As an advisor, you guide clients to do the right things with their money and mindset. And it’s no coincidence that the ones who listen have the most optimized wealth.
Imagine you applied this exact same expertise to become more influential in your market…
In this episode, Matt Halloran and Kirk Lowe flip the script. They show you how to look in the mirror and take your own advice as an advisor. Matt and Kirk have some fun sharing examples of commonly used financial adages that, when applied to running a business, will make massive shifts in your influence trajectory.
Matt and Kirk discuss:
- How to build marketing equity that creates Marketing Momentum over time
- How diversification in marketing creates greater value for your audience
- Every reason to work with a marketing specialist (vs. generalist)
- The dangers of falling behind on sharing your thought leadership and Return on Influence
- And more
There is a transcript.
Matt Halloran is the host of the top advisor marketing show. Matt Halloran is your host. Being your own loud is not new to marketing, but the mindset, strategies, and resources to help you get there are evolving quicker than this industry is keeping up. Finding a new perspective on what works, why, and how to move your business is important.
Listen as I teach you how to be your own loud. Get to the show.
Hello and welcome to another top advisor marketing show. My name is Matt Halloran and I am your host. I have a man here, Kirk. It has been a while since we talked.
Kirk Lowe said it had been. Are you aware of why?
It was a really long time.
Kirk Lowe said that they don't want to be a normal company because they are busy building one. It takes a lot of work to try to be great.
Matt Halloran said yes.
But as influence.
We have carved out some time.
Kirk Lowe said that they are dedicated to setting a wonderful example and building actions and habits that do that. We've been crazy even though I haven't been here. We didn't let it go.
We found a way, even though we have two of us. We are going to return to it here. We are talking about something today. There are some fun things we have today.
This could be fun because we have some fun stuff. This isn't going to feel like we're doing a podcast because this is the sort of stuff that you and I talk about all the time.
We are going to talk about the financial adages, colloquialisms, and how they are used by financial advisors on a regular basis. What you say to your clients is similar to what we say to our clients in the world of marketing. Today, we're going to address each of them.
Kirk Lowe said yes. I'm going to go first. We are having fun with this, but we are not pointing fingers. Everybody has hypocrisies, and we just shared one of ours.
We're going to have a good time with this, but these are serious things and they're true. One of the things we do here is to help people understand what marketing really is. If you don't understand the purpose of marketing until you own a business, you won't be successful at it. We know that. We want to share that wisdom with everyone. This should be helpful for us. If you are a financial professional, this will give you an interesting perspective on how we think and how you think.
We want you to know that we're calling on you to do it for your audience and be a great professional. We will do the same thing. One of the most common phrases used in financial services is... It gets a lot of worldwide coverage. Buy-and-hold investing or investing for the long term is what it is.
It's amazing to me, Kirk, that the advisors are saying that in every meeting. Yes, right? We say that in every meeting because we believe and we haven't really branded it, but you and I were talking about it a few days ago.
It's slow marketing. Yes, right? Great marketing begins slowly and gains steam over time. Like their portfolios. The power of compound interest is what makes it so. We are talking about that.
Kirk Lowe doesn't like slow sounds. Slow cooking makes a difference. It's true. Yes, right? It's healthy at least. What sounds better is compound marketing. You're really trying to do momentum marketing if you don't understand it. We can call it buy-and- hold marketing. When you think of marketing assets or marketing equity, are you building marketing assets and equity?
When you build a website, you become an asset. The value of your business depends on when you put it up, the day after or the day after that. I have bumped it many times.
Brother, you're flailing with your hands. Continue.
Kirk Lowe knows. This is also being videotaped as well. Hopefully it works out well for people who are just listening. I combed my hair and looked smart.
The idea here is that the content is worth something.
I think it's like art. Building a great portfolio that has value over time is the same thing that you are doing.
Kirk Lowe said it was a 100 percent. When you build something, is it worth anything? You add on top of that.
It is worth more now. When you have a video up there, it's out in the market. It's worth something because it's still useful. It's worth a lot when you get the second and third pieces of content.
There is a lot of credibility in the fact that ProudMouth has done a lot of podcasts. It's a significant event. The marketing has something in common. It has something to last. Pull marketing is a type of marketing that is push-oriented.
Sometimes push marketing isn't worth the time. If it's all you're doing when you're marketing, you don't...you're not building any marketing equity, so it's hard to get to the destination you want.
We're not talking about celebrities that you see in the media or that kind of thing. Yeah, we're talking about celebrities in your area. There are a lot of celebrities in the financial service industry. You can be that for your audience in your industry, in your niche, in your region.
That is the first one. Hopefully that's correct. Are you interested in taking the next one?
Being diversified is the best way to succeed over the long term. Why aren't you taking that one?
There are different opinions on this. Depending on who your audience is, you can bediversified.
You want to give people what they want because they prefer different media. That is one way. Why aren't you doing video if you are doing a podcasts? Why aren't you turning your website into a show?
Why aren't you turning your show into a website? If you're doing a show on a show, why aren't you giving it more of a social media focus? Why aren't you doing a webinars if you are doing a podcasts? They can't get to know you if you don't send them your audio book. Why don't you talk about social media?
Why aren't you talking about your show? Why don't you announce your show in your seminar? Sign up. There are a lot of opportunities. There are a few ideas.
I would say that most advisers have some sort of diversification. What do you think is the most common thing an advisor does? People would have websites. I would say 95, maybe even more, but let's go with 99%
99% of people don't have their own website, but they do have other people's writings. Almost everyone would have a social media account. It's possible that not everyone is. It could be 80-90%. What are some other things that people wouldn't have?
The majority of people don't have social media. Your optimism is wonderful, my friend. That isn't the case. Most of them have done something. Yes, right? A lot of people are shooting video. Everybody from stages at conferences are talking about the power of video.
They are doing it badly. Yes, right? You know what. I'm going to bridge this gap very quickly, which is, "You know what?" You will get what you pay for if you hire a discount broker. You won't get advice from a specialist who only works with people like you.
That's niche focused again. Again, Kirk, you can see how that goes into, you know, "Yes, you can just grab your phone and shoot a video" Yes, right? Oh my God, I can't believe it. When you get good lighting and you know what you're going to talk about in your practice and you know the distance from the camera, that makes a big difference in the quality of things.
When it comes to marketing, you get what you pay for.
Kirk Lowe said yes. Are you an expert in your field? Advisors spend a lot of time in their profession preaching this to others. Everyone knows how to pick a stock.
There's a lot of information about what you're doing, just like there is with marketing. It's easy to feel like you know what you're doing and there are people who will talk to you about it.
You can listen to me here on the social networking site. You need to find people that have done this. They do nothing else. They're aware of it. Look for those people when you think about marketing. Look for people who are honest and genuine.
It's a big thing. If you've got a company who's promising a lot, but you want the things that they're promising, but are they actually capable of delivering those and are those the things that you really need from them in the first place, is it worth it? When we use the word "lead generation" in an article, it gets a lot of hits.
Over the years we have avoided that because we don't want to. We have incorporated it into our stuff. We talk about it in a different way. Return on influence is more important than return on investment because there are so many different ways to win at thought leadership sharing.
When you're looking for someone, make sure you find someone who has the right kind of advice. They have been doing this for a while. They know how to work with your profession's quirks. You recorded a video that had three points. It is possible that they are really important for you to share now. It was almost like a redo. Anyhow,
Many of you think that you know what you want to do in marketing, but you don't have the experience or expertise, so I'll shorten it. I would like to put that into perspective.
I've helped a lot of people retire. You only have one chance to retire. A quarter of a million social media posts have been done by us. Don't start with four podcasts a month, you'll burn out really fast. Well, guess what? We're aware of what's being said.
The second one has something to do with sponsorship. The show is sponsored by you. It was brought to you by your firm. Don't cheap out and try to get something for less. Experience is the last thing.
If you don't have someone in your corner who is going to help you get good behind the microphone, you won't be able to do it.
Kirk Lowe said yes. Helping you push something out is the other way around. It's true. What is a good example or analogy from an advisor to a client standpoint?
Giving them access might be a good idea. Tell them what to do but not give them access to software or anything like that. Is that stuff?
Matt Halloran: Absolutely. You know, there are a lot of things like that, but, you know, just being able to, you know...Overarching, make a statement about a specific product or service, but never providing them with any access to further education or the Execution of being able to do that stuff
Financial advisors get frustrated with that all the time. You have to rise above that noise if you want to stay in touch with your clients. You will get your lunch eaten if you don't rise above that noise.
Kirk Lowe said they would be nice about "finfluencers."
I'm sorry. It's true. I'm going to.
Kirk Lowe said they're not. They could be well-intentioned and intelligent people with a lot of experience who have had bad experiences with financial professionals trying to do their own thing.
A lot of the time it is a perspective. Their audiences are similar to them and they're helping them navigate that. Sometimes, I think the intentions are different, and sometimes it's just a waste of time.
The ones who are typically doing this are not regulated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because I know a lot of people that would prefer to do a show without that. Do it in the context of your business model.
Unless you've been told you can't do thought leadership, it's really bad. It is going to be very hard.
It's when you move. It's just the way things are. At some point, you're going to leave, which is my favorite point because I've heard you say this many times on this show, "Get into the market and invest now."
This is what advisers say to their clients. Don't wait and get into the market. Two decades ago was the best time to plant a tree. Today is the best day of the year. Take it.
Kirk Lowe asked how many people put off doing something because they thought they'd catch up or start it. I'm starting to worry for advisors who haven't started thought leadership.
It doesn't mean you have to hire a company to run a show twice a month. You have to be working on your thought leadership muscles. You need to get used to it. To record thought leadership, you need to set actions and habits. You have to learn how to package and share it.
If you're not starting to experience that and understand it, you're missing out on a lot of opportunities. Would you like to go through the return on influence? It's worth repeating because I know you do it a fair amount. A lot.
Thank you for that, I think you're correct. The idea before I jump into that.
Kirk Lowe thinks he's right.
Well, I do. I'm pretty sure you're correct a lot. Cheers to that.
Kirk Lowe said he thought you came up with the return on influence. We may have come up with the term, but I think you are the one who made the final decision about the five things.
Good for me. I don't know where a lot of this stuff came from.
Kirk Lowe is a pretty smart fellow.
Return on influence. I want to talk about what you were saying. Influence marketing started at the best time.
Those people who have 50 videos, 100 podcasts, and really robust social media are so far ahead of you because they have more social proof. Here are the five returns on influence. The best client communication tool is number one. When it's convenient, this is the best way for you to build influence with your clients.
That also means that the content you create has value. That's a big return on the investment. It's the easiest thing to say. When Bill was on this show, he said to me, "Matt, it's so much easier to refer somebody to do a podcasts than to call my guy."
He has an entire program built around referrals, but he also has thought leadership that he can use to drive people to his program. That's the second one. The number three is the share of wallet. It's easier to get a new client than it is to get an existing one.
Some of you have a misconception that you have 100 percent of your clients' assets. You are incorrect. A majority of you don't. That is a statistical fact that has been played out many times in studies with the public. You have the chance to think outside the box.
The one I like the most is this. For a brief moment, I'm going to talk about something. The estate planning attorney was brought on by one of our clients. He asked Jane if she had a desk drawer full of the trusts that have been signed and paid on.
Jane said, "Yep, totally." A lot of those are mine. He asked, "What do you suggest that our listener do?" She said that the trusts should be funded. Our advisor got phone call after phone call after phone call saying, "Hey, I don't know if you know this, but I have $250,000 in a bank CD that I was going to use to fund this trust." I need help putting that to work.
That is printing money. So that's number three? There are centers of influence. This is my favorite. This model has helped us grow our business. You bring on people who have larger audiences than you that are within your sphere of influence and you get them to come on your show.
I want to tell you that this is true and very clear. Why would they be on your show if they didn't think you were worthy of being on it?
You are receiving endorsements and testimonials from a third party. Yes, right? They are on your show. The show is shared with their network. It's called the circles of influence. Net new assets is what everyone wants to know about.
They are going to refer you to new business if you do all of those things. Those are the five return on investment. I hope it wasn't that long.
Kirk Lowe wanted to make sure the people listening understood what he was saying. You can find guests on your show that have larger audiences, but you can also find guests that are ideal for your audience. Sometimes, you can find people who add a lot of value to what your clients need to hear, and your audience doesn't need to worry about it.
That does happen. We do that many times. We have someone on sometimes. As a guest, it may not be perfect. A lot of value is added by them. They are brought on because we think our audience will want to hear about that. Sometimes, it stretches a little bit outside marketing, and we just feel that it's really good stuff and they're good people, and we bring them on.
We have time for a few more. Do you know if you're ready? The next thing is...plan, plan, plan. Don't deviate from the plan.
Kirk Lowe said he had seen statistics. I don't think it's more than 25%. How many financial advisers have business plans?
There are business plans. Business plans aren't marketing plans.
Kirk Lowe asked what the difference was.
I don't know. You and Joe Lucas would argue about that. Marketing is not a part of the business.
A business plan talks about your business model and services, but they're not the only ones.
There is a marketing plan. There are marketing plans for financial advisers. The high end is 25. It isn't sufficient. If a client didn't have a financial plan, you wouldn't advocate for it. Financial professionals who sell products don't care if you have a plan or not.
The same thing is happening here. Don't sell a product. There is a marketing tactic that doesn't consider it. A plan doesn't have to be a long one.
It could be a single page summary. Maybe it's a mind map. Understand what you are doing It's a good idea to let your team or the marketing people know about it. You don't have to refer to it every day, but you definitely need a journey, like an end game, and how you're going to get there, and then how long it will take.
One of the areas that we talk about is synergy, which is a rocket booster. It's possible to have a synergy. Things that are neat. Have a plan, but not yet. You don't have to do it that long, but you should have one. It's important.
If you don't have a marketing plan written by someone, I think you should.
We have some great strategic partners who can help you create a really, really clear and succinct marketing plan. We have a lot of great courses there. Okay. The last one that we're going to finish with is, "Don't get investment advice from your uncle."
You and I hear this a lot. It's always the same thing. It's not "Don't get investment advice from your uncle" but "Elaborate on that."
It has happened a lot. Think about how many people were told that social media is the best way to market financial services.
How many people were told about seminar marketing? How many people were told about a book? I remember listening to audio CDs. I recall those. It came in a small package. That was the most important thing in the world.
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When it was a big deal, you would shoot a video and send it to your clients.
Kirk Lowe said that there are people who think that podcasting is. It's not the holiest of places. It is not the holiest of places. Right now, video is a big thing. Everyone would like to be on video. If you're just doing video and don't know anything else, then you shouldn't be on video.
Video is going to be hard because there is no other way to market it. Sometimes, we come across someone who has done a bunch of podcasts, but hasn't pushed them out to the world, hasn't spent any money sharing them, or talked about their social media. Some of them don't need to put it out on Facebook.
They would like to send them private. It's alright. You need to have all kinds of marketing in place if you want to be successful for most of us. That is the way it goes. Do you agree?
When we talked about this, you said "Don't get investment advice from your uncle" I might have taken it in a different direction. We're going to wrap up when I take that direction. A lot of the time, people say, "Oh, I know a guy who has a band who has some audio equipment." They will run my show. My nephew has a large following on social media. She's going to be hired.
They aren't experts. They are not professional. They're in a situation where they're going to take investment advice from their CPA.
Kirk Lowe knows how to get people to follow him on social media. You don't need anything else. I'll let you build up your following. It's true. Are you going to follow what? You don't know how to lead. You are not doing anything.
You don't have a person on social media who is always posting. What is the purpose of having an audience. Where did you build that group of people?
Is that audience the right crowd for you? You don't want your nephew to have a following on social media because they are Gen Z.
They're probably not your ideal clients. I just wanted to move ahead.
Kirk Lowe: Another one that's difficult is search engine Optimisation. I've heard a lot of people talking about the internet. SEO can work well for you, but the amount of dedication is important. It's not true that they can do it quickly.
It is not easy. There needs to be a lot of authentic material. Content that is being searched is what you need. Some people are specialists, and the things that they need people to look for, they don't know, and they don't understand. They don't know what's going on.
They're looking for simple things. That can be good if you're doing awareness campaigns and you're educating people so that they can find that stuff. When people are searching for something you're selling or talking about, it's SEMrush's job to find it. It's not worth doing if that isn't there.
It is possible to do it for some basic reasons. It's possible to have a business with the help of a search engine. It would be great if people could find you and you have some boxes checked. When it's not right for you and your audience, it's a huge waste of money to go after the internet search engine. How many people have been deceived?
That's the thing, Kirk. That's the reason we're so frustrated. People want to help advisors stop being the best kept secrets in their area. We are sorry that it isn't quicker. We already influence the accelerators. We can help you speed it up with a proven system and technique.
If we could get you the results in six months, Kirk and I would sign up for that. We would be better off than astronauts.
Kirk Lowe: Well, what is really interesting? The more power you have, the longer it will take. I'm not sure if I should be talking about this or not.
Matt Halloran is holding on. We are running up on time. Is this our next episode?
Kirk Lowe asked who cared about this time. This is where?
The time is 27 minutes, dude. I don't want to punch you. I'll hit you in the throat.
Kirk Lowe: If our show is good enough, they'll leave the train and go for a walk.
They don't play.
They're going to listen.
They don't. You are the only weird person in the world right now. I'm aware of you listening.
Kirk Lowe asked how many people have two-hour podcasts. People would like to hear it.
People who don't have jobs are the ones who don't listen.
Kirk Lowe said they were more interesting than him. I'm aware of that.
People have jobs. The best part is here. We're going to have it as our next episode because you and I need to do this more frequently. Do you think it's fair?
You have to write it down because you are going to forget it. We need to make a note of it.
Kirk Lowe said there was a point where you could start running campaigns to drive awareness cheaply and efficiently.
That's escapevelocity, right?
Kirk Lowe asked if he had done the work. The work needs to be done. Today, where did I hear that? I was listening to a radio show by a woman. It was actually Jq. Did you know that youTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkiaTrademarkia, It was found on social media. It's a crazy thing. I am following people there. I want to know who they are talking about.
That's a big motto of hers. The work needs to be done. She doesn't agree with what "Do the work" means from her viewpoint. A lot of things are related to "do the work". Work on thought leadership. I'm not sure if you remember. I don't care because I know I am going over.
I have lost control of the show.
Kirk Lowe: You're really smart, dude. Sometimes, I just do.
Matt Halloran said to keep going. Don't stop going. Either way, whatever.
Kirk Lowe: We have a book, a PDF, eBook, whatever you want to call it, called 14 marketing tactics. Marketing tactics are not included. The name of the thing is not known.
Matt Halloran is not sure. It was you who wrote it. I can tell you what you're talking about.
Kirk Lowe said the 15th lesson was this. There is a bonus lesson. If you put the work in, there will be a point in time where you will be ready to take on the challenge.
You are ready to hit it if you have momentum marketing in place. I'm going to give you some information. We have done a lot of work and are ready for the opportunities to come. We are close to being prepared for all of them. It makes me feel like that. It's been five and a half years since we started this thing.
A very committed social media presence There's a brand called branding.
The 20 years that you were doing this before and the 6-7 years that I was doing this before are not counted. Yes, right? I want everyone to learn from this.
Kirk Lowe said yes. There are different levels of readiness.
Yeah, right? I had a lot of energy before you and I met. I had a good performance with a small audience. We keep escalating that even though it was good. ProudMouth is a great place to be. We would like to thank all of you for listening and talking about us.
We can meet more of you at events. We're working on some other things to connect with our friends, and I haven't talked to you about it yet. Don't stop at it. Don't assume that you can avoid it and just catch up. It's difficult.
You have to work hard. The work needs to be done. It isn't easy but it is rewarding. You learn a lot about yourself and your thinking. I don't know why it's called that, but I have 173 pieces of content in there from the last couple of years.
It's a great place and I put most of my stuff in there. You want to have a notepad, but it's a notepad. Start making that. When your client talks to you about something, you read about it, and you have an opinion on it. It should be put in there.
Matt Halloran: Alright. You should invest when you are 25 years old. Today is the second best day to invest. All the time, you advisers say that. A person who is 55 years old has not even started. What are you going to do? They are going to be successful if you speed up their investments.
Tell them how long they need to work and how much they need to invest. It's the same thing as marketing. For Kirk and all of us here at ProudMouth, it's Matt Halloran. Soon, we will see you on the other side of the microphone.
Thanks for listening to the Top Advisor Marketing Show. Visit ProudMouth.com and sign up for the PodRocket Influence Academy to learn how to be your own loud. You will learn everything you need to know in order to become a trusted subject matter expert.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent those of the company.
