A rebrand is an opportunity to reenvision your business.
If you’ve been considering rebranding your insurance agency, is this a good time or a bad time to rebrand? Rebranding your agency comes with many considerations at the best of times. Should you rebrand during COVID-19, and if so, what direction should you take?
What Does Rebranding Involve?
Rebranding can involve a spectrum of actions that put a new face on your business. Kabbage states that “your brand is your company culture. It is the identifying mark of who you are and what type of experience you promise to offer your consumers.”
What can you change if you’re changing that customer experience? A rebrand can involve:
- A new name
- A new logo
- A new website
However, rebranding can also go deeper, reaching to the heart of your business ethics. It can also involve:
- New ways of communicating with your audience
- New content
- New community connections
As you consider rebranding, think about which of these avenues is most appropriate for your insurance agency right now.
Consider Your Capacity
Before embarking on any rebranding project, make sure that your employees have the capacity to complete this undertaking. If you expect them to consult with you on the new web design or you’d like them to help create new content for your blog, do they have time right now?
Examine your external resources as well. For example, your local web and graphic designers may actually have more time on their hands at the moment. Look at your resources and your motivation before embarking on a rebrand. As Design Hill states, it is necessary “to chalk out your goals and purposes before initiating anything or else the idea to rebrand will only hamper your business.”
Staying Stable
For your insurance clients who are looking at changing their insurance and may need to consider activities such as downsizing a home or changing their vehicle insurance during COVID-19, consistency is key.
If you change too much about your insurance agency right now, you stand to lose some of the brand recognition that your clients have come to know and trust. Doing a large website renovation could mean that your clients have a hard time finding the information that they need to make the necessary changes to their insurance, and this could make them frustrated. Avoid making large changes in the way that people connect with your business right now if those changes could cause confusion or frustration.
Rebranding can also be subtle; for instance, you can change the way you communicate with clients.
Rework Your Communications Strategy
Rebranding isn’t only about a new website, logo, or name. It’s also about the ways in which you communicate with your clients. Right now, new and existing clients need you to communicate in a clear, calm manner. Let them know about opportunities and changes at your agency, and emphasize that you are there so that they can connect for insurance support and information. Responsiveness can become more difficult during times when your staffing may be stretched. Communicate with your clients so that they know what kind of response times they can expect when they come to you. Work on a consistent, calm communication strategy to help your clients know that you’re there for them and that you can answer their questions.
Become an Authority
One way that you can develop your brand and create stronger client connections is to develop relevant educational content for your social media or your website. For instance, if you notice that people are asking a lot of questions about auto insurance, give them content that outlines their options. By giving clear, simple information when people need it, you can brand yourself as an authority in the insurance field.
Brand Yourself as a Compassionate Business
Compassion is another key concept during this pandemic. If your business was active in the community before COVID-19, now is a time to extend your activities and to use your role to highlight actions that people can take to assist others in the community.
You can also develop new relationships with community organizations that are in need at this time. Make sure that your contribution is useful and not done solely for the branding aspects of that contribution; be authentically compassionate and put your community first.
Are you looking for resources to help your insurance agency now and in the future? Talk with us at the American Agents Alliance. With our many membership benefits, we can help your insurance agency shift and grow.
