Your insurance agency’s story may be rich with history and stability, but the last time you updated your brand shouldn’t be when Back to the Future was in the theaters. Brands need to be refreshed and modernized every 5 years to keep modern and present with the times. As your insurance agency grows, changes and develops, your brand needs to be refreshed with it. Similar to how you freshen up paint in your home, your brand needs tweaking too. In this blog post we are going to review situations that require brand adjustment as well as the ideal time to consider either a complete rebrand or a brand refresh.
Agency Milestones That Warrant a Rebrand
With some hard work, a little luck and team training you hope to grow the business. This growth can come in a multitude of formats. When an agency expands it’s a great time to refresh the brand and help tell your story to the customers as well as potential employees and prospects.
Name Changes
If your agency is going through a change in name, it’s a great opportunity to rebrand. With a new name you can create a new look and feel that really connects with your clientele. A new name always requires a new logo, so use the opportunity to freshen up your look. Working with an insurance branding firm means that you will have a partner to help you honor your past while building a bright, new future.
Agency Acquisition
As you acquire agencies, it can be tricky to merge names, communities and philosophies together. Creating and/or updating your brand guide to include new locations, products and potentially demographics, will help you tell your story to your new team members and clients.
Agency Book of Business Sales
From time to time you may realize that you can’t be everything to everyone, and you need to streamline and close some locations or sell books that aren’t a great fit for you. When you do this you have to counterbalance any rumor mill that may start (especially in a small town!). Working on building your new focused brand will help you tell the story that the sale of these books and potential downsizing of the team is all for the best benefit of the clients and agency.
New Divisions in the Agency
With growth comes new opportunity. Maybe you have attracted a health/life insurance agent and they are establishing a division of your agency. Or maybe you have stumbled upon a niche or new division you want to promote. Many agencies are working to brand themselves in the High Net Worth personal lines space. This needs a different look, feel and story than the rest of your agency. Consider starting with a complement to your agency’s brand guide for this division.
Agency Anniversary
If your agency is celebrating a milestone, it’s a huge opportunity to launch the new logo, tag line and colors. Being 50 or 75 is something to celebrate, but we don’t want to look old and dated, do we? Freshen up your story, look and feel to help celebrate the big agency birthday.
But I Don’t Have a Brand Guide Now?
Then today is the best day to start! Building your insurance agency’s brand is telling the customer why they should do business with you. In a cluttered messaging environment it’s critical you clearly display your messaging both visually and with the right words. The advent of social media, video content and website traffic means your agency needs to appeal to people before they even speak with a member of your team.
A brand guide helps your insurance agency build that first impression to help you clearly convey why you’re the best choice for your target audiences.
Kelly Donahue-Piro is the Co-Founder of Agency Appeal and President of Agency Performance Partners.