2013 O UTSTANDING C OMMUNICATIONS A WARD The Young Agents Committee of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia. Inc.

2013 O UTSTANDING C OMMUNICATIONS A WARD For outstanding achievement in maintaining a communications campaign dedicated to young agents.

O VERVIEW Theme for the year – “Perpetuation.” Communications Goal: Old school and new school – engage both young and old YACs. Utilize all successful methods – existing electronic/social media plus traditional. Methods: Facebook, Linkedin, , snail mail, phone, text service. Also: Survey Monkey – ask all attendees to register to help us improve communication. Objective – Bring back “old” YACs who Had waned in participation.

G RASSROOTS D EVELOPMENT Developed prototype introductory for district directors to personally send to their “constituents” Accountability – District directors were asked to forward progress to YAC Chair and Membership Development Chair. contained personal introduction and established open door relationship – also apprised recipient of free registration process. Careful not to call it a “survey.” Helped capture young agent information for communication and marketing purposes Part of the Group at YAC Sales & Leadership 2013

M ETHODOLOGY Pushed our Survey Monkey registration process live at conferences (again, being careful not to call it a survey) This sounds simple, and yet we’ve never done it before. We literally made time for an official announcement during various times of our conference to ask people to stop what they were doing, pull out their smart phone, type in the address, and register as a Young Agent if they hadn’t already. Used a Tiny URL to make it even easier Reached out to Past YAC Chairs (most of whom are now Principles) for help in reaching new YACs. Open line of communication between leadership and district directors to continue updating the master membership list with new and old. Phone, phone, phone – this is definitely the most labor intensive aspect of our communication plan but we feel it has the biggest impact. Pick up the phone!

C OMPANY L IAISONS Carrier Liaisons from Genesee General Historical company participation Historical roles within YAC Board Georgia 1752 Club Membership Development Committee Marketing Meetings – who spends more time with other young agents? Us, or carrier reps? “Calling cards – business card sized marketing tool with website (Tiny URL) and social media info They were thrilled to be on the board because they get more personal face time with industry leaders NOTE: During our meetings, we conduct the business portion at the end, dismissing company liaisons.

T ARGET PIA M EMBERS Assisted Big I in reaching out to existing PIA members to high light differences in our associations. Targeted campaign. The YAC InVEST Team at UGA’s Career Fair

O THER S UCCESS /S TRATEGIES Develop relationships with area colleges – future of the industry (and future members). Utilize their communication methods to our advantage (i.e. UGA listserv). “Low hanging fruit” – Work prior attendance lists and reach out personally to people who haven’t signed up for event. Tried to personally reach every YAC in Georgia by way of introductory and again before events. Prototype for board to make it easy. Officers reached out personally to new members to welcome them to GA YAC and offer assistance. Continued to purchase YAC specific domains – “Tiny URL” – to improve aesthetic feel to communications Dr. Rob Hoyt, Department Chair of the # 1 risk management school in the country, UGA, speaks to GA YAC

C ALLING C ARDS

C LOSING The Georgia Young Agents Committee was able to be tremendously successful in because of creative, exciting new ways to engage Young Agents. By going back to the basics, we were able to continue communications growth by way of cutting edge methods and old traditional methods. This allowed us to grow our membership and increase engagement. Using up-to-date, relevant communications and relying on team efforts, we were able to promote our events and fundraisers with unprecedented success. We’re looking forward to working together towards even more successes in 2014!