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.)
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:
Consult on guest selection
Organize guest booking and outreach
Provide instructions and prep docs for each guest
Host and produce Riverside studio virtual recordings for host and guest
Voice coaching and interview coaching for host
Video and audio editing for podcast and YouTube + video clips
YouTube channel upgrades: playlists, meta tags, SEO titles, and custom thumbnail templates
Podcast RSS feed setup and management, publishing bi-weekly episodes and Trailer
SEO friendly episode titles and show notes written and optimized including level-ups like Spotify Chapters (clickable timestamps)
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).
YouTube Playlist - WWW Podcast Clips
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.
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
Youtube: 4.14.23-9.18.23 vs 9.19.23-2.25.24: a 1616% increase in views
904 views before podcast vs 15,201 during Season 1
Doubled subscribers
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.
Popular tips for Podcasters:
How to Add Spotify Chapters: Clickable Timestamps
Podcast Mic Review: Shure SM7B vs Shure MV7
How to Use Spotify Playlists to Grow Podcast Plays – Guest SEO Hack
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