You hear the word “Brand” a lot when discussing marketing, and you know you have a Brand, but what is it? Of course your name and logo are a part of your insurance Brand; however, there’s so much more to it.
Your insurance Brand is your identity: everything that comes to people’s minds when they hear your name. This includes your story, your products and services, your promises, your tagline and your customers’ experiences. Your Brand is a representation of your entire company, and it demonstrates to customers what they can expect from you and why you’re different from that company across town.
Building a strong Brand is invaluable. Your Brand can either encourage or discourage people from becoming loyal customers. Furthermore, your Brand image is reflected in all of your insurance marketing campaigns alongside your company goals. With that being said, the importance of having a healthy, distinctive Brand is clear.
Without further ado, here are five tips to help you grow and differentiate your insurance Brand.
Your unique selling propositions (USPs) are the foundations of your insurance Brand. In order to distinguish your insurance Brand from your competition, you need to know what makes you different than every other competing company. Is it your agents’ training and certifications? The technology you use? An incentive you offer? Perhaps your company provides an entirely different customers-experience.
One way to find out what distinguishes your Brand is to ask. Gain insights into your insurance Brand by interviewing customers, agents, employees and anyone else that interacts with your Brand. Those people can tell you what they think makes your company different, what they like and don’t like and the reasons why they would recommend your Brand to someone else. To further investigate your unique selling propositions and how to put them into action, ONEFIRE conducts a personalized Brand Discovery process with your insurance company before we begin building your marketing strategy.
Once you understand your insurance company’s unique selling propositions, the next step is to identify, update or formulate a Brand message. Your Brand message is your identity: your logo, color scheme, design guidelines, tagline and mission statement. What is the message you’re trying to convey to current and potential customers?
This is where your insurance company’s core values come in. These values should be the base of all your business initiatives and marketing campaigns, as well as serve as the compass to direct your Brand’s overall success.
Strongly tied to your Brand is your culture. To successfully attain your company’s goals, it’s critical for your Brand and company culture to be closely aligned. Since word of mouth advertising and earned media are 40% more likely than owned media to motivate customers to take action, your agents, employees and current customers are some of the greatest marketing tools you have. Thus, nurturing a positive company culture can take your insurance Brand a long way.
There needs to be a strong understanding of your Brand throughout your insurance company. Hence, it’s important to establish a culture that supports your Brand values and attracts customers. Doing this will allow everyone at your company to positively share your Brand in all of their interactions.
Remember that the way your agents, employees and customers behave and treat others reflects upon your insurance Brand - so encourage them to be authentic and kind.
The next step is to turn all this information into a story. Even though it may not seem like it, marketing is often a form of storytelling. You can start by creating content about your insurance Brand’s history, tying in your unique selling propositions. But don’t only tell your story in the traditional form.
Storytelling can be heard through all of your branded content and marketing efforts. Share your story in the form of blog posts, infographics, social media posts, pamphlets, emails, website content and personal interactions with customers. Tell customers how your insurance Brand is different through your content and reputation.
For your insurance Brand growth initiatives to be effective, your message must be consistent across all platforms. That includes, but isn’t limited to: your website content, social media accounts, print advertisements, emails, downloadable content and landing pages. Moreover, in order to increase ROI and customers volume, cross-platform consistency is necessary to master since inbound marketing’s success is dependent on content working together.
But these pieces of branding advice are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building and maintaining a strong insurance Brand. Here at Hult Marketing, we have the experience and tools you need to help grow your Brand. Take the next step and initiate your insurance Brand growth by requesting a free consultation here.