across the nation. Any questions about health care reform or changes in federal insurance regulations can be tweeted to this account and a representative will respond within 30 minutes. The twitter account will be monitored and serviced 24/7, and questions can be tweeted by anyone. Additionally Aflac experts will be available on the corporate website to chat live on and answer questions on an individual basis Monday-Friday 9-5 local time. Links to chat with experts, as well as additional resources provided by Aflac will be cross referenced in the corporate blog and promoted on the other corporate Twitter account and Facebook page.
Out-of-Pocket Costs 101Simple Definitions of Medical and Non-medical CostsOut-of-pocket medical costs are a reality – regardless of changes related to health care reform – and can add up quickly. Some can be very much unexpected, so it is important to consider where they arise:Deductible: The amount owed for covered health care services before your health insurance or plan begins to pay. For example, if a plan deductible is $1,000, the plan won’t pay anything until you pay $1,000 toward covered health care services subject to the deductible. The deductible may not apply to all services.*Coinsurance: The percentage you pay toward each covered health care service. The coinsurance is paid on top of any deductible. For example, let’s say your company offers an 80/20 health insurance plan and the allowed amount for an office visit is $100. Once you’ve met your deductible, your coinsurance payment of 20 percent would be $20. The health insurance or plan pays the rest of the allowed amount.*Copay: A fixed amount – for example, $15 – you pay for a covered health care service, usually when you receive the service. The amount may vary by the type of covered health care service.*Non-medical costs: When faced with a serious accident or illness, there are various non-medical costs associated with a hospital stay or recovery time, including child care, transportation and reduced take-home pay due to missing work. These expenses can add up quickly, contributing to the overall out-of-pocket cost of being sick or injured.Limits or exclusions: Pay attention to services not included in your plan, as well as any limitations or exclusions. Due to health care reform, plans will no longer have lifetime or dollar limits, but there may be limits related to other items, such as the number of refills for certain drugs, the number of visits to certain specialists or the number of days covered for certain benefits. These limits or exclusions could mean unexpected out-of-pocket costs.Out-of-pocket limit: Out-of-pocket costs are different than out-of-pocket limits. Out-of-pocket limits are established by the IRS and for 2014 they are $6,350 for individual coverage and $12,700 for family coverage. This means you will pay coinsurance – in a variety of ways as determined by your health plan – up to your out-of-pocket limit. These limits apply only to covered expenses, so if you or a family member incurs non-covered expenses, they will not count toward your out-of-pocket limit. This adds to your potential unexpected costs.*Note: Definitions and examples were adapted from healthcare.gov/glossary.Share
The final goal of the new campaign is to increase Aflac’s charitable efforts and philanthropic social impact. To do this Aflac will seek to connect policyholders through an internal network of Aflac members. Within this internal network members will have a platform to share their stories of Aflac benefits paid and the impact it had for their family. Based on activity in this internal platform a monthly newsletter of uplifting policyholder stories and charitable causes will be distributed to individual policyholders by email and in print to businesses. Stories from the newsletter will be crossed promoted in twitter and released to other news media outlets to expand reach to individuals outside the immediate Aflac community. Within the internal Aflac network policyholders will be able to share personal stories as already mentioned, as well as: connect with others going through similar medical situations, join support groups for patients, caregivers, and survivors, read the stories of and donate to local families in need locate qualified/experienced caregivers willing to volunteer time chat with caregivers, survivors and experts in real time in a question format similar to a redditAMABy connecting policyholders and sharing their stories Aflac hopes this forum will become a network of charitable outreach for families in need and positive social impact. In addition to sharing the stories of those in need Aflac plans to use this platform to raise funds for other charitable organizations. For example Aflac representatives from every state compete internally to raise money for childhood cancer research. Upon launching this new digital campaign Aflac will extend the contest to policyholders in each state. The rankings will be updated for all to monitor on the internal Aflac network, and top donation states will receive promotional incentives and rewards.
The success of the upcoming digital media campaign will be measured by increases in:1.) Direct engagement between Aflac corporate representatives and individual policyholders/consumers2.) Positive consumer sentiment regarding Aflac’s social media presence and online corporate reputation3.) Aflac’s charitable donations and philanthropic awareness efforts
The actual budget for this initiative is pending quotes by potential designers for the actual medical expense application. In addition to creating the new application, the internal Aflac network platform will require large capital investment, and new employees will need to be recruited to execute all of the various new communication efforts and act as online representatives to engage with the public. Therefore, the forecasted budget for the new digital meidacampagin has been tentatively set for 40% of the company's annual advertising and promotional budget.