The Fastest Path to Growth: Leverage Other People’s Audiences

Summary

Advisor Marketing Made Simple: Episode Summary

Episode Title: The Fastest Path to Growth: Leverage Other People’s Audiences
Release Date: January 29, 2025
Hosts: Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright

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In this enlightening episode of Advisor Marketing Made Simple, hosts Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright delve into one of the most effective strategies for financial advisors seeking rapid growth: leveraging other people's audiences. Drawing from both their extensive marketing expertise and real-world experiences, they provide a comprehensive guide to implementing this strategy successfully.

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1. Introduction to Leveraging Audiences for Growth

Taylor begins by addressing a recurring question from financial advisors struggling to identify the most impactful marketing strategies. He references a pivotal tweet by Samantha Russell from 20 over 10, where she posed ten marketing-related questions to understand advisors' pain points. Notably, Jess Bost, a financial planner and VP of brand partnerships at Alpha Architect, highlighted a critical follow-up:

“Which one of these, if embraced, has the most impact on generating new business?”
— Jess Bost ([03:30])

This question underscores the common dilemma advisors face in prioritizing their marketing efforts for maximum return on investment.

2. Understanding the Marketing Funnel

To address this, Taylor introduces the concept of the marketing funnel, a strategic framework essential for evaluating and implementing marketing activities. He breaks down the funnel into three distinct layers:

a. Top of Funnel (Awareness)

Activities aimed at building visibility and attracting ideal clients, without the immediate goal of conversion. Examples include:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Paid Advertising
• Social Media Ads
• Direct Mail
• Cold Calling

“The purpose of those activities is not to generate new clients. The purpose is just to simply build awareness and get visibility with your ideal client.”
— Taylor Schulte ([09:22])

b. Middle of Funnel (Trust Building)

Focuses on nurturing relationships and demonstrating expertise to build trust with potential clients. Activities include:

• Educational Content (e.g., podcasts, webinars)
• Email Marketing
• Content Marketing

c. Bottom of Funnel (Conversion)

Dedicated to converting nurtured leads into clients through a structured sales process. Taylor shares his firm's three-step process:

1. Introductory Phone Call
2. Discovery Meeting
3. Presentation and Proposal

“At my firm, it's a three step process that starts with a short introductory phone call, then moves to a discovery meeting where we collect some key documents from them and learn more about their situation. And then it ends with a presentation and a proposal.”
— Taylor Schulte ([07:30])

Taylor emphasizes the importance of tracking and refining each stage, noting his firm's success in converting over 60% of prospects who complete the entire funnel process into clients, resulting in substantial recurring revenue.

3. Taylor Schulte’s Personal Marketing Funnel

Taylor shares a detailed example of his own marketing funnel to illustrate the practical application of these concepts:

• Top of Funnel: SEO targeting the keyword "retirement podcast," aiming to increase visibility through Google searches.
• Middle of Funnel: His podcast, The Stay Wealthy Retirement Show, serves as an educational tool to build trust and showcase expertise.
• Bottom of Funnel: A sales page offering a free financial assessment or a paid retirement and tax plan, guiding prospects through the conversion process.

“The goal with that paid plan is to give them a chance to see us at work, how we're going to solve their specific problems and answer their big questions before they commit to working with us on an ongoing basis.”
— Taylor Schulte ([12:45])

This structured approach has enabled Taylor to generate significant new business, demonstrating the effectiveness of a well-defined marketing funnel.

4. Answering Jess Bost’s Inquiry: The Most Impactful Strategy

Returning to Jess Bost’s question about identifying the most impactful marketing strategy, Taylor offers a decisive answer:

“The marketing strategy that has the most impact on generating new business as quickly as possible with the least amount of resources required is educating your perfect client through someone else's established platform.”
— Taylor Schulte ([13:15])

He advocates for utilizing established platforms such as podcasts, blogs, social media accounts, YouTube channels, and webinars to reach broader audiences without the heavy investment of building one’s own platform from scratch.

5. Five Key Requirements for Successfully Leveraging Other People’s Audiences

Taylor outlines five essential criteria to maximize the effectiveness of this strategy:

a. Own a Specialty

Focus on a specific niche to establish authority and differentiate from competitors.

b. Choose the Right Platform

Select platforms where ideal clients are already engaged and where the advisor feels comfortable.

c. Clear Messaging and Topics

Ensure each appearance or contribution addresses a specific problem and showcases expertise without veering off-topic.

“We want to use that short time that we have to prove that we are an expert in solving a very specific problem for a very specific group of people.”
— Taylor Schulte ([14:50])

d. Single, Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Avoid vague prompts; instead, direct the audience to a specific, actionable next step.

“We specialize in helping retirement savers over age 50 lower their tax bill. In fact, we offer a free tax analysis. To learn more, go to freetaxtanalysis.com.”
— Taylor Schulte ([15:30])

e. Build Authentic Relationships

Foster genuine connections with platform owners to create ongoing opportunities and mutual benefits.

6. Personal Implementation and Results

Taylor shares his own success story to illustrate the strategy's potential:

“Last year when I joined as a guest on the New Retirement Podcast we had roughly 16 of their listeners reach out to our firm after my interview, seven of them go through our Bottom of the Funnel process in its entirety, and four amazing families become clients from one single interview.”
— Taylor Schulte ([16:10])

Additionally, a portion of the podcast audience subscribed to his own podcast, indicating the strategy’s dual impact on both awareness and trust building.

7. Accelerating Success When Time is of the Essence

Acknowledging that building relationships and credibility can be time-consuming, Taylor offers strategies to expedite the process:

• Leverage Existing Relationships: Utilize current connections to gain introductions to larger platforms.
• Prioritize Audience Quality Over Quantity: Focus on platforms with highly engaged and relevant audiences.
• Master Cold Outreach: Invest time in perfecting cold emails or messages to secure guest appearances more efficiently.
• Consider Professional Assistance: Engage outreach agencies to facilitate connections, though noting the associated costs and the importance of finding agencies that prioritize quality over quantity.

“What took me two years could take you two months.”
— Taylor Schulte ([17:02])

8. Conclusion and Takeaways

In wrapping up, Taylor emphasizes that while leveraging other people’s audiences is a potent strategy, it requires dedication, authenticity, and strategic execution. Kendra and Taylor encourage listeners facing marketing challenges to apply these insights and consider their unique business contexts when implementing the strategies discussed.

“Successful marketing takes time, patience, and consistency.”
— Taylor Schulte ([16:34])

For advisors interested in further exploring this strategy or seeking personalized advice, the hosts invite them to join their email list or participate in future advice line episodes, fostering a community of learning and growth.

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Key Takeaways:

• Leverage Established Platforms: Utilize the audiences of established podcasts, blogs, and social media channels to rapidly increase visibility and build trust.
• Define and Utilize the Marketing Funnel: Clearly understand and implement top, middle, and bottom funnel activities to create a structured and effective marketing approach.
• Specialize and Communicate Clearly: Focus on a specific niche and ensure all messaging is clear, targeted, and action-oriented.
• Build Authentic Relationships: Develop genuine connections with platform owners to create sustainable and fruitful marketing collaborations.
• Be Strategic and Patient: While strategies like leveraging other people’s audiences can accelerate growth, they require strategic planning, patience, and consistent effort to yield significant results.

By adhering to these principles, financial advisors can streamline their marketing efforts, achieve sustainable growth, and ultimately better serve their clients.

Transcript

[Taylor Schulte]

Hey everyone.

[Kendra]

Really quick. Before we start today's show, if you're listening to this right now, you've likely listened to one of our advice line episodes where Kendra and I help real life advisors solve their biggest marketing challenges right here live on the show. It's like a free marketing consultation, but recorded so fellow advisors with similar challenges can learn alongside you. It doesn't matter if you have decades of experience or you're just getting started as an advisor. If you have a marketing challenge that's slowing you down, we would love to invite you to join us on a future advice line episode. To be considered, just head over to taylorschulte.com apply and fill out the short form. That's taylorshulte.com apply. We've also included a direct link to the form right there in the episode description in your podcast app. Do not miss this opportunity to get two experienced industry marketers in one place with one goal to provide honest feedback and actionable solutions so you can reach and help more of your ideal clients.

Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor and we're here to make advisor marketing simple.

[Taylor Schulte]

Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I'm your co host, Taylor Schulte, and today I'm sharing an episode that I recorded a couple of years ago addressing what I think is the best, best marketing strategy for advisors. The the strategy that provides the best bang for your buck and if done correctly with the right systems and processes in place to support it, can lead to quick, sustainable success. So whether you need to grow ASAP to reach personal financial goals, or you simply have the capacity and processes in place to take on more clients right now, and you're looking for a proven strategy, this episode will give you the steps you need to take action.

Okay, so I've had this great tweet from my friend Samantha Russell over at 20 over 10 set aside for a while now, about six months to be exact. And I think this is just a really fitting time for me to share some of my thoughts and response to her tweet. So late last year, Samantha turned to Twitter and she asked the following question. She asked, which one of these 10 questions would you want the answer to? You can only pick one. And then she listed all of the questions in a thread. She did this to get an idea of marketing pain points that advisors were currently experiencing so that she could create content and use her marketing expertise to help them. It was a great idea. So a few of the questions were, what makes for a well executed website that actually converts visitors? Another one was what type of social media content posts actually gets engagement? And another was what are, what are best practices for email marketing? You know, sender name, subject lines, the time to send, things like that. So everyone of course had different replies and opinions to her tweet. But the one that jumped out to me was from Jess Bost, who some of you might know. Jess is a financial planner and VP of brand partnerships at Alpha Architect. And Jess replied to Samantha's question with what I thought was a great follow up question. She said, which one of these, if embraced, has the most impact on generating new business? Some of the confusion for me was which one of these moves leads to the greatest outcomes? Not confusion in your questions, just confusion for me as a new advisor with so much to work on. And Samantha had a great answer in which she acknowledged, well, it's tough to say because of two things. Number one, the answer depends on your business and your target audience. True. And two, all of these questions and marketing topics that she posed are all very interconnected. They all work together. Jess is not the first advisor to ask this question. It's quite common, especially with new advisors or advisors struggling with marketing. You know, what's, what's the quickest path to marketing success? What marketing strategy is going to have the most impact? Or what's the best use of my time and dollars? When it comes to marketing, it's really not all that different from a client or prospect asking us what the best mutual fund is or what the best insurance policy is. While a lot of people are looking for shortcuts because they don't want to do the hard work or they don't have the patience to let their boring, low cost investments, you know, slowly compound over time. I, I know that's not where Jess was coming from. She recognizes that time and money are often, very often wasted when it comes to marketing. She's being smart and intentional and she's trying to avoid chasing shiny objects. Resources are not unlimited. So what's going to have the most impact on growing my firm? It's a very valid question and one that I'm not sure we talk about enough. So given that, I wanted to share some thoughts about how I might answer Jess's question. So to kick it off first, before we consider or pursue any marketing strategy, SEO, podcasting, blogging, email marketing, whatever it might be, we we have to document where that strategy or activity fits into our marketing funnel. You might remember the marketing funnel from the Kitsis marketing summit in 2021. But to quickly recap, the marketing funnel has three layers, the top, the middle and the bottom. Top of funnel marketing activities is where we build awareness to our firm, to our brand, to our services. When we engage in top of funnel activities, our goal is not to convert someone into a client. Our goal is just to get visibility. We attract our ideal clients into our ecosystem, our funnel. And there are a few different opinions on what marketing activities fit where. But to me, top of funnel marketing activities include things like SEO, search engine optimization or paid advertising, or paid social media ads or direct mail. Even cold calling could be considered a top of funnel marketing activity. These activities build awareness and they help us get in front of people who we do our best work for. Once we have their attention, then we want to move them into the middle of our marketing funnel. The middle of our funnel is where we build trust, we show our expertise and we nurture our ideal clients. Again, the goal here is not to convert them into a client. The goal is to just build trust and show them how we can solve their specific pain points. Some people are ready to take action right away and move to the bottom of the funnel asap. And others might take months or years for before they're ready. But when they are ready, we want to have a good process for moving them into the bottom of our funnel. And that's where we take them through a thoughtful process to show that potential client that our solution, our services are the most fitting for their needs. The goal at this stage is for, in my opinion, 60% or more of the people who go through the bottom of the funnel process in its entirety to become a client. Anything less than that and your bottom of the funnel activity likely needs some help and attention. Notice I said in its entirety because some people do drop into the bottom of your funnel who aren't a good fit. And in those cases we might refer them to another firm or provide some resources to help them get to the right person. Again, there are some different opinions here, but to me a bottom of the funnel activity as it pertains to financial advisors would be some sort of process a potential client goes through to evaluate your services. In other words, a sales process, a journey of some sort that leads them to make a final decision about engaging services. At my firm, it's a three step process that starts with a short introductory phone call, then moves to a discovery meeting where we collect some key documents from them and learn more about their situation. And then it ends with a presentation and a proposal. And over the last 24 months, exactly because we measure this and track it exactly, 61% of the people that we took through that process became clients, which led to about $400,000 in new recurring annual revenue just over the last two years. So back to my initial comment that got us here. Before we consider or pursue any marketing strategy, we have to document where that strategy or activity fits in our marketing funnel. Why? Because it allows us to set proper expectations. Think about Jess's question for a moment. She asked which one of these strategies will have the most impact? To answer that question and set proper expectations with Jess, we have to get clear on where that activity fits in our marketing funnel. One of the most common frustrations I hear from advisors is with regards to paid social media ads. Taylor I hired the best marketing agency I could find to run social media ads for me. I'm spending thousands of dollars per month and I haven't seen a single client as a result. I hear similar things about SEO as well. Taylor. I'm getting all sorts of traffic to my website, either on my own or I paid somebody and I'm not seeing any clients from it. To which I say, well, where does that specific activity fit in your marketing funnel? Those examples, those two examples were both top of funnel marketing activities. The purpose of those activities is not to generate new clients. The purpose is just to simply build.

Awareness and get visibility with your ideal client.

That marketing activity might actually be performing really well and doing its job. It just might be that the middle of your funnel or or bottom of the funnel needs some help and attention. So by getting clear about where something fits in the marketing funnel, we can then set goals and set proper expectations. We can properly evaluate whether or not something is working. To round this all out, you might have multiple marketing funnels working for you at a time. In fact, you probably should have multiple marketing funnels going. Not immediately, but once. Once you have a funnel in place and you've measured the results and you've refined it and you've proven that it's working, then you can move on to creating another funnel. Here's an example of one of my marketing funnels. The top of funnel activity is SEO Search Engine optimization. And specifically I've targeted the keyword retirement podcast. So my goal is that retirement podcast, when somebody goes to Google and types in that keyword that My retirement podcast, the Stay Wealthy Retirement show, gets visibility in front of people searching for that show. Once someone finds my show through search engine optimization, by going to Google and typing in that keyword, when someone finds my show and subscribes to it, I use the podcast, my podcast itself, as my middle of the funnel activity. Specifically, this is what I would call an education based marketing activity. This is where I educate my ideal client, I show my expertise and I build trust with them. Some listeners check out one episode and then move straight into the bottom of my funnel. Others will listen for years before they take action. And others may never take action. The bottom of my funnel is a sales page on our website which walks them through our sales process, which historically was a free financial assessment, but is now being tested as a paid one time retirement and tax plan. It still starts with a free initial consultation, but then they have to commit to that one time payment before moving forward from there. So just about every call to action to in the middle of my funnel is driving them to consider that free financial assessment or now a paid one time retirement plan that we're testing. The goal with that paid plan is to give them a chance to see us at work, how we're going to solve their specific problems and answer their big questions before they commit to working with us on an ongoing basis. So back to Jess's question, which I'm done dancing around and I want to provide an actual answer to. It would take, you know, 12 plus months and potentially thousands of dollars depending on her skill set and expertise and willing to learn. It might take 12 months and thousands of dollars for Jess to rank for hyper specific keywords that her ideal client is typing into Google. And that's likely not the answer that Jess is looking for. It might also take two to three years for her to launch a podcast and build an audience. You've probably heard me talk about that magic three year rule. Uh, I know one advisor who spends $50,000 a year to manage and maintain his podcast, so it can be costly as well. Again, likely not what Jess is looking for in asking that question. In my opinion, the marketing strategy that has the most impact on generating new business as quickly as possible with the least amount of resources required is are you ready for it? Educating your perfect client through through someone else's established platform. For example, guesting on an established podcast, writing for an established blog, taking over an established social media account, being interviewed on an established YouTube channel, speaking to or hosting a webinar for an established organization. Now, in order to find success with this, there are five things that are required in my opinion. One, you have to have one specialty and you have to own that specialty. Now, it's okay if you have multiple demographic demographics that you serve or multiple specialties, but if you, if you do have multiple for the starting point for this marketing activity, Just choose one that you're most passionate about and own it. Number two is to pick one platform, one platform that you enjoy and one platform where you know your ideal client lives. Number three, you have to have a clear message and a clear topic every time you join one of these established platforms. In other words, we don't want to use this platform to talk about ourselves and our career path and our career story and common misconceptions around personal finance or how to find a financial advisor. We want to use that short time that we have to prove that we are an expert in solving a very specific problem for a very specific group of group of people. And if we tackled number two correctly, those are the exact people listening to your interview or listening to your webinar or reading your article. Number four, you have to have one single clear call to action. Not go to my website and check me out on all the social media channels or shoot me an email if you have any questions. It's we specialize in helping retirement savers over age 50 lower their tax bill. In fact, we offer a free tax analysis. To learn more, go to free tax analysis.com that's an example of being hyper specific with one single clear call to action. Number five is build an authentic relationship with the owner of that platform. If this is all done correctly, you're you are helping them by providing value to their audience and they will likely want you back. The more relationships you build with this marketing strategy, the more the flywheel gets going and the more success you'll have. And did you notice that one, this strategy did not require you to require you to build your own platform or build your own audience, and 2 it didn't require you to pay thousands of dollars to pursue it. It certainly takes time, but that's to be expected. There's no free lunch here. We're simply searching for the best marketing activity that has the most impact on generating new business with the least amount of resources required. One of the reasons this activity works so well is, of course because you're shortcutting the path to building an audience. But it's also because it's one single activity that covers both the top of the marketing funnel and the middle of the marketing funnel. The podcast that you guest on brings awareness to you, your firm, your solutions, while also showing your expertise and building trust with those people. And then your single clear call to action will move those who are ready straight to the bottom of your funnel. And that's exactly what happened last year when I joined as a guest on the New Retirement Podcast we had roughly 16 of their listeners reach out to our firm after my interview, Seven of them go through our Bottom of the Funnel process in its entirety, and four four amazing families become clients from one single interview. Not only that, but a good chunk of their audience. Those listeners that didn't reach out to my firm, a good chunk of them subscribed to my retirement podcast I. E. The middle of my marketing funnel. So maybe they weren't ready last year to take action, but maybe we'll hear from them this year, or next year, or a few now.

Okay, I hope you found that helpful. I just want to jump in here and briefly reiterate that just because I strongly believe that this marketing strategy is effective doesn't mean that it's easy. In fact, it might feel easier or more authentic for you to build your own platform and your own trusted audience instead of leveraging someone else's. Successful marketing takes time, patience, and consistency. And while I had immediate success being.

[Kendra]

A guest on the New Retirement podcast.

[Taylor Schulte]

In the example I just shared in that episode, keep in mind that it took me a couple of years to gain credibility, build a relationship with the host of that show, and be in a position to reach out and ask about sharing my expertise on his podcast.

It reminds me of the famous quote.

It takes decades to make an overnight success. With all that being said, there are certainly strategies for finding success with this approach more quickly if time is of the essence. For example, it's possible that you already have relationships with people who have platforms with an audience that matches your ideal client. Or maybe you know someone who knows someone who can make a warm introduction. It's possible that your immediate network doesn't.

Have the largest platform out there, but.

The quality of the audience is often more important than the quantity. You could also consider fine tuning your cold outreach skills to learn how to write the perfect cold email or cold DM. There are dozens of courses, articles, and YouTube videos to learn how to perfect this skill.

If this is appealing to you and.

Feels authentic, you might spend the next.

30 days mastering the art of cold.

Emails and then start taking action by sending out a handful of pitches every day. What took me two years could take you two months. Again, perhaps you shortcut the time it takes by doing this, but it doesn't.

Mean it's an easy strategy. Mastering the art of reaching out to.

Strangers in an effort to share your expertise with their audience takes time and dedication, but it can be wildly effective. Lastly, you can also consider investing marketing dollars with an outreach agency to help you secure speaking opportunities or podcast interviews or social media collaborations, webinars, or even seminars.

While this can be an effective approach.

It isn't cheap and it may take a little time to find the right agency that's willing to take the time.

To understand your target client.

In my experience, some of these agencies can get focused on the quantity of opportunities they land versus the quality of the audiences that they can help gain access to. If you have any follow up questions.

And or would like Kendra and I.

To dive into this topic in more detail in a future episode, join our email list and send us a message or shoot us a DM via social media. We'll provide links to both of those.

In today's Show Notes. Thank you as always for continuing to tune in to the show and we.

Will see you back here next week.

[Kendra]

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.