Case Study: How Merely Having a Blog Can Make a Difference

I don’t need to remind you that I’m big fan of blogs and social media. Obviously, I eat, sleep and breathe the stuff. So, my bias is salient. Now, those of you who’ve been reading my work for a while (or just know me) remember that I don’t just blog about insurance and reinsurance. I play in a lot of spaces, and one of my favorites is cigars – probably because I love my sticks and smoke a few every day. The advantage for the industry is that I can bring an outside perspective and make it relevant to your needs.


So, you’re going to see how a cigar guy did what you should be doing … and how it worked for him. It’s the sort of case study (from outside the industry) that you should not only read but share. Don’t treat this subject lightly, because it’s the sort of intelligence that could make a big difference for you in the marketplace.
Just having a blog can get you more (and better) media coverage, and Eddie Ortega has probably figured this out.


I got to know Eddie back in February, when I was on a cigar trip to Esteli, Nicaragua. He’s the man behind the 601 line of cigars (manufactured by Pepin Garcia), which are really worth a try if you cut and light every now and then. Of course, we both play in a number of worlds and have no shortage of professional and personal contacts, so social media was a natural way to stay in touch. Via one of Eddie’s tweets, I became aware of his blog. I don’t read it as much as I should (just as every reinsurance executive doesn’t read the trades, blogs and reports as much as he or she should). But, the fact that it exists solves a major problem for me.

Sometimes, there isn’t as much out in the major news outlets for me to blog. It happens – slow news days and such. On a day like this, I’m ready to go deep to look for material. This happened over the weekend, and I saw one of Eddie’s status updates on Facebook. He had an interesting blog post, and I knew I could use it. Just by having a blog and writing something fairly interesting, he was able to get coverage on Luxist, the largest and most famous luxury goods blog on the web (and to which I contribute regularly).

The lesson here for the reinsurance industry is pretty simple: just taking the time to have a blog can score you a press pickup when you least expect it.