Results

Challenge

Brian Trouette, owner of Trouette Insurance Agency, came to Fearless Branding because he wasn’t getting the traction he wanted with his target market: high-net-worth families.

We quickly identified the problem: his agency looked and sounded like every other insurance agency trying to sell something.  His message “Does your insurance portfolio protect your lifestyle?” was not helping him to build his business.

He was fighting against common misperceptions: all insurance agents are alike and they’re just trying to sell you something. 

Solution

Fearless Brand Idea:  An analytical approach to Insurance

Here is how we made Brian’s brand, marketing and business development more distinctive and more effective:

1. Identified a critical problem the target market faces, but are usually unaware of:

As high-net-worth individuals grow their wealth and their lives get bigger, their insurance doesn’t keep pace. As a result, They are not adequately insured. Should disaster strike, their insurance will not cover their losses.  Their net worth could be decimated. 

2. Focused on Brian’s core strength: analysis

We determined that the best way to establish a relationship with a potential client is for Trouette to offer a detailed analysis. Brian’s analyses are detailed and rigorous and lead to better insurance decisions. 

By offering an analysis, we positioned Trouette as a giver (rather than a seller.) 

3. Shifted the focus of business development activities from clients to financial advisors. 

We further saw that as valuable as Trouette’s analyses are, clients pay more attention to them if they are vetted by an already trusted advisor. 

By shifting Trouette’s marketing and business development focus from clients to advisors, we created alignment with critical referral sources in a few important ways:

• Advisors are motivated to preserve and grow their clients’ investable assets. A disaster (like a fire or a lawsuit) could reduce clients’ net worth if they are not properly insured. 

• Advisors understand and respect the work that goes into careful analysis. In our messaging, we created a parallel between Brian’s analysis and the level of analytical rigor that advisors use in constructing investment strategies and portfolios.

• By demonstrating expertise to a select group of advisors, Trouette is able to reach more clients, more effectively, than marketing to clients directly.

Results

Trouette’s revenue has grown 20% year-over-year since its rebrand in 2016.

“You helped me to be fearless in my branding by guiding me to be more focused in my approach.

You have a gift. You listened to all my technical jargon and turned it into effective communication so the right people understand what I do and how we’re different.

The work you did changed the trajectory of my business. I’ve gotten a lot of traction with advisors. They really resonate with the language that you came up with. 

It’s led to strong strategic alliances, more referrals and more business.”