COVID-19 has changed the way professionals transact business across all industries and the life insurance industry is no exception. With all this change, now might be the perfect time for you to revisit your marketing strategy.

Implementing simple, yet effective, tactics to enhance awareness of your business and communicating with clients to build trust are easy ways to help you win more business. But first, it's important to gain a firm grasp of the fundamentals.

To begin, you need to define your client. While it may seem elementary, it is the most important component upon which the rest of your marketing strategy depends. Think of defining your client as developing a golden profile.

To build your golden profile, examine client data within your book and see if you can identify commonalities among your insureds. Based on this information, create a fictitious persona and attribute qualities to them that represent your clients. Having a specific persona to reference when you are working with clients, whether new or current, helps you better understand their goals and needs.

You are then ready to start sharing and communicating, which can be broken down into three parts:

1) Content. Decide what you want to convey. You have immense power to influence their opinion of your agency and you should harness that power.

Like in other areas of your clients' lives, people want to work with someone trustworthy when they're shopping for life insurance, which for most consumers is confusing. It's important to maintain humanity in your messaging—don't be afraid to personalize it.

2) Timing. Besides the obvious check-in points, like policy anniversary dates, checking in with clients during other periods is also important. During COVID-19, policy owners are looking for guidance and reassurance.

Whether you're checking in to see if they're looking for some extra cash flow from a universal life product or letting them know that their policy is on track, it's the perfect time to reevaluate alignment between their evolving needs and their policies.

3) Delivery. Delivering your message to clients through the right means of communication and at the right time is crucial. In today's digital landscape we have almost unlimited access to consumers. Use that to your advantage. Leverage a few communication methods and measure what works best for you and the people you serve.

Building trust through marketing and communication can result in more than a sale. It can result in a client for life, which is invaluable for every agency.

David Morris is CMO of Proformex.