1) Branding begins with defining your agency's core values, beliefs, and attributes that differentiate you in the marketplace. This is done through introspection and input from clients, employees, and others in your industry. 2) Understanding your competition and market is key to positioning your brand effectively. Examine what opportunities and threats exist. 3) Consistently communicating your distinctive brand message through all marketing materials and in interactions with clients will build brand awareness over time. Customer service must support this brand image.

1. Volume XXII, Number 7 June, 2006
Branding leverage this brand for more knowledge of who you are as an
effective marketing results and agency, knowledge of your
Your Agency increased revenues. competitors’ brands, and an
intimate knowledge of your
As the soft-market continues and
Branding specific marketplace.
competition for growth escalates,
____________
independent agencies need to Many agencies confuse branding
work harder than ever to write with marketing. As a rule of “As a rule of thumb,
new business and increase thumb, Branding begins at home,
retention rates. With the while marketing begins with the
Branding begins at
information technology explosion customer. Defining your brand is home, while marketing
in the insurance space, many an introspective process by begins with the
agencies are looking to new which you define your list of customer.”
technologies to increase their values and beliefs, as well as the ____________
marketing savvy. But remember, unique attributes that differentiate
most marketing efforts will fail if your agency in the marketplace. Know Thyself
they are not executed under the Branding occurs when these
umbrella of a comprehensive and beliefs, values and attributes are To determine what makes your
coherent branding strategy. consistently communicated to the agency unique in the
marketplace, over time. marketplace and separates you
The following discussion will from your competition, you do not
focus on how to define and refine Knowledge is a key component need to hire marketing
your agency’s brand and how to of the branding process: consultants. Instead, talk to your
ANNUAL MARKET & FINANCIAL SURVEY
Included with this month's newsletter is the Annual Market & Financial Survey form. The
data we receive from agencies all over the country provides invaluable insight into
agency finances as well as what is happening in the marketplace.
Please take the time to fill out the survey and return via:
Fax: 708-354-0977 - or - Mail: P.O. Box 2315, LaGrange, Illinois 60525
Or complete the survey on-line at www.MarshBerry.com
Completed surveys need to be returned no later than July 17, 2006.
All information sent will remain totally confidential. Results will be
published in the September 2006 newsletter. Thank you!
The MarshBerry Letter Page 1 June, 2006

2. clients. Ask your employees. Know Your Competition Finally, gather all of the input that
Solicit input from other you have solicited and create a
To fully understand your brand,
relationships in the industry. Your standard message describing
you must examine it within the
agency already has some type of who you are and what makes
context of your overall
brand recognition. You just need you different than the
marketplace. Study your
to figure out what that is and competition. This message,
competition and the market to
whether that is how you want which should be driven from the
determine what opportunities or
your agency to be known. top down, will be the heart of
obstacles are present.
your branding strategy going
Your clients do business with you forward.
Have your producers define what
for a reason. Ask them what this
they are up against in the
reason is. Ask former clients. Ask Make sure all of your employees
marketplace. Have them list the
prospects. You may be very not only know, but also buy into,
things the competition is doing to
surprised to learn that your your message and realize their
steal business away. Also, work
clients may not necessarily role in building the brand. Every
together to determine the brand
identify with the 60-year old employee, from producers to
identity of each of your key
agency name as much as they CSR’s, needs to be able to
competitors. After determining
do the personal service / answer the insured’s question:
the size and strength of the
relationships you afford. “Why should I do business with
agencies serving your market,
____________ your agency?”
you might discover some hidden
“To fully understand your opportunities.
Creating Brand Awareness
brand, you must Now that your agency has
Know Your Market
examine it within the created a consistent message
context of your overall Examine the trends in your local that describes your unique brand,
market to find additional your challenge is to make this
marketplace.” opportunities. Demographic
____________ message the core of all of your
statistics are widely available and communications – creating brand
can shed some light on how the awareness.
Producers are on the front lines population in your particular
every day, working with
market is changing. Keep Work to create a standard look
prospects and clients to win
abreast of local business news to and feel that communicates your
business by communicating what
see what types of business are core brand message. Be sure
makes your agency unique.
entering your market and assess that this “look and feel” is applied
Have all of your producers list
what they see as your whether you have the markets to all of your marketing collateral
competitive advantages and and expertise to meet their pieces, including agency
selling points. Have your service specific business needs. brochures, direct mail pieces and
and support staffs do the same. web content.
Just as there is a reason that
clients do business with you,
there is a reason that your Chart A
employees work there. Find the
answers to that question. To
Agency Revenue Size <$1mm $2mm $5mm $8mm
augment this, compile a list of
niche markets that you serve, Average Advertising Expenditures 2.1% 1.9% 1.5% 1.3%
any unique carrier relationships as % of Total Commissions & Fees
that you maintain, and any value-
added services that you offer. Source: MarshBerry Database
The MarshBerry Letter Page 2 June, 2006

3. Find out which publications your
clients read and advertise in those Chart B
magazines and journals. Be sure
to incorporate your standardized Agency Revenue Size $800,000 $2mm $5mm $8mm
look and feel into your
Retention Rate 80% 85% 90% 95%
advertisements to maintain your
brand. As it is often difficult to $ Value of Lost Business 160,000 300,000 500,000 400,000
measure the effectiveness of any
advertising campaign, make sure Value of Increasing Retention
Rate by 3 Percentage Points 24,000 60,000 150,000 240,000
you track where new business
prospects learned about you and
focus your efforts on those that
are the most productive. Remember – a consistent existing business is not growing.
delivery of your core brand Take a look at Chart B which
You can use Chart A to gauge message is the key to building a illustrates the importance of
how much you are spending on bond with your customers and focusing on customer retention.
advertising versus your peers. increasing awareness of your
However, you also need to agency in the marketplace. Chart B shows that the sample
consider that any re-branding agencies each lose a sizeable
and market awareness Customer Service portion of their revenue each
campaigns may easily result in A brand is only as good as the year by letting their current
higher than average expenses in customer service that supports it. customers walk out the door.
the first year or two. It would be futile to spend the ____________
____________ time to refine and market your
brand if you are not capable of “Be sure to document
supporting the new business that
“Make sure that your you attract to your agency, while
what you plan to do and
customer service maintaining a high-level of monitor your progress
supports the brand image customer service for your current throughout the year.”
that you have created in accounts. Make sure that your ____________
customer service supports the
the marketplace.”
brand image that you have The good news is that by
____________ created in the marketplace. increasing your retention rate as
little as 3 percentage points can
Consider publishing articles in
The old axiom, “your best mean substantially more revenue
your local business journals and
customers are your current for your agency. In fact, if your
newspapers or speaking to local
customers” seems trite, but there agency is paying a higher new
business or civic organizations.
is a lot of truth to it. The cost of vs. renewal producer commission
You may even host your own
acquiring new business is much rate (i.e. 40/25), your agency is
educational conference for
greater than the cost of actually losing money by selling
clients and prospects at a local
maintaining existing the same amount of business
hotel. This will establish you as a
relationships, so make sure you that you lose. In the above
community-minded business
are doing everything you can to example, the agency would
leader, further strengthen your
keep your existing customers realize flat revenue, increased
brand awareness and expose
happy. Remember that an payroll and less profit. So,
you to new business
agency that writes $100,000 how do you keep your
opportunities.
worth of new business in a year, customers happy?
but loses $100,000 worth of
The MarshBerry Letter Page 3 June, 2006

4. Out-serve Your based on size and account consuming part is ensuring the
Competition profitability. Consider the following content is relevant and valuable
examples: to your customer.
Simple things like returning phone
calls promptly, getting quotes ♦ Offer a risk-assessment at Finally, take the time to call the
turned around in a timely manner, the time of renewal accounts that you lost and find
and proactively communicating
♦ Make quarterly visits or out why they left. Most people
will separate you from the
phone calls will let you know what you did to
competition. Great service and a
lose their business, or what
personal touch breeds top-of- ♦ Sending an industry you did not do to keep it. This
mind awareness and satisfied overview / update 100 days exercise will provide some
customers. These customers, in prior to renewal
valuable insight for your firm and
turn, will create a “word of mouth”
may open doors for you to bid on
marketing campaign, telling These things will demonstrate that
the business again in the future.
friends and colleagues of the you are serious about customer
excellent service they received service and doing things your
Elevating your level of customer
and increasing your exposure in competition is not. Be sure to
service will increase the chances
the marketplace more effectively document what you plan to do
that your current customers will
than any advertising you could and monitor your progress
trade on factors other than price.
ever buy. throughout the year. When you
The byproduct of better service is
meet with your customer at the
more satisfied customers and
Work with your producers to time of renewal, you can illustrate
higher customer retention for
create a list of your top prospects what you did, versus what you
your agency.
and define a strategy for touching promised. You may also include
each of these prospects once a a proposed stewardship program
Defining your agency’s unique
month. More sophisticated in your prospecting efforts as a
brand is an exercise that will
agencies might consider utilizing way to differentiate yourself while
engage your employees in your
an account tiering system, justifying your compensation in
business and help you determine
whereby you divide your clients the new era of transparency and
the core message that you will
into A, B, or C tiers, in order of disclosure.
take to market. Consistent
their importance to your agency.
communication of this message,
Devise a strategy for reaching Another low-cost, high-impact
over time, will build brand
each tier of clients each month, idea is to send out a monthly e-
awareness. And, if you work to
with a special focus on your newsletter to your current
ensure that your customer service
“A” accounts. customer base. You can write
reflects the brand you are trying to
about issues faced in the
create, you will realize increased
Consider implementing value- insurance market overall, or if
sales and higher retention rates.
added service timelines and applicable, write more specifically
stewardship programs by account about your local area. Even
* * * * *
size. Create a menu of value- easier, there are several services Craig Niess is a Product
added services that your agency available that let you create a Manager / Consultant at
can offer. The services do not customized e-newsletter by MarshBerry. Contact him at
need to be expensive. Then, offer simply selecting various pre- 888-429-0161 or by e-mail at
these services to each customer written articles. The time Craig@MarshBerry.com.
The MarshBerry Letter Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 2315 / LaGrange, IL 60525 7466 Auburn Road / Concord, OH 44077
(708) 354-0344 (440) 354-3230 / (800) 426-2774
Patrice@MarshBerry.com MarshBerry@MarshBerry.com
Copyright June 2006 www.MarshBerry.com
The MarshBerry Letter Page 4 June, 2006