Advisor Marketing Made Simple: Episode Summary
Title: Advice Line: Why No One Is Showing Up To Your Webinars (Ross Blount)
Release Date: June 25, 2025
Host/Authors: Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright
Guest: Ross Blount, Springbok Wealth
Introduction
In this episode of Advisor Marketing Made Simple, hosts Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright welcome Ross Blount from Springbok Wealth. Ross, a seasoned financial advisor with 13 years of experience, recently launched his solo advisory firm and is currently generating $160,000 in revenue. His goal is to scale to $500,000 in revenue within the next five years. Ross seeks guidance on increasing attendance for his webinars, which have so far failed to attract live participants despite having registrants.
Understanding Ross's Current Clientele and Marketing Efforts
Identifying the Ideal Client Profile (ICP): Ross initially targeted business owners for retirement and exit planning. However, after nine months with minimal traction, he pivoted to focus on pre-retirees and retirees. Currently, about 10% of his clients are business owners, while the majority are pre-retirees.
"When I first launched my business, my whole focus was working with business owners. So I really wanted to help them with retirement planning, exit planning, et cetera. But nine months into launching, I was not getting much traction at all. So I went back to what I knew previously and working with pre retirees and retirees."
— Ross Blount [00:37]
Current Marketing Channels: Ross relies heavily on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Local Service Ads, investing around $2,000 monthly on an SEO agency and an additional $1,500 to $2,500 on Google ads. Most of his leads come from online searches such as "financial advisor near me" or "retirement planning."
"So majority, if not most of my leads that come in or prospects that come in are actually finding me on Google."
— Ross Blount [02:45]
He also promotes his webinars primarily through Facebook and LinkedIn ads, along with email invites to his existing (albeit small) list and referrals from Centers of Influence (COIs).
"So on the webinars, it's mostly been through Facebook and LinkedIn is where I've been promoting those."
— Ross Blount [05:04]
Challenges with Webinar Attendance
Despite multiple attempts, Ross has struggled to garner live attendance for his webinars. He has hosted three to four webinars with registrations hindered by bots and a lack of genuine participants.
"All three of them haven't had anyone attend. I've had some people sign up, but no attendees, unfortunately."
— Ross Blount [00:33]
He mentioned issues such as "bots" infiltrating his sign-up process, resulting in registrations from non-serious prospects.
"There were bots. Well, what I figured were bots because there were no names, you know, incorrect phone numbers, strange email addresses."
— Ross Blount [07:44]
Hosts' Analysis and Recommendations
Focus on Niche and ICP Refinement: Kendra and Taylor emphasize the importance of clearly defining Ross's target audience. They suggest narrowing down his ICP beyond just "pre-retirees" to specific professions or demographics to create more tailored and compelling webinar content.
"Start with what are the three to five pain points that you're really excited to solve and you're really good at helping them solve...then backing into who has these sort of pain points."
— Taylor Schulte [10:18]
Platform Optimization: The hosts recommend evaluating the effectiveness of different advertising platforms. They point out that LinkedIn offers more precise targeting options, such as job titles, which might be more effective for Ross's audience compared to the broader, interest-driven targeting on Facebook.
"Facebook is more interest driven so that even the platform can really change. So you're really looking at a couple things here on the paid ads front for webinars. One we touched on is who are we targeting? Then I think, which platform are we going to run ads?"
— Kendra Wright [22:19]
Investing in Expertise: Both hosts stress the value of hiring specialists, particularly those experienced in webinar marketing for financial advisors. Taylor recounts his own experience of learning the intricacies of YouTube marketing only after hiring experts, suggesting Ross could benefit similarly by investing in a webinar-focused marketing agency.
"I do think it would go a really long way to go and find and interview, you know, three or four webinar focused agencies...because it, it is a heavy lift and it is easier to go hire that expert to help you go through this process."
— Taylor Schulte [26:40]
Content Strategy: They advise creating a content calendar centered around a few core topics that address specific pain points of the target audience. Repeating and repurposing these topics can build familiarity and trust, leading to higher engagement over time.
"I don't think you need to challenge yourself like every single week I have to come up with like a new, a new topic...you lay out a three-month content calendar and just rotate those topics."
— Taylor Schulte [34:10]
Leveraging Existing Channels: Ross is encouraged to maximize his successful SEO efforts while reallocating funds from underperforming strategies to enhance his webinar marketing funnel. This includes possibly reducing expenditure on SEO to invest more in targeted webinar promotions.
"I think you'll survive. I would like to see it more focused."
— Kendra Wright [17:20]
Actionable Steps for Ross
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Refine Target Audience:
- Define a more specific ICP by identifying professions or demographics within the pre-retiree segment.
- Document the top three to five pain points that Ross excels in addressing.
-
Optimize Ad Platforms:
- Analyze performance on Facebook vs. LinkedIn.
- Consider focusing more on the platform that yields higher quality leads.
-
Invest in Webinar Expertise:
- Research and hire a specialized webinar marketing agency.
- Explore resources such as the KITA Summit recordings, particularly David Sandu’s session on webinar marketing.
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Develop a Focused Content Calendar:
- Create a set of core webinar topics that address specific client pain points.
- Rotate and repurpose these topics to maintain consistency and build audience familiarity.
-
Reallocate Marketing Budget:
- Shift funds from less effective SEO efforts towards enhancing the webinar marketing strategy.
- Ensure budget allocation supports a singular, focused marketing funnel for better predictability.
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Enhance Webinar Offerings:
- Incorporate interactive elements like Q&A sessions to increase engagement.
- Personalize content to cater to the refined ICP.
-
Leverage Existing Local Service Ads:
- Continue investing in relatively cost-effective local service ads to maintain a steady flow of new clients while building the webinar funnel.
"I believe in outsourcing wherever I can and yes, it's going to cost more, it's going to save me a lot of time, it's going to save me a lot of frustration and it's going to help drive the end result a lot faster."
— Ross Blount [30:13]
Conclusion
Taylor and Kendra provide Ross with a clear roadmap to enhance his webinar attendance and overall marketing strategy. By refining his target audience, optimizing ad platforms, investing in specialized expertise, and developing a focused content calendar, Ross can create a more effective and predictable marketing funnel. The hosts emphasize the importance of concentrating efforts and resources on strategies that align with Ross's strengths and business goals, ultimately aiming to help him achieve his revenue targets.
"Less is more, better focus, more results, not the other way around."
— Kendra Wright [35:18]
Ross departs the conversation with actionable insights and a renewed strategy to tackle his webinar attendance challenges, embodying the show's mission to simplify and amplify financial advisor marketing strategies.
Key Takeaways:
- Clearly define and refine your ideal client profile.
- Optimize and possibly narrow down advertising platforms based on where your target audience is most active.
- Invest in specialized expertise to streamline and enhance your marketing efforts.
- Develop a focused and repeatable content strategy to build trust and engagement.
- Allocate your marketing budget towards strategies that yield the highest returns and align with your business objectives.
For more insights and actionable strategies, tune into future episodes of Advisor Marketing Made Simple with Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright.