Among our business insurance products are several insurance types specifically designed for those in graphic design, advertising, and other media services professions.
As a media services professional, you probably have a fairly low risk of being accused of causing property damage or physical injury by a third party. In the event that such a claim is made against your business, though, you could face a costly litigation process that might include paying attorney’s fees, court costs, and judgments or settlements.
General Liability Insurance helps you minimize the cost such a lawsuit would have: it covers all costs related to your legal defense, up to your policy’s limits.
In addition, your General Liability policy will protect you from claims of personal injury or property damage that third parties encounter while on your premises or while you are responsible for their possessions.
In fact, your low risk profile may qualify you for a special kind of business insurance known as a Business Owner’s Policy, or BOP. The BOP combines General Liability and Property Insurance coverage in one discounted policy. Your agent can help you determine whether your business qualifies for a BOP.
Media projects that violate federal guidelines, cause unwanted controversy, or otherwise have a negative impact on one of your clients can lead to expensive lawsuits. Even if a client decides to sue you in what might be considered a frivolous case, your legal costs can quickly spiral out of control. For this reason, Errors & Omissions Insurance (aka Professional Liability Insurance) is an essential risk-management tool for graphic designers, advertisers, and other media services professionals.
In the event that one of your clients claims that your work caused him or her financial losses, Errors and Omissions Insurance provides the coverage you need to protect yourself in court. In addition, some E&O policies can provide funding to compensate for the money you lost while spending time in court instead of serving your other clients. Should a court rule that you are, in fact, liable for your client’s losses, your E&O Insurance will cover those losses too, up to your policy’s limits.
Most often, Professional Liability Insurance policies come in increments of $1 million, with deductibles beginning at $1,000. In order to collect benefits from your E&O policy, two criteria must be in place: first, you must have had coverage in place at the time when the challenged project or incident occurred, and second, you must have coverage in place when the suit is brought. For this reason, it’s often a good idea for advertisers, graphic designers, and other media services professionals to maintain E&O coverage even after a project is complete.
If one of your employees is hurt or made ill during the course of completing professional duties, Workers’ Compensation Insurance prevents you from having to cover their medical costs out of your bank account. In addition, a Workers’ Comp policy can provide wage or salary compensation to employees for any period in which they are unable to work because of the illness or injury.
You even have the option of buying a Workers’ Compensation policy that covers you as the business owner.
Some policies even allow you to protect any independent contractors you employ, which is often a boon for graphic designers and other media professionals. To learn more about what kind of Workers’ Compensation Insurance your state requires you to carry, talk with one of our dedicated insurance agents today.
The world of advertising professionals, graphic designers, and others in media services is one of fairly low physical risk. Because of this, your business may qualify for a special kind of insurance known as a Business Owner’s Policy or BOP. The BOP includes General Liability Insurance and Property Insurance and comes at a discount.
Umbrella Insurance offers graphic designers, advertising professionals, and other media services professionals and easy and low-cost way to increase coverage on a number of insurance policies, which many professionals need to do in order to meet the contract requirements of a specific client or project.
For instance, if a prospective client requires you to carry $750,000 in General Liability Insurance but your policy offers only $500,000, you can easily purchase an Umbrella policy that offers the additional $250,000.
Even when you are not required to have higher limits for any particular project, you may want to assess your potential risk exposures to determine whether Umbrella Insurance would be a simple way to minimize your risk for all projects you complete.
You’re most likely to overlook important details when you’re doing more than you can reasonably handle. Rather than attempting to be a superhero, graphic designers and advertisers can minimize their risk of E&O exposure by hiring temporary contractors or referring work they can’t handle to a trusted associate. In both cases, of course, you should be sure that your liability for client dissatisfaction is eliminated or covered.
A brilliant advertising campaign will likely cause more harm than good if it runs afoul of federal, state, or local advertising regulations. Be sure that you and your clients are on the same page about a project’s goals and how relevant restrictions and regulations apply. This can save time and headaches down the road.
In some cases, media services business owners could face breach of contract or E&O claims if they fail to adhere to an officially agreed-upon timetable for delivering a project. Set yourself up for success by being realistic about your timeline and establishing a communication strategy for if and when you need to adjust it.
