Declaration of Independents: Tamika Mapp

By: williamjones
June 1, 2018

By: Jacquelyn Connelly

Tamika Mapp

CEO
East Harlem Insurance Brokerage
New York City
eastharleminsurance.com

“You take care of the children. We’ll take care of your business.”

That’s the message that greets visitors to the Facebook page of East Harlem Insurance Brokerage—the agency Tamika Mapp started in 2009, which caters almost exclusively to childcare providers in the city that never sleeps.

Why focus on such a specific niche? “There are a million independent brokers in New York City,” Mapp says. “You really have to differentiate yourself.”

WHY INSURANCE?

To help our community understand the importance of having insurance to protect their assets. My mom was a school teacher, and I already knew about the childcare industry. I knew it wasn’t really being serviced by a broker, so it was the perfect marriage. It took a little bit of time, but once we got everything together, it became a really great niche.

BIG APPLE HUSTLE?

It’s really easy to start a business in New York City, but to do it the correct and proper way—there’s not a whole lot of guidance on that. I make sure I stress that with my clients—the concept of, “OK, how do I run my daycare center so that it stays in business for a long time?”

MOTIVATION?

I’m always learning something different about how to better protect childcare providers. It makes the whole small business circle one big old loop. As small businesses, we are the backbone that makes society work.

LEVERAGING PINTEREST?

Believe it or not, I get a lot of my leads through Pinterest. I don’t know why, but it seems like everybody loves the pictures! I have different boards—one board is all about cooking and breakfast ideas, another board is about business tips and apps, another is about insurance humor. I have about 30 boards that pretty much cater to everybody, across both commercial and personal lines.

But the main one that gets the most traction is my board for daycare providers. I have everything inside there—information about regulations, literacy, how to contact me. Prospects will visit that board and go to my website, and then they’ll give me a call.

LEVERAGING FACEBOOK?

My Facebook strategy is to just provide information. For personal lines, I’ll post information about how to take a personal inventory of your stuff every year, how to grocery shop, how to take care of your car, what to do for your apartment. For commercial lines, I’ll provide tips on how to do target marketing, how to get more clients, how to do pricing—stuff like that. We pride ourselves on risk management first before we sell insurance products.

Photo by Katherine Marks