Top 3 Benefits of Co-Op Programs

Co-op funds help agents with their advertising in countless ways. Over the past five years, I’ve seen every possible angle.

I’ve worked with insurance agents who own multiple locations and with agents who are newly licensed. Agents spend co-op on many different types of advertising campaigns, from large billboards to high school yearbook ads, but there are a few tactics that prove especially beneficial.

Here are the top 3 benefits of co-op programs.

1. More Money, More Ads

Before contacting BrandMuscle, many agents have already established relationships with vendors in their local communities. Some of these agent-vendor relationships formed as a result of being each other’s customers. If an agent doesn’t have access to co-op funds, they would pay 100% out-of-pocket directly to their vendors.

When an agent enrolls in a co-op program, their campaign budget and opportunity expand significantly, with more capacity to invest in everything from buying a larger ad space to longer runtimes. Co-op allows agents to run campaigns or ads they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own. When they invest some of their own money in the campaign, it brings the corporate brand a level of local presence they couldn’t otherwise achieve of their own. It’s a win-win.

2. Co-Op Opens Doors to New Ways of Advertising

When an agent only has their personal funds for advertising, experimenting can feel like a huge risk. Like trying a new dish at a restaurant, people may not order it for fear that it won’t be worth the cost. But if someone else orders it or splits the cost, they are more likely to try the new dish.

The same can be true for using co-op funds for advertising. Agents are more open to trying new tactics with the financial support of corporate co-op funds. When agents use their own money, they’re more likely to stick to what they know, like newspapers and billboards. Digital online ads might feel risky, especially for agents whose careers began before the online market exploded. Their biggest concern with digital ads are that they won’t see them, because the ads aren’t targeting them directly. That implicit invisibility can cause cold feet.

The lower financial risk with higher rewards of a co-op program means that agents are willing to try new tactics. Agents are relieved when I suggest using co-op on an integrated or multiple-tactic campaign, allowing them to continue to use tools they trust while also trying something new. And BrandMuscle has analytics to help them explore what’s working best, as well as what might not be.

3. Use Co-Op to Help Agents Adhere to Brand Guidelines

The insurance client that I work with has specific rules in place to ensure brand compliance. In order to qualify for co-op, agents must use the ads on our brand management site. In simple terms, if the ad isn’t from BrandMuscle, you can’t use co-op funds to pay for it. This rule exists to make sure the overall brand and image are being held to their highest standards and that the complex legal disclaimers required for each agent and product line are never missed. Companies want to make sure that their name is represented the same way on the local level that it is on the corporate scale.

This might seem beneficial only to the national brand, but agents like it because they can quickly see that their ads are of higher quality. If the national brand rolls out a very popular ad campaign, local agents want to use it, and they request that creative immediately. Depending on the company’s marketing layout, not every ad will be available in every market, but if the campaign message is available locally, BrandMuscle will have it ready for them. The agent has no need for a graphic designer on staff, or hierarchies of approval that slow everything down. They can get to market quickly, easily, and on-brand with co-op dollars to support everything.