Take a moment and think about the most memorable experience that you’ve had with a brand. Now take another moment to think about why that experience was so memorable for you. Creating a memorable brand experience is what sets great brands apart from average, or even good, brands. There are so many marketing and business leaders that end up over-complicating things that should be simple. In the end, due to putting too much stress on themselves to create a memorable brand experience is often what leads them to creating an experience that is easily forgettable.
Don’t try to force the experience. When you start to overcomplicate things in your mind then it becomes a lot easier to start forcing marketing strategies or implementing campaigns that you aren’t positive are going to work. Take a step back and look at your resources and what you have to work with, think about your past experiences with other brands. If you have to, do research on how other brands are creating memorable experiences for their customers and clients, but make sure you don’t end up copy and pasting another agency’s marketing strategy. Start local and think of things that you enjoy or even some hobbies that you might have that can make your advertising a bit more personal. Think about your community and what they have to offer; think outside of the box and don’t be afraid to get creative.
One of the biggest marketing strategies that most agencies tend to overlook is targeting mobile-only internet users. There are plenty of people with laptops in their home, right? You likely have a marketing strategy for desktop only users, but do you have one for those that only utilize their phones? Currently 95% of Americans own a cellular phone, and 77% of those users own a smartphone. By not taking the time to create a marketing strategy that caters to smartphone users then you’re missing a huge part of your demographic, as a lot of the time people on their phones tend to either play games or window shop online for various things that are needed. Think about how you’re staying relevant with them as well as the rest of your target audience. To tie right into that, make sure that your website and your brand appeal to a more modern era. There are so many people that use the internet to buy now-a-days, so it’s important to make sure that your website stays up to date as the industry, and everything around it, start to change.
Think about the bigger agencies that are using various merchandise to market their brand. T-shirts, bobbleheads, office supplies and the list goes on. What is your agency doing to get their brand on something that will spread the word? While word of mouth is a great way to generate referrals, you have to start thinking about the things that people look at or use on a day to day basis. Pens and pencils are some of the basic things to start with, but try to think bigger. It’s easy to slap your brand on something and call it a day, but also make sure that whatever you are putting your brand on is marketable and doesn’t appear tacky. There are agencies out there that are spending thousands of dollars to market their brands, bigger agencies such as Geico and Progressive. Think about some of the things that their brand is on and then compare it to your own marketing strategies. While you may not have the same budget as them, you do have the opportunity to cater to your community. Local agencies tend to know their community a lot better than most, you know what resources are available to you and that’s what’s going to help you the most in the long run.
Of course there are other types of marketing strategies that you should be taking into consideration, and one of those strategies is business cards. When people think business cards they think of just a piece of paper that they’re going to stuff in their wallet and never look at again. A lot of agencies never go the extra mile to create an eye catching design that will make someone want to think twice before tossing your card to the side. Think about the last time you were handed a business card and try to remember whether or not there were any designs or words that caught your attention right away. Those are the types of things that your agency needs to think about before hand. Make sure you’re using your logo as your basis, that should be what catches the eye of a target audience more than anything. If they don’t notice your logo, then they likely didn’t notice much else on the card. Make sure you’re not using too many colors and try to keep the text on it simple. Don’t cram too many elements onto the card, otherwise people aren’t going to know where to begin and will likely end up throwing your business card away. Another trick to utilize is to make sure you give more than one card to a person, that way if they were taken by you and the design they can refer it to someone else. It’s more likely to happen than you think, especially if you’re providing these cards at functions where there are plenty of prospects to choose from.
The last thing to recommend is making sure that your logo speaks about your agency, and that it isn’t just a logo. When people think of Geico and Progressive or other large agencies, they think of the commercials that they see with the little Gecko or with Flo. What makes your logo memorable? What is bringing your agency to life? Think of ways to market your agency with all the appeal of larger agencies even if you don’t have the budget, there are still some creative ways you can do so. Does your agency have their own mascot? Do they have a brand guide that conveys what their all about? It doesn’t always have to be a commercial or a website, there are plenty of little things that you can do in order to make sure that your brand is one that sticks with your customers. Think about what your company brings to the table that other agencies don’t, think about the design of your logo and whether or not it seems a little bit outdated or too tacky.
Those are some of the basics that you should take into consideration the next time you’re looking for a way to market your agency. We know that it can be hard to compete with larger agencies, but that’s no excuse. If you have the time to complain, then you have the time to be implementing new campaigns, new strategies, new sales processes. Take a step back and don’t let your logo just be a logo, and don’t let your brand just be a brand. Bring it to life and make people remember who you are! Again, take a look at what other agencies are doing and try to pull ideas from them or talk with your team about their ideas. There are so many things out in the world to inspire you, to motivate you, but the only person that can implement them is you. If you have any questions then we would love to hear from you! Hopefully you find your memorable marketing strategy soon.
About Kelly Donahue-Piro
As a dynamic public speaker and consultant I have spent the last decade focusing on how small business owners can capitalize on opportunities within their reach. With over 5 years experience in the local insurance agent sector I can bring training, marketing and technology to your agency that helps you effective and efficiently grow your agency. My specialties include consulting and coaching on upselling, account rounding, agency culture change, sales scripting, executive level coaching and benchmarking as well as agency retention skills. Contact me today to learn more about how I can help your agency grow!
As a dynamic public speaker and consultant I have spent the last decade focusing on how small business owners can capitalize on opportunities within their reach. With over 5 years experience in the local insurance agent sector I can bring training, marketing and technology to your agency that helps you effective and efficiently grow your agency. My specialties include consulting and coaching on upselling, account rounding, agency culture change, sales scripting, executive level coaching and benchmarking as well as agency retention skills.
Contact me today to learn more about how I can help your agency grow!
