Lesson 3: Time to Build the Brand

Welcome back to the Agency Building Agent Elevate course. We’ve covered a lot about building an agency in our previous lessons, and now it’s time to discuss marketing your agency and building your new agency’s brand.

Knowing where you get started is hard, so just get started. Understanding your market and competitors is essential. First, understand your target markets. You want to group or segment your potential clients based on specific characteristics to help you focus your marketing efforts. For example, where do they live? What is their age? What is their income? What are their behaviors, and what are their goals and challenges? You should have a solid understanding of your ideal client and where to find them in your community.

Next, let’s look at your competitors. Do they offer the same insurance products as you? Who are the clients of your competitors? Conduct some market research by visiting their social media profiles, DC who’s interacting with the agency, visit their website and understand their brand and value prop. This is important to ensure you have the insight to build your new agency’s brand.

Branding goes far beyond the logo and colors. Branding requires you to identify your company’s values, your mission, your value proposition, and of course, yes, logos and colors. If you’re unsure about your company’s values, mission and value prop, it’s time to get out your pen and paper. Again, back to writing down and outlining your vision of your agency. Think about answering some of these questions to help you get started. What are my personal core values, and do I want them to be a part of my business? You most likely will. Your personal branch should align with your agency brand because you’re a direct representation of your agency. You believe in integrity, honesty, communication, and respect. Maybe your core values are focused on education, community, and accountability. Some other core values you may consider for your agency include transparency, trust, passion, humility, quality and service.

Make sure the values you choose represent your agency and how your clients or prospects will see your brand. What is your mission? You’ve identified your business goals, but how will you achieve them? That’s your mission. Your purpose, values, and goals. These three components create a mission unique to your brand and will resonate with prospects and clients alike. Consider what you’re offering and who you’re selling to and why you do it. Your core values. Make sure it’s clear, concise, and free of fluff. Here are some examples of some no fluff mission statements from popular brands you know TED, “Spread Ideas.” IKEA, “To create a better everyday life for the many people” and American Express, “Become essential to our customers by providing differentiated products and services to help them achieve their aspirations.” Okay, that last one was a little wordy, but you get the idea.

Finally, what’s your value prop? The value created is not the same as the value perceived by the customer. The marketplace is rife with hidden value. The core job of your marketing efforts is to discover and communicate your value. You want to refer to your target audience to create a solid value proposition. What are their pains? What are their gains, and how can your products and services relieve those pains and help increase their gains?

Another good way to help create your value proposition is to say, if I’m prospect A, why should I buy from you rather than any of your competitors? Your unique value proposition should be a clear statement explaining the benefits of working with you and your insurance agency and how you can help solve customer problems and why it differs from other agencies, and why customers should purchase policies from you.

Now the fun part, if you don’t already have a logo for your agency, you’ll want to work with an agency or graphic designer who can help design a logo that aligns with your company’s brand and mission. Most graphic designers or marketing agencies can use color psychology and connect it with your values and mission and help design a logo that effectively represents your brand. Once you have a logo, it’s time to put it everywhere. First, build that website, conquer the world. Think of a website as your digital brick and mortar location, and the first thing most people do is Google you and your agency. A solid place for people to learn about your agency, like your mission and value prop is now a requirement for any brand. Your internet presence shouldn’t be an afterthought. Customers will expect professionalism from your agency’s website. You’ll also want to make sure your website is mobile friendly.

Setting up your social media profiles is next. Make sure you optimize all of your places on the web. Optimization sounds scary to people outside of the marketing field. Still optimization simply means you ensure all of your contact information is the same across your website and any social media platforms you use. You want to ensure all of your messaging is the same too. This is incredibly important to your brand.

You’ve almost completed this agent Elevate course on agency building. Before we move on to the final lesson, test your knowledge with this short quiz.