Proven Ways Financial Advisors Can Make Their Podcast Essential

If you’ve started your financial advice podcast, congratulations. The world is listening.

 

They may not be listening to you (yet), but they’re listening.

 

Let’s up your content game.

 

In June of 2021, there were over 2,000,000 podcasts (and more than 48 million episodes) around the world. A majority of those probably weren’t financial-planning-related. Nevertheless, you’re going to have to stand out.

 

If you want a following—and if you want to get noticed, in the first place—it’s a must. Just like good marketing compels action, your podcast should inspire listeners to follow.

 

Don’t misunderstand, here: We’re not talking about a hard sell. Clumsy subscribe-to-me plugs every 30 seconds will drive listeners away (fast).

 

Instead, engage them where they are; by addressing their pain points. Start there, provide immediate value, and consistently keep providing it.

 

The goal is to make your financial advice podcast a trusted resource. In fact, it needs to be essential. This won’t happen overnight, but immediate success in podcasting is exceedingly rare.

 

We make no promises, but what follows are tips to get you there sooner.

 

Make Your Financial Advice Podcast Matter

 

 

In 2021, 50% of all US households had at least one podcast listener. That demographic should increase within a decade, but don’t assume they’re all potential prospects.

 

However, if retirees are your niche, your odds could greatly improve. You’ll just have to be patient: An Edward Jones survey of over 9,000 adults found that 86 million people will be retired or nearing retirement by 2050.

 

We’re not suggesting you wait decades for that. Nevertheless, some of them will probably want retirement (and other varieties of) planning help before much longer.

 

A generation-savvy podcast providing ways to start saving today for that point in the future might do well. This is just an example, but you get the idea.

 

Hopefully, you already have an eye on your niche’s specific wants and needs. If these pain points aren’t driving your thinking, planning, and scripting, you’re wasting time.

 

Let’s start with the easiest part: your sound. Granted, you’re not planning a stadium rock tour, but it’s just as important.

 

A podcast’s sound is mainly determined by your equipment, your schedule, and your presentation. While your content is vital, these form the tripod on which everything else rests.

 

Full disclosure: You won’t win listeners with a clean sound, alone.

 

At the same time, if your financial advice podcast is an ear-grating test of endurance, don’t expect hordes of subscriptions.

 

Gear Up

 

You don’t need a million-dollar setup to produce a hit podcast. At the same time, going cheap can yield tinny-sounding, painful ear spikes. Unless your niche is masochists, they’re not subscribing to that.

 

We’re not saying “mortgage your house,” either: There’s nothing wrong with starting out on a laptop or using a phone’s built-in mic.

 

That’s not ideal for the long run, though.

 

To be blunt, if you’re a few months into production, start considering upgrades. Don’t invest without doing your homework first, but plan for it.

 

Most expensive doesn’t always mean better. With that said, a $50 starter mic from Walmart can’t do what a $180 Rode could. It gets pricier up the ladder from there, but usually, you get what you pay for.

 

No, the goal isn’t to mass ever-more-costly gear. Nonetheless, if you’re serious about taking on the pros, you need a sound that’s tight. Listeners should be drawn into your message; not distracted by your audio.

 

Schedule Your Financial Advice Podcast For Success

 

You’re not trading your advising desk for a recording booth, but make no mistake: Podcasting is a commitment. Even if it’s only once a week, you have to keep it going.

 

If you’re already in the cycle, you know: Like a marathon, podcasting is sometimes a test of who simply has the grit to keep going.

 

Ask any of the big-name advisors with a podcast. The honest ones will tell you that there were days when they neared giving up.

 

Some only kept going, at times because they’d set mechanisms in place to force themselves to. Everybody gets sick, loses loved ones, or just plain burns out at some point.

 

You should take time off, if that’s the only way you can heal or survive. If you’re not in need of an ambulance (or counseling) though, pace yourself rather than quitting.

 

It might be as simple as setting a series of phone alarms to go off; a waterwheel of boots kicking you in the behind to continue.

 

On the other hand, maybe you’re better off setting an alarm a day ahead: Book some time to sit, think, pray, or meditate. Calmly review things—long before it’s “go” time at the mic.

 

Even a half hour, invested wisely, can have profound benefits for your financial advice podcast.

 

Don’t Just Record

 

On the web or in podcasting, there’s no substitute for solid, intriguing content. At the same time, storytelling figures in significantly. How you present your podcast is as important as its quality.

 

It trumps how you sound, to a degree: Storytelling is a combination of the words you choose and the order in which you reveal sub-topics.

 

It’s long been said that a charismatic speaker “could read a phone book” and people would find it interesting. If you sound that good, great! That’s definitely an asset.

 

Most of us don’t, though. Thankfully, a golden voice isn’t essential.

 

Sometimes it’s all in how you present the details of something. Even podcast scripts need pacing.

 

Good scripting can help with other things, too: If a childhood bubble wrap mishap left you with a permanent lisp, don’t worry. Just keep words ending in “s” rare.

 

Editing can help here, too. You can choose the better of multiple recordings. Thanks to software like Audacity and Sound Forge Pro, you can level the playing field in post-production.

 

Refine Niche Familiarity For Your Financial Advice Podcast

 

Sounding like a professional is only half the equation. The harder part is consistently providing good content.

 

The first step from there begins with listening on your end.

It’s one thing to say you know your niche, in the business sense. It’s another to have an up-to-date sense of what things are really like in their world.

 

Empathy may not be essential, but it certainly helps. The English word “family” has the same Latin root as “familiar.” Therefore, keep familiar with your niche clients’ wants, needs, hopes, and fears.

 

Check on them periodically to see how they are: Reviewing current research is always good (because important statistics can change overnight). If you have email newsletter, consider adding an occasional survey and encourage feedback.

 

However, don’t stop there: Ask clients how they’re doing—and make time to listen.

 

Keep Listening

 

With a good sense of your niche demographic’s concerns, you’ll recognize more subjects for discussion.

 

Seeking inspiration online is okay, but look for topics that aren’t off-the-web. There will occasionally be timely news stories that specifically relate to financial planning, but regularly.

 

Most of the time, your best stuff will come from clients and other advisors. Within your firm and elsewhere, network and keep your ears open.

 

If you reach out like crazy and still come up empty, you can go back online. Don’t waste hours seeking articles, though: Hit forums.

 

Obviously, if your website has a forum, go there first. Scroll around and see what people are asking and saying.

 

However, if the forum at mostawesomeadvisorever.com is quiet (which happens, at times), go to other sites’ and associations’ discussion boards.

 

Most forums will allow you to make an account and browse without replying if time is short. This is sometimes called “lurking.” It’s not glamorous, but wells will have to be dug during dry spells.

 

Water Your Evergreens

 

Hard truth time: There will be days when even lurking turns up nothing worthwhile. That’s when it’s time to open your evergreens file.

 

In publishing circles, “evergreens” are topics that aren’t time-sensitive; you could run with them any time of the year. They’re your go-to when there’s nothing else to run with.

 

You have to be pickier about these than run-of-the-mill stuff. Middling half ideas/topics won’t do for your financial advice podcast. Nevertheless, they can save you from disaster during dry spells, so they’re worth the trouble.

 

If you don’t have one, start a list of non-time-sensitive topics. Consider setting a calendar alert to update it periodically, too.

 

Even evergreens age, eventually. Sometimes you might find something for adding as a sub topic, as well.

 

Next Steps

 

Here are some action items for making your podcast essential:

 

• Revisit your niche. Pretend you’ve never heard of them and are learning from the first time. Through research and personal interaction, learn all you can about their pain points. Set an alert to repeat this annually.   
• Network. Reach out within your firm and beyond. Make as many contacts as you can to trade stories with. You can’t keep in-the-loop without stepping in there.   
• Take a hard look at your podcasting gear. You can’t buy your way into success, but upgrading     has its advantages. Your financial advice podcast should sound so good people forget they’re listening to a recording.   
• Start an evergreen file. List niche-relevant, interesting topics/sub topics you could discuss at any point in the year. If you already have one, go through it at least yearly to add topics and cull dead wood.

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