January 8, 2025
Pierre Bourdeau—Director P&C Marketing, CAA Insurance Company
One of the most common questions I hear from brokers is “How can I do marketing without hiring a full-time employee to manage it?” It’s a great question. Marketing is essential to growing your business, and executing a marketing plan can easily be a full-time job that many brokerages won’t have the resources for. While larger brokerages may have a marketing department, small to medium-size companies likely won’t have an internal marketing team to rely on. The good news is a mix of internal staff and external resources can get the job done.
Identify Required Resources
Once you’ve created a marketing plan, list each media tactic and determine what resources you’ll need to execute each one. A typical marketing campaign will require a writer, a graphic designer, someone to negotiate/buy media, a support person to handle scheduling, deployment (i.e. uploading social media ads) and smaller tasks, and a project lead to oversee it all.
Determine Internal Responsibilities
Is there a talented writer or storyteller on your team? That person could fill your writer role. A nimble negotiator could make an excellent media planner and buyer. Look to your admin staff to complete tasks that require careful attention to detail such as information gathering, media scheduling and staying on top of deliverables and due dates. If you can’t fill all roles internally, you can outsource some of them.
Tap Your Network
Talking to people you know is a logical first step. Connect with local community groups, associations and other industry professionals to see if they have recommendations for people with experience in the roles you’re looking to fill. Ask your insurance companies who they’re using for their marketing programs or if they have programs that will help you plan your marketing campaigns. You may be able to tap into their resources to fill a few gaps.
Contact Local Schools
If you have a limited budget, consider approaching local colleges or universities with programs to fill your writer, graphic designer or media buyer/negotiator roles. Their graduating class will want to build their resumés and will come with the knowledge to do the job. While you may be getting inexpensive labour (a small stipend will always be appreciated), the trade-off will be some handholding and overseeing to ensure deliverables are on-strategy.
Enlist a Freelance Agency
Local agencies are an excellent resource for professional writers and graphic designers with industry experience. While you’ll likely pay for the advantage, hiring a seasoned professional will mean less of a time commitment overseeing and revising. While it might take some effort to set up, by putting the right people in the right roles, your time commitment should easily come under 10%.
Five Questions to Ask Freelancers
- For a creative role, ask to see their portfolio. What was their role in each piece?
- What’s their typical process and turnaround time?
- Do they charge by the hour or by the project? If it’s the latter, ask for a menu that estimates costs for each of your tactics.
- How do they handle feedback and revisions? If they charge by the project, how many rounds of revisions are included? Ensure there are enough included for your budget (the standard is 2-3).
- Do they prefer to be briefed with a kick off meeting or receive the requirements by email?