Take These Four Insurance Branding Lessons Home With You

From modest beginnings in New Jersey, a larger-than-life politician has emerged onto the national stage: Governor Chris Christie. And he’s brought along branding experiences that apply to insurance.

Christie was criticized by opponents as an underqualified political appointee and a legal lightweight when he was nominated by President George W. Bush to the post of U.S. Attorney for the State of New Jersey. During Christie’s tenure from 2002 through 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s office won convictions or pleas of guilty from 130 public officials (state, county and local), both Democratic and Republican — without losing a single case.

Among the convicts: County executives for bribery and corruption, a former state senate president for mail fraud and tax evasion, and a former mayor of one of the state’s largest cities for fraud.

Christie swept through the New Jersey political world like a nor’easter storm. He put public corruption in the prosecutorial cross-hairs (although many believe that money still plays an outsized role in Jersey politics, but that’s another story).

In the runup to the 2012 presidential election,Christie is campaigning nationally for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, after passing up his own campaign for the Republican nomination.

Putting aside whether you, politically speaking, flock to or flee from the New Jersey governor’s positions and record (and Republicans in general and Romney in particular), Chris Christie offers an object lesson in branding:

Playing to your stereotype can work.

Case in point: The Star-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, reported that the governor stumped for Romney before the Iowa Republican caucuses on New Year’s Eve, telling the crowd of voters:

“If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do for Mitt Romney on Tuesday [Jan. 3, 2012, the day of the caucuses],” Christie said, defiant in only a suit jacket against the biting cold and wind-whipped rain, “I will be back, Jersey-style, people. I will be back.“

A few hours later in Cedar Rapids, Christie was unrelenting in an interview: “I hope they’ve taken me seriously because I will come back here plenty angry if they don’t do the right thing on Tuesday night. So they don’t want that. They’ve seen that. It’s not good.” [bold type added]

“Jersey style” indeed.

If there’s anything more stereotypical about New Jersey than hinting at rearranging kneecaps, it’s probably only comments about toxic waste, oil refineries and traffic. (Of course, having lived here since age 5, among my favorite stereotypes about the Garden State are the Appalachian Trail, the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War, the Pine Barrens (at 1.1 million acres, it makes up 22 percent of New Jersey’s land mass), my alma mater Rutgers, and 127 miles of ocean beaches. And great pizza in every town. But I digress.)

It’s not just a brash tone and combative stance against critics that Christie brings to his personal branding effort. Like him or not, Christie brings a track record to back up the trash talk. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt took a policy stance of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Christie’s stance might be described as speaking bluntly and smacking a big proverbial stick against his hand.

The outspoken governor of the ninth-largest state attracts a lot more media attention, of course, than an independent agent, a mid-sized insurance carrier, or an insurance trade association. And underlying any of Christie’s words is plenty of political calculation, to be sure. But there’s little doubt he plays to his own stereotype. Insurance marketing decision-makers might put aside the political elements and consider the following:

1. Do well at what you do. Christie batted a thousand in public corruption cases; that gave him credibility. Lesson: Don’t shy away from talking about what you do well just because others do something similar. And don’t take it for granted. What have you excelled at? Do you pay claims faster than others in the industry? Is your service measurably better than the competition? Are you good at handling specialized risks of some type?

2. Consult the team. Christie is reported to have developed a cadre of loyal advisers that bridge his various political jobs, and to reach out to them for insights and perspectives before making decisions. Lesson: Listen to people smarter than you. Who do you ask for advice? Are you doing something for them?

3. Stick to your guns. Maybe guns is a, er, loaded term But you get the point. Lesson: Stick to what you believe, because the going’s going to get rough. What challenges are likely to come your way? Maybe you’ve experienced fussy claimants, balky prospects and reluctant business partners. What can you learn and share about these business developments?

4. Say it. Tell it like you are. Lesson: If you’re doing what you believe in, be willing to talk about it. What would you say about yourself if you were in front of a group of people that know you but maybe don’t really know what you do and what you’ve done?

At Aartrijk, one of our Jersey-based clients is American Collectors Insurance, which in its brand audit several years ago discovered one of the valued capabilities it offered its customers and agent partners is that its employees (which it calls “brand ambassadors”) are always available via phone. That’s right, they’re fighting phone-tree hell. It sounded trite at first, but the company’s leaders realized that availability mattered. So the brand developed a “real person guarantee” and promised that callers to its hotline could always push “0″ on the telephone keypad to get a “real person” without waiting long. Goodbye, phone tree. Hello, answers from a live person.

 What’s your stereotype? How can it work for you?

A company’s brand is its’ first impression. And, if the impression creates any sense of confusion, they’ve just begun to lose their audience.

With today’s overwhelming and ever-changing social media frontier, your brand’s impression has become more essential than ever. It also has a greater chance of getting lost in the mix. That is why a brand assessment, particularly an image assessment, is fundamental in propelling your company’s presence throughout all touchpoints.

Think of an image assessment as a good house-cleaning. You never invite people over without first cleaning your house, do you?

Take a look at all of your printed and online materials and lay them out on the table. Has your brochure copy been updated in the last two years? What new services or employees have you added that should be highlighted? Is your logo blurry on your printed flyer, or appear jagged on your website? “How do I get rid that white box behind the logo on my product pdf?” Is your logo sometimes green, sometimes blue? How about your web site’s placement on Google? If these issues sound familiar, it is time to reassess your brand’s image. The process can be fun, challenging, sometimes embarrassing, but always rewarding beyond belief. Working with a professional, external team of writers and designers is your best bet for a fresh critical eye, expertise and advice in starting this process. In other words, do not try this at home. This is potentially how you get to the point of having three names on the façade of your business.

Once you’ve cleaned house, it makes it that much easier to throw a party. Once you implement new standards, create a style guide, refresh and push out social media channels, you’ll stop focusing on the inconsistencies of your brand and truly start to focus on strategy, new markets, expanding and strengthen existing clientele.

Consistency within a brand does not have to seem redundant or appear boring. It creates a sense of strength and recognition. The easier it becomes for others to identify you, the quicker they’ll start to focus on your true strengths.

Your fortune cookie for today is: Don’t be afraid to take that big step.

Thanks to our guest blogger Ande Campbell,  Art Director at  Orange Element. Ande will be at Aartrijk Brand Camp discussing “Brand Audit: The Big A-Ha Moment.”

Liz also stressed how important it is to be consistent. That is, it is better to publish one post a week than to do five posts in one week and then wait several weeks until the next post.

Liz also reminded us that what is unique about each of our blogs is us. Being ourselves is what distinguishes us from all the rest of the content on the Web.

Agent bloggers Cindy Donaldson from Founders Group, Nibby Priest from Vaughn Insurance and and Kristin Rielly from Irwin Siegel Agency also shared some valuable pointers they use in writing their blogs. So too did Laura Toops, editor of American Agent and Broker magazine and creator of the Agent for Change blog on the magazine’s Web site. For example, they suggested keeping posts short and to the point and writing about topics that are of general interest and not just about insurance..

If you are interested in starting a blog or becoming a better blogger I would recommend visiting the blogs highlighted above. Watching what others are doing is great way to learn. Another valuable resource I have found helpful is the ProBlogger Blog.

If you have a blog, what ideas and/or tips do you have to share?

– Rick Morgan

Follow Aartrijk on Twitter: @Aartrijk. Follow Brand Camp conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ABC09.