We’re finding Ontario brokerages all have their own unique ways of helping small businesses in their communities. In this spotlight, learn how BrokerTeam Insurance, 2017 Brokerage of the Year, launched a simple but effective campaign to boost their clients’ profiles.
CAN YOU SHARE BROKERTEAM’S CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN?
As a connector in our community, BrokerTeam has a wide range of clients and partners from all walks of life who have unique experiences and insights to share. In this campaign, which is a spin-off of our recent radio campaign on Toronto A1 Radio, we invited 30 clients and friends from our community and business circle to share their pandemic experience, with an emphasis on how they’ve adapted and even thrived in the new normal. At the same time, we introduce them to our social media followers by featuring their stories on our feed, and in turn they help us reach folks that may not be familiar with us.
WHAT INSPIRED THIS INITIATIVE?
We’ve been staying in touch with friends and clients and the more we learned about their current circumstances, the more we realized the value in sharing these inspiring stories, and at the same time, helping bring attention to businesses that have been challenged. For some time now we’ve been interested in this cross-over campaign. The pandemic has disrupted the way we usually engage with our community. At the same time it’s allowed us to move forward with this idea.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH BUSINESSES TO FEATURE?
It was by design that we chose to feature mostly small businesses, smaller charities and local artists because we greatly value the relationship we have with them and want to learn about their recent experiences. We have so many interesting clients and friends including the first and only certified water sommelier in Canada, an art therapist serving the First Nations in the far north, restaurateurs going through major challenges, and a martial arts master who is Simu Liu’s fight instructor for the upcoming Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
HAVE YOU HEARD FROM FEATURED BUSINESSES? ANY INCREASED BUSINESS AFTER BEING PROFILED?
The feedback we’ve been receiving is very positive. In general, we’ve learned from participants that the added exposure has had a positive effect in increasing traffic and business activities. Some of our featured clients have taken advantage of this experience to jumpstart other marketing endeavors, such as creating special promo codes for online purchasing and offering free service or online classes to new customers.
SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESS IS SO IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW, DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PLANS?
Last summer we invited our staff to nominate local restaurants they’d like to support, then arranged take out lunches from these establishments and delivered them to 360kids—a charity serving homeless teenagers in York region. Similar to our recent campaign, we wanted to support local businesses, in this case restaurants, and help them get additional exposure. At the same time, we were able to provide 360kids patrons different food to try each week during lockdown.