Educating Consumers and Recruiting Franchisees With Goosehead Insurance

CHALLENGE

In an insurance industry where competitors spend millions of dollars in advertising, Mission North was tasked with launching earned media storytelling followed by an organic social media program that would break through the noise to drive awareness and affinity with Goosehead’s core audiences - consumers and potential franchise agents, who would own their own agency under the Goosehead umbrella. Success meant increasing brand visibility, building trust with key stakeholders, and differentiating Goosehead and their unique choice model from other insurance companies in the market. To elevate its brand story and mission meant activating a multi-pronged, omni-channel approach aimed at educating consumers about insurance while establishing credibility around Goosehead’s independent agency model and franchise business.

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STRATEGY

To achieve greater brand recognition, Mission North implemented a multi-faceted earned media relations strategy focused on high impact publications. To reach consumers, we focused outreach on personal finance, business and lifestyle media, with topics ranging from insurance trends and real estate to natural disasters and insurance tips. To reach franchisees, we focused on corporate momentum and agent storytelling to highlight Goosehead’s industry leadership. We then conducted a social audit and audience analysis to architect a social media playbook centered on thematic messaging pillars, grounded with relevancy, consistency and timeliness. Armed with these insights, we further advanced brand storytelling and drove B2C and B2B engagement by activating on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

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IMPACT

Between May 2021 and April 2023, Mission North secured more than 325 earned placements, including 75 features for Goosehead Insurance in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, MarketWatch, and Insider, and trades such as Insurance Journal, Inside P&C, and Franchise 1851. In those two years, Goosehead Insurance was second in share of voice among its insurtech competitors and maintained 95% positive/neutral coverage sentiment. 

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In the eight months following the launch of the new social strategy, cross-channel engagement and organic engagements increased by 12%, organic traffic increased by 18%, and organic audience growth increased by 250%. Mission North organically drove over 4,000 users to Goosehead’s Digital Agent Platform and the franchise landing page, and the brand led in share of voice on social against its top direct competitors.

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