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Advice Line: Why Great Content Still Isn’t Bringing In the Right Clients (John Gigliello)

Advisor Marketing Made Simple

Wed May 14 2025

Summary

Advisor Marketing Made Simple: Episode Summary

Title: Advice Line: Why Great Content Still Isn’t Bringing In the Right Clients (John Gigliello)
Host/Authors: Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright
Release Date: May 14, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of Advisor Marketing Made Simple, hosts Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright engage in an insightful conversation with John Gigliello from Albany Financial Group. With over two decades of experience and ambitious growth goals, John seeks guidance on optimizing his marketing strategies to attract the right clients as he approaches retirement.

Guest Introduction and Current Marketing Landscape

John Gigliello begins by sharing his professional background and current standing:

Current Revenue: $550,000
Assets Under Management (AUM): $75 million
Growth Goals: Increase revenue to $800,000 and AUM to $100 million within three years before retirement.

John highlights his frustrations with existing marketing efforts:

“I feel sincerely that we have a lot of good content to share with folks. It’s just not getting out there to the proper channels and the right audience doesn’t seem to be receptive.”
(00:52)

Current Marketing Activities

John outlines his current marketing strategies aimed at driving firm awareness:

Facebook Ads: Utilizing both ads and content posts.
Podcasting: Hosting a podcast for two years, distributed via LinkedIn and Facebook, though engagement remains low.
Word-of-Mouth Referrals: Relies heavily on referrals but admits difficulty in actively soliciting them.
YouTube Content: Dabbled in creating YouTube videos with limited success.

He acknowledges a previous using of a “shotgun approach” in marketing, lacking focus on his ideal client.

“We were doing a lot. Yeah.”
(03:03)

Despite these efforts, John reports modest results:

Podcast Subscribers: Approximately 77
Website Visits: Around 250 per month (05:10)

Identifying the Ideal Client and Core Pain Points

The conversation shifts to understanding John's ideal client, mirroring the demographics of the hosts:

Primary Pain Points Addressed:
1. Uncertainty About the Future: Concerns about adequate retirement planning and sustainable annual spending.
2. Income Gap Between Social Security and Medicare: Strategies to bridge this financial gap.
3. Long-Term Care Planning: Addressing the often-overlooked necessity of long-term care.

“It’s the uncertainty of not knowing the future... how we fill that income gap... long-term care conversations.”
(05:35)

Strategic Marketing Recommendations

Taylor and Kendra provide actionable insights to refine John's marketing approach:

Personal Branding and Website Optimization
- Current State: Dual websites (firm and personal) with shared SEO benefits but lacking personal touch.
- Recommendation:
  - Make the personal website more personable by featuring a prominent photo and clear messaging focused on retirement planning.
  - Rebrand the podcast to include "retirement" in the title for better alignment with target demographics.
  - Enhance the website’s call-to-action (CTA) to guide prospects through a clear journey toward booking consultations.
“I want to see John front and center... the word retirement should be front and center.”
(14:50)
Podcast Enhancement and Rebranding
- Current Podcast Name: Invest in Knowledge
- Issues Identified: Lack of clarity in target audience and retirement focus.
- Recommendations:
  - Rename the podcast to reflect retirement planning explicitly, e.g., “Retire with John” or “Retirement Planning with John.”
  - Update podcast cover art to feature John’s image, enhancing personal connection.
  - Revise podcast episode titles to clearly address retirement-specific topics, mirroring successful examples like Taylor’s titles.
“The word retirement should be in the title... keep the podcast name simple and descriptive.”
(23:53)
Focusing Marketing Efforts for Immediate Growth
- Current Challenge: Balancing content creation with immediate client acquisition needs.
- Suggestions:
  - Consider shifting focus to Centers of Influence (COI) and building stronger referral networks for quicker results.
  - If maintaining the podcast, prepare for a longer timeline (2-3 years) to see substantial growth, potentially treating it as a legacy project post-retirement.
  - Explore YouTube as an alternative content platform, leveraging its higher discoverability despite higher production demands.
“If growth is critical in the next two to three years, let's think of something that's going to have shorter term success.”
(32:02)
Implementing a Defined Marketing Funnel
- Top of Funnel: Enhance SEO and engage in podcast tours to expand reach.
- Middle of Funnel: Utilize the rebranded podcast to educate and engage listeners.
- Bottom of Funnel: Establish clear CTAs for booking consultations, moving prospects toward becoming clients.
“Once they're on your show, the bottom of funnel, the next action we need to take is booking a call on your calendar.”
(28:14)

Action Items and Takeaways

John synthesizes the discussion into actionable steps:

Rebrand the Podcast: Incorporate retirement-focused naming and imagery.
Enhance Personal Website: Feature a prominent personal photo and create a clear client journey with defined CTAs.
Refine Content Strategy: Align podcast episodes and website content with the identified pain points of the ideal client.
Explore Alternative Marketing Channels: Consider strengthening COI processes or experimenting with YouTube for better short-term results.

“My big takeaway is really, really focusing on the low hanging fruit here... making easy changes in the podcast title and website structure will move the needle.”
(37:13)

Conclusion

The episode concludes with John expressing gratitude and a clear plan inspired by Taylor and Kendra’s advice. Emphasizing the importance of targeted marketing and personal branding, John is poised to implement the recommended strategies to attract the right clients and achieve his growth objectives before retirement.

Notable Quotes

John Gigliello:
“I feel sincerely that we have a lot of good content to share with folks. It’s just not getting out there to the proper channels and the right audience doesn’t seem to be receptive.”
(00:52)
Taylor:
“Just pick a simple name that has a word retire or retirement in it... the word retirement should be in the title.”
(23:53)
Kendra:
“Build your marketing on an authentic marketing channel to you... what are you excited about?”
(35:00)

Next Steps for Listeners

For more in-depth strategies on building a personal brand and optimizing marketing funnels, listeners are encouraged to explore additional episodes such as “How to Leverage Other People's Audiences” and “Top of Funnel Using Podcast” featuring Phil Weiss.

Resources Mentioned:

Feedback & Sharing: Listeners are encouraged to forward their favorite episodes to colleagues who could benefit from enhanced marketing strategies.

Thank you for tuning into Advisor Marketing Made Simple! Join us next week for more actionable insights to elevate your financial services marketing.

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Transcript

Kendra (0:00)

Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor and we're here to make Advisor Marketing Simple. Today's guest is John from Albany Financial Group. He's been an advisor for 22 years. His current revenue is $550,000 with $75 million in AUM. His goal is to grow to $800,000 in revenue and $100 million in AUM in the next three years before he retires. Welcome to Advisor Marketing Made Simple. Today we are having a conversation with John. John, to kick us off here, can you just share your name, your firm and your location?

John Gigliello (0:36)

Yes, I'd be happy to. My name is John Gigliello, located in upstate New York, Albany, New York. And I'm a principal in the Albany Financial Group.

Kendra (0:48)

What's the big question you want to dive into today with Taylor and I?

John Gigliello (0:52)

Well, in full disclosure. So I've been listening to quite a few of your podcasts and I've learned a lot over the last three months, honestly much more than I've learned in the last year working with another marketing firm. So. And I've enacted quite of the recommendations that you've already mentioned on other shows. But for me specifically, I would say, you know, because where I am in the trajectory of my career and a retirement not that far along, I'm still in a growth mode, very much so. So we, we. It's the classic example. I think I'm trying a lot of different things. I really feel sincerely that we have a lot of good content to share with folks. It's just not getting out there to the proper channels and doesn't they don't seem to be receptive act on it. So I would say in a nutshell, yeah, that's what's going on.

Kendra (1:48)

Okay, cool. And one thing I want to get clear on is I know you mentioned us, you have a shorter Runway, you're planning to retire in I think two years, right?

John Gigliello (1:57)

I would say two to three years.

Kendra (1:59)

Okay, cool. And from a marketing perspective, tell me a little bit about what are you currently doing to drive firm awareness.

John Gigliello (2:08)

Okay, so again in full disclosure, I, you know, Taylor and I have very similar client ideal client profiles here and so we've been lately gearing everything towards that, that demographic and really as you guys mentioned, find out their pain points and really honing in on that. But in the past it's been, you know, the shotgun approach thrown a lot out there and pretty much not, not hyper focused as you, as you folks mentioned. And again last year we worked with our broker dealers marketing firm and they, they definitely were able to get the wor and some more exposure. But again, it wasn't focused on my ideal client and who I'm trying to attract to the practice. So we're doing a lot. Kendra, to answer your question, doing a lot. Yeah.

Kendra (24:25)

I saw a major podcaster who has a very large podcast, Ramit Sati. His podcast used to be called I Will Teach youh Be Rich, which was in line with his book brand. He recently changed the entire podcast name to Just Be Money with Couples. And he did exactly what Taylor said. First, you know, he updated the COVID art, and then for like, three episodes of just like, hey, welcome to Money for Couples, formally, I will teach you be Rich. And they just literally went right into it. The other thing I would say with a cover art, because you have that personal brand approach, let's pull levers you've already, you know, earned the opportunity to pull. So I would also put your face on the podcast cover art because you're a personal brand. So one of the ways you compete against, you know, in theory, bigger firms is being more personable, so let's leverage that for all that we can. And then, you know, we, if we update the podcast name to clearly reflect retirement planning, then I think we also need to go a layer deeper into your podcast titles. So when I look at your podcast content, it's really not clear to me that you're really doing retirement planning content. And maybe you're not, but I want to give you a quick kind of gut check. So here were your last three podcast titles. The first one is I just want you to listen to this and let it sink in. And I'm going to give you a different variation of what it looks like to be dialed in first, from paycheck to 1040, understanding your income tax. Number two, the 2025 tax changes that could save you money. And number three, four keys to maintaining wealth tax planning for high net worth families. Now I want to flip this and I literally just pulled Taylor's last three titles. So you can see, I mean, you guys share the same audience of who you're trying to attract. The first one for him is three ways to boost retirement income. Second one is the biggest retirement investment risk, how to protect your portfolio. Number three, three ways to reduce Medicare, IRMAA now and in the future. And you can see with the third title, it doesn't even say retirement in there, but we know based off of what he's talking about, that is going to be attractive to pre retirees. So you know, the podcast name, the podcast cover and the podcast titles, tighten those up and you can go back and you can update those titles. So if it does apply to pre retirees, you can update that. And then we start to take this ideal client, your avatar, which you happen to share with Taylor and we pull that messaging from the top down before we really even, you know, look at the avatar, we gotta or the marketing funnel. We have to get the foundation clear, which is who are we trying to serve and attract. And then we pull that through your marketing funnel. And right now your marketing funnel does not reflect that. And the other thing that I wanted to point to that's very unique about your specific scenario, one is if you've got two years out from retirement, my head went right where Taylor's went. You have, you know, SEO, but it looks like that might actually be working for the main firm. It might, you know, it might not be really working for your personal brand. So I would go on a podcast tour. If your middle of funnel is going to be the podcast top of funnel, definitely I Think the podcast tour and then top of funnel will be getting on other people's shows to drive people to yours. Middle of funnel is the podcast. And then on your podcast, you have to make clear calls to action, which is going to lead you right back to this, to the website where we have clear calls to action on how to book a call, not just learn more. Here's where you get started if you want to hire John. Here's how you book a call. Here's how you get started. So that's how we take the avatar and we pull it down through the funnel. And I think that's why you're struggling to attract the right people, because we're not clearly describing in your podcast name, your podcast title, your podcast episodes, even on the top of your website that that messaging is not quite there. Does that make sense?

Kendra (38:42)

All right, John, going forward, here is how we have built your new marketing funnel, top of funnel for you. If you want to grow the podcast is. You need to get on other podcasts now if you want to learn a little bit more about how to do that more effectively. We have a great episode called how to Leverage Other People's Audiences. Take a look at that. And also take a look at Phil Weiss's Episode we talk about top of Funnel using podcast. I was so top of Funnel is going to be you going on a podcast tour of other podcasts. Your middle of funnel is going to be on that podcast. The thing we want them to take the action is coming over to your podcast and taking a listen to your show. Once they're on your show, the bottom of funnel, the next action we need to take to get them to you is booking a call on your calendar. So that means you're gonna have to have clear calls to action on your show. So that's the funnel. But let me give you kind of the action items that we've rounded up here through our conversation. First, you have a personal brand, so let's leverage that and compete against corporate firms. The way we're gonna do that is adding a personal photo of you on your website header to leverage the personal aspect of you. Also, we need to create a clearer journey on your website to your calendar. We talked a little bit about the kind of the experience. The calls to action really aren't clear. So when you're having someone on the podcast or making a call to action, they go to your website. We want to get very clear. What do we want them to do? Take a look at Taylor's website. He has a very defined client. Journey talked about the podcast tour. We talked about making calls to action on your podcast. Also, we want to clarify your niche more effectively. And we can do that by updating your podcast name, updating your podcast cover art with a photo view. The podcast name needs to have retirement in it. And then also let's update your podcast titles to make them more clear that they are for someone close to and entering retirement. Any questions about that?