When I immigrated to Canada in 2012, I noticed a glitch in the system. The insurance industry loves the average. Centralized marketing is built for the middle of the curve. It relies on fliers, stock photos, and generic slogans designed to appeal to everyone and, as a result, they often connect with no one. For a Black man looking at these materials, the message was clear. This wasn’t for me.
This is the classic trap of the commodity mindset. If you try to talk to everyone, you end up shouting into a void.
I decided to stop shouting. Instead, I started whispering to the people who were being ignored. I invested in a digital home that was hyperlocal and specific. I didn’t want the whole market. I wanted the people who looked like me, the Nigerian community, and the African diaspora. I built a bridge where there was only a gap.
In marketing terms, this is the search for the smallest viable market.
Now, a lot of people ask if being this specific alienates the rest of the market. The answer is actually the opposite. Specificity is the only way to build real trust. When a client sees the level of care and detail I put into serving a specific community, they don’t see exclusion. They see an agent who is capable of deep empathy and clinical precision. They recognize that if I am that dedicated to getting it right for one group, I will be just as dedicated to getting it right for them.
The risk of the safe path is that you become invisible. If your brand looks like a corporate template, you’ve already lost. You’re just a line item on a spreadsheet, waiting for someone to underbid you. But when you lead with a purpose built presence, you create a connection that price can’t break.
Today, my agency is full of people from every walk of life. They didn’t come because I was the most generic choice. They came because they saw that I was willing to see a specific community first. They value the care and the clinical expertise because it’s delivered with a perspective that the centralized machine can’t replicate.
Marketing isn’t just the stuff you buy. It’s the stories you tell and the promises you keep.
If your work doesn’t change people, you’re just making noise. The goal is to be missed if you were gone. Are you building a business that matters to a specific few, or are you just another face in a crowd that isn’t even looking?
The best way to grow is to be so specific that you’re the only logical choice for anyone who values real expertise.
I am a Canadian insurance and investment professional and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chazz Financial Inc. and Chazz Capital Assets. I write about leadership, markets, insurance, investing, and decision making, with a focus on how structure and incentives shape outcomes.
I hold a business degree and I am a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI®), a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), a Chartered Financial Planner®, a Certified Health Specialist and a Mutual Fund Investment Representative.
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