How deep are your agency's roots? Whether your company is most active in a specific geographic area or you're building an online business, community sponsorship is a way of marketing insurance that builds connections. Your independent insurance agency can use sponsorship to generate and convert leads.
What Does Community Sponsorship Look Like?
Community sponsorship wears many hats, and this means that there are many places where your business can enter the sponsorship market. When you're thinking about community sponsorship, you can explore opportunities such as:
Contributing to community fairs, festivals, and parades
Connecting with local college events
Adding your name to a local sports team
Focusing on a particular group in your community that needs help, such as a bus service for seniors or a hot lunch program for children.
Assisting a website or other online cause or forum
Creating a long-lasting grant or scholarship program
You can donate one time cash, prizes, services, or information, or you can make a longer-lasting commitment to a local charity or team. If you have office space, you even donate that extra room as a meeting space for local organizations. Even if you aren't large and you aren't able to make a huge donation, your sponsorship will show that you're community-minded and that you care enough to make a difference in your community.
Develop a Reputation For Connection
Good marketing is about product awareness. Great marketing builds awareness of your business as a whole, generating trust between your company and your community. When you sponsor an event, contribute to community education, or help an individual, you build your business's connections. You become a trusted source of insurance because people see how you're connected to your community, and your name is the one they think of when they consider adding to their insurance or investment portfolio.
Use Sponsorships to Define Your Brand Image
You can also use community sponsorship opportunities as a way to build the feel of your insurance brand. If you're trying to be friendly and family-oriented, sponsor a school or other family-friendly event. If you want to show that you're on the cutting edge, sponsor an unusual sporting event or fundraiser. Your sponsorships make a statement about who you are as a company, so choose them wisely.
Grow Within a Niche
When you're a smaller insurance agency, you don't necessarily have the advertising and sponsorship reach of a large national chain. That's alright: you can choose your niche. You could decide to specialize in auto insurance for those who love vintage cars. Develop your expertise in the area and seek ways to sponsor an online forum on the topic, or a local vintage car show. Whatever niche you choose, research to ensure that it's broad enough for your organization and that it's a good fit for your brand before you focus in that area.
Collect and Convert Leads
While sponsorship helps you build your image in the community as you help the community, you can also work to generate leads for your business. Collect emails, develop an informative newsletter or a landing page for those drawn to your business through sponsorship, and develop deals and calls to action that are specific to the niche that you're targeting through your sponsorship. This allows you to convert leads as you grow your sponsorship opportunities.
As you build your bricks and mortar and online business, the American Agents Alliance is here to help. Learn more about our membership benefits and build your skills at marketing insurance at our insurance convention.
