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Advisor Marketing Made Simple
Advice Line: Why Your Podcast Isn’t Attracting Clients—and How to Fix It (Steve Taylor)
00:33:00
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- [00:00]
A
Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor and we're here to make Advisor Marketing simple. Today's guest is Steve from Merited Wealth. His team of four has been helping self employed professionals like doctors, lawyers and small business owners for 11 years. They currently manage 165 million in AUM and they want to grow to 300 million in the next five years. Welcome to Advisor Marketing Made Simple. Steve, what's that big question you want to jump into today?
- [00:32]
B
You know, the question I really want to jump into, guys, is I have a podcast. I've been doing it for a while and I'm just wondering the future of it, right. The next steps to take. I've tried a lot of different things out there, throwing that spaghetti against the wall and I'm just trying to get some, you know, a little more focus and strategy behind it and really make this, you know, fit me, my firm going forward or if not, you know, let it go. Right. I want to make sure this is a part of the future for me.
- [01:00]
A
Okay, before we kind of look at the marketing activities and how we can focus those more, can you tell me a little bit more about who you're trying to attract through your marketing, what your ideal client looks like?
- [01:08]
B
Yeah, so my ideal client is a, I say a partner, lover, professional, a attorney, doctor, cpa, owns her own firm, small business owner. And then I do have a little bit of a niche with some business executives and really those are the people I'm trying, trying to attract. My marketing approach in the past, I'm a recovering attorney and you know, a lot of my marketing in the past as an attorney was kind of to establish myself as the expert. And when you really go out there, whether you, you know, you speak in audiences, wherever it might be, it attracts people, attracts referrals. So, so my goal for my marketing has been to establish myself as an expert. Right. And you know, people come and they refer to me, you know, to have a basis of information for them to look up and learn more about me and to attract them. Not, it's not really. I don't really, you know, try to do funnels or bringing people in like in that sites, but it's really just trying to just really market my expertise and attract people that way.
- [02:06]
A
Okay. And you know, you mentioned loving to work with doctors, lawyers, things like that of your current book of business, like what could you give me a high level breakdown of, you know, 10% are doctors, 15% of lawyers. Like, what's some ballpark math on what your current client load looks like?
- [02:23]
B
Well, let's say professionals and business owners, I believe are probably around 50 to 60%. Right. Those ones, we have some retirees. I don't focus on the retirees really. Honestly, I'm not that interested in the retiree market. And then we have a niche. From my legal background, we have a niche working with directed trusts and special needs trusts. And so we advise, do the investment management on trust. But for my Target markets, about 50 to 60%, those are the clients we have.
- [02:52]
A
When you say professionals versus business owners, how do you classify those? Can you kind of help me understand what that means?
- [02:58]
B
Yeah, professional, really simply you're receiving an income for advice, you're providing services. Right. Business owners typically widgets. Right. Maybe it's a subscription based product or something like that, but it's the professionals that you typically have to have a license. And that advice that you're giving and you're receiving kind of like us, right? We're receiving revenue, we have our license. That's how I classify professionals.
- [03:21]
A
Okay, Taylor, what questions do you have around ideal client?
- [03:24]
C
I mean, I don't really have any questions. I'm sure, Kendra, your mind goes the same place where like it does feel like, Steve, that there are a number of different, you know, target clients. And that always makes marketing challenging. When we work with some attorneys over here and business owners over here and there's just different groups of people with different pain points not telling you to go to ditch that and you know, get really narrow on one single one. But it just does make your marketing a little bit more challenging. So I'm not sure if I have any questions other than Steven, if, if you wanted to reach one specific person, is there, is there one ideal client that you would consider going all in on?
- [03:59]
B
Yeah. So this goes to my podcast, right? What I call it, you know, I've gotten lots of different feedback on the do it for Yourself podcast. Right. It's for those people that are out there that are doing it for themselves in whatever fashion. Right. So someone who doesn't really, you know, doesn't cash a W2, you know, it's their own business or out there doing it. Those are the people that I'm focused on. Right. While, you know, doctors, attorneys, CPAs. Are there pain points very different? Not really. You know, it's pretty much these are the people that are very busy. They don't really have the time to focus on taking care of their items and they need the basics. Right. The basics are really, you need to have a good estate plan. Right. You have to look at Asset protection. You want to look at savings items like that. So that's who I focus on because that's who I am. I always say, look, my ideal client is me that I've been a self employed attorney, now self employed financial advisor. Are my needs different? You know, you guys can, can tell me. I don't think, I don't think they're that different. So as, as far as going all in on one profession, no, I'm not, I've not chosen that that's a choice. I don't think that it's, you know, it's needed to really get a group of people with similar needs and catering to what they need.
- [05:09]
C
I mean, it sounds like you're okay casting a fairly wide net and that this podcast is more of a. Just a general personal finance podcast, which is reflected in some of the content that I see here. Is that a fair representation?
- [05:23]
B
No, what I really, it's not general finance. It's basically geared towards business owners who are running businesses. So it's really. I'm bringing in. Where I started out was an interviewing format of other, you know, friends and people maybe that want to make clients or develop relationships with, interview them about their business, find out about their challenges, you know, words of advice and nuggets. So in general, what I've tried to do is what I say it is for those that are out there doing it for themselves in whatever fashion, you know, and to try to, to give them some value and information on, on hiring. Right. For example, different topics, you know, that come out, whether you know, growth or different, you know, marketing guests and all the like. So it's focused on those people that are running their own business that have those responsibilities and trying to talk to them there. It's not. My goal was not to go at personal finance. I felt there was a lot of those out there. So I'm trying to. This might be wrong. Right. That's why I'm here. I want to come in, in a different direction and give them general advice on their, on their business to make them a client that way.
- [06:33]
C
So part of the challenge with that approach, and I think this is what you're, you're running into, is you're positioning other people as the experts that come on your show to add value to your ideal clients. So your listeners, your audience is not looking at you and saying, oh wow, Stephen knows a lot about this. Like this is exactly how he helps his clients. Like I want to hire Steven. It sounds like you're bringing on other experts to come on the show to share their knowledge with your ideal client, I. E. They're the expert on the show. You're just hosting the interview. And so again, you're not positioning yourself as the expert and showcasing how you solve all these pain points for your perfect client. And I also see just kind of a wide range of topics here. Like, you mentioned that the podcast is for business owners just like yourself. But, like, does your ideal client care about the truth, about being an RIA or protecting their jewelry or the art of storytelling? Like, I just feel a lot of disconnect with. With these topics. It's like, these topics are not screaming pain points for my ideal business owner. They're interesting topics. I mean, I'll give you that. Like, it's interesting stuff, but, like, I think you're running into, you know, who is this content really for? And who is the expert? And why would the listener on the other end and want to reach out to you as a result of the content you're publishing?
- [07:53]
B
Yeah. So that's interesting because I've been thinking about that for a while, for now, and what I try to do is, yes, I know it showcases them, but then I give my feedback. And when my marketing VA does the shorts and all the like, it's focusing on a lot of it of what I'm saying. But no, I have, I have realized it morphed into that. Right. It started in kind of the interview format, because I was just trying to figure out what kind of format I liked, what I enjoyed. I like having conversations. I like talking about business. Right. But no, I have realized, especially as of late, because who I have coming to me, I have, like, PR firms trying to give their people as guests. And I've gone, I've gone through with that because it's easy, right? I don't have to get my own guests. They're, they're, they're coming to my door. But yeah, I, I totally agree that that is, that is an element of having these other people on that I'm looking. I think I need to go away. And I've been hesitant myself. Right. To just go out there on my own. And really, I don't like to be. I don't like to talk about myself. Right. But I guess I got to get over that and really to try to demonstrate the expert and address the, the pain points. Because, yeah, it is, it is kind of indirect trying to go through these other, these other guests.
- [08:59]
C
Yeah. To be clear, this isn't talking about yourself. This is like, hey, I'm an expert in solving this thing, I know people just like you have these three problems. Let me tell you what they are and how I solve them for my clients. Let me just tell you how you can solve them on your own. Like, you don't have to hire me. That's essentially what I do on my show is like, here's the problem, here's how you solve it. If you want to go and do it on your own, go for it. But there's a tiny fraction of the audience that doesn't want to do it themselves. The analogy, like, I could go mow my own lawn, but I'd rather spend my time doing something else. I'll hire somebody to do it for me. So, yeah, don't. Don't think about this as like talking about yourself necessarily. Like, help people give them everything in the kitchen sink. Knowing that a small percentage of them do not want to do this on their own. You're going to open their eyes and then realize, like, hey, I want somebody else to do the heavy lifting for me. I want to clarify one thing. You know, you mentioned podcasts. Like, when I hear podcasts, I think audio only podcast. I think, you know, Kitsis is, you know, financial advisor, success podcast. Like, there's no YouTube component. When you think of podcasts, are you thinking strictly YouTube?
- [09:55]
B
So here's what happened, Taylor. How I started someone, I hire someone, they, they helped, they started me out. We were primarily on, I think it was, it was whatever. It was anchor before it was Spotify. Right. It was primarily audio. And then I got this new VA and we started going more YouTube. So when I say podcast, honestly, it means both. I record here in zoom. I get two different files and my VA puts it at different places. I'll tell you a lot of the feedback we've been getting as, as we've built that and gotten an audience and getting impressions, it is all happening on YouTube. Our actual podcast, we, you know, we're on, we're on podcasts with apples and everything like that. We don't get much engagement there. So when I say, yeah, it's covering, it's covering both.
- [10:39]
C
Okay, I just said, I know you're looking for really candid feedback here.
- [10:43]
B
Please.
- [10:44]
C
I don't see that YouTube's working.
- [10:45]
B
Okay.
- [10:46]
C
You've got 168 videos and 215 subscribers. And what this boils down to is the way you would produce a podcast for YouTube is very different than how you would produce an audio only version of the podcast. It's really hard to, to create it for both. Both platforms. Some creators have, have done a good job doing it, but it is really challenging. I'm trying to think of a really good example here. I think one good example outside of our profession would be Jay Clouse of Creator Science. So his podcast is specifically built for YouTube. Now he does take that audio and put it into an audio only feed, but it's not as impactful to me as a listener because in his YouTube version he's pulling up, you know, examples, screen sharing. His guests come on and share different things on their screen, like it's interactive and visual. So I'm not getting the full experience as an audio listener. But that's a sacrifice he's willing to make because he wants to go all in on YouTube. In our profession, maybe a good example might be the Compound and Friends, the Ritholtz group and the YouTube show that they have. Like they invested a lot of money and time to build a set in their Office specifically for YouTube. Having charts showing on the screen, like it's very interactive. You, you have a much better experience watching their show on YouTube than you do listening to it on, on a podcast. So you almost have to choose one of these mediums and build the show around that medium. Yes, you can repurpose it, that's fine. But like set that to the side. Let's build the show for YouTube if that's what we want to do. And I say that like I don't see YouTube working because you have 215 subscribers, like 168 videos. I've, I just launched on YouTube this year. I have six videos and I have almost 2,000 subscribers and almost 200,000 views with just six videos. And that's not because I'm better than you or no more than you or anything like that. It's just that I created those six videos specifically for YouTube and spent a lot of time to figure that out.
- [12:45]
B
Let me ask you Taylor, do you think your podcast and your other marketing is feeding YouTube? Because it's a great question. Let's. I very much appreciate that. The candid, like when, when do you know at a certain amount of time. And the subscribers like what is worthwhile? Like we have something that tells me impressions. I'm ah, that doesn't really mean that much. A few thousand impressions here or there to say when it's not working, what are the metrics to tell you that it is working. Right? I mean it sounds. Yours is very successful but like if you don't have like X, you don't do it. Or I mean how, how do you measure it?
- [13:20]
C
So I was under strict orders from the agency I hired, do not send anybody, you know, any of your existing audience to YouTube. So I was completely fresh on YouTube for the very first time. I was told not to bring any of my existing audience because you want to train the algorithm on YouTube. You want to teach the algorithm who your ideal viewer is. And so when you publish your first video on YouTube, YouTube takes your video and they give it to like 20 people, like a test group of people, and they watch the analytics or the algorithm does and determine who liked that video, who watched it the longest. Now let's give it to more people just like that and kind of keeps going from there. In the beginning, I love Kendra, what she calls it, she says you get stuck in YouTube jail for a period of time. So YouTube wants to know you're serious. So the first five videos or so typically don't perform very well. I'm a bit of an exception and nobody really knows why. The agency is kind of scratching their head a little bit. But typically the first five videos kind of, they fall flat. YouTube's still trying to figure you out after that. Like, you should see real traction. Like, you know when a video is working and when it's not. I don't have an exact number for you, but like we know now when we publish a video and within one day it's got a thousand views and the next day it's got 5,000 views, we can pretty much predict that that video is going to have tens of thousands of views in the coming days and coming weeks. And then I can look in the analytics and see who is watching this video. If I find out that a bunch of 30 year olds are watching my video about retirement planning, like there's a giant disconnect. So all these analytics and metrics are very easy to track and maybe to, I don't know if it better answers your question, but like, who else on YouTube is doing something like you targeting your same ideal client and what are their views, what are their subscribers look like? And that can maybe allow you to start to set some proper expectations to say, well, you know that guy or gal over there, every time he or she posts a video, they're getting X amount of views. And I'm only getting this like, you know, what the potential is and maybe how to, you know, measure the success that you're having. But I think in addition to improving the name of the podcast, because I agree, like, it's, it's pretty confusing as to what do it yourself Podcast Is I think improving some of the branding and, and messaging and title of the podcast would certainly be helpful. But I think more than that is just the content. The content to me looks built more for like an audio only show. I don't come to YouTube to watch this type of video. I'll watch an interview, but it needs to be interactive. There needs to be visuals, needs to be kind of a beautiful, pretty set. You know, a Joe Rogan type thing. Ritholtz, compounding friends. So I don't know, is that helpful?
- [15:52]
B
Very helpful. Very helpful, yeah.
- [15:55]
A
And because I get this question so much that it drives me insane, a lot of advisors think if they have a podcast they can just put it on YouTube and that that's going to grow the podcast. That has not been my experience and I have been paid a significant amount of money to try to make that work. I wish that worked so bad. But the way I look at marketing funnels when it comes to YouTube and when it comes to a podcast is they are very separate platforms with very different user behavior and very different needs for growth. So if you're, if you're looking at this and you want to build a funnel or start to attract your ideal client after we get radically clear on who that ideal client is, and I'll be really frank, I'm still kind of confused on who we're talking to. I think we've talked about 17 different kinds of ideal clients, so I'm a little confused. If we're talking about business owners, which I think is really amazing because you are a small business owner, or maybe attorneys because you've been a recovering attorney, then we look at the channel. I would either choose the podcast or YouTube, not both. And I would not see them as connected.
- [16:58]
B
Interesting. Interesting. Okay. No, I understand. And then as far as Taylor, you're talking about YouTube and where that's focused on there. How is the audio only podcast? How is that different? What do you, you just. The focus is just on, I guess the subject matters, the good audio. It's a totally different production vehicle and I would guess, you know, much easier.
- [17:20]
C
Yeah. You know, you imagine the. And I'm a good example because I actually prefer consuming content via podcasts. When I'm listening to podcasts. I'm at the gym, I'm taking a walk around my neighborhood, I'm driving to work. Right. Like I have time to listen to people interview each other. You have a lot more freedom on a podcast to kind of ramble. It doesn't need to be as tight. When I'm watching a YouTube video or I'm producing a YouTube video. Like I have to keep in mind that there's a lot of content and I gotta capture this viewer's attention quickly and I have to hold their attention. And so the way you create content through video is just very different than a podcast. You just have a lot more freedom and flexibility. I hate to say like ramble, but like it doesn't need to be as tight because that's not the expectation of the listener. Again, they're on a long walk or they're at the gym or they have a long car ride. And that's why Joe Rogan can get away with a three hour interview. Because you know, again, that's how podcast listeners consume content. So you just have more freedom and flexibility there. And I think one good example is my buddy Peter Lazaroff who has the Long Term Investor podcast. It's a phenomenal podcast and he's a great interviewer and he's a really sharp guy and he has really, really high profile guests on his podcast, his YouTube channel where he repurposes the videos of these interviews. It doesn't really get much engagement and traction. You know, a thousand subscribers, 272 videos. You know, last video has 69 views. Like, like there's not a lot of traction there. But like he's not trying to grow his YouTube channel. It's just like I'm doing this thing, I'll go ahead and post it on YouTube. But he's primarily focused on building that audio only version of the show because that's really what it's built for. Again, his guests are not coming on a show showing cool visuals. He doesn't have this like beautiful studio. So if you're going to continue to host interviews like you're doing right now, it just might be better fit for that audio only. Not to say you can't repurpose it on YouTube, just set proper expectations that like even if you have extremely high profile guests and you have a phenomenal interview, it's just if it's not, it's not created for YouTube, you just might not get much traction.
- [19:22]
B
I understand, I understand. Kendra, going back to your comment where you're talking about you're still not sure who the ideal client is or I know I listen and I watch a lot of marketing say niche down, say the person kind of hit, hit their pain points. So you believe that you need to get as profession specific and not need specific. Right. So like many people can say you're busy, you're in your middle 30s to 50s, you have kids, you're running a business that seems. Yes, that would hit a wide range of different professions. So you're saying trying to produce content for that area person, that stage of life that doesn't work unless you're backing up with like, yeah, I mean you the doctor, I mean you the lawyer. Is, is that what your, your recommendation, what you're saying?
- [20:06]
A
I think there's a lot of ways to approach niching. Some are really obvious, like hey, I work with attorneys or chiropract, you know, or doctors and things of that regard, like their career specialty. For you, you could even say small business for example. Let's just get a little bit narrow there. Maybe you still do work with doctors, lawyers, small business owners. You can still narrow down to just that. But you also mentioned, you know, professionals, some pre retirees, some business executives and like they just have very different pain points. So let me paint you a clearer picture here. So right now when I go to your website, the first, first header I see is built for growth mode. I don't know what that means and technically I am a small business owner. So if I were rewriting your header and let's say we're just going to narrow in on doctors, lawyers and small business owners, those kind of small, you know, service providers, the header could sound something like this. Running a small business is hard enough. We make sure the money part isn't. We help doctors, lawyers and small business owners get clear on cash flow, taxes and their financial plan. Do you see how that speaks to like we're at least carving out a little more clarity around who you serve. And there may be some things that like you mentioned, do apply to doctors and lawyers and small business owners. But when I see like professionals, a few pre retirees, a few business executives, especially when I see a crossover between self employed into W2 or like equity comp. We're just dealing with different kinds of people. And the reason why understanding who we're speaking to is really, really important is that that's going to impact also how we show up on these channels, whether it's a podcast or YouTube. You know, right now, your content on YouTube, one of your recent posts was how this fintech startup is disrupting wealth management with AI that does not speak to a doctor or lawyer or small business owner. Maybe something like, you know, what to do when your business flow feels like a roller coaster or you know, how do you balance paying yourself and reinvesting in your business? And I'm not even saying these are you know, outstanding content, ideas. But you can see how if we create this kind of content on YouTube or a podcast and then they come to your website and it just says built for growth mode, we're going to start to have a disconnect. So often the show we really narrow in on who are we trying to reach, what do they care about, how do we help them, and how does it matter to them? And. And then we look at the channel. So those are a couple of the pieces that are just a little bit disconnected. And I think you have some really cool things to work with with your background and your history that you could really leverage for these, you know, different small business owners or maybe attorneys.
- [22:49]
B
Yeah, no, that's really helpful. Just. And we're going through a full. For the exact points that you are giving a full website redo, I want.
- [22:57]
A
To stop you and say, I'm not saying you need a new website.
- [23:00]
B
No, no, I already made that decision. I hear you, I hear you. I already made that decision for exactly those reasons. It's not. It doesn't reflect who we are. It doesn't talk to who we're get our messaging clear and who we're trying to work with. So I, I understand. I understand. And. And it goes in line with this. I mean, where I got caught up also being the financial advisor, I listen to other financial advisor podcasts. I got some of the people I listen to on my podcast. I've done some specialties on RA because I've really just tried a lot of different things to see what was interesting. Like, do I want to be seen as an expert in my business? So that does that then give me any credibility from my clients and growing my business. Right. Being an expert with other financial advisors. So I was testing that out. So I, I totally understand and I appreciate the candid feedback. Right. And that's. That's all over the place. Because I was trying. I mean, I kind of. I was trying all these different things, and now I've known it for a while. I've like, okay, something. This needs to change. This needs to get more focused and be more strategic or. Or don't do it because my business is growing. Fine. I enjoy some aspects of this. Do I put my time somewhere else?
- [24:06]
C
Stephen, does small business owners feel too narrow to you?
- [24:10]
B
No, it doesn't.
- [24:11]
C
I always think of your website just like your home base. This messaging would. Would go into other places. But, like, would you be okay with your website front and center saying, we help small business owners accomplish 1, 2, and 3?
- [24:24]
B
I think that, that that's a good recommendation because. Right. Small business owners that can be. Everyone defines that differently. Right. Whether it's 5, 10, 25 million of revenue, whatever it might be. And I do understand the concept, even though people will know me, even though that's my niche, I will get other referrals. It doesn't feel too narrow. And that's what I think for whatever I do go forward, it should be more specific. Kind of draw that line in the sand and say this is who we work with and this is what we do best and be very clear about that.
- [24:54]
A
That.
- [24:54]
B
Okay, yeah.
- [24:55]
C
I do think you should attach a revenue number to that statement. You know, we help small business owners with over a million dollars in revenue or with revenue between 1 and $10 million, however you want to kind of frame it. But there should be something more because to your point, like a small business owner could be just a complete startup. You know, do you want startups reaching out to you? So it could be number of employees. We help small business owners with five to 10 employees or small business owners that have, have been around for 20 plus years. I don't know, like something to try and get a little bit closer. Not perfect, just a little bit closer. So, you know, we help small business owners with 1 to $10 million of revenue accomplish, you know, 1, 2 and 3. If you can narrow down that statement as like your big bold headline that represents you and your firm, then everything becomes much easier and we don't have to worry about doctors and attorneys. We can just create some case studies in our website to represent these different people that are small business owners with one to $10 million of revenue with those pain points because a doctor might have the same issue as an attorney. So we don't have to get so focused on is it doctors or is it attorneys? I don't know. There may be five different types of business owners, professionals that have those same pain points. But we got to start at the top. Small business owners with these three problems, that's what I help solve for. And then all of your content is going to be built off of kind of that statement and those case studies. So every single thing you produce, if one of those three things is, you know, we help small business owners lower their taxes, well, I mean you could think of 200 different topics around reducing taxes for small business owners. So every podcast you produce, grab one of those topics. One of those things that tactics that can help a small business owner lower their tax bill, maybe you are bringing on experts. Again, that's Something for you to decide whether you want to position other people as the expert or not. But it could just be, you know, a 10 minute video of like, hey, you're a small business owner, one to $10 million of revenue. You know, I help people like you lower their tax bill. I'm going to show you this one cool thing, one way to do that and walk through it.
- [26:54]
B
Yeah, no, very helpful. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. That's, that's what it needs to be. No, I understand, I understand. And this was, it was interesting. Taylor, you know why I started the podcast? I started listening to them shortly after Covid. I listened to the, the one you used to do, right? And you say, hey, if you want to start a podcast, just start. Right? Just start, get it out there. It doesn't to be perfect, whatever it might be. And so then it kind of meandered for a while and you know, it's, it's, it's, it's been out there, but now, yeah, now's the time to draw it back in. And no, I appreciate all the feedback. I agree with everything you're saying. And then now it's just for me to go back, take that and decide, hey, do I want to repurpose and focus on this, right. And make that my effort or this efforts that I'm doing? And whether a YouTube channel or, or a podcast, right. We'll call it audio. Audio podcast. Is that really where I want to spend my time? Do I feel that's going to move the needle and that's where I have to make that decision.
- [27:47]
A
So, Stephen, we've thrown a lot of different ideas your way. I really appreciate how open you've been to us, giving you super candid feedback. We really care about giving you some practical, actionable stuff. What do you think you might do differently going forward after this conversation? Is there any big, big aha's or takeaways?
- [28:05]
B
The biggest thing that I'm going to do, my biggest takeaway is going to be that it was just the confirmation that I was, I was doing it wrong with all these other guests, right. That that was feeling wrong. I'm cutting that off as far as whatever I choose to do with marketing. I mean, to Taylor's point, I listen to audio. I don't watch YouTube. Right. It's just, I guess my kind of, my VA pushed me more towards, towards YouTube. So I mean, I can focus back on the audio and I was already thinking about it. It's confirmed that I need to go in there and establish myself as the expert and What Taylor just said right now we help small business owners. All my content is a focus on that. Be very, very specific. Right. Because I kind of fall prey, you know, to you say like these topics, like people would reach out. Oh, that sounds interesting. Let me just talk about it. But no, that's kind of like, that's all over the place. So I need to, I don't know what I'm, I don't want to say make it less interesting, but make it less, make it less diverse, focus in on it. And yeah, if I'm going to make that my effort, build that content, redo that or like I said, right. If I don't find value in that, I'll just go a different direction. But this has been, it's been very helpful.
- [29:19]
C
Maybe just one thought there that came up as you're saying that like the topic could apply to just about anybody. Maybe an example that comes to mind is like target date funds. Okay. I might do an episode on target date funds, but I'm going to build it specifically for my ideal client. Right. So someone who's over age 57 figures saved in their 401k and I'm going to angle the whole episode around using target date funds for that person. But if I was targeting young, you know, 20 year olds just starting their career, I could build an entirely different episode around target date funds and using them as you're starting off in your financial saving journey. And so like the topic could apply to a lot of different people, but you're going to craft the episode, you're going to craft the content specifically for your small business owner.
- [30:02]
B
Yeah.
- [30:02]
C
So hopefully that makes sense.
- [30:03]
B
Like yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Very helpful. And, and yeah, you know, lean in. Like I said, who I am with the attorneys, I have a good number of attorneys that's, that's always felt like the low lying fruit. But if it's, if it's a good, a good reason, focus in even more on that. And yeah, no, all very, all very helpful.
- [30:21]
A
At the end of the day, I think this really comes back to who are you really just excited to serve and how do you want to educate them? And then how do we build a simple and clear way to take someone from content to client? That's really what we're trying to do here. So you know, going forward, a couple things to really consider to help you narrow your focus and start to prepare to build an effective marketing funnel. The first step is just, you know, getting that avatar clarity. You know, even if you could narrow down into some of the messaging we talked about with, with small business owners, you know, maybe something like 1 to 10 million or. And then we help them with X, Y and Z really first starting with who do you want to serve? Now you can serve more people, but it's really hard to market to many. So let's get clearer there. Then we can start to look at, you know, what platform do you want to build on? Do you want to build the podcast? Do you want to build on YouTube? Choose one, set the other aside. So now we know who we're building for, where we're building, and then we start to talk about content, which then you're going to start to get really specific with that content and the way that tailored just mentioned so that when someone were to listen to your podcast or your YouTube channel, they will hear your content, see your content and be like, this is clearly for me. Now, depending on which route you choose, you know, if you choose a podcast and you go out for small business owners, you could potentially update that title a little bit, align that content as well. And then finally, you know, on your website, I would just make a couple simple copy updates. I shared some sample messaging here just so that if someone does land there from your podcast or your YouTube channel, it's very clear who you do your best work with. So there's a lot of good pieces here. And this is what so many advisors struggle with, is some of these foundational pieces before they get into building their funnel. So the great news is if you align, you know, who you serve, where you want to build in a way that works for you, and you get very specific in your content, we can build a funnel almost anywhere. We can build a podcast, we can build on YouTube. So these are the foundational elements once you get them right and then you can decide where you want to build. So thank you so much for being so open to our feedback. We were very candid with you and we just appreciate you swinging open the doors to your firm and letting us take a look inside.
- [32:27]
B
No, I appreciate you guys. Thanks a lot for having me on and yeah, I have a lot of value here. Thank you.
- [32:33]
C
Thanks, Steven.
- [32:35]
A
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.