As the market continues to soften, a clear shift is emerging in how successful specialty intermediaries approach marketing.
Over the past six years of the Hard Market, many organizations operated in an environment where demand exceeded supply. Submissions were plentiful, pricing was firm, and marketing often took a back seat to underwriting discipline.
That dynamic has changed.
Based on recent conversations with Program Managers, Insurers, and Insurtechs at Target Markets, and what we’re seeing across Vertibrands’ client base, a new pattern is forming:
The intermediaries gaining traction right now are not necessarily the most competitive on price. They are the most visible, the most relevant, and the most helpful in managing client expectations.
At the center of that support is content.
Trend #1: Risk Management Content for Retention
Historically, content, especially written content, was viewed as a top-of-funnel activity designed to attract new brokers or improve SEO. That’s still happening but no longer how leading specialty MGAs are using it.
We’re seeing a growing percentage, potentially a majority of top-performing intermediaries, shift their content strategy toward retention and broker education.
Instead of promotional messaging, they are producing content including more video content that helps brokers do their job more effectively:
- Risk management guidance tied to specific industries
- Seasonal exposure alerts (storm, wildfire, freeze-related losses)
- Coverage insights that help brokers explain value beyond price
This content is not read or viewed once and forgotten. It is saved, forwarded, and reused in broker-to-insured conversations. In many cases, it becomes part of the broker’s own communication strategy. As a result, the intermediary stays relevant even when no active submission is in play.
Trend #2: Content Is Distributed Systematically
Another noticeable shift is how content is being used after it’s created. Less sophisticated marketing efforts still treat content as a one-time output, such as a blog post that is published and quickly replaced by the next item.
More advanced MGAs are taking a different approach. They are building content distribution systems, where a single idea is repurposed across multiple channels over time.
In practice, that means:
- A single article or video may generate multiple LinkedIn posts
- Those posts may feed into a monthly or quarterly newsletter
- The same content is referenced in broker outreach and sales conversations
- Key points are reused in presentations or webinars
This approach significantly increases the return on each piece of content. In some cases, insurance providers are seeing 3-5x more engagement simply by extending the life of what they’ve already created.
So the effectiveness of your content may be less about your volume of new content, and more about your repetition and reach with existing, meaningful content.
Trend #3: AI Is Not Replacing Expertise
AI adoption in insurance marketing has increased rapidly over the past 18 months. Nearly every MGA we speak with is experimenting with AI in some capacity, including research, drafting, and idea generation. However, the most successful implementations share a common trait:
AI is accelerating content development but NOT replacing human insight
It is estimated that only 60% of generative A.I. is accurate. While it is always learning and improving, that is still a large potential for misinformation. In our efforts, we have found that fully AI-generated content lacks:
- Relevance to any specific underwriting appetite
- Real-world claims or broker experience
- A consistent and unique perspective from a specialist
As a result, intermediaries relying solely on generative AI often produce content that is generally correct, but not unique from any of its competitors and not thought-provoking.
The intermediaries seeing the strongest results using A.I. are combining:
- AI-driven efficiency (for speed and scale)
- Human editing and subject matter expertise (for accuracy and credibility)
This hybrid approach is producing higher-quality content at a lower cost often reducing production time by 60-70% while being highly relevant.
Trend #4: Marketing Automation Has Become THE Standard
Consistent content drives results. One of the most noticeable gaps among intermediaries is not the content creation, but the content delivery.
Many intermediaries still rely on manual distribution, resulting in sporadic communication and missed opportunities to stay in front of brokers. That is changing.
We have seen a steady increase over the years in the use of marketing automation platforms from basic email platforms like MailChimp to more sophisticated systems like HighLevel, ActiveCampaign and HubSpot. Our IMX platform is agnostic and can integrated with any of these CRMs to:
- Deliver content on a scheduled basis
- Segment audiences by class, geography, or engagement
- Re-engage brokers tied to past submissions or quotes
- Maintain visibility between renewal cycles
- Manage ExDate renewal campaigns
- Retain your data so you can effectively change
In the best-run intermediaries, these systems are running continuously in the background so brokers receive relevant communication without the ongoing manual effort.
This is called “Always-On” communication.
Trend #5: Content Is Being Amplified
The most important development in content marketing is how content is being extended beyond “owned” channels which typically include:
- Existing broker relationships
- Email lists
- Organic social audiences
That model limits growth to the size of your current network.
More successful intermediaries are combining content with digital amplification including programmatic advertising and search retargeting. This is especially important given the rise of “zero-click search” behavior that we discussed last month, where a significant portion of searches no longer visit websites directly.
Instead of relying on a single click, intermediaries are using Search Retargeting tools like IMX (Insurance Media Exchange) to:
- Identify brokers actively searching for relevant coverage
- Deliver content and messaging after the search occurs
- Maintain visibility throughout the decision-making process
In these cases, your content becomes your discovery and builds trust to a new broker or insured.
What This Means for Intermediaries
Taken together, these trends show a shift where content is moving from a supporting role to a central role in growth strategy. The intermediaries who distinguish themselves today are:
- Communicating consistently, not occasionally
- Creating content that brokers can actually use
- Building systems for distribution and follow-up
- Combining organic and paid channels to extend reach
Intermediaries who are not adjusting, are becoming less visible at an early time in the Soft Market when visibility is most important.
Food for Thought
As the market continues to soften, the competitive advantage will continue to shift. It is no longer defined solely by pricing or capacity, but by:
- Recognition
- Relevance
- Relationship strength before the submission arrives
Content sits at the center of all three.
Let’s Compare Notes
If you’d like to discuss how these trends apply to your organization, or how Vertibrands’ Content Distribution Hub, IMX platform, and AI-supported workflows can help you build a more consistent and scalable approach, we’d welcome the conversation.
