Want to stand out as an independent insurance agency? Learn how to build a recognizable brand, connect with your community, and leverage social media to set yourself apart from the competition.
They say that fifty percent of consumers are more likely to buy from recognizable brands. However, small independent insurance agencies often struggle to differentiate themselves from their competition. Building a recognizable brand is difficult but not impossible. Taking steps to identify your brand and share a consistent message across platforms can make all the difference.
Identify Your Value Proposition
Start by identifying your business’s value proposition. What makes your insurance agency different from other agencies in your area? Take time to reflect on your unique skills and experiences. Survey customers to identify what your business does right. Find out what your customers believe your insurance agency brings to the table – and how those qualities are different from other insurance agencies.
Once you understand your own strengths, build your brand upon these strengths.
- Create a mission statement, logo, and slogan or tagline. Craft a mission statement that identifies your business strengths. Create a logo to represent your business’s mission and value proposition. Finally, create a tagline that conveys your business’s core values.
- Communicate your new logo and mission statement with staff. Communicate with your employees to ensure everyone at your agency is on the same page. Train employees—new and existing—to exemplify your business’s values and reinforce your business mission statement.
Launch Your Brand
Once you’ve designed a brand, it’s time to tell your community about it. Host an official brand launch to create excitement and publicity for your business.
- Create a new, professionally designed website. Work with a web design professional to create a website that reinforces your brand. Your website’s colors and design should reflect your brand. Display your logo prominently on your new website, and display your mission statement or tagline in an easy-to-see location. Your website puts a face and personality on your business, so it’s important to do it right.
- Feature your brand on social media. Update your social media pages to feature your brand prominently on each platform. Though you may change your message from one platform to another, use a voice and tone that is consistent with your brand.
- Create letterhead, envelopes, business cards, and other advertisements that are also consistent with your brand. Update all advertising, from digital advertisements to paper advertisements (like business cards), to reflect your new brand. Stop using any and all letterhead that features an old logo or no logo at all.
Leverage Social Media
Social media helps independent insurance agencies reach large audiences. If your insurance agency only operates on one or two social media platforms, you’re missing an opportunity to reach your audience. While many insurance agencies already use LinkedIn to share relevant content, other social media platforms should be considered.
- Facebook: Use Facebook to feature client testimonials and interact with members of your community.
- X (Twitter): Use X to offer quick industry updates and news.
- Instagram: Use Instagram to present a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Use this platform to humanize your business and give it personality and character.
No matter what platform or platforms you operate on, use a consistent voice on each platform, keeping that voice consistent with your brand identity.
Use each platform to share valuable information and help customers make smart decisions when shopping for insurance. Allow followers to comment on your social media pages and engage with them when the opportunity arises. If your followers have asked questions or shared their experiences with your business, thank them and acknowledge that you have read their posts.
Create a Consistent Message
Stay consistent with your message no matter what you’re posting or where. Whether you’re writing content for a landing page, offering commentary on social media, sending an email to a customer, or talking with a customer on the phone, each interaction should align with your brand.
This consistency will help build trust among members of your community, as they come to expect the same types of interactions with your business no matter when or how they interact with it. Be prepared to discuss your agency’s value proposition consistently and regularly to help reinforce your brand and spread the word about your business.
Build Credibility through Community Involvement
Community involvement helps make your brand more credible and recognizable. Your business can likely do many things to become involved in your community.
- Sponsor events. From festivals to concerts, there’s always something that needs sponsorship. Seek out these opportunities and offer your support.
- Host your own community events. Create opportunities by hosting events in your own community. You may host a local holiday party or a fundraiser for a cause you believe in. Take the initiative to show your agency cares.
- Participate in community events. Businesses are often invited to participate in community events like parades. You can create a float in the local parade or set up a table at the annual fair. These events build brand recognition and give your business an opportunity to develop relationships in your community.
- Advertise in local papers. Take out advertisements in your local paper to reach local audiences.
- Donate to local causes. Give back to your community. Identify causes that impact your community, then make donations to charities that support those causes.
- Volunteer and encourage staff to do likewise. There may be many opportunities to volunteer in your community. Take the time to do this yourself, and give your staff work to do the same.
Offer Value, Stand Out From the Competition
Cultivate a brand that offers value to customers. Leverage social media, build credibility through community involvement, and offer a value proposition that matters to customers.