Experiments in Advisor Marketing: Recent Episodes
Taylor Schulte
Most of my marketing experiments have failed. But, some have succeeded. From spending tens of thousands of dollars on print ads to hiring a Harvard data nerd to run Facebook campaigns, it’s quite possible I’ve experimented more in the last five years than the average advisor has in their entire career. And this is just the beginning.
Join me as I explore the world of marketing in the financial planning industry. Follow along as I experiment with different ideas, share my successes and failures, and interview outside-the-box experts.
Tune in for an exciting announcement!
You'll also learn how to:
► Refine your marketing message
► Stand out from competition online
► Convert more of your ideal prospects (authentically)
If you want to authentically grow your practice while staying true to who you are, you'll enjoy this episode.
CRAVING MORE MARKETING CONTENT?
Check out the Advisor Marketing Made Simple podcast!
Every Wednesday, we discuss successful marketing strategies in a simple, relatable, and practical way.
We also feature real advisors on-air, troubleshooting their marketing challenges and providing solutions LIVE, so you can learn from real-world examples.
Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned veteran, each episode will help you improve your marketing and grow your business—without the guesswork or frustration.
👉 Listen on your favorite app now!
Last chance!!!
The Kitces Financial Planning Value Summit (100% virtual) is TOMORROW.
👉 Click here to learn more and join 1,000+ financial advisors at the Summit.
No boring PPT presentations. No vendors. No sponsors.
Just successful practicing advisors opening their playbook and SHOWING us how they demonstrate their planning value to clients and prospects.
Check out the full agenda here.
Today on the show, I'm sharing 5 (critical) improvements we made this year to our client meeting process.
After years of trying to implement a good, systemized review meeting process...
...our team walked away from this last meeting cycle feeling like we FINALLY found our groove and created a positive experience for both us AND our clients.
And since creating a positive (and valuable) meeting experience for our clients helps to improve client retention and referrals, I think it’s still safe to say that we’re still talking some marketing today. 😊
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Today I'm sharing three lessons I've learned while adding $550k of new revenue in the last 36 months.
I'm also sharing the exact improvements we're making as a result + a new marketing tactic I'm experimenting with.
If you're ready nerd out on some marketing with me so you can reach and help more people, today's episode is for you.
HAVE YOU REGISTERED FOR THE UPCOMING KITCES MARKETING SUMMIT?
Click here to learn more and grab your pass.
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Last chance!
The Kitces Financial Planning Value Summit (100% virtual) is this Thursday.
👉 Learn more and join 900+ financial advisors at the Summit.
No boring PPT presentations. No vendors. No sponsors.
Just successful practicing advisors opening their playbook and SHOWING you how they demonstrate the ongoing value of financial planning.
Check out the full agenda here.
In today's episode, I'm talking about the ONE marketing mistake to avoid in 2023.
It's the most obvious mistake to see and catch...
...yet also the most difficult to avoid.
If you want to avoid this common pitfall + set yourself up for marketing success next year and beyond, this episode is for you.
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✏️ Grab the Episode Show Notes
Today I’m talking about website accessibility.
Specifically, I'm sharing:
- What web accessibility is
- Why it’s important
- How it can boost your SEO
I’m also sharing an update on my email marketing strategy...
...including details about a new service I’ve been testing.
If you're ready to get nerdy on all things advisor marketing today, you're going to enjoy this episode.
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What is the quickest path to marketing success?
What marketing strategy has the most impact on generating new business?
What is the best use of my time and dollars?
If you're a financial advisor asking these same questions, today's episode is for you.
👉 Click here to register for the upcoming Kitces Marketing Summit on April 19th
To view the show notes for this episode, click here.
Today I'm joined by Carl Richards.
I know...you've heard Carl speak dozens of times, read his books, and used his drawings for years.
But today's conversation is truly unique.
We cover:
- Why financial advisors struggle to find success with their marketing
- What advisors can do to improve their marketing approach
- How to get over the fear of sharing your work in public
Carl also shares step-by-step one of the most successful advisor marketing projects he's ever worked on.
If you want to learn the tactics behind this proven marketing strategy + get over your fear of taking action, this episode is for you.
👉 Click Here for Show Notes & Resources Mentioned
Today I’m bringing you up to speed on all the marketing things I’ve been working on since the last episode aired.
I’m sharing:
- What’s been working
- What’s not working
- What I have up my sleeve for the rest of the year, and more!
If you're ready to (finally!) get back to nerding out on marketing with me, today's episode is for you.
👉 Click Here for Show Notes & Resources Mentioned
Today I’m sharing a recent conversation I had with Jay Coulter, host of the Resilient Advisor Show.
We expand on my recent interview with Michael Kitces and talk about three big things:
- What is a marketing funnel and how to create one
- Examples of marketing activities at each stage of the funnel
- What you can expect from the upcoming Kitces Digital Marketing Summit
If you haven’t registered for the Kitces Marketing Summit, get on it!
The 4-hour event is this Thursday at 12pm EST, and it's followed by a community hour where we'll be joined by a special guest to help us unwind and let loose after a jam-packed day.
To learn more and register, head over to www.taylorschulte.com/summit.
And yes, the event is being recorded!
So if you can’t make it live, get registered and you’ll receive the replay + all of the resources and deliverables from the event shortly after it ends.
Lastly, if you haven’t checked out Jay’s live show and podcast for financial advisors, head over to ResilientAdvisor.com. He’s covered everything from how to market to CPAs, effective email marketing strategies, how to execute successful webinar campaigns, and more!
👉 Click here to access the show notes for this episode
Do you want to look "over the shoulder" of some of the top financial advisors to see exactly what successful marketing looks like?
👉 Click here to register for the Kitces Digital Marketing Summit
No boring PPT presentations. No vendors. No sponsors.
Just successful advisory firms taking you behind the scenes and showing exactly what they're doing to reach & help more people.
===========================
Today I'm joined by the one and only Michael Kitces.
Yes, he's widely known for his nerdy financial planning skills...
...but he’s also a sneaky good marketer. 🤫
And today he’s joining us to dive into a marketing topic we don't talk about enough -- Client Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Specifically, we cover three BIG things in this episode:
- Why knowing your CAC is critical to marketing success + how to calculate it
- Where the Lifetime Client Value (LCV) metric fits into the equation
- What's working right now in advisor marketing, what isn't working, and why
If you're a financial advisor who wants to make more informed decisions about how + where to spend your marketing dollars, this episode is for you.
Today I'm talking about User Experience (UX).
Specifically, I'm sharing:
- Why UX might be the most important SEO ranking factor in 2021
- Why it's important...even if you are NOT interested in digital marketing
- 3 UX improvements I recently made that boosted organic traffic by 5x
If you want to get ahead of a major update Google is rolling out in May 2021 + learn some simple tips for improving your marketing, today's episode is for you.
Today I'm talking about media and press releases.
Specifically, I'm sharing:
- How my firm approaches our media strategy
- Our step-by-step process for writing + marketing press releases
- How these activities fit into our marketing wheel
If you're a financial advisor interested in improving your media and press release strategy (without hiring a PR agency!), today's episode is for you.
Today I’m talking end of year marketing planning + sharing an update on my Snappy Kraken experiment.
I’m also sharing a super-simple marketing template to help advisors take action.
If you're ready to work on your 2021 marketing plan and struggling to find a starting point, today's episode is for you.
The EIAM podcast has been hacked!
Thankfully, the culprits used their hacking skills to add massive value to our listeners.
In this episode, they're sharing how to convert leads into clients.
And many of the strategies they share have directly helped me grow my revenue by over 200% in the last three years.
Best of all, they don't require any uncomfortable sales tactics or fancy presentations.
If you're an advisor who wants to learn how to naturally encourage leads to take action, you're going to love today's episode.
Today I’m finally diving into the world of backlinks.
My goal?
To help financial advisor's nail down the basics around Google’s #1 search ranking signal.
I’m sharing exactly what I’ve done and giving you 5 simple steps to take action.
A special guest also drops by to share some tips :)
If improving your SEO has been on your list and you’re not sure where to start or what to do next, you’re gonna love today's episode.
Today I'm joined by Dennis Moseley-Williams who is one of only two certified Experience Economy in the financial services industry.
In this episode, Dennis shares why customer experience is an advisor's best marketing strategy + how to put this concept into action.
If you've joined the members-only section at taylorschulte.com, Dennis will be joining us for marketing office hours this month on Thursday, August 27th.
We'll be continuing today's conversation and diving deeper into actionable strategies advisors can adopt to improve their customer experience.
A quick reminder that discounted pricing ($15/mo) for the members-only section ends TODAY.
If you want to ramp up your marketing + gain access to more marketing resources, head over to www.taylorschulte.com/subscribe.
On today's bonus EIAM episode, I'm sharing an interview I recently did on the Trends With Benefits podcast hosted by Ed Lopez.
We talk about how I got started in financial planning, the transition to starting my firm, and, of course, some advisor marketing :)
Jeremy Schneider grew his personal finance Instagram account to 80k+ followers in less than two years.
He didn't pay for followers.
He never played the "follow for follow" game.
And he doesn't outsource anything.
In this conversation, you'll learn 3 big things:
1.) How and why he uses "lead and lag" metrics to fuel his growth
2.) What his strategy is for hashtags + a pitfall to watch out for
3.) His advice for financial advisors looking to use Instagram to market and grow their firm
Jeremy also shares a FREE Instagram tool he coded himself + the exact spreadsheet he still uses to track his daily progress.
If you want to learn tips and tricks to grow your Instagram following the right way, you're going to love this episode.
Today I’m sharing a big announcement, which includes the opportunity for two of our listeners to work with me on their digital marketing efforts for the rest of 2020.
I’m also sharing:
- An update on my Snappy Kraken experiment + an important tweak to my Facebook business page
- Why the Start Here button is missing from my website
- Best practices for writing email subject lines
- An experiment I’m running in July with my retirement podcast
- A new potential application for network sites like the San Diego Financial Advisors Network
If you’re ready to ramp up your marketing and crush the second half of 2020, this episode is for you.
Today I'm sharing my firm's step-by-step process for writing high-quality blog posts that are optimized for search.
Specifically, I’m sharing:
- How and why we leverage professional writers as a part of this process
- Where in the process the content gets optimized for SEO
- Why images are more important than you might think
- How we go about repurposing the content into other formats
- Things we can do to improve the process
I’m also going to share a quick update on my 6-month Snappy Kraken experiment...which includes an early success story!
It's no secret that podcasting is REALLY popular.
In fact, there are now over one million podcasts!
Recording and publishing audio is easy.
Creating a high-quality podcast with a growing base of raving fans is another story.
That's why I asked two podcasting pro's, Mathew Passy and Benjamin Brandt, to help me with today's episode.
We cover:
- Equipment you need to host a studio-quality podcast
- Resources for how to DIY the editing & production process
- Common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid
- Tips for growing and marketing your podcast
- How to turn raving fans into clients
We also talk about best practices for recording remotely, an extremely timely topic given the state of our world.
If you're a financial advisor who wants to start a podcast or take your existing show to the next level, this episode is for you.
Today I'm joined by Robert Sofia, founder of Snappy Kraken.
We talk:
- How financial advisors should prospect in a volatile market
- What Snappy Kraken is + who is and isn't a good fit
- Tips for creating successful email marketing campaigns
- The details of a 6-month experiment I'll be running with Snappy on this podcast
If you're interested in learning how to prospect in a volatile market and the ins and outs of marketing automation platforms, today's episode is for you.
For all the links and resources mentioned, visit www.taylorschulte.com/14
Today I’m sharing 5 (more) of my favorite tech and marketing tools for financial advisors.
Get this...
26% of users who sign up for your email newsletter (or lead magnet, free PDF guide, etc.) will never confirm their email address.
Thankfully, one of our listeners shared a free tool with me to change that.
I'll be sharing what it is and how I'm using it + a handful of other tech tools I've implemented in the last year.
If you love using technology to save time, improve marketing results, and create a better client experience, today’s episode is for you.
For all the links and resources mentioned, visit www.taylorschulte.com/13
Today I'm FINALLY sharing the results from the snail mail marketing campaign I ran last summer.
I'm also going to be sharing my top three marketing strategies for 2020.
These strategies are simple, effective, and apply to almost every financial advisor.
So if you want to up your marketing game in 2020, you'll enjoy this episode.
For all the links and resources mentioned this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/12
I thought I knew everything I needed to know about Center of Influence (COI) marketing.
And then I met Tiffany Charles.
What I love most about Tiffany and her marketing strategy is that she's done the hard work to create a scalable and repeatable process.
Every step of the process has an agenda.
Every agenda results in an action.
And every action has a follow-up plan.
In today's episode, Tiffany is opening up her playbook and sharing her proven, four-step process with us.
She's also sharing:
- COI marketing best practices for financial advisors
- Mistakes and pitfalls to avoid
- Tips for applying her process to any niche
For all the links and resources mentioned this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/11
In today's episode, I share information about a simple financial planning tool I built that you can download for free.
Then, I'm tackling three really good listener questions I've recently received:
1.) Where is the best place to host my blog? On my firm website? Or on a standalone website with a different name and domain?
2.) How can I launch a well-designed blog from scratch without spending thousands of dollars?
3.) What tips do you have for finding content to write about that consumers are regularly searching for?
As a bonus, I'm sharing a few pitfalls to watch out for when trying to optimize your blog for SEO.
For all the links and resources mentioned this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/10
In 2017, we had over 100 introductory phone calls get scheduled directly through our website. Unfortunately, many of those potential clients were not a good fit for our firm.
Over the last two years, we worked hard to refine our process, get clear about who we do our best work with, and improve the quality of the calls getting scheduled through our site.
Today, I'm sharing my 10 favorite tips for improving organic traffic to your website and turning web visitors into potential clients. I'm also sharing how you can avoid making the same mistakes I did and why your focus should be on quality and not quantity.
For the links and resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/9
Quick announcement! Justin Castelli and I are in the midst of launching a private community for growth-minded advisors.
In short, if you are a fan of this show, you are going to love what we are building.
We are taking these conversations and ideas to a whole new level with guest lectures, workshops, in-depth discussions with peers, and more.
Follow this link to learn more: www.taylorschulte.com/community
On today’s show, we are talking about cold emailing. Specifically:
- Why cold emails are useful in marketing
- Proven tips for improving the response rate of a cold email
- The exact email I sent to a total stranger that led to a pretty rewarding opportunity
For the links and resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/8
The one and only Matthew Jarvis joins me on the show today to talk about how financial advisors can use tax planning to market and grow their firms.
Matt has built a wildly successful advisory firm, generating seven figures in annual revenue while taking more than 200 days out of the office in 2018.
Spending half the year outside the office doesn't interest me, but I have been obsessed with Matt's story since he appeared on Michael Kitces' podcast.
He has become a friend, coach, and mentor and I've learned through our time together that much of his success can be attributed to adding massive value to prospective and existing clients through tax planning.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why there is a big opportunity to inject comprehensive tax planning into your business
- Strategies for using taxes to generate prospective clients
- How to articulate and add massive value to existing clients through tax planning
- How to work with tax preparers and CPA's without stepping on their toes and getting yourself in legal trouble
For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/7
In today's episode, I’m sharing four things I have been working on recently:
- Sonic branding. How we all can up our audio and video marketing to stand out in a noisy content world.
- Back to basics marketing. All the details of a snail marketing experiment we will be deploying this summer.
- Blog/website page optimization. The exact steps I take with each blog post to help improve its organic search visibility.
- A lesson in repurposing content. How a recent podcast episode became the cover story for a highly regarded industry publication.
As a bonus, I'm also sharing an easy-to-implement hack I use to mitigate FOMO and avoid feeling overwhelmed about marketing.
For the links and resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.taylorschulte.com/6
I have something lined up today that I don't think 99% of advisors have ever heard or thought of doing.
Steven Fox, the owner of Next Gen Financial Planning, is taking us behind the scenes into a hyper-local marketing idea he looped me in on two years ago.
Fast forward to today, and this little experiment is producing some powerful results.
The great thing about Steven's clever idea, and the reason I wanted to share it on this podcast, is that it can be applied to just about every city and by any advisor.
With Steven's help, we are going to be sharing four things in today's episode:
- Exactly what this local marketing experiment is and how we got it off the ground
- The specific results we have seen in the last two years
- How you can adopt something similar and what the first step is
- Things we think we can do to improve on so you can avoid the same mistakes and gain traction sooner
For all of the notes, resources, and links mentioned in this episode, go to www.taylorschulte.com/5
If you're a listener of the show, I’m going to assume you are either:
- Not creating content, want to start, and unsure where to begin
- Currently creating content and want to improve and reach more people
If that sounds like you, you're in for a real treat today.
I have four really special guests who have found massive success (both personally and financially) each on a different media platform.
Joining me on the show today I have Jeff Rose, Roger Whitney, Kathy Longo, and Justin Castelli sharing:
- Their favorite content platform and why they think it's best
- How they are using that platform to build and educate their audience
- Their advice for financial advisors who aren’t sure they are on the right platform, want to take their content game to the next level, or don’t know even know where to begin
For all the resources, links, and show notes for this episode, go to www.taylorschulte.com/4.
As you hopefully know by now, I’m not afraid to experiment. And, last year, I experimented with my first acquisition by purchasing a practice from a retiring advisor.
I wanted to go through the process for a few reasons:
- To help another advisor – who I have a lot of respect for – ensure that his clients were going to be well taken care of for the rest of their lives
- To learn and try something new
- To experience the process of an acquisition from start to finish and determine if it’s something I want to build into the future of my firm
In today’s episode, I share my experience as well as three really important things I learned through this process that I wanted to personally take note of in case I ever pursue this again.
For all the details, links, and show notes, go to www.taylorschulte.com/3
In 2017, the Start Here button on our website was responsible for over 100 introductory phone calls.
For some, that might sound like a success. But, over the last couple of years, I’ve learned the hard way that the quantity of calls isn’t always most important.
In the chance it helps others improve their website and avoid some of the mistakes we made when trying to turn web visitors into potential clients, I'm sharing three things today:
- How I’m flipping my marketing approach on its head to improve user experience and success rate
- Step-by-step how we designed our Start Here process and what it looks like today
- Why the Start Here button works so well for us + our goal for 2019 and beyond
For all the details, links, and show notes, go to www.taylorschulte.com/2
Welcome to the very first episode! In this episode, I'll be discussing the what and the why behind the Experiments in Advisor Marketing podcast and setting the stage for future episodes.
I will also be sharing my top 5 tech and marketing tools that I use in my financial advisory practice.
For show notes, links, and resources, please visit www.taylorschulte.com/1