Make no mistake about it, marketing/advertising is a sophisticated science that poses as an art.
Like other sciences it has evolved considerably over the past century.
The difference with advertising is as it develops it seems to take on qualities more akin to art.
This is done on purpose as the goal of this science is to convince people, subtly, that a certain product is different in some way than another.
Choosing to rely solely on marketing and advertising campaigns to make a decision about a product is likely to leave you no more informed than if you opened a phone book and randomly picked a company that makes the product you wish to purchase.
Based on the nature of the product, trying to compare house insurance is actually made more difficult by advertising.
House insurance is a product that is very close to what may be called a perfect substitute.
In marketing terminology this means that house insurance offered by one company may very well be the same as house insurance offered by another.
Note the key word is "close" house insurance is not an absolute perfect substitute.
You do need to shop around.
The point is that since the differences between two types of house insurance may be slight and advertisers may exaggerate their significance.
However differences not mentioned or minimized may indeed be significant to you: offices within the same company may follow up with claims in different time frames; definitions of items such as "act of god" may differ among companies, online services can be more sophisticated with one company but not necessarily more user friendly.
So yes, you do need to compare house insurance because differences do exist.
How can one compare house insurance without relying on company advertisements? Ask your friends, family and neighbors who already have a policy.
Make sure though you ask if they have ever had to file a claim.
After all insurance is just another bill to be paid until a claim has to be filed.
This is where one company will differentiate itself from another.
Ask those with experience filing a claim, how quickly the company followed up.
Were they friendly? Did they make the claim process easy? These are important questions to ask because when you file a claim on your homeowners insurance something is probably wrong with your house.
Aggravation could be heightened when you are dislocated from your home.
Ask also if online services are available and if so, how easy they are to use.
Ask about grace periods for payments and penalties for late payments.
You may want to ask if they get discounts and for what items.
Finally in your quest to compare house insurance ask about price.
Keep in mind that price will vary based on factors such as deductibles, house size.
In the process you may very well find people very happy with a company you never heard of before and they pay significantly less than you thought.