You will be able to tell which marketing activities need your firm's approval before they go out.
Daniel is a financial representative. On a Sunday night he writes an Instagram post: a photo of a hospital corridor, with a caption saying a friend's dad has just received a S$60,000 bill (an invented figure), that their new hospital plan would have covered most of it, and that people should DM him to find out how. He thinks the post is helpful, true and likely to get replies, but on Monday morning his manager sees it and asks him to take it down.
The post has three problems: it mentions a product, it implies a claim outcome, and it was never approved. Even if every word was true, his firm's policy said this kind of material must go through approval before it goes out.
Financial advisory firms and insurers control what their representatives publish. Anything you say in public about products or the firm can mislead people, and the firm is answerable for it. Most firms require approval before you publish any material that mentions products, returns or the firm itself.
Approval covers more than most people expect. It includes printed brochures and flyers you design yourself, presentation slides for a talk, and paid ads on social platforms. It also covers social posts, including posts on your personal accounts, if they mention a product, a feature, a price, a return or the firm. Some firms also have rules about using the firm's name or logo at all, and about which platforms you may use for business.
The exact rules belong to each firm, so read your own firm's marketing policy. In Lesson 1.4, "Read the register and your firm's rulebook", you noted your firm's marketing section and its approval lead time. Use that note here: when you plan anything that needs approval, allow for the lead time before it can be published.
Some content gets a closer look because it is especially easy to mislead with. Content in these three categories must go through approval even if every word is true.
Testimonials are the first, and many firms restrict or prohibit them. A client quote such as "Daniel helped me get my claim paid in a week" suggests every claim will go the same way, and a testimonial may also share details the client did not mean to make public.
Projected returns are the second. Any figure about what a product might earn invites the reader to treat it as a promise, so firms and regulators set strict rules on how projections may be shown, if they may be shown at all.
Comparisons with competitors are the third. Most firms will want to see the basis for any comparison, because a claim that your plan is cheaper or better than another insurer's must be accurate, fair and complete, and that standard is very hard to meet in a social post.
Daniel's post contains a version of all three: an implied claim outcome from a friend's story, which works like a testimonial; a dollar figure; and the suggestion that this plan would have done the job, which is a product claim.
Roadshows and booths in malls, offices and community spaces are a common way to meet people, and they have their own rules. Follow your firm's rules at every event. The firm sets out what you may say to members of the public, what materials you may hand out, what you may collect from people and how it is recorded, and how to handle someone who wants advice on the spot.
A lucky draw sign-up form collects personal data, so it must state clearly what the data will be used for. The PDPA points from Lesson 6.1, "DNC, PDPA and the contact list you inherited", apply to data collected at events. Someone who signs up for a lucky draw has not agreed to a sales call unless the form said so.
At the booth, watch the line between general conversation and advice. A passer-by who asks "Should I get this plan?" is asking for a recommendation. You cannot make a proper recommendation without a fact-find, so offer them a proper meeting instead.
When in doubt, educate: post general education and keep product talk for a proper meeting. General education is content that explains how something works without promoting a product. Some examples:
a post on what MediShield Life is designed to cover, with a pointer to the official page a short explanation of the difference between term and whole life insurance, with no plan names a reminder to check CPF nominations after marriage
Posts like these build a reputation for explaining things clearly and give people a reason to get in touch. Because they carry no plan names, figures or product promotion, they can also save you waiting a week for approval on each one.
An explainer can still stray. One that ends with "DM me for our new plan" becomes a product post, meaning a post that mentions or promotes a product, and it then needs approval like any other, so leave the product call to action off. Some firms also require approval for any post that mentions the firm or your role, even an educational one, so check your own policy and submit when it asks you to. Many representatives find it easiest to submit a month of educational posts for approval in one go.
Daniel rewrote his post as an explainer on what a hospital bill can include and how to check what your existing cover pays. It had no figures, no plan name and no story about a friend. He submitted it for approval anyway, because it named his role, and posted it a week later.
The difference between a post that needs approval and one that does not is often a single sentence, and you get faster at spotting it with practice. In the activity below, draft three posts: one purely educational and two that mention a need your products meet. Then mark which ones your firm would want to approve first.
Draft three social posts: one educational, and two that mention a need your products meet. Mark the ones your firm would need to approve.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).