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

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

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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)

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Strategic Marketing Recommendations

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

1. 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)

2. 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)

3. 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)

4. 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)

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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)

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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.

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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)

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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:

• Top Advisor Website Questions Episode
• Sign Up to Join as a Guest

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

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

Transcript

[Kendra]

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]

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]

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

[John Gigliello]

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]

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]

I would say two to three years.

[Kendra]

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

[John Gigliello]

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]

Okay, can you break it down for me? Specifically, what activities, marketing activities are you currently doing to attract your ideal client?

[John Gigliello]

Sure. So right now we're doing a fair amount of Facebook ads, postings of that nature. I. I've been doing a podcast now for probably two years or so, so that we, we send that out via link to current clients. We set that up through our LinkedIn page and Facebook page. So the podcast, I would say, as far as anything else is concerned, you know, we do a lot of word of mouth referral. I'm not very good. I'm not your classic salesperson, so I'm not very good in asking current clients for referrals. So I've really never that part of it. But it's really. And I should say also that I've dabbled in YouTube videos as well. So there's a fair amount of YouTube content out there as well. So like I said, there you go. There's the shotgun approach for the Facebook ads.

[Kendra]

Are you doing Facebook ads or Facebook content or both?

[John Gigliello]

That's a really good question, Kendra. Again, this is something that I delegated to the marketing team at my broker dealer, so I would say most likely both we were doing.

[Kendra]

Do you have a monthly ad spend? Are you paying them an additional amount per month for ads?

[John Gigliello]

No, I'm not. With the contract that I signed with them, I was allotted a certain amount of dollars to use for advertising, and I really just have utilized all those dollars. I haven't spent anything else.

[Kendra]

And for the podcast, give me a ballpark. How many downloads are you getting per month?

[John Gigliello]

Not many. A hundred? 100? I think I have 77 subscribers and maybe, you know, depending on the topic. But yeah, just. We'll. We'll say not many.

[Kendra]

Okay. And I know because you happen to send us a handy screenshot of your Google Analytics traffic that you're doing about 250 website visits per month. Sound about right?

[John Gigliello]

Sounds about right.

[Kendra]

Okay, cool. And right now, what is actively working to drive new clients to your firm? You know, you've got some Facebook content or ads going out, you've got the podcast, you're doing some referrals, a dabbling or smattering of YouTube videos. What is actively sending you new clients.

[John Gigliello]

To be honest with you, center centers of influence and client referrals.

[Kendra]

Okay. And for the clients that you would love to clone in your business right now, you know, I know you have a very similar demographic to Taylor. What are the big three pain points that you're really, I know you're helping them with a lot. What are those three kind of core pain points you're seeing pop up for that ideal client that's excited to hire you?

[John Gigliello]

Well, certainly uncertainty about the future, not, not thinking they're in a, in a decent position to retire, but not knowing, you know, sustainable annual spending amounts and things of that nature. So I would say that general topic of, of just the uncertainty of not knowing the future would be one folks that are fortunate enough, saved enough to, to retire where you have to fill that gap between Social Security and certainly get to Medicare. Now that's another area of pain. How do we fill that income gap? And then the third, I would say would, you know, it's always the elephant in the room, so to speak, when we have long term care conversations and folks are, they know it's very important, but they just don't plan on it.

[Kendra]

Okay, one more quick question and then Taylor, I'm gonna bounce this back over to you. I know that you've listened to the show. I know that you're making some changes. When you're looking at your marketing plan going forward, what are the current changes you're planning to make to your website or your marketing efforts based off what you've learned already?

[John Gigliello]

Well, again, to use your, your terminology, just become hyper focused. Really focus on the, this group of people. I've got my four or five bullet points, who I'm trying to attract and you know me for going all of this time without actually forming a niche here, so to speak. So that we're really focused on. We've actually made corrections to my website so we're really honing in on that as well as the podcast as well. Just focusing on pain point topics of my client demographic.

[Kendra]

Are the changes that you're going to make to your website and your podcasts, are those live or are they in progress?

[John Gigliello]

There are a few changes that have gone live, but they are in, in progress. And I would add this little asterisk to the conversation. My compliance department. So I'm not an ria. I work through the traditional broker dealer and our compliance department is very strict, very strict. So the process of moving things through compliance, get approval and not saying things that I think are okay is, is a time consuming choreograph. So we're working through it.

[Kendra]

Taylor, what's coming up for you.

[Taylor]

I'm just curious. You had mentioned that you have two websites. You have a firm website and you have your individual website. John, on your firm website, it looks like there's six people on the homepage. Do all six of you work together or do you run your own individual practices under the Albany kind of umbrella?

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's a. That's a good question. So, Taylor, you're on the Albany Financial Group website or the Jay Gigley. Okay, so the, the firm. The. The office is. It's. I guess it's the traditional, what they silo practice, so to speak. So there are five other advisors here, give or take, and we all run our own practices. In essence, we're competitors with each other. We get together and we share office expenses. Right. Albany Financial Grade was just a dba. And so office expenses are shared, but we do not share revenues. We all build our own book of business. Yeah.

[Taylor]

So what happens If I'm on AlbanyFinancial.com website and I fill out the form. Let's talk. Take the first step. I fill out my information. Where does that, where's my information go?

[John Gigliello]

Well, are you at my.

[Taylor]

No, just firm website. So just Albany Financial. Okay. I stumble across this site through your marketing efforts and I fill out this information. Does it go to Tony, Steve, you, Walter? Like, who gets this?

[John Gigliello]

Actually, yeah. So that we've had a fair amount recently, I think because of the marketing I have done with the broker dealer. Generic inquiries will come into exactly what you're. You're just specified. And we have a process here, an informal process to pass those referrals along. I get a fair amount of them, so I'm the one that responds to that and sees whether or not that person is qualified to work with us. But it kind of goes. Since the general office website, it kind of goes out to several different people.

[Taylor]

Okay.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah. Yeah. And Taylor, if I could just add on to that. You know, my, My thinking years ago with having my own website versus Albany Financial Group is. Is really to try to ride on the coattails of afg. AFG has been in the community. The name has been in the community since the early 1970s. And it's really. It's got a rich history in the. In the capital district here, Albany, and people know the name. So it was either do I just hang, you know, my shingle out as John Gigliello or do I try to again ride the coattails of AFG by using their website and having my own personal website as well linked. The two are Linked. Okay. So this is always a concern. Do I need to have my own website? It's always a question.

[Taylor]

Yeah, maybe before we, we go there, I just want to make sure I'm understanding to the goal. So right now you're at about 75 million in AUM and you want to get to a hundred million in three years.

[John Gigliello]

Well, I understand that's just a number. I mean, ideally, yeah, that's a pretty aggressive number, I think, but it's just a number to try to aspire to.

[Taylor]

Okay. Yeah, I was just Gonna ask why three years, 100 million. You mentioned you wanted to retire in five years. So is there a certain amount of revenue or additional net worth you need to be able to make that retirement decision?

[John Gigliello]

No, no, honestly, I'm fortunate if I could retire tomorrow if I want. It's just, again, it's just a number. I would make it crystal clear that my goal is to actually retire in two and a half to three years, versus. I'm not trying to hit a number.

[Taylor]

Okay.

[John Gigliello]

To retire.

[Taylor]

Okay.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah. Cool.

[Taylor]

Yeah. So back to the website. I mean. Well, maybe I should ask this clarifying question. So are there more leads coming through the AlbanyFinancial.com website than your personal website?

[John Gigliello]

Yes. Without question?

[Taylor]

Without question. Okay. And is that just through Google search? Just. I mean, is that something. Are you driving, Are you individually driving those leads or everybody just doing a little bit and it's all adding up to a decent number of prospects?

[John Gigliello]

Yeah. No, to be honest, I'm the only one in the office. Or are the. All of the advisors. I'm the only one in the office that is actively trying to grow their, their practice. So nobody else is in a growth mode. Nobody else advertises. Nobody does. Else does anything that I'm. That I'm doing right now.

[Taylor]

Okay.

[John Gigliello]

So it's just me. And I try to. When I get these. When we get these leads and I talk to the person and I'll ask them, well, how'd you find us? Tell it. You know, of course. Right. And they also always give a pretty vague. Well, we found. We Googled. We googled. Not necessarily you, John. We googled Financial planners in Albany, New York, or fiduciary planners in Albany, New York. And we have the good enough SEO, I believe, where alphabetically, I guess. Albany Financial pops up pretty high on the list. And then my name is there as well. So that tends to work sometimes. But.

[Taylor]

Okay.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, it's just me. It's just me doing what I'm doing right here.

[Taylor]

Okay. I mean, if you have the Albany financial.com website. You've got six advisors showcased on the homepage. There's some SEO that's been built up over the years, so people do show up and fill out the form. You have the benefit. You're the only one in growth mode. So the leads come to you and you can pretty much talk to those. To me, it just kind of feels like, I don't know, like let, let that thing just do its thing. That prospects will reach out, they'll find the firm website through SEO. I like, to me, it does feel a little silly to spend your time and money and resources building up this AlbanyFinancial.com website and getting traffic and lead to it when it's not all yours. That there's five other people, five other teams that could theoretically benefit or, you know, you retire and all this juice you built up is somebody else's now. So I almost kind of like, my hunch is like, let the Albany Financial Group website do its thing and some leads might come through, it might turn into something might not. And then from a content perspective, focus on your own domain here at look at the same as like any kind of large firm, if you want to start to create your own unique personal content, it probably makes sense to have a personal brand. And the great thing about your personal site is it feels connected to that Albany Financial website. Like you have Albany Financial Group in, in the menu, in the header. One thing I would like to see in the very first hero area right now, it's got in front of my screen is Medicare and Social Security planning. It's got this stock photo.

[John Gigliello]

This is on my website.

[Taylor]

This is on your website now?

[John Gigliello]

Yeah.

[Taylor]

So I'm on your website again. I like that it feels connected to the Albany website, but on your website because it is personal. I'd prefer to see you front and center. So it's the section down below. But I want it to feel personal. I want to, I want to. I want to see John. I want to feel and, and get to know John or I listen to John's podcast. I went to John's website and there's John. It just feels more personal to me. So your personal website still feels very corporate to me and maybe you're handcuffed a little bit with compliance. But as simple as like that section down below about John, like, let's just move that up. And if you go to my website, my personal website, ustaywealthy.com It's a giant picture of me. It's my personal website. If you go to the firm website, you're not going to see my face until you get to the team page. So I think I like the idea of keeping the personal website and all of your marketing driving the traffic to this personal website. I would just want to make it a little bit more personal and get John above the fold there. Move John up. And then one of your questions was putting out all this content. And I have a comment there. But we're putting out all this content, but we're not getting people to the bottom of your funnel. And I'm not totally surprised because if I come to your personal website, there's not a clear journey for me to take. There's just, like, things for me to do. There's a contact form, but people hate contact form. So it just is no surprise to me that people might stumble across a site and then not do anything because there's not a clear journey for me to take. So there's a bunch of ways we can stitch that together and start to create a journey. And I know you've probably seen my website and the journey that we have users take. Take. But like, something where people show up. It's like if you think we're a potential fit, like, go here to. To go through our process.

[John Gigliello]

Right, yeah. Mix 100. 100%. Yeah, I. I understand. Okay, again, I'm using your marketing funnel, doing the top, middle, and bottom. So we've mapped that all out and yeah, we're on. We're on top of it. So we're making those changes.

[Taylor]

Okay, so speaking of that funnel, then, where are roads leading to when you're putting out content? Facebook ads, podcasts. If you have a call to action to go somewhere, are they going to your personal website or are you directing them to Albany Financial?

[John Gigliello]

No, I'm trying to do everything to. To my website. Everything I do from a marketing perspective is. Is to my website.

[Taylor]

Perfect. Okay, great. So then tell me about the funnel then. Like, what is the single top of funnel activity that's starting to get some traction? And then what's the middle? You mentioned podcasts, so maybe that's what it is. And then.

[John Gigliello]

Right.

[Taylor]

The bottom of the funnel. Again, I'm not really seeing any sort of sales process, bottom of the funnel process. So.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor]

What is your understanding of the funnel at the moment?

[John Gigliello]

Well, again, thanks to you and to Kendra for educating me on this. And again, because we have similar demographics, I'll be the first one to admit I've borrowed quite a bit of your. Your thoughts and your techniques. Here and what you're doing. So we're very similar to that. And thanks very much. Yeah. So top of the funnel, right? Middle of the funnel, I guess would podcast. I really enjoy doing those and it's. I think you get a lot of bang for your buck. So I feel comfortable doing that. Again, I don't. I believe my personality and my sense of humor is, is kind of muted sometimes because of restrictive compliance department. I listen to other popular podcasters and they're apparently have their own ria so they can really, you know, they can really go for it and express their opinions. And I can't do that really. So I'm shackled there to a certain degree. But top, again, I think using the SEO to optimize the website, get people to my website. I was thinking of hiring just an SEO consultant in the area to give us tips for that like on an hourly basis to really maximize the SEO to get people to my website once they're at the website. Hey, by the way, John has this podcast. Okay. Which I have follow up with that. And then you're right, Taylor. There is no bottom of the funnel call to action, so to speak. So again, you know, the timing here is a little tricky, but we're working on it. You know, we're working on providing something of value to qualified people. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Taylor]

So, you know, at the top of funnel activity, we want it to support our middle of the funnel activity. And it is possible to go search engine optimization to John's website to podcast. But that, that's a lot to ask. Like it's hard to move somebody from website content to audio only platform. The best way to grow a podcast is to go on other podcasts, network with other podcasters. People who listen to podcasts want to listen to other podcasts. People who go to Google search and type in Roth conversions and read a nerdy article about Roth conversions aren't always the type of person that wants to go listen to a podcast. So it is a version of the funnel that could work, but you might think more about, okay, I've got this podcast as my middle of the funnel activity. How do I get more people to listen to my podcast? What's the most effective, efficient way to get more people to listen to my podcast? And again, I might argue it would be going to the podcast Movement conference, learning everything you possibly can about podcasting, you know, working on your podcasting skills and guesting another podcast. You might have to start with smaller shows and build some trust and credibility and friendships and kind of Work your way up. But guesting another podcast is, you know, with your target demo is probably the best way to grow your podcast. So a lot more to that, you know, we could certainly dig into there. The other thing that jumps out to me too, John, is that you keep saying that your ideal client is similar to mine, but I don't really see anywhere in your marketing, your website that mentions retirement planning. Like on, at the top of your website here, I see financial education, I see comprehensive financial planning. Your podcast, I clicked on your retirement podcast. But the top, the name of the podcast is Invest in Knowledge. So nothing about retirement there. So part of this.

[John Gigliello]

Notice that, huh.

[Taylor]

So part of this just could be just disconnect. And like nothing is screaming to me that John is the retirement expert. Nothing says that. And so that can be part of the. The difficulty too is no one really knows what John does. That John has sure seems like an experienced advisor, has got designations, worked for a reputable company, but like to me, John just kind of does everything. So thinking about your personal website here again, like, I would love to come to the site and see a nice great picture of John. I specialize in helping people over age 50, you know, 1, 2, and 3. I specialize in helping people transition into retirement, whatever it might be. But that word retirement should be front and center. And then if we're going to go all in on the podcast, maybe there's a podcast rebrand there or a name change. You know, you look at any of the top retirement podcasts and retirement is absolutely in the name of the show.

[John Gigliello]

That's right. Yeah, yeah, I, Yeah, I agree 100%. Can I ask a quick follow up to that? Yeah, yeah. So the, the, that. That's a question I have. Is the, the podcast name, right? So it doesn't scream retirement playing at all. Right. Do you do the both of you feel that. So I do want to change the name of it. Do feel that I should just completely change the name altogether. I mean, build it up, of course, on when I have a couple podcasts, just remind people, hey, we're changing our name. You can. This will be the new name of the podcast. Should so just completely rip the band aid off, so to speak, or kind of keep the Invest in Knowledge name and do a hybrid, get retirement into that existing name somewhere? I don't know, I'm kind of up in the air about that.

[Taylor]

I think you just, you change the name of the existing show, you update the COVID art, it'll. Yeah, it'll update all the past episodes with Your new cover art and your new name, and maybe for the next three or four episodes, just like, hey, welcome to the Retire with John podcast. You know, we've updated our name to better reflect my expertise, you know, and just keep going. Like, it's only gonna take a few episodes for people to realize, oh, you know, John just went through a little rebrand here, a little name change. Like, nothing about the show is changing, so. Right. It's as simple as just. And I've. I've gone through this three times on my show, and the only thing that I've done is I've deleted some old content that is not relevant to my ideal listener. So outside of that, everything has been the same. I've changed the name three times since starting the show. I don't think you need to make that big of a deal of it. Just pick a simple name that has a word retire or retirement in it. Change the COVID art, swap it out on the podcast app, maybe let your listeners know. I mean, you already acknowledge that the listenership isn't large, so it's not like you're getting this giant. This giant change to people.

[John Gigliello]

Exactly. Right. Yeah.

[Taylor]

And again, I wouldn't overthink this. Like, you know, retire with John. Like, I don't know, just like retirement planning with John. Like, it doesn't need to be, like, the simpler, the more basic, the more descriptive, the better. So I don't feel like you need to get overly, you know, creative with it. But the word retire retirement should be in the title and again, the homepage of your website. Let's. Let's get your face up there. Let's get the word retirement, you know, a nice little heading, and then things are going to start to stitch together from there.

[John Gigliello]

Okay. Okay.

[Kendra]

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?

[John Gigliello]

Yes, it does. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for that. Yeah. Again, a quick question on the podcast. Right now I'm doing a monthly podcast. Do you think that that'll get me traction or should I try to ramp it up to twice per month? Can you get traction with a monthly podcast?

[Taylor]

Probably not, but the world of podcasting is just. It's an entirely different animal. On YouTube, you could publish one amazing YouTube video per month and you can likely build traction and build a great channel because the algorithm is there to support your growth efforts. Right. With podcasting, you have to like, slowly build this snowball. Like discovery in the podcasting world is really challenging. So, I mean, I like that you started with once a month and you've been able to commit to that and be consistent. If you feel like, okay, I've got a good process in place now let me bump this up to twice a month or once per week. Don't make too big of a jump that you can't commit to. But yeah, the other thing I was going to say too, John, is, you know, it might take you. Oh, I should say it will likely take you three years, two to three years to build this podcast up to be a predictable growth engine for your practice. And if we're trying to reach a certain target in three years, it might not be feasible. It might be more of a five year plan here. If we're going to lean on the podcast, if we want quicker growth, we might need to focus on something else other than the podcast that.

[John Gigliello]

You read my mind. Because that, that's a follow up question. Am I just pursuing the wrong avenue here with a podcast? Should it just. Should I focus more on engaging my coi and building those reputations through, through those. And just, just work that. Because I have had success with that. And you're right, the trajectory here doesn't really work for, to really build up that podcast following. So what do you think about that, both of you?

[Taylor]

Well, one, I'm hanging on to what you said earlier, which is like, I don't have to grow. Like, I could retire, but I'm not quite ready to. So it's not like we have to grow the firm in the next three years or John can't retire. Maybe a question before I say what I'm going to say. What are you going to, what's going to happen when you retire? You're going to sell your practice to somebody?

[John Gigliello]

Yes. So I have a candidate internally who's very interested in purchasing. Okay. So that's one option, but then outside buyers as well.

[Taylor]

Okay, so, like, what would it look like? You mentioned that you really enjoy podcasting. What would it look like if you committed to building up this podcast over the next two to three years? Maybe it doesn't contribute to a ton of new clients, but I'm sure some clients will still show up. As a result, in three years, you've got a decent sized podcast that you're really proud of that's starting to generate leads. You sell your practice to this internal candidate, you retire, but you still do the podcast because you enjoy it. And now you send those podcast leads to the person that just bought your practice. And maybe you work out a compensation arrangement where they pay you trails on, on those referrals or however you. There's a bunch of ways you can structure that. But like now John's retired, but he's doing what he loves, which is being behind the microphone. And maybe now that you're retired, you have less compliance to deal with and you can be a little bit more yourself and you can, you know, your listeners can get help from the person that just took over your practice. So that could be, that could be something.

[John Gigliello]

Great idea. Yeah. I, of course I'd have to get approval from my better half first on that arrangement. But that's a great idea. Yeah.

[Taylor]

Otherwise. Yeah. I mean, if you're, if you're like, no, I really want 25 million in new assets in the next, you know, two to three years. You know, we might have to, you know, create a more urgent marketing strategy here.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, okay. That's not the case. Right. Okay.

[Kendra]

Which, that more urgent strategy for you is probably going to be a more formal COI process.

[John Gigliello]

Okay.

[Kendra]

Would you agree, Taylor?

[Taylor]

I would Agree. Which means, John, you'd have to put the podcast to the side.

[John Gigliello]

Right.

[Taylor]

There's no way that you're going to build a predictable, sustainable COI marketing process while also keeping up with your podcast. So if growth is critical in the next two to three years, let's think of something that's going to have shorter term success. If you really like content production and you want quicker success, you know, YouTube might be the better path where you could just focus on one amazing retirement focused YouTube video per month. And again, with the discovery engine there, you might see more traction there versus a podcast. So.

[John Gigliello]

But I thank you for that. I have also heard the both of you speak about though be, you know, getting into YouTube jail for at least a year before you can show that you've got a following. Right? Is that so there's a year away from my two and a half year plan.

[Taylor]

Yeah, I mean, potentially. But you know, YouTube. YouTube does reward high quality content. So if you quickly prove that John's not messing around, that this is really high quality stuff. And again, you know, I'm, I'm venturing into the world of YouTube right now and I've invested a significant amount of money, close to 25, $30,000 so far, hiring people that are much smarter than me, you know, guiding me. So I think there are ways, there are shortcuts for sure, hiring the right people. So could it be one year of YouTube jail? I don't know. Now the flip side is that podcasting is a lot more intimate. Like you build this podcasting audience who's very loyal to you, they listen to every single episode that you drop. YouTube is not necessarily that way. Right. Somebody might watch a video, they might love it, but they might not ever watch another video of yours ever again. So there's pros and cons to each of these content platforms.

[John Gigliello]

Okay.

[Kendra]

The big part of YouTube is the, the upside of YouTube is the discoverability. The downside of YouTube is that you have to be better at your craft to get the, and not just the craft of the video, but also the packaging of the title and the thumbnail. So we had a client we just recently launched a channel for, and one of their first videos got like, you know, like 600 views. And that was like right out of the gate. And a big part of that actually had nothing to do with the video, just the, the thumbnail and the title. So you're playing a little bit of a different ball game. But I think Taylor does make a good suggestion there because the timeline is really important in this process. So, you know, we kind of have a little bit of a decision point and I'd love to know from you, you know, what is sounding kind of exciting to you. Are you thinking about, you know, hey, if I want to get some short term wins in the next two years, grow this practice as much as possible. I'm thinking I might, I might lean into COIs. Or are you thinking potentially with the blessing of your better half, that, hey, I love podcasting. I really enjoy this. And you know what? This could also be an additional asset that I would like to continue to build, maybe after I close my firm doors. What's kind of resonating with you?

[John Gigliello]

Honestly, I would say the podcast part of it. I, you know, I just, I've always loved educating people. If I weren't doing this for a living, I'd probably be a college professor. I have taught adjunct for many years, or either a high school teacher. I just love to share knowledge with, with, with others that have accumulated. And, you know, the podcasting is a way for me to do that. You know, you get the word out and, you know, you share the knowledge and if you're, you know, fruitful with that, then so be it. If not, then you're still doing a good deed, still doing the right thing in my book. Anyway. I'm so self conscious about YouTube stuff anyway, and, and it seems daunting. Kendra, the production tale, I'm sure you're just the number you threw out at me now that as far the production process, to be. Yeah, right. To make that all look visually appealing is. Yeah. Daunting.

[Taylor]

Yeah. I mean, I'm. I'm close to nine months in and don't have a single video published yet.

[John Gigliello]

Wow.

[Taylor]

Ben Brandt, good friend of mine in my mastermind group, he finally started publishing his YouTube videos. It took him 10 to 12 months behind the scenes to. To get to where he's at now. So, yeah, I mean, if you want to have again, you could record a video and throw it up like if you want to have.

[John Gigliello]

Which I've done.

[Taylor]

Yeah.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, right.

[Kendra]

I mean, I can tell you behind the scenes, like our team. YouTube is a platform that I'm really excited about for a lot of different reasons. For advisors, it doesn't make sense for everyone. It's a heavy lift. We launched a channel for a client in three months and we've got some videos out there. But dang, it is a lift. It's on an amazing platform. You just got to know what you're up against and you know, I think One of our shared philosophies is here, Taylor, is that we want you to build your marketing on an authentic marketing channel to you. What are you excited about? Because marketing is challenging. Right. We want you to be building marketing in a way that, that goes with the flow of where you are organically interested. So we've done a lot your way today, John. I'm really excited about the conversation we had. I think there's some good things we've pulled out. What I'd love to know from you is, you know, what might you do differently after this conversation today? Or what are a few, your big takeaways from the conversation we had here?

[John Gigliello]

Well, my big takeaway is again, really, really focusing on, for lack of a better term, the low hanging fruit here. You both identified clearly the fact that, you know, I'm not catering to the, my target demographic here. I'm not reaching out to them. So I think some very easy changes just in the podcast title and the content on the website, the structure, the design of my website, I think would, would. Is going to move the needle a little bit at the very least. So that, that's what I'm, I'm coming away with. And, and Taylor, I'm really intrigued now about your idea with the, you know, after retirement to. If I enjoy it that much and I get pretty good at it, well, why not, right? Why not do it? Send them in after I retire.

[Taylor]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I don't know you, John, personally, I've got to know you a little bit here. But like, you don't, you don't strike me as a person who just wants to like, retire and ride off into the sunset. Like, you're so motivated at the stage in your career and like, advisors were naturally educators and helpers and yeah, I mean, whether it's writing books or writing articles or podcasts, like you're. You might want that creative project to continue.

[John Gigliello]

Yeah, there you go. Thank you for that. Yeah, no, you guys have been, you've answered all my questions. I've thrown a lot at it. You. And yeah, I appreciate, I really do appreciate what both of you do.

[Kendra]

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?

[John Gigliello]

Crystal clear.

[Kendra]

All right, for those of you listening, you might have heard this element around a personal brand, and you might wonder, do I need a personal brand website? Well, guess what? We answered this question in depth, in detail. And we talk about the pros, we talk about the cons, we talk about all the hairy speed bumps you're going to hit along the way. We've touched on them here. But if you want to go deeper, we have a full episode where we talk about should you have a personal brand? And how do you drive more email signups from your website? Take a look at the top advisor website questions. That's going to give you a little bit more information there. And if you enjoyed this show, the number one thing that you can do for us is please forward this show, your favorite episode, to one of the other advisors in your network who really needs to understand how do I find more of the people I love to serve? Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To get the resources shared or sign up to join us as a guest on one of our advice line episodes, check out the links in the show notes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.