Feb 19: Social Good Marketing

On February 19, 2019, Kasie and Shennice welcomed Nancy Williamson into the studio. Here are the show notes:

Introductions:

Kasie Whitener, Clemson Road Consulting, DMSB

Shennice Cleckley, Smart Cookie Coaching

Nancy Williamson, Scott Hanners State Farm Insurance Agency

Theme for the day:

Social Good as a Marketing Strategy

Agenda review:

• Learn more about Scott Hanners Agency and Nancy Williamson’s role there
• Quotes for Good and social good marketing as a strategy
• Nancy’s tenure at SBDC and business coaching as a passion/hobby

Segment 1:

We first met Nancy Williamson at 1 Million Cups. She attended as a representative of the Small Business Development Center, stationed in Chapin, and active in helping Newberry’s boom in women-owned businesses. Something like over 70 woman-owned companies on Main Street alone. Really remarkable stuff.

Tell us about moving into Marketing for the Scott Hanners Agency and what kind of opportunity you saw there.

Insurance agencies are “salary-substitute” firms.These are established business models that are just waiting for a subject matter expert (SME) to enter the business and operate it. Think law firms, dry cleaners, CPA firms. These businesses operate according to an industry standard and established customer expectations.

While Scott is very much a business owner and has, through State Farm, established operating procedures and customer acquisition practices, as an independent agency, he also has leeway in marketing efforts and how he builds and maintains his customer base.

What kinds of challenges have you faced in marketing State Farm and Scott’s agency in particular? What new tools, efforts, and strategies have you put in place? How are they working so far?

Segment 2

Tell us about Quotes for Good and the program’s expected impact on the Agency and on the community.

The Convince & Convert blog (marketing guru Jay Baer) has this to say about social good:

• It cannot stay online. Connectivity is rarely limited to keyboard time.
• It isn’t just charity work. Impact on the community is the real value-add.
• Beyond the buzzword. Rather than single-impact events, think long-term habit changes and awareness that brings change.

David Schwab of CMO Network offers these tips:

• You are under a microscope: these efforts will be more diligently scrutinized than others.
• You don’t have to start over: new campaigns can keep known influencers, branding, and messaging.
• Risk versus reward: consider whether the cause you’re promoting, face you’re using, message you’re sending is the right one for your target market.

11 Strategies for Social Good Marketing:

• Meaningful Experiences & Heartfelt Stories: how your product or service has improved the lives of your customers, an experience story that shows that impact and shares the good your company is doing.
• BOGO: buy one, give one strategy of funding your own experience while helping someone else attend as well. It’s a get a ticket-give a ticket trade that helps people feel like they made an event possible for someone who wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise.
• Team sponsorship: making rooting for a team or following a sport fun, rallying your organization’s support for a shared outcome – winning!

Some favorite social good campaigns from 2017:

• Burger King explained net neutrality by suggesting the Whopper should be the same for everyone.
• Barbie encouraged “closing the dream gap” by improving girls’ access to and building on their interest in science and math at an early age.
• Toyota’s Mobility for All campaign that told stories of Paralympic Athletes overcoming the odds stacked against them to achieve success in various sports.

Segment 3

Growing businesses is kind of our jam — all of us. Let’s talk about getting involved with companies at various stages and helping them recognize and pursue their paths to greatness.

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