MARKETING OF LIFE ASSURANCE POLICIES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Nwite  (2015)  classified  insurance  companies  as  contract  made  by  a  company  or society  to  provide  a  guarantee  of  compensation  for  loss,  damage,  illness,  death, etc. In return for regular payment.  Further,  he  postulated  that  insurance  is  a legal  contract  between  two  or  more  parties  who  are  legally  banned  to  fulfill  the promise contained  in  the contract  deed. Dickson  (2016)  &  Oke  (2017)  opined  that  insurance  is  design  to  protect  the financial  well-being  of  an  individual,  companies  or  other  entity  in  the  case  of unexpected  loss.  Fatula  (2017)  explains  that  the  practice  of  insurance  company  in  Nigeria  has played  a  significant  role  in  the  development  of  the  economy  and  managing  the risk  of  household  and  firm  by  issuance  of  insurance  policy,  mobilizing  and transferring  fund  to  the  deficit  unit  for  financing  real  estate investment. Olalekan  & Akinlo  (2015)  posit  that  insurance  is  the  corner  stone  of  modern  day financial  services. Oke.  (2016)  &  Shittu  (2017)  stipulated  that  insurance  companies  affect economic  growth  by  providing  protection  for  the  insured  through  the  channel  of marginal  productivity  of  capital,  technological  innovation  and  saving  rate.  The  insurance  Act  2003  grouped  insurance  into  two  broad  classes  of  life  and  non-life  or  general insurance  business.   The  life  arm  of  insurance  business  include  all insurance  that  pays  benefits  on  a  person‘s  death,  living  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  incapacity,  and  injury  or incurring  a  disease  (Arodiogbu,  2015).  In  today‘s  harsh  and  risk-prone  habitation  environment,  every  life  is vulnerable  to  any  of  the  above  named  peril  either  in  the  short  run  or  in  the  long  run,  and  this  has  given  life insurance  business  a  rising  visibility.  This  is  because  of  the  role  it  has  to  play  in  mitigating  the  adverse  effect  of the  event  on  the  people  and  the  economy.  According to Naeche  (2016).
Life insurance is an agreement or contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurance company, in which the insurance company agrees to pay a designated amount in exchange for small regular payments by the policy holder. Etuk (2017).
According to Clinton (2009), the development of marketing is influenced by the development of society and its economy. Social and economic conditions largely influence the direction in which marketing evolves. Hence, marketing must continuously make the adaptation necessary for its healthy survival.  According to Kotler (2005), marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of programs designed to create, build and maintain beneficial exchanges with target buyers for the purpose of achieving organizational objectives such as high profits, sales growth, and market share.  
Marketing is concerned with need identification and need satisfaction having in mind the four(4) Ps of  marketing which are product, price, promotion and place. Newly introduced 3Ps which are highly useful, relevant and adaptable to the service industry (the sector under discussion). These additional 3Ps are People, process and physical evidence. (Joseph 2007).
Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception. pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual (customer) and organizational objectives. Marketing is advertising to advertising agencies, events to event marketers, knocking on doors to salespeople, direct mail to direct mailers. In other words, to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In reality, marketing is a way of thinking about business, rather than a bundle of techniques. It's much more than just selling stuff and collecting money. It's the connection between people and products, customers and companies.  
According to Pratap (2011), Insurance marketing is basically just the marketing of insurance products. Insurance marketing emphasizes the importance of the customer preferences and priorities. Major objectives of life insurance marketing are increasing customer awareness, successful distribution of insurance products, developing corporate image, improving customer service, improving customer base and its spread, and etc. Factors impeding the application of insurance marketing are insufficient experience of insurers while expanding insurance business, non-existence of long-term development strategies of insurance companies and the fact that insurers orient mostly to short term needs; and while trying to apply more actively insurance marketing means it is necessary to change the whole organizational management structure of an insurance company, the channels of insurance products sales, technologies of communication with clients, and
etc.
1.2     Statement of the Research problem
Insurance companies need sound systems of marketing strategies implementation so as to achieve a competitive edge over the competitors and also to achieve results within the environment in which they operate. According to Kiruthi, (2015) “all organizations must grapple with the challenges of the ever changing environment in which they operate. Most insurance companies have adopted marketing strategies especially in the last decade. However, it has been found that, in most of these organizations this activity still remains the reserve of senior managers in headquarters and only pass the strategy to line managers to implement. They face a lot of challenges in implementing the strategies owing to poor awarenes of life insurance products, lack of understanding the strategy, lack of senior management support, lack of focus and unanticipated market changes. This topic is needed so as to proffer solution to the above mentioned problems
1.3 Research Questions
1.    To what extent do the types of product offers have effect on the life assurance policy?
2.    To what extent does the price of life assurance policy affect the insurance market?
3.    What are the promotional strategies of life insurance policies in Nigeria?
4.    What is the impact of place on life insurance products?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The general objective of the study is to market life assurance policies in
Nigeria. However to achieve this, the specific objectives are;
1.    To find out the types of product offered by the life assurance policy,
2.    To find out the public perception of the price and payment process of life insurance policy in Nigeria.  
3.    To determine the promotional strategies of life insurance policy in Nigeria.
4.    To investigate the impact of place on life insurance product.
1.5   Statement of hypothesis
HO: The types of product offered do not have positive effect on the life assurance policy
HO: The price of the life assurance policy does not exerts on the insurance market
HO: Those strategic methods in marketing of life assurance policies does not exerts effects for the business in promoting the industry
 HO: The right place to sell does not have positive effect on the insurance           product
 1.6   Scope of study
This study focus on the lead way assurance company limited, Lagos, Nigeria. The study covers the period from 2000 to 2017.  It also focused on the four P’s of marketing which includes;  
•    Product: A product can either be a tangible or an intangible service that fulfills a need or want of customers. Whether you sell custom pallets and wood products or provide luxury accommodations, its is imperative that one has an understanding of what his or her product is and what makes it unique before it can be successfully marketed.
•    Price: Once an understanding of what product offering is all about, decisions prior to pricing can be made. Price determinations will impact profit margins, supply, demand and marketing strategy.  
•    Promotion: Promotion include elements like Advertisement, public relations, social media, marketing , email marketing, search engine marketing and so on. Each touch point must be supported by a well-positioned brand to truly maximize return on investment.
•    Place: It is very crucial to evaluate what the ideal locations are to convert potential clients into actual client, so as to place the right product at the right price, at the right place and at the right time.
1.7   Significance of the Study
This study focused on the Marketing of Insurance policies in Nigeria; A case study: Lead way Assurance Company limited, Lagos, Nigeria. This study will help to determine the level of influence of marketing in Life insurance companies. It will also reveal the level of involvement of Marketing in life insurance companies.
1.8   Limitations of the Study  
The limitation in the preparation of this study is time constraint and lack of sufficient material that put the use of ICT to influence marketing in Life insurance companies. The study covers just insurance companies alone, it doesn’t really cover the importance of marketing in other profit making organizations.