One trip to a grocery store will tell you that there are a lot of choices to be made each day. If you want “o” shaped, fruit-flavored cereal for breakfast, it’s no longer a matter of running to the store and grabbing a box. It’s now a matter of going to the store, finding all the fruity-O possibilities and comparing ingredients, vitamins, calories, quality guarantees, etc. Often, tired consumers without the time or inclination to compare will just reach for whatever product they are most familiar with, thanks to that company’s tireless branding and marketing efforts.
In the insurance industry, many agents in a territory compete over the same clients. They may have insurance offerings that vary wildly from each other, but often the only agent who even gets a phone call to meet with a client is the one whose name (or brand) is recognized by the prospect. There are a few very easy ways for you to start edging out competition by promoting brand YOU in a memorable way.
Create a website and promote it locally. A website gives your potential clients an easy, electronic format for meeting you. Think of your website as an introduction. A professionally designed website with relevant and educational content that shows up in local online search results and is promoted at local events and club gatherings will help to create a place for your information in the minds of your potential clients.
Send a regular email newsletter. Of course, visiting your website once certainly brings about brand YOU awareness, but it doesn’t provide any reminders about the importance of insurance and it doesn’t strengthen your brand recognition over time. By offering a newsletter sign up from on your website, you give your prospect the opportunity to be reminded of you every month in their inbox. With a newsletter, they receive a reminder of your presence as well as a strengthening of their opinion of you as a caring and trusted authority.
Create articles that can be published as advertisements in local papers and on local websites. You can purchase pre-written insurance content and personalize before submitting them to the editors of local online and print publications. This gives potential clients who read only print materials access to your brand and those who read both print and web materials extra doses of your brand.
Used together, you have a three-pronged approach to branding that hits all the major communication angles: web, email and print.
