Podcasting has enjoyed a meteoric rise. Over the last three years, the total podcast audience has grown 34%. The new format took some time to make its way into the zeitgeist, but now a full 75% of Americans know what podcasts are and 55% have listened to at least one episode.
Incorporating a podcast into your marketing strategy can help you:
- Easily connect with new prospects
- Deepen relationships with current customers and a loyal following
- Grow your online presence
- Build your credibility and authority in your industry
- Generate leads for ideal clients
Below we will explain how to plan, produce, and distribute a podcast.
Planning Your Financial Advisory Podcast
Set Measurable Goals
If you want your financial advisory podcast to be successful, first you need to know what success will look like. It’s important to set measurable goals. Tracking specific metrics over time provides insight into what works and what doesn’t.
While having a million listeners would be nice, it is good to start off small. Some achievable beginning goals would be:
- Grow our social following by X%
- Get X number of sign-ups for a newsletter.
- Increased web traffic by X%.
Define Your Primary CTA
Once you pick a goal, make sure the Call to Action for your financial advisory podcast is consistently presented throughout the podcast and related marketing content.
- For example, if you want to grow your social following be sure to give your handle at the beginning and end of the show.
- If you want to increase sign-ups, direct them to a page with a sign-up form prominently displayed.
- If you want them to simply visit your website, tell them the URL and describe some things they could do on the site.
Target Your Ideal Audience
Even though you may be alone in the room when you create your podcast, your podcast needs to be directed to a specific audience. It helps to create an ideal audience persona. The more specific you can get, the more you will succeed with the group you are targeting.
Think of all your financial advisory clients. Now out of all of them, think of your 5 favorite ones. What do they have in common? What are they interested in? What are they worried about? What can you share with them that would actually provide real value and not just chit chat?
Define Your Content Topics
Determine your niche and topics. With podcasts, you can’t be everything to everyone unless you’re a famous celebrity. Outline what you plan to talk about, who you are speaking to, and how you will bring a new angle to the topic. During this step, you should also determine the length and frequency at which you’ll podcast.
A few topic ideas when starting a podcast for your financial advisory include:
- The latest current events
- Interviews with fellow advisors
- Interviews with community members or prominent clients
- Explaining finance FAQs
Decide on a Length
However, it’s best to keep any podcast for financial advisors between 15 minutes and one hour. Some podcasters do “seasons,” so they may host six episodes over the course of three months and then take a hiatus for a few months before returning for the next season. Each season may have an overarching theme, or it may be a mixed bag of topics that all fall within one general theme, such as entrepreneurship, investments, politics, or traveling.
Producing Your Financial Advisory Podcast
Get the Right Gear
You do not have to spend a fortune on gear to get a podcast going. If you wanted to, you could make a perfectly respectable podcast using nothing but an iPhone 7. If you’re just looking to experiment with podcasts for your financial planning firm, using your phone is a fine place to start.
However, a few simple purchases will not only improve your podcast quality, they will help you feel like you are making a podcast and not just leaving a really long voice mail.
Microphone
It is not necessary to get an expensive mic, but you should get something. Recording a podcast on your computer’s internal mic will be noticeable in the resulting quality. Talking into a mic is also a good way to remind yourself that you are being recorded.
For a beginning mic, we recommend a USB mic over an XLR mic. USB cables can plug directly into your computer, making for easy set-up. An XLR cable needs to go into a digital mixer before being routed to the computer.
Headphones
What we hear in our heads is not what ends up on the recording. Headphones will give you a better sense of what the end product will sound like.
It is a constant problem on podcasts that people unconsciously move away from the microphone as they talk. When wearing headphones, you’ll hear your voice start to get quieter and you’ll lean forward. This can potentially save entire episodes from sound quality nightmares.
Recording/Editing Software
There are several types of software for recording out there. You can get as complicated as you like, but for the first time podcasters, we recommend GarageBand. It is a simple interface, it works well with a USB mic, and it gives you all the editing capability you need. Plus, if you own a mac, it’s already on your computer.
Record the Conversation
Whether your podcast is a solo-show, or you bring on guests, set up a quiet space in your home or office to record your podcast!
One top tip is to remember it’s’ okay to edit. The worst thing you can do is put too much pressure on yourself to “get it right” on a podcast. Don’t be afraid to pause, take breaks or do-overs. Especially if you are in conversations, let the other person know that they will have the opportunity to edit anything they want. This will help the conversation flow more naturally.
Stay Compliant
For financial advisors and financial planners, keeping your podcast compliant is obviously a top concern.
A good rule of thumb to keep your podcast compliant is to avoid making any recommendations regarding specific investments. Remember your podcast should be for education, not specific advice.
Before buying your mic and recording your podcast, pitch it to your compliance team. Explain what it will be about, who you will feature, and how often you plan on releasing new episodes. They will hopefully help educate you on what you need for your financial planner podcast to be compliant.
Distributing Your Financial Planner Podcast
Host It
Once you have the equipment – a microphone and software to record and edit your show – you can spend as little as a few dollars per month to host a show online. You can host your podcast for free on sites like Podbean and AnchorFM, which will also post them to popular podcast listening sites such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Other sites like Libsyn charge a monthly subscription but provide expanded benefits.
Get the word out!
Once your podcast is ready to launch, you need to find some listeners. The best way to build an audience is to start with the people you know, including email contacts, social media followers, clients, and prospects. Make sure to post each new episode to social media, share it via email, and create a blog post for it so your website visitors can easily check it out.
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Podcasting is proving to be a powerful marketing tool and offers the ability to deepen relationships en masse. Here at FMG Suite, our biweekly podcast features interviews with professionals in marketing, business, and financial planning.
