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Case Study: 204% Referral Traffic Increase: Financial Advisor Podcast Production and Marketing

Find out how we got a financial advisor over 45,000 impressions, a 200% increase in referral traffic to his website, and over 1600% more YouTube views through our podcast production and marketing services. These were just a few of the results from a Season 1 launch for a brand new podcast host with a nascent company social media presence.

Background and landscape:

Podcasting is a competitive but highly rewarding endeavor when done right over time. It can deliver not only meaning, education, and even legacy — but also tangible business results for brand awareness, client retention, and eventually lead generation.

At Beetle Moment, we produce and market podcasts for discerning, visionary business leaders who understand the long-term value of content marketing. We’ve launched client podcasts and voice apps since 2017, having been fortunate to work with businesses including Ritholtz Wealth Management in their first iteration of The Compound Show.

This is a case study of a new podcast hosted by a New York City based financial advisor. We launched and produced Season 1 for a show that crosses over lifestyle, self-help, business and investing.

The Problem

Jonathan, Chief Behavioral Officer and Founder/CEO of Satovsky Asset Management (SAM), approached us with a desire to enhance brand visibility and foster engaging discussions with compelling guests. He wanted to create meaningful conversations across investing, meditation, health and wellness, psychology, acting, leadership, sports, and more to speak to the ethos of his company which centers on addressing and solving for behavioral blind spots.

From a marketing KPI perspective, he wanted engaging, evergreen content that would bring his brand and philosophy to life beyond the existing vlogs and blogs that weren’t getting many views.

Most importantly, like many busy professionals, SAM wanted for Jon, their CEO, to be able to “just show up” and be the talent. The podcast needed to be done-for-you.

The Solution

With an impressive personal network built on decades of work and outreach, Jon came to us with a potential guest list that was a podcaster’s dream. We recorded Season 1 guests including legendary investor Joel Greenblatt, Greg Harden (the famous University of Michigan mentor and coach to Tom Brady and Michael Phelps), NYT best-selling author, psychologist and professor Dan Ariely, “Mad Men” star, actor and director John Slattery, business mogul, CNBC contributor, and TIGER 21 Founder Michael Sonnenfeldt, Transcendental Meditation guru and leader Bob Roth, NFL star Ryan Nece, and more esteemed names.

That said, we were thrilled to embark on the launch of "Wisdom, Wealth, and Wellness" podcast. Read on to learn our podcast creation process, deliverables, and the results of our hands-on approach and meticulous execution that transformed SAM’s vision into a reality with a ten episode Season.

(As a note we only worked on Season 1 as the client planned to take Season 2 in-house.)

Click here to skip to Results

1. Crafting a Compelling Podcast Brand Identity

We delved into SAM's ethos to sculpt a brand identity that resonates. From conceiving the show title to crafting captivating visual and sonic branding (video clip), every element radiated SAM's essence. We created custom sonic branding with our friends at WealthVoice based on the attributes and songs that SAM provided, including Bob Marley as inspo.

2. Seamless Production and marketing Workflow

We orchestrated the production and marketing process, from setting up the RSS feed to curating YouTube Shorts and video clips and sharing to social media. Our attention to detail ensured seamless production, strong SEO, and continual content marketing benefits. We organized an efficient approval process with the RIA’s compliance officer.

Our podcast work included:

  1. Consult on guest selection

  2. Organize guest booking and outreach

  3. Provide instructions and prep docs for each guest

  4. Host and produce Riverside studio virtual recordings for host and guest

  5. Voice coaching and interview coaching for host

  6. Video and audio editing for podcast and YouTube + video clips

  7. YouTube channel upgrades: playlists, meta tags, SEO titles, and custom thumbnail templates

  8. Podcast RSS feed setup and management, publishing bi-weekly episodes and Trailer

  9. SEO friendly episode titles and show notes written and optimized including level-ups like Spotify Chapters (clickable timestamps)

  10. Social media content creation covering: episode announcements, video clips, video and text posts, guest tagging and company tagging for each network, and evergreen re-sharing schedule to maximize traction and engagement for months or years (instead of the average one week after airing)

3. Elevating Podcast Guest Experience

Prep docs personalized for each guest include technical guidance, recording checklist, and unique prompts (questions) to prepare for.

Some guests are more experienced than others. A common snag for podcasters is that a guest might show up in AirPods with no mic in a dimly lit room — despite sending a prep doc and recording tips ahead of time. To ensure high quality recordings and guest comfort level through knowing what to expect and how to prepare: we created in-depth prep documents and a tested approach to avoid common recording issues. Our prep docs include:

  • Equipment recommendations and setup guides with diagrams and links

  • Easy Riverside instructions to optimize audio and video quality

  • Unique, compelling questions based on extensive research into each guest’s work and their past podcast appearances (to avoid repetition)

  • Calendly for 5-minute test recordings with our producer

Our approach ensured that each conversation was crisp, audible, and imbued with fresh perspectives, captivating both guests and audiences alike.

Guest follow-ups and social media engagement:

After recordings we sent guests individualized thank-you emails with links to their Spotify and Apple episodes, YouTube clips, and 1-click social media posts to share.

This extra step goes a long way in getting engagement on episodes and providing tangible value to guests as a thank-you for their time.

It is not enough to tweet out one Apple Podcasts link and call it a day!

Our philosophy: Podcast episode promotion and guest re-engagement should happen over months to reap maximum rewards. Otherwise the investment in the content creation is wasted with ephemeral visibility.

4. Amplifying Content Reach

SAM's pre-existing online presence underwent a dramatic transformation. Through strategic content distribution across platforms, we garnered unprecedented engagement on their YouTube and social media channels. SAM enjoyed notable increases in engagement on:

  • YouTube

  • X

  • Company’s and CEO’s LinkedIn pages

  • Instagram

5. YouTube and video Focus

Recognizing that YouTube is the top podcast consumption platform, we always emphasize a dedicated strategy for videos with our podcast clients. For SAM in particular, knowing that they’re targeting wealthy people over age 50, YouTube was even more important.

YouTube was the most-watched streaming option over the past 12 months, according to data from Nielsen as of February 2024. In January 2024, YouTube accounted for 8.6 percent of usage in the US, followed by Netflix at 7.9 percent. That’s more than the next eight services combined.

Leveraging YouTube Shorts and video clips, we witnessed a staggering 1616% increase in views during Season 1 (September 2023-January 2024), propelling SAM's visibility to new heights.

“YouTube is not traditionally thought of as being in the same category as Netflix, but a Nielsen report revealed the video platform was the streamer with the most TV usage this January, its twelfth straight month as the No. 1 streaming service. In January 2024, streaming accounted for 36% of all TV usage, per Nielsen.”

YouTube made $7.95 billion in ad revenue Q3-23 = a 12.5% YoY increase. $GOOG overall topped Street forecasts but YouTube is what we’re specifically tracking.

YouTube stats:

  • Unbeatably #1 in video SEO because of Google

  • Strong discovery algorithm with Shorts

  • #1 in podcast listening (33% beats Spotify at 24%)

  • YouTube accounts for 9% of all TV screen time, more than any streamer (e.g. Netflix).

YouTube Shorts are one of the biggest content marketing plays of 2024: Shorts have the UX, SEO, and benefits of Instagram and TikTok with the added bonus of Google Search.

YouTube Audience Activation Funnel from Shorts to horizontal mid-lengths to subscribing and engaging

Stats on short form video marketing:

  • 2 in 3 people find short form video to be the most engaging content on social media (SproutSocial).

  • Video marketers report 66% more qualified leads and a 54% increase in brand awareness (OptinMonster).

  • Video marketers experience 49% faster revenue growth than competitors not using video (Wordstream).

6. Targeted Audience Engagement

Our strategy honed in on SAM's target demographic, resulting in a surge of engagement. With content tailored to a high-net-worth (HNW) audience engaged in self-improvement, mindfulness, wealth creation, and investing, this podcast offered compelling content to the target audience without coming off like an ad or sales pitch. Specifically, we researched content consumption patterns for people age 50-60 with at least $3mm in investable assets.

In the U.S., 45% of podcast listeners have incomes over $250,000, and 17% earn between $100,000 and $150,000. Around 28% of Americans earn $250,000 or more, indicating podcast audiences' financial success. As a marketer, it's vital to target this affluent demographic when planning podcast strategies. (Source: MusicOomph 2019)

Why video reaches the HNW, GEN Z, and Boomer audiences:

•73% of consumers prefer watching a video to learn about a product or service.

•82% of baby boomers watch videos on YouTube, and 60% of them watch videos on YouTube daily.

•Viewers retain 95% of a message after watching it in a video compared to only 10% when reading it in text.

•75% of baby boomers say they've taken some kind of action after watching videos on YouTube.

•People share videos 1,200% more times than links and texts combined.

So, what happened?

Results After Season 1

From significant growth in YouTube views to a threefold increase in website referral traffic, SAM's podcast emerged as a success for their foray into voice marketing. The audio podcast is statistically in the top 30% or greater of podcasts based on episode downloads in week 1.

Result 1: YouTube

  1. Youtube: 4.14.23-9.18.23 vs 9.19.23-2.25.24: a 1616% increase in views

  2. 904 views before podcast vs 15,201 during Season 1

  3. Doubled subscribers

  4. 485% increase in channel impressions due to podcast (we earned 53,700 impressions 9/19/23-2/19/24)

Result 2: Content performance

WWW Podcast is the top performing of all SAM published content … of all time.

Result 3: Website traffic

Drove 3x more referral traffic to company website. 9/19/23-2/23/24:

  • Referral traffic up 204%

  • Organic traffic up 5.12%

  • Podcast page:

    • 2,882 additional events

Result 4: Audio Podcast

In the top 30% of all podcasts based on average listens in first 7 days of episodes.*

  • *Buzzsprout monthly platform data. Recent numbers suggest that a podcast in the top 25% of shows will get 120 listens in first 7 days.

5-star rating on Spotify

105% average consumption on Apple Podcasts for top performing episode (E5, Joel Greenblatt) (note: 100% means the average listener finished the full episode)

Insights and Implications

From the engagement of SAM's discerning audience to the transformative power of YouTube, our insights on Season 1 shaped our strategy for future seasons and brand marketing:

Building a Sustainable Audience

Looking ahead, our focus remains on not only recording high quality episodes but on the important art of clipping and sharing. Podcasting is no longer about a long-form piece of audio but success hinges on the ability to clip and repurpose content, especially when a podcast snippet can answer one specific question at a time, which is the key to SEO.

The attention economy favors clips. Creating and effectively sharing those clips is the key to growth. YouTube Shorts lead the way for this particular audience. Through an emphasis on YouTube strategy, social media engagement, and future guest swaps we strive foster and activate the podcast audience.

Podcast production and marketing services - work with us:

Ready to share your voice? Launch a podcast or take your existing show to the next level. Reach out.

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We don’t just produce podcasts; we shape your brand’s narrative to create durable marketing that doesn’t chase — it attracts. See the rest of our marketing services here.

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Case Study: California Retirement Advisors (CRA) - Social Media and Video Content Strategy Success

Client Background:

California Retirement Advisors (CRA), also known as CRA Advisors, is a leading financial advisory firm based in California, committed to providing personalized retirement planning services to its clients.

Client's Challenge:

When CRA engaged with Beetle Moment Marketing approximately two years ago, they faced several challenges in their marketing efforts:

needing a Marketing leader and a plan:

Without a clear marketing strategy or priorities, CRA struggled to stand out in the competitive financial advisory space. Webinars and campaigns were happening in a one-off nature and they wanted to plan ahead on a quarterly basis targeting both evergreen and seasonal topics, e.g. year-end tax tips in Q1 or tax preparation in Q1.

Inefficient Resource Allocation:

CRA was overspending on redundant tools, software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, and underutilized resources, impacting their marketing budget and ROI. The list of tools and subscriptions needed to be trimmed in order to be efficient and cost-effective. Various vendors were running SEM and SEO campaigns but not reporting on results; there was too much unmonitored activity across contractors without a dedicated resource to hold all accountable and track progress.

Lacking social media Presence and optimized blog content:

CRA had a blog but it was not optimized for search and keywords. Its publishing schedule lacked a strategic approach and schedule. In fact, the blog had too much wide-ranging content without writing for their target avatar (ideal client). This bulk posting approach hurt their SERP rankings for subject matter expertise from a Google search perspective. They wanted to rank for terms related to California taxes and estate planning for successful people nearing or in retirement.

Their minimal social media presence was missing the opportunity to grow their audience and brand awareness, and to showcase the friendly, intelligent advisors on their team. The blog, email, and social content read as somewhat canned and not personalized or reflective of the high-touch thoughtful nature of their team and the financial planning experience that delights their clients.

Our Approach:

Beetle Moment Marketing initiated a comprehensive marketing engagement and we created a strategy to address CRA's challenges and elevate their marketing efforts. The process began with our signature Brand Strategy and Messaging - Discovery Phase, which included stakeholder interviews to gain insights into CRA's business goals, existing marketing strategies, and areas for improvement.

We charted out all marketing expenditures and results in a single dashboard (a source of truth) and found areas to save CRA money without impacting results. Through this phase, we identified cost-saving opportunities, resulting in a 20% reduction in CRA's marketing spend by eliminating redundant tools and optimizing resources. Within three months engagement had increased 64% and spend was down.

Most importantly, we applied the branding and messaging creative to an operationalized approach to streamline and organize sharing content on social media, email, blog, and YouTube.

Our team operationalized content marketing with a strategic milestone-based timeline resulting in efficient batch delivery of content to the compliance team.


Key Actions:

1. Strategic Resource Allocation:

Beetle Moment Marketing sourced and managed two freelance marketing hires—one specializing in social media content creation and the other in SEO and website updates. This strategic allocation of resources ensured that CRA's marketing needs were efficiently met while optimizing their budget. The new social media resource was more expensive but created more engaging and effective content, driving over a 300% increase in engagement the first year.

We planned, produced, and recorded YouTube and social media videos about topics the target audience of pre-retirees would search for, e.g. HSA (Health Savings Account) and healthcare costs

2. Content Strategy Enhancement:

We devised seasonal financial content themes for CRA's social media platforms, focusing on engaging and informative content. This included guiding the content writer on optimizing YouTube and social media short-form videos to maximize audience engagement.

Off-site SEO strategy for CRA included Google Maps / Google My Business listing hygiene

3. Personalized Video Content Production:

We produced Riverside video recordings featuring CRA team members, highlighting their financial advice expertise. These recordings were edited into engaging social media videos, enriching CRA's brand presence and fostering audience connection.

4. Introducing Content Themes:

Beetle Moment Marketing introduced distinct content themes, such as "Core Definitions," to simplify complex financial concepts like Stretch IRA and See-Through Trust, making them more accessible to CRA's audience. We also grouped their YouTube videos into SEO-friendly YouTube Playlists.

5. Thematic and Topical Posts:

Beetle Moment Marketing created thematic and topical posts addressing important financial topics such as HSAs and healthcare costs in retirement, further establishing CRA as a trusted source of information.

Instagram grid for California Retirement Advisors mixes IG Reels and engaging graphics. We showcase their advisors and tax tips.

Results:

Significant Increase in Engagement:

In October 2023, CRA experienced a remarkable 204% increase in social media engagements compared to October 2022, showcasing the effectiveness of Beetle Moment Marketing's strategies.

optimized Video Format:

A/B testing of various video formats, including long-form widescreen for YouTube, square videos for social media, and one-minute vertical Reels and YouTube shorts, helped optimize content delivery and enhance audience interaction.

Boosted Overall Social Media Engagement Rate:

In November 2023, CRA achieved a 6.3% overall social media engagement rate, marking a significant 146% increase over the previous year.

Consistent Growth:

Throughout 2023, CRA witnessed consistent growth in engagements on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X, reaping the benefits of the organic work and efforts invested in both 2022 and 2023 content.

Their email marketing open rate and click rates each increased by over 14% YoY thanks to our updated email template design and content guidance.

See our work (multimedia showcase):

Samples of the content we created for California Retirement Advisors:

See Maili's YouTube Playlist on Financial Education

Conclusion:

Beetle Moment Marketing's collaboration with California Retirement Advisors exemplifies the transformative power of a strategic social media and video content approach. By implementing tailored strategies, optimizing resources, and fostering engaging content creation, CRA witnessed substantial growth in brand presence and audience engagement, positioning them as a prominent player in the competitive financial advisory landscape.

For more information on how Beetle Moment can elevate your marketing efforts, see our services or send us a message.

Case Study: Brand Messaging Strategy for BPO Company

Spoke is a premier Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company who partnered with Beetle Moment Marketing to enhance its brand presence and communicate its unique selling proposition (USP) more effectively through website, messaging, sales materials, and social media.

The Challenge 

Despite boasting an industry-leading 83% retention rate, Spoke struggled to express its superior value proposition, especially their remarkable integrity. As a BPO company (business process outsourcing), Spoke needed a way to reach their target audience of startup founders and introduce their time-saving talent placement solution. Employee surveys pointed towards an urgent need for more robust brand representation and an engaging social media presence.

Essentially, Spoke had a high value offering with the stats to back it, but the world couldn’t tell from their website and marketing materials.

Brand positioning & messaging strategy

Spoke needed to bottom line the essence of their brand so the target audience would understand their solution.

The Approach 

To fully grasp Spoke's unique challenges and potential, Beetle Moment initiated a discovery phase involving Spoke's CMO, CEO, founder, and representatives from various departments. This intensive engagement period, lasting two months, revealed a roadmap to accentuate Spoke's brand and offerings. 

As a messaging foundation, we summarized our discovery meetings into what the brand is and is not.

We surveyed stakeholders and employees about the Spoke brand. This is the resulting word cloud, inspiring the messaging to focus on keywords such as: trustworthy, innovative, and employees having a voice.

Key activities included an internal stakeholder survey, brand spectrum exercise, competitor analysis, developing engaging messaging, curating enticing taglines, enhancing website design, and optimizing SEO, all aimed at educating prospects and website visitors about Spoke's BPO offerings.

We updated Spoke’s sales deck to optimize language and graphics.

We also evaluated their sales materials such as pitch decks and email marketing to identify opportunities for stronger messaging to convince leads to become clients.

The Solution 

We took their strongest stats about retention and promotions to create compelling visuals for Spoke’s marketing and sales materials.

The project resulted in a comprehensive messaging package, complete with updated website content, design recommendations, and an improved case study showcasing Spoke's success stories. The team crafted a series of ready-to-use social media content, including tweets and LinkedIn posts, alongside suggestions for PR, media, and podcast appearances.

Further, an in-depth competitor analysis was performed, assessing the websites, SEO, advertising presence, CPM, and social media content of the top three BPO competitors.

Highlights from our recommendations:

  1. Target avatar summary (the ideal client’s behavior, goals, interests, challenges, values, and Spoke’s value proposition)

  2. Website content and messaging (copydeck, navigation, UX flow)

    1. Structural upgrades such as: website domain. The current domain was a .co and missed keyword opportunities (including BPO, a high volume search term for their target audience), strong readability, and equity for the brand name.
      Original: gospoke.co
      Recommended: spoke-bpo.com

  3. Competitor website analysis and comparison including search volumes and keywords

  4. Marketing content strategy including:

    1. SEO blog posts, whitepapers, case studies (assets written and delivered to Spoke)

    2. Organic and PR opportunities such as podcast appearances and media coverage

    3. Social media engagement strategy and content (multimedia text, video, and YouTube)

    4. Strategic partnerships to pursue

    5. Awards and recognitions to pursue

We delivered five tagline options like these, for Spoke to use on their website and marketing materials, social media profiles, and sales decks. Tagline creation was one of our favorite parts of this project because the challenge of distilling a brand into one sentence is easily the most difficult but impactful part of brand messaging. #foundation

The value of great messaging

We delivered multiple tagline options to A/B test, slogans, social media posts, email marketing content, and a messaging hierarchy to use across marketing and sales channels. This gave Spoke’s brand a consistent voice, emphasizing the trustworthy brand attribute that 90% of employees identified.

The Impact

This strategic initiative not only provided Spoke with the tools to revamp their website and initiate a competitive social presence, but it also reinvigorated the leadership team. Equipped with a new playbook, they felt inspired to lead the charge in enhancing Spoke's brand identity and digital footprint.

For your transformative brand messaging solutions, contact us.

Case Study: Content Marketing + Alexa Voice Strategy for UX Design Agency - Nine Labs

Nine Labs is an Atlanta-based user experience and product design firm with clients including major airlines, hotels, and startups.

The problem:

With years of blog posts, podcasts, videos, white papers, and ebooks there was plenty of content but no strategic method to effectively share it on social media. Potential traffic and leads were left on the table. Nine Labs wanted to organize and share all their content to increase engagement, brand recognition, and ultimately leads.

Nine Labs: Made with ❤️in Atlanta, GA


Nine Labs: Made with ❤️in Atlanta, GA

The solution:

We created a robust social media marketing strategy and guide to help Nine Labs with content marketing. We also launched an Alexa Flash Briefing to establish a voice presence in the UX design category. Then we provided ongoing guidance in implementing, empowering their in-house team to manage it.

Custom Content Marketing Strategy

Goals:

  1. Increase blog traffic

  2. Increase leads

  3. Increase social engagement

  4. Establish voice presence on Alexa

Strategy characteristics:

  • Content buckets and monthly themes based on Nine Labs’ driving principles from 4 Steps to a Human Centered Business Model

  • Specific guidelines to create social posts (text, graphics, video, and audiograms) for different social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn - each with different goals and slightly different audiences

  • Introduction of audiograms

    • Guidelines on creating effective, short audiograms for Instagram and Twitter by repurposing past podcast and YouTube video content

Audiogram for Instagram (static image with 1-minute audio and captions)

Audiogram for Instagram (static image with 1-minute audio and captions)

Alexa Skills search ranking in app for “UX design” keywords - Nine Labs Flash Briefing

Alexa Skills search ranking in app for “UX design” keywords - Nine Labs Flash Briefing

  • Brand separation from executive profile: Clarity and direction on content strategy for CEO (and helluva smart guy) J Cornelius’s personal brand and the Nine Labs brand

  • Strategy and launch of Design Driven, an Alexa Flash Briefing about UX and product

    Fact: Design-driven companies outperform the S&P by 228%.

    Interested in the intersection of business, design, UX, and product development? Enable this daily briefing about using design to build great products and lasting companies.

  • Repurposing and repackaging high quality content instead of starting from scratch, saving the client time

  • Optimize lead magnet forms on blog and website

  • Strategically drive traffic to lead magnets, downloadable PDFs, and blog

  • Optimized Alexa Flash Briefing keywords, description, and daily content. Hear past briefings below:

Results of 8-week marketing engagement:

Obsess over your customers. #uxdesign

Obsess over your customers. #uxdesign

  • Increase in social engagements:

    • Facebook up 21%

    • Instagram up 893% (from 312 to 3,100)

    • Twitter up 178%

    • LinkedIn from 0 to 48 average weekly engagements

  • Increased blog traffic and leads from social

  • VOICE SEARCH OPTIMIZATION: Within two weeks, ranked on page 1 , top three results of Alexa Skills search results for terms including “ux”, “product design,” and “ux design”

  • Empowered marketing team to efficiently run with this strategy on their own

“Emily has an incisive mind about marketing and how voice is rapidly changing the landscape. She worked hard to find the right use of the technology without compromising quality or our brand message.”
— J Cornelius, Founder and President, Nine Labs

Why We Love Nine Labs

If you need guidance on designing a digital product, we recommend J Cornelius and his ace team at Nine Labs. Hands down, they’re the best. Nine Labs understands design and how it fits into business as a whole. They also run killer workshops and training.

Get the best thinking from startups and enterprise to give your projects the support to succeed. https://ninelabs.com/