Podcast

Heather Pierce

#392: How to Turn Data Into Drama With Your Business Storytelling

Benjamin Franklin once said that “in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”

I think I might add to that death, taxes AND insurance. Insurance to most of us is a necessary evil and one most of us don’t want to have to figure out, haggle over, pay for, and bitch about deductibles when our premiums already seem over the top.

So how do you make insurance appealing to customers when what most insurance salesmen sell are the numbers? Our guest today has some thoughts on how to turn NUMBers into visceral experiences that your audience can’t ignore.

Heather Pierce leads the communications and content strategy team for Leavitt Group, a top 20 national insurance brokerage firm. Her marketing success in the highly logic-driven, paint-by-numbers insurance world is due to how she and her colleagues personalize numbers by telling authentic human-interest stories.

“I’ve seen the universe drastically change in how we market, communicate, and sell a product or idea to individuals and businesses, particularly in insurance, a necessary evil so to speak. As a writer at heart and by trade really, I use storytelling (and sometimes verbose language) to capture someone’s attention and keep them there long enough to say “yeah that’s me, I get that, I need that.”

Heather began her professional journey in nonprofits and the arts just over two decades ago. She quickly found her writing talents with a knack for getting marketing and what it means to leave an impression.

When asked what she does for a living, Heather’s answer is usually “I am really good at helping companies and individuals make money.” She has been engaged in some form of marketing, communications, content development, PR, social media and writing for nearly 20 years and almost entirely in the insurance industry.

Discussed in this episode:

How to make numerals visceral through your storytelling
Where to find the personal stories that humanize your data
Why emotional real-world anecdotes are far more persuasive than logic-driven charts & graphs