Financial advisors: Struggling to create view-worthy videos? Solution: These 3 strategic topics attract quality views. Learn one tip for great videos. Emily Binder reveals why YouTube is vital for RIA marketing. Free download: 13 idea starters (video prompts). Explore UnPodcast Package for efficient expert clip production.
(Updated August 4, 2025). Which podcast microphone should you buy? Watch Emily’s review below of two of the most popular and beloved podcast mics: Shure SM7B vs Shure MV7.
Click to jump to Part 2 for two best tools / apps to record and edit your podcast.
Need full gear recs including podcast lighting and camera? See WealthVoice 2-option complete podcast equipment list here.
Looking for an RSS feed host? We recommend Acast.
Shure SM7B vs Shure MV7 Full Review, Sound Comparison, and Gear Setup Tips
Price point: $439-$549 (as of August 2025 on Amazon)
XLR microphone
Recommended: Option A) Shure SM7dB Dynamic Vocal Microphone w/Built-in Preamp: This newer version has a built-in pre-amp, *meaning you do not need a Cloudlifter. WE LIKE THIS SIMPLER SETUP BETTER than Option B.
Price: $549 before additional gear.
About the built-in preamp: Providing up to plus 28 dB of low-noise, flat, transparent gain, the onboard preamp preserves the mic’s frequency response for a clean, classic sound. All you need is an interface or mixer such as Scarlet Focusrite offering plus 48V phantom power to operate the preamp. You don’t need the Cloudlifter.
Additional gear required for SM7dB (Option A):
Audio interface / pre-amp: Scarlet Focusrite. Version: The Solo is fine for a single person. Get the Duo for two people (two mics) in the same room.
Boom arm (we love the Gator Deluxe)
Two XLR cables
Get an Anker dongle, trust us, you’ll use it for everything. Mac and PC friendly.
Shop it all: Shure SM7dB Complete Gear List on Amazon
Option B) Shure SM7B Microphone - Vocal Dynamic Studio Mic: The classic / original shown in Emily’s video. It requires both a Scarlet Focusrite and a Cloudlifter.
Price: $439 before additional gear.
Additional gear required for SM7B (Option B):
Audio interface / pre-amp: Scarlet Focusrite (the Solo is fine for a single person recording, get the duo for two people)
Add gain with Cloudlfiter (you do not need this with Option A that has a built-in pre-amp)
Boom arm
Two XLR cables
Get an Anker dongle, trust us
Shop it all: Shure SM7B Complete Gear List on Amazon
Everything you need to sound great on the Shure SM7B - shop our gear list
Price point: $249
USB or XLR microphone
Design is less sexy but still fine
Portable and simple: plug-and-play single USB (or XLR option) with no extra gear needed
Sounds good (not great like SM7B) but many podcasters like Bethenny Frankel use it
Great for travel e.g. bring to your hotel room and record on the go
Buy the one that comes with a tripod or we prefer the look of a boom arm (here’s the only bundle you need). Note: Any regular boom arm you buy will be standard size and fit standard mics like either of these so don’t worry about compatibility
Shop it: Full MV7 gear list on Amazon here (either get the option with tripod OR the boom arm; buy the plain mic if you already have a stand):
Mic chosen. Now let's record and edit with the BEST user-friendly podcast tools for beginners or advanced!
Riverside lets you easily record quality audio or video remotely. Share and edit clips. AI tools included.
Riverside is your online studio for high-quality podcast and video recording and editing. Powered by AI, built for human conversations.
Invite your guest to meet in your virtual studio. Screenshare, present slides or charts, have multiple guests. Recordings are stored in the cloud and can be exported for fine editing, or use the built-in AI to create Magic Clips quickly sized for social media (vertical, horizontal, square, and YouTube size).
This is a podcast episode that we produced for Satovsky Asset Management (see case study for Wisdom, Wealth, and Wellness podcast). Jon interviewed the legendary investor Joel Greenblatt in a remote Riverside video recording (2 guests and 1 silent producer on the call).
Hear it: Play on Apple or Spotify.
See it: YouTube video below or watch a Short here
Sign up with this Riverside promo link for a discount.
Edit audio or video like a Word doc. Get a professional output without the learning curve. Try Descript with our promo link.
Descript lets you edit audio or video like a Word doc. People who use it are typically huge fans. It is not quite as granular as FinalCut or more complex tools but is much easier to learn and use. If you are using iMovie, stop and go to Descript - promise. It’s so easy it feels illegal. HT Mitch Joel for the original Descript tip a couple years back.
Copy, cut and paste text from the transcript and the output follows. This is so. much. better. than. iMovie. This is the fastest magic-feeling editing you'll ever do.
Create vertical video clips, Reels, Shorts, and YouTube videos or audiograms using templates. You can also record directly into Descript which is great for “talking head” videos or vlogs, or solo podcasts.
The voice dub AI feature lets you magically fix mistakes in recorded speech by dubbing over a speaker.
Try the best, easiest editing software with this Descript promo link.
This post was first published on September 28, 2023. Updated March 11, 2024.
Harvard Business School's Gerald Zaltman reveals that 95% of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously, driven more by emotion than rational thought. Despite this, sales strategies often focus on overwhelming buyers with data, causing decision paralysis.
Our subconscious adeptly processes information using learned experiences, supporting the notion of "trusting your gut." Studies like the Iowa Gambling Task show that emotional intuition identifies patterns faster than rational logic.
For complex sales or considered purchases (such as hiring a wealth manager), appealing to the intuitive mind through storytelling and experiential selling can be more effective than relying solely on facts and figures.
You are advanced enough and honest enough not to be pitching market-beating returns, of course.
But let’s really zero in on the angle that appeals to successful, smart, busy people who know a good deal about investing or have had solid performance but they:
Don’t want to deal with managing a portfolio.
Had a liquidity event or inheritance and find themselves in over their heads.
DIY’d it (perhaps with a robo-advisor) and have 7 figures sitting in Wealthfront or Betterment. (While robo investors can be less desirable FA clients attitude-wise, keep an open mind). This is a legit TAM and a lot of HENRYs hang out there.
Dollar cost averaged into the S&P for fifteen years, and have a chunk of money sitting in Schwab that could benefit from some hygiene, attention, and peace of mind that they’re not overpaying in taxes.
"As a client of an advisor myself, I’m giving you the scoop on why, despite great performance DIY’ing my investments for 15 years, I decided to hire an expert to manage my investments and financial plan.” - Emily Binder
Why I Hired a Financial Advisor
Takeaway: The reduced energy expenditure and peace of mind was worth the fee.
But there’s more nuance to the emotional aspect of this decision.
A great messaging strategy speaks to the fact that time (energy) IS money.
It will land well with people who:
value their time (most precious non-renewable resource)
understand the payoff from delegation (business owners especially get this because delegation is a prerequisite for scaling anything)
have intellectual humility and pragmatism about their unpredictable future behavior or lack of detailed knowledge about investing, estate, taxes, retirement, etc.
Find a way to tactfully show prospects this universal truth:
"You don't know what you don't know."
More on that: The Dunning-Kruger Effect explains how people with limited knowledge often overestimate their expertise. By tactfully addressing this bias, financial advisors can help HNW prospects see the value of delegation and expertise—especially in navigating complex financial decisions they may not even realize they’re unprepared for.
This is an emotional unlock: you are selling peace of mind and time and energy savings. How do you even quantify that? You really can’t. Don’t try. A percentage of AUM is a steal for sleeping well and unemotionally managed diversification.
Sell benefits, not features. Here’s the difference (watch YouTube Short: “Sell benefits, not features.”).
Read more in the blog and video from Emily:
Updated August 21, 2025 - from Emily Binder:
Imagine that next month you will receive a bucket of 20 hours in which your mind has zero distractions or worries. You have total quiet and space to dream. Your money is diversified and compounding 24/7, managed by a trusted expert. Your estate is safe. You have enough.
What might you create?
It's not just the 20 hours, it's that your mind is clear and nervous system calm, allowing total blood flow to the frontal lobe. You will come up with new, accretive ideas. Your ideas could create assets, such as a new business or an investment that makes more money from your money while you sleep.
How much would you pay to get those 20 magical hours?
—end pitch—
Your target audience wants those hours. Your service gives them those hours.
Freeing up energy and mental bandwidth is priceless.
~1% AUM becomes perceived as a steal.
Very few wealth managers harness this effectively. It's why you continue having to answer questions about price and fees.
Change the conversation.
I've just given you the general messaging strategy to attract a highly desirable type of client to your advisory business.
We can customize the messaging for your business. Once you have a resonant and distilled message, the hardest part is done. You just platform your message with the right marketing strategy and content. It might simply require a tweak to certain language in your existing content creation.
Click the button below to book a session for Marketing & Brand Strategy (Company).
See testimonials and details about Emily Binder’s advisory sessions at emilybinder.com/call.
This is one of the most common and avoidable mistakes when trying to get booked as podcast guest. (Watch YouTube Short). So you hired a podcast booking service…
It's wild that even with AI, professionals still hire podcast booking services who send cold emails hoping they find me well and pitching to have their client on my podcast.
I don't have guests on my podcast (Voice Marketing with Emily Binder).
If you listen to an episode for 30 seconds or scan the show notes, that's obvious. My previous, longer podcast (Beetle Moment Marketing Podcast) had guests. But I haven't done that show in three years. And I still get guest inquiries for it.
If my own assistant pitched me as a podcast guest in this sloppy a manner, they wouldn't be my assistant anymore.
Spray-and-pray podcast guest outreach
One small problem: This podcast doesn’t have guests.
When you have someone dialing for dollars on your behalf without doing table stakes vetting targets, you look lazy and desperate and just... outdated at this point. It looks like you have no budget or discernment and would be happy to guest on any old podcast. It’s Thirsty Marketing (video).
Your salesforce is a reflection of your brand. Any comms that go out on your behalf reflect on you: that is the essence of marketing.
Good news: the tools exist to do better, easily, and they're free. Sure the VA is just $20/hr blasting emails to every podcast out there (even podfaded ones, or single-host ones), but this 'cheap' tactic actually costs you reputationally and wastes time. So it’s expensive in the end because brand value is arguably a business’s greatest asset.
If I were in a want-to-be guest’s shoes I'd do this instead.
It will take about ten minutes upfront to generate a strong and detailed output. Save it and re-use.
This prompt works in any generative AI tool but I’m especially loving Magai lately. (It’s another tech rec from my friend Mitch Joel, Founder of ThinkersOne who got me into other must-have tools I use daily like Descript, Hand Mirror, and TextExpander.)
Magai aggregates ALL the top AI tools (LLMs for text and gen AI for images and video). It’s all in a single browser based dashboard and you can save chats. About $15/mo which is a steal. Consider that ChatGPT Plus costs $20/mo as a standalone service. It’s one of many tools included in Magai, for much less. Try Magai
Magai Premium AI Models: ChatGPT, Claude AI, Google Gemini Advanced, Meta Llama, and more! Image Generation: Dall-e 3, Stable Diffusion, Leonardo.ai, Flux, Stable Video…
Paste the prompt below.
Fill in your own info in the brackets:
Lead gen list and email for podcast guest bookings:
"My client [name] is a [industry] expert. [Paste client bio and accolades plus link to their website and link to a strong recent episode on Spotify and if available, YouTube link. Paste a list of five strong or popular episodes they've been a guest on and a short description of each.]
1) Create a list of 20 popular [industry] podcasts that have guests (not solo host shows). Put the podcast name and host name clearly at the top and then link to the podcast home page. Write 1 sentence describing the podcast. Write 1 sentence about why it would benefit my client to be a guest.
2) For each podcast, personalize a short, visibly digestible email about why my client would add value. Do not use platitudes or cliches or "hope you're doing well" type language. Get to the point in the first sentence. Don't sound desperate, sound confident and friendly. Personalize the email by mentioning a recent episode on that podcast which is related to my client's bio (not a random episode). Put 3 bullet points of why my client would be a useful or compelling guest, especially citing stats about their career, business, similar guest appearances, followers, impressions, or dollar amounts of exits / success stats. Offer a 10-minute phone call with my client [insert Calendly link]."
I hope this post finds you well. ;)
Watch more mini-pod clips on YouTube:
Are you marketing to a blur of indistinguishable faces, or to 47-year-old Charlie in Seattle, who’s concerned about finding the right options strategy for his 4000% $NVDA windfall? When you view your audience as a fuzzy crowd, you risk wasting both time and money trying to reach them. Podcast clip:
Get a rifle and narrow your sight. (As you know we write for people who sell considered purchases or services to a discerning audience; not mass market products. If you’re selling Doritos or sedans or iPhone chargers then the shotgun approach may be effective.) More on that:
Rifle vs Shotgun Approach in Marketing (the classic metaphor):
The shotgun approach in marketing aims to reach a broad audience through mass media, generating many leads at a lower cost but often with less precision in targeting. The rifle approach is more strategic, aiming precise content at a narrowly defined group to drive higher-quality engagement and conversions.
Play on Apple // play on Spotify // or play everywhere else via Podlink.
Consider the vast amounts of content online along with how much people actually retain:
402.74 million terabytes of data are created each day. (A staggering amount we can't really comprehend.) Source: Exploding Topics, June 2024
The Forgetting Curve: “Some studies suggest that people forget about 50% of new information within an hour of learning it. That goes up to an average of 70% that's forgotten within 24 hours.” Source: Indigene, Understanding the Science Behind Learning Retention
If you're creating content in hopes of achieving a business outcome, be thoughtful and specific (use the rifle, not the shotgun):
💬 your message (option: Verb-Your-Noun copywriting framework)
👩🏼🦰 your avatar (target persona, a face)
🛒 your CTA
📈 your goal
Because it's truly a sea at this point. Have a clear picture of exactly who you're marketing to (avatar), whether you’re advertising or doing organic content. You may have two or three avatars; write to one at at time. Make separate content for separate avatars. (Btw, Hubspot is a good tool for segmenting content.) Otherwise you're like the Land Rover Defender and diabetes medication commercials played back to back 242 times in a row over months of re-watching The Sopranos on MAX. (Anecdote explained more on the podcast. Both were a waste of CPM.)
In 2024 we don't need to do the spaghetti at the wall / shotgun thing in marketing, especially not for considered purchases.
Podcast home: Voice Marketing with Emily Binder
Follow on Instagram: @beetlemoment
Get email updates (new blogs, one per month max)
Watch more of Emily’s marketing videos and Shorts - YouTube playlist
Adding Spotify Chapters (clickable timestamps) to your podcast show notes is easy and you should do it on every episode. Watch Emily’s tutorial video here.
Read more about the SEO and UX benefits of clickable Spotify timestamps for podcasts here.
Here’s what the clickable kind look like (what you want):
Example Spotify podcast chapters (clickable timestamps) which are great for SEO and UX (user experience). This is “The Game w/Alex Hormozi”, a podcast that figured out the Spotify Chapters trick earlier than most.
On Google, Featured Snippets get 35.1% of all clicks. (The boxes featured at the top of search results which answer a specific question.)
Clickable timestamps are like the Featured Snippets of your podcast. They tell listeners and search engines how specific parts of your episode essentially answer a specific question.
Using AI or a manual method, generate 8-10 timestamps for every 60 minutes of content.
In your RSS feed host such as Acast, Libsyn, Podbean etc., click to edit the “episode description” (show notes).
Put the timestamps on separate lines beginning with the minutes and seconds, either one or two digits for minutes and two digits for seconds, with a colon in the middle such as 4:34. BUT:
Instead of just writing the time plainly like 4:34, you need to put the time in parentheses to make it clickable in Spotify (a Chapter). Like this: (4:34).
Example of a clickable timestamp / chapter when written in the RSS feed episode description (back-end): (4:34) Investors who lost their password made more money
That’s it. Watch Emily’s tutorial for more details: How To Add Spotify Podcast Chapters / CLICKABLE Timestamps
Playlist: Podcasting Tips and Gear
Rich media banners are 267% more effective than static banners but this ad stat also applies to engagement on organic social posts (e.g. LinkedIn, X , and Facebook). This mini-pod and blog post is about something small and tactical that has a big impact on your social media efficacy.
First, “rich media preview” or metadata just means that the social post’s featured image / thumbnail is grabbing information from your target link (such as a YouTube title and thumbnail, or blog post title and featured image). See the screenshots below with green check marks.
It happens automatically if your linked post or media asset has the metadata (title, thumbnail, description) and you share natively. YouTube always does. Blog posts usually do (up to you in settings).
It happens sometimes when using a scheduling tool like Buffer or Sendible.
It happens sometimes if the person posting chooses to attach a photo instead of letting the URL scrape metadata (native info like image and title). (Don’t attach a plain image when you could let the linked asset’s data scrape in and be rich.)
Give your audience a more reassuring and visually pleasing UX
Display more information (where they’re clicking to - no surprises)
Use Fitt’s Law: You’ll have a much larger target area (featured visual and clickable description vs one small text URL)
Fitt's Law is a rule that says it's easier to touch or click on bigger things that are closer to you, and harder to touch or click on smaller things that are farther away.
Results: more clicks to your target media. Example below (X post, good):
❌ Vision boards
— Emily Binder (@emilybinder) October 18, 2023
❌ Startup MVPs
❌ 5-year plans
✅ Prototypes
Mini-pod: Why Startup MVPs and Vision Boards Don't Work
Spotify: https://t.co/T7LKM6Xh5t
YouTube: https://t.co/WrxQNn9tii
When it comes to sharing a blog post or YouTube video or article on social, you want the featured / thumbnail image to be rich media, not an attached plain image which forces the user to find the shortlink in the text of the post. That plain image style lowers the engagement rate and likelihood they will click out to your content. Here’s a clip from the podcast explaining more:
Note: this doesn't apply to zero click content, e.g. photo posts where you intend to simply upload pics and not drive traffic to a link - which is fine and intentional.
A rich media experience, clickable featured image with metadata (title, description, target website shown)
Good LinkedIn post style for promoting a YouTube video podcast. First give the audio link (Spotify, Apple, or Podlink / Plink universal podcast menu link. THEN give the YouTube link as the final link because LinkedIn will scrape / feature metadata from the last URL.)
-Twitter example 1 (YouTube clickable preview)
Good X post with YouTube rich media preview - btw this is our client Jonathan Satovsky’s podcast, Wisdom, Wealth, and Wellness - incredible guests like Greg Harden, Bob Roth, Joel Greenblatt- check it out!
-LinkedIn example 1 (YouTube clickable preview)
-LinkedIn example 2 (Two links for podcast audio and video) - Advanced tip: for a post with two links: LinkedIn favors the last URL as the clickable media so if you have a podcast, first put the audio link THEN the YouTube link so people see the more engaging clickable video thumbnail with details. Another good example (do this):
Good post style - LinkedIn: this is a caveat. Zero-click content is meant to let the user get the full scoop without clicking away. Great for photos or videos natively uploaded. Popular lately also: swipe through carousel photo style posts (like mini webinar slides).
A jpg or png is attached and that preview image that isn't clickable to open the media. User has to find the link to click inside the post text. Less engaging when seen in a feed.
-LinkedIn example 1 (way too many tags which hurts the post algo if tagged people or companies don't engage, and difficult to visually find the actual target URL)
-LinkedIn example 2 (nice post but image is static and not rich media/clickable to the target URL)
Rate / review / subscribe to Voice Marketing with Emily Binder (mini-pod)
Maybe you’re overcomplicating all of this. So many tactics. So many channels to keep up with.
None of it matters if you’re not marketable. Watch 5-minute video podcast:
Emily Binder’s mini-podcast episode: “Don’t Do Marketing, Be Marketable (Threads dead, baby?)” aired 8/25/2023.
—> 1-click play the audio in your favorite podcast app
Threads burned bright for two weeks then DAU were down over 80%.
Twitter's rebrand to X wiped out ~$4 billion in brand equity. RIP the bird.
Branding
PR
Direct response
Everything else is just tactics. This concept from Bob Knorpp is so key.
I go over the #1 marketing mistake I see brands make (this is the "marketable" concept via Samantha Russell).
Success has less to do with tactics like social media or advertising; it's about whether you know why your business exists. Call it a north star, a reason for being. The rest will follow.
Follow Samantha Russell on LinkedIn
Bob Knorpp's podcast: The Beancast
Mini-pod YouTube playlist: youtube.com/emilybinder
“Voice Marketing with Emily Binder” podcast home page and most popular episodes playlist: emilybinder.com/podcast
