If you’re like most advisors, you may be struggling to master the fine art of marketing. And let’s get real, we know you’d rather spend your time doing something else, like closing leads. There has to be a better way … and there is. You just need to release the Kung Fu Grip on your secret sauce—your knowledge and expertise—and share all of it with the world! Say what?

That’s the incredibly valuable lesson our recent Breakthrough Advisor podcast guest Matt Halloran learned when he partnered with marketing guru Kirk Lowe to launch ProudMouth, a marketing firm that teaches advisors how to use podcasts (and other advanced marketing strategies) to accelerate their influence. So how (and why) does it work? Launching a podcast sounds complicated … or is it?

‘You have to give everything away’

Before launching ProudMouth in 2017, Matt and Kirk sat down for dinner together. According to Matt, Kirk gave him some advice he should have listened to but didn’t. Says Matt, “I was still running my advisor coaching and consulting company, and he was still running his marketing and branding company. The conversation went something like this:

Kirk: ‘Tell me about your marketing, Matt.’

Matt: ‘Dude, I’m terrible at it. It’s why I’m talking to you, because you’re the marketing branding expert.’

Kirk: ‘Well, you have to give everything away.’

Matt: ‘I’m not gonna do that. What are you kidding me? All my competition is going to know who I am and what I do.’

Kirk: (leaning back in his chair) ‘You have to share everything all the time.’”

Matt didn’t listen to Kirk, which he admits was “dumb.” But the minute the two did get together and started sharing everything (400+ podcasts worth and more), everything changed. In fact, since they started giving everything away, the firm has cut the number of interactions it takes to close a deal in HALF.

Why YOU should loosen your Kung Fu Grip on the secret sauce

OK, we know you might be squirming in your seat right now. Just the thought of putting it all out there, all that secret sauce you’ve cultivated over the years, probably sounds downright crazy, not to mention scary. But here’s the thing, everything you’ve put into your secret sauce—all of the financial services knowledge, products, planning processes, investment management services, seminar packages, webinar programs, etc.—is a commodity.

According to Matt, “Anybody can Google the ingredients in your secret sauce at any time. Those ingredients are all commodities. What advisors really need to understand is that people don’t care about what you have to offer until they know you care about them.”

Sharing is caring …

People need to see you as a trusted authority and thought leader, and that’s where sharing everything comes in. You also need to be sharing everything in a way that shows your passion, integrity and authenticity—because that’s when it will sink in with people that you really do care.

“For me, I genuinely want to help people, and I believe that if you lead with the right intention, you automatically draw those fans who want to do business with you,” Matt says.

Using podcasts (and other advanced marketing strategies) to share everything has worked for ProudMouth, and it’s working for advisors the firm is coaching, too. As Matt points out, an advisor can take the time to learn everything they need to know about marketing and podcasting by tuning into the 400+ podcasts and other tools the firm freely shares, but it’s a lot easier and more cost efficient to hire ProudMouth to do it for them.

Why podcasting (and giving everything away) is a differentiator for advisors

People aren’t looking for your PDFs, white papers, blogs, and so on. They’re looking for help. Many clients literally feel like they’ve taken a spear in the chest financially, and they’re looking for a spear removal expert. You just need to prove to them that spear removal expert is you.

So how does podcasting help you accomplish that monumental feat?

“What happens with most advisors is they spend their days selling to sceptics. The way we help advisors is through something called the influence continuum. We help you grow a fan base. A fan base for people who have a spear in their chest. People who really desperately want to find somebody who they like and trust—and feel like they know—to pull that spear out. Because they’re not going to go to just anybody,” Matt says.

That’s what advanced marketing strategies involving content marketing and influence do. They help you build relationships with people authentically, so you can stop selling to skeptics.

If you want to be a 21^st century marketer, you can’t rely on the marketing strategies of old, where you’re just pushing a bunch of stuff out there. Today’s advisors need to build credibility and synergy to differentiate themselves in an industry that just got way more crowded due to rise of virtual advisors.

Tired of saying the same thing over and over again in client meetings?

What if there was a way to build your content arsenal (ahem, podcasting)? And what if you could take that content and put it in a packageable, portable, convenient place so clients and prospects could listen, watch or read it at their convenience? That’s the process Matt and his team simplify for advisors. (OR you could listen to all 400 of Matt’s podcasts and DIY …)

According to Matt, “Your willingness to share that content and make it easily accessible shows your level of flexibility as an advisor. It moves people across that influence continuum, toward really creating a fan base who calls you and is ready to buy.”

By the way, ProudMouth and InsurMark aren’t the only ones advocating for the “give everything away” philosophy. In a recent Advisor Perspectives post, “Give Away Your Secrets and Thrive”, Dan Solin of Solin Consulting, a digital marketing firm, echoed this same theme. One of the highlights of his piece was anecdotal evidence that this philosophy really works. In Dan’s own words:

“We were recently retained to deploy an SEO campaign for an advisor. I asked her why she decided to use us. She said she read an article I wrote explaining how advisors could leverage AI and run their SEO campaigns without using a consultant. She explained: ‘I understand I could do this myself, but it’s not the highest and best use of my time. I was impressed that you were confident and knowledgeable enough to write this article.’ I have had many similar experiences,” Dan says.

Want to learn more about leveraging your influence through podcasting?

We’ll share additional insight and tips from Matt in an upcoming blog, including why podcasting resonates with prospects more than traditional marketing and how it helps position advisors as trusted authorities. We’ll also share Matt’s three-stage prescription for podcast success and more. Can’t wait?

Listen to the full podcast replay with Matt, here. (Links to lots of freebies from Matt also found there.)

And if you want to learn more about ProudMouth or tap into any of their free tools, insight and podcast replays, check out the ProudMouth website today.