W
WHEN DAN and Eileen Cain founded Cain Insurance Services in
1986, little did they know that thirty years later, Cain Insurance would
be one of the leading insurance brokerages in New Brunswick, with
thirty employees and over one thousand satisfied business clients.
Younger brother Luke became Dan’s business partner in 1994, and
together, they expanded their firm through their unparalleled
knowledge of the industry and exceptional customer service.
Back in 2012, a chance encounter and savvy business decision helped
boost the firm’s profile, cementing Cain Insurance Services as one of
the province’s foremost brokerages. Luke, currently Vice President and
General Manager of the agency, was at a local business group meeting
when he fell into a discussion with Andy Buyting, founder and CEO of
Carle Publications, a neighboring business. When Andy mentioned
that he was in the custom magazine production business, Luke jumped
at the opportunity to help Carle Publications produce its very first Risk
& Business magazine focused on the insuranc e industry.
Now, five years after Cain’s first biannual issue, Luke and Dan are big
believers in the power of ink to communicate their message and
position Cain as an industry leader with enormous influence. Cain
Insurance Services sends its Risk & Business magazine to approximately
15,000 businesses twice a year through Canadian Post (the magazine is
also available at the Fredericton airport). In addition, Cain Insurance’s
salespeople bring copies to prospect meetings, which confers instant
credibility on the business. The agency’s sales process relies on the
“old-fashioned method” of knocking on doors, Cain says, and the
magazine is a valuable asset in the company’s toolbox—an opinion that
is borne out by the rave reviews the magazines receives from clients and
prospects alike.
The best part is, due to the brokerage’s exclusivity arrangement with
Carle in the insurance space, it is the only company with the right to
publish Risk & Business within the province of New Brunswick. “The
magazine helps us demonstrate a level of professionalism that our
competitors just aren’t able to match due to our exclusivity within the
insurance market,” says Luke. “Based on the feedback we receive, we
know that Risk & Business gets in front of the C-suite executives we
intend to sell to.”
Cain Insurance Service’s potential market is broad—essentially any
business from small mom-and-pop operations to large multimillion-
dollar corporations may be a buyer of its insurance and risk
management services. Despite the brokerage’s growth in recent years,
the firm puts a strong emphasis on retaining its “family flavor,” with a
customer service focus that goes far beyond what its competitors can
provide. Another key focus is on charitable giving, with regular
contributions to organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, the
Fredericton Food Bank, Opal Family Services, and various local sports
teams.
When one flips open an issue of Risk & Business, the reader is
immediately struck by the glossy feel and professional design of the
magazine, a signature production feature of all of Carle’s thirty-plus
publications. Inside the magazine is an assortment of advertisements—
mostly by the company’s insurance vendors, along with other related
businesses—that dramatically lowers the cost of producing the
magazine. Cain’s most recent issue has compelling articles that just
about anyone in business can relate to, with intriguing titles like “There
Is an Uber Coming to Every Industry” and “How to Hire the Best
Salespeople.” And each magazine has a bold cover that showcases the
name of the agency along with content highlights.
According to Luke, “Advertisers have found real value in the magazine
because of its targeted focus toward other businesses, all of whom are
potential customers. As much as the magazine helps to build our brand,
I think it helps to build our advertisers too.” Eighty percent of Cain
Insurance’s Risk & Business ad revenue originates from insurance
companies, while the remaining twenty percent is generated by
ancillary service providers, like accountants, wealth managers, and real
estate agencies.
One of the best aspects of producing the magazine with Carle,
according to Cain, is that each issue takes only about twenty person-
hours from Cain’s own staff members to produce—an amazingly low
figure considering the wealth of information within the magazine and
the high profile the magazine achieves. That estimate includes all
aspects of working on each issue, from planning to content generation
to advertising sales.
The vast majority of the effort falls to Carle, which provides top-tier
ghostwriters, on-staff design experts, and a crackerjack editorial and
production team that are responsible for keeping each issue on track.
“The mere fact that we’re only putting in twenty hours to get a
publication that is so professional and that is distributed to 15,000
businesses within the province is a pretty good return on our time
investment,” says Luke.
For Carle, the partnership created five years ago with Cain was the start
of a burgeoning presence in the insurance industry. “Once we began
working with Dan and Luke, we realized that the industry was so ripe
with information for the average business owner and that Risk &
Business was an ideal vehicle for small agencies to demonstrate their
expertise through a professional-looking marketing product,” said
Buyting.
Today, Carle produces customized versions of its insurance publication,
Risk & Business, for dozens of agencies across the US and Canada, all
with exclusive rights for their geographic region. Carle also publishes
magazines for clients in other business sectors such as health and
wellness, home improvement, industry, wealth management, and more.
In building each edition, Carle combines national features on
irresistibly readable topics with more targeted articles providing helpful
industry insights and information.
Buyting credits his enormously talented staff for helping to build the
company’s success as well as the strong relationships he has built with
the company’s clients, whom he terms “Client-Partners.” “The
marketing communications process has become so focused on the
internet, that many companies have forgotten how powerful the printed
word can be,” he says. “We aim to remind people that a beautifully
crafted magazine providing authoritative industry information will
never go out of style.”
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