In the future, student-clients will make or break your business. Hiring students as part-time workers can also be crucial for perpetuating the employment base of your business.
An article in the Los Angeles Times, 'Marketing Majors Design Campaign For Car Dealer,' captured the importance of students to the insurance industry. Under the guidelines of General Motors' Marketing Internship Program, Todey Motor Company of Oxnard, CA contracted 12 marketing majors at Oxnard College to create a marketing campaign. Specifically, the students were tasked with creating an on-campus presence for this local Chevrolet/Geo dealership. The project was further broken down into two goals:
- Approaching the college students as first-time new car buyers, and
- Increasing the dealership's name recognition on campus. The dealership funded the effort with $2,500.
The students felt that first they needed to learn about their market niche to determine the best methods of advertising and communication. They accomplished this by surveying the student body as to what they looked for in a car, what price range they could afford, and whether they knew about the Todey dealership.
Survey results were interesting. Few had heard of the dealership. All seemed to have champagne tastes and beer budgets: They preferred to drive more expensive sports models, but accepted the financial reality of a $12,000 price limit for a car.
The survey also learned that the target market (the student body) represented a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds-and the students told the dealership how important it was to appreciate these cultural differences. As one student put it, 'It is more important to be culturally sensitive to the group you are trying to market to, instead of going the all-American way. Creating a comfortable feeling generates credibility. If people think of you as an outsider, they're suspicious.'
The research culminated in a multimedia presentation to officials of General Motors and Todey, with a follow-up report in writing. As for marketing, the group hosted a full-blown promotional event on the campus. With balloons, blaring music, barbecued food, and shiny new cars, the campus was treated to a four-hour party on the lawn in front of the college cafeteria, complete with traditional giveaway key chains and pens. Everyone at Oxnard College now knows their party-animal friend-Todey Motor Co.
The lessons for the insurance industry are plentiful. If an agency, or an agency and company, collaborated with students on such a project, just imagine what might happen:
1. The marketing students might become interested in insurance, thereby expanding the industry's pool of potential employees for the future.
2. An entire college student body would become aware of what a local agency could provide for them, not to mention brand name recognition that would come about for the insurance companies that participated.
3. Immediate Personal Lines business is always a possibility.
4. This is the big one: An opportunity would be created to begin forming relations with the homeowners, managers, and business owners of the future.
The concept is simple, the costs are minimal, and the results can be staggering. When's the last time you visited your local colleges?