Listen to agency owner Claudia McClain explain why even in today’s social media world success involves more than just putting up a Facebook Fan Page. Claudia explains how her agency has continued to grow and prosper even in this difficult economic time. Her secret – an agency culture built around strong customer service and a blend of traditional marketing and social networking. While the agency has a blog (two actually), a Facebook Fan Page, a LinkedIn account and is on Twitter, it also touches each customer 12 times a year with traditional print media.

The message Claudia drives home is that social networking is not a Silver Bullet to success. Rather, she sees social networking as providing her with a new set of tools that has enabled her to expand the way she communicates with prospects and customers. Yet, the foundation of her success is rooted in traditional marketing principals and practices, and the understanding that building long-lasting trusted relationships not only takes time, but is hard work.

The podcast was published Monday, July 26, 2010. Run time is 27 minutes 26 seconds.

Pat Alexander, founder of InsuranceEcosystem.com

The Aartrijk team is pleased to welcome — for the first time — guest bloggers from in and around the insurance industry, starting this month.

To kick off this occasional series, we welcome Pat Alexander, founder of industry blog InsuranceEcosystem.com and a Brand Camp 2009 alumna.

About Pat: In 2009, she launched InsuranceEcosystem.com as a resource for the insurance industry and a way to spark more conversation about her areas of expertise in independent agencies, coaching and technology. She describes Insurance Ecosystem as a blog that “provide[s] you with communicators that don’t normally blog but have great views and information to share. Each of these individuals … [has] so much to contribute in their area of expertise.”

1. What has happened in the past year with your firm now in the area of branding? What changes or initiatives have you been working on?

After Aartrijk Brand Camp 2009, I developed a plan to redesign my primary Web site, PatAlexander.com, and give it a fresh look and to develop a blog where individuals of interest to insurance agents could blog regularly or at their whim. Developing this blog included developing a brand for it as well as an audience.

Often watching and listening is a great way to learn how the various social networking tools can work for you. I also follow a number of non-insurance industry social networking “gurus.” One of my favorite is Amber Naslund of Brass Tack Thinking. Amber is director of community for Radian6. Smart young lady providing great thoughts and tools.

4. Now a word from our sponsor. Tell us one thing that you learned at Aartrijk Brand Camp 2009, and how you have implemented it or changed your branding since then.

At Brand Camp 2009, I learned so much about the importance of brand. I have always told agencies that I work with it is important that everyone in the agency delivers the same message about the agency.

I now believe that the brand and message are inseparable. I developed a presentation, specific to insurance agents, on the importance of brand and social media. From this presentation, I have gained a couple of clients, and I am assisting them in developing and implementing their social media plan.

The focus is on providing their clients and prospects with useful and informative information. We develop what they want their brand and message to be — and carry that through the tools that they choose to use.

Pat Alexander’s Web site also has a great resource: a list of industry blogs and other relevant blogs.

Aartrijk’s founder, president and CEO Peter van Aartrijk, recently visited The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, to scope out the location of Aartrijk Brand Camp 2010.

He found a comfortable environment, as well as a large animal that is the hallmark of the site.

Peter invites you to join other insurance brand decision-makers and thought leaders at Aartrijk Brand Camp 2010.

But before we start feeling too superior, let’s admit that the insurance industry is not much better. Industry associations, agents, brokers, vendors and companies all use a plethora of acronyms for their products, services, committees and the organizations themselves. Typically it starts as a convenience when typing an internal document or naming a file, but soon enough we’re using the acronym with customers, prospects and partners.

And those acronyms are not helping your brand.

Why? Because brands are built on emotion, and it’s hard to get warm and fuzzy about a bunch of letters. Which is why the National Association of Realtors—in a bold break from the association pack—doesn’t promote itself as NAR, but as Realtors^®. NAR is an anonymous, meaningless entity; Realtors are people.

And there’s a second, more tactical reason to avoid acronyms: Most of the letter mixes used in web addresses are already taken; www.NAR.org, for example, is the home of the National Association of Rocketry. And, finally, some acronyms can be unintentionally offensive, such as Friends University, which never abbreviates its name.

When Aartrijk worked recently on rebranding the AMS Users Group, we gave great thought to how any full name might be abbreviated by members, partners, employees and media. The Network of Vertafore Users was selected in part because most liked the nickname NetVU, and www.netvu.org was available. As we work with other rebranding clients, we’re patently avoiding introducing new acronyms into the soup.

Take a look at your organization’s own communications. Are you using an unpronounceable acronym when one or two words would better convey your story?  If so, you may be holding back the power of your brand. Think about it.

“On Point, with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan” is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.

Texas agent David Berry has used the marketing lessons he learned from his experiences in the captive agency system to find success as an independent agent. Listen as Berry discusses how he uses traditional marketing practices, combined with the new tools of social media, to grow his business.

Berry understands the importance of investing in technology; but more importantly he understands the need to make sure it’s used wisely. He’s committed to building strong relationships and providing great service as he builds his new business, and credits social media as a powerful tool to help him contain costs and expand his reach. Peter and Rick particularly enjoyed listening to Berry speak passionately about the advantages and value of the Independent Agency System.

The podcast was published Monday, July 12, 2010. Run time is 20 minutes 41 seconds.

Peter and Rick discuss the renewed energy and engagement they are seeing across the industry. For example, at the recent ACORD conference they noticed many new vendors and lots of younger folks in attendance. The exhibit hall was filled with activity and a renewed energy that had not been in evidence for several years.

Clearly, there is a realization that in spite of value of social social networking — face-to-face networking is still a critically important component in a successful business strategy. Perhaps associations, user groups, and others who hold conferences can learn from this. More than education and keynote speakers, it is the networking opportunity that may drive the events of the future.

More than their experience at several recent events, Peter and Rick are seeing a resurgence in confidence and a commitment to the independent agency system by agents, brokers and carriers alike. Yes, part of that is technology based. The growing implementation of Real Time is helping agents do business in a more efficient and effective way and social networking is giving them a whole new set of tools to help them build and strengthen relationships and more effective way to communicate with their community.

The podcast was published Monday, June 21, 2010. Run time is 15 minutes 6 seconds.

Three years ago, when the Real Time/Download Campaign launched, Aartrijk staffers, in our Campaign communication leadership roles, fielded a range of Campaign Web site visitor queries, such as: “How much is this Real Time software you’re selling?” and “Where can I buy your Real Time product?” We’d explain that we weren’t selling anything and that Real Time was actually available in existing agency systems.

Today, we rarely get such questions. Most property and casualty insurance professionals understand that Real Time is a workflow—it’s the ability to click on a button from a client file in an agency management system or comparative rater and get immediate access to carrier info on that client. They recognize Eddie, the Campaign’s mascot, as a the friend of improved workflows and profitability. And they know how to access Real Time in their systems.

More than that, they’re implementing. Vendors report marked growth in Real Time transactions. And our 2010 survey of independent agents and brokers showed that more than two-thirds of respondents use Real Time—up 30% from a year earlier.

What’s changed? As part of the Campaign, industry leaders engaged in activities to boost recognition of Real Time and its benefits. Through strategic implementation of focused advertising (PDF file), media placements, Web site content development, events—online and in-person, and other foundational marketing communication, the Campaign made the case for Real Time. It was a good case, too, for a good product.

At the same time, carriers and vendors built out capabilities, increased availability and refined functionality. Plus, they instituted direct sales and educational activities of their own—often using Campaign materials and initiatives as a hook. Those realizing greatest success capitalized on the complementary nature of branding and sales. This integrated approach delivered better results.

That’s a lesson we all should keep in mind. Branding and marketing communications do well generating awareness and readying buyers. But without sales efforts to build on this, it’s easy to fall short. By the same token, without a marketing and branding strategy, those on the front line face an uphill battle turning prospects into buyers—or in this case, users. Integration is key.

Another lesson has to do with the product that is being branded. Believe it or not, it was 25 years ago that Coca Cola spent millions (probably lots of millions) of dollars to promote its new product. The price being paid on the black market—$30 a case—for the old product proved the public didn’t want to change.

Our industry has experienced similar situations. Who remembers “Paper Free in ’83” and “Elect SECMI in November?” Each represented a visionary approach to improving agency workflows. And each was ahead of its time. In both cases, the underlying product was not ready.

If you promote something the public isn’t ready for or is in some other way flawed, it won’t get implemented. That’s not the case with Real Time. The model is good. It works. Agents and brokers and their business partners are taking it seriously. More and more carriers and vendors are offering increased functionality. And more and more agents and brokers are making Real Time a habit.

“On Point, with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan” is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.

This podcast is an interview with Sharon Emek, President and CEO of WAHVE.

Listen to Sharon as she shares here vision for this new company with Rick and Peter.

“The definition of retirement has changed. Consider two trends:

1) People who are “retired” from the insurance industry in the traditional sense (no longer going to an agency or a carrier to work in a management or professional position) still want to work, but under different working arrangements.

2) Those who are hiring in our industry now consider “retirees” as a prime market to fulfill their demand for a quality workforce for their businesses.

Matching up vintage workers (those people who have left the traditional workforce but want to work from their homes) with hiring managers is what this innovative new company is all about. The acronym “WAHVE” reflects the focus in placing “Work-At-Home Vintage Employees” with insurance organizations such as independent agencies.

As an insurance producer, I came to learn how vital agency staff people are to selling and servicing insurance clients. As an agency principal, I came to appreciate how precious quality performers are to running an insurance agency. Now, as the founder and CEO of WAHVE, I’m pleased that we can offer employees and principals the only remote domestic staffing option for insurance agents and brokers.” – Sharon Emek

The podcast was published Friday, June 4, 2010. Run time is 22 minutes 6 seconds.

By Laurie Donohue

Brand can be a “squishy” subject — it’s not concrete like product or overhead. With those you can attribute a certain cost and a definite return on investment. If you hire a new producer in an insurance agency, you know you’ll have overhead, but you expect that producer to bring in enough new business to cover the costs, and more. If you offer a product, you know what you’ll make in commissions.

With brand, you can see some of the costs — training, marketing, advertising, etc., but it’s often hard to quantify the impact on your bottom line.

We’ve all seen how a negative blow to a brand can impact the profitability of brands — just think Toyota, Tylenol or BP. But to the typical insurance agency, it can sometimes be hard to see the value.

Here’s something to think about: According to Hales & Company, a leading advisor in insurance merger and acquisition (M&A) services, a strong brand increases the agency valuation multiple by 100 basis points or more than an agency without a brand.

That means that if you’re looking to sell your agency, its value is significantly higher with a strong brand. The potential buyer is willing to pay more because your agency is more profitable and has a brighter long-term outlook.

Strong brands aren’t just the domain of large corporations. They directly impact Main Street businesses as well. What are you doing to improve your brand positioning?