Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, we're talking with Adam Curran, a financial advisor who owns a nice financial advisory firm in Charleston, South Carolina.
They have a really unique way of generating business using a radio show. He's syndicated on a lot of different radio stations, and we ran through all of the numbers about how the economics of something like that work.
We dissected the roles each part of this strategy is playing; using books as a lead generator, and the purpose of a podcast or a radio show as a distribution channel and lead conversion tool. We had a really great conversation, and there's a lot of potential in this idea, and a lot of opportunity for Adam to really capitalize on the tremendous and profitable foundation he's built.
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Transcript - More Cheese Less Whiskers 153
Dean: Hello, Adam Curran.
Adam: Dean Jackson.
Dean: There he is. How are you?
Adam: I'm good. Thank you so much for giving me some time so I can work out some marketing ideas.
Dean: Well, that's what the exciting thing about a podcast like More Cheese Less Whiskers. We get the whole hour to do nothing but that.
Adam: Yeah, I'm a big fan of your work and this is kind of like sitting in a marketing shrink chair because I got a bunch of things I need to work out.
Dean: Oh good. Well I'm sitting in the marketing shrink chair myself. I got my tablet so I can doodle and take notes and I've got myself ready and I'm excited. So, let's start at the beginning. What's going on?
Adam: Yeah. So, the reason I reached out to you is, you helped us publish our first book and that was a massive success. All of our marketing endeavors probably increased by about 50% just due to do that first book we wrote. And I got another book that's kind of in my head that I'd love to get out. And even though we did that first book like three years ago, my life has changed dramatically. I've had two kids, I got a six week old child and a 19 month old child. I just have this other book in my head because life has changed so much. I just want to make sure that I execute on this second book in an effective way. So it's not just purely kind of a vanity project. I kind of want to make sure that book is also effective in capturing leads and getting people excited to work with the firm. It's not just purely as a love letter to two sons.
Dean: Perfect. Maybe we should expand on the backstory for everybody your business and what you do and how you're using maybe your first book so we can transition into this.
Adam: Yes, I'm a financial planner here in Charleston, South Carolina. The lion's share of our marketing endeavors is through by way of long format radio. So I do a radio show called Retire Y'all Radio, which airs here in Charleston and rural Beach. It's probably the busiest show on weekend radio and in these two markets. And obviously the book is a perfect tool to deliver value to the listeners. The call to action is simply pick up the phone and call us up, we'll give you a complimentary copy of our book in the mail. We also do a lot of public speaking, a lot of internet marketing, but mainly radio, seminars, are our two main funnels for people to engage with us.
Dean: How long have you been doing that?
Adam: How long have I been doing radio or both of those things? I moved to South Carolina not knowing a soul, I think about eight years ago. And we started off with a little 15 minute kind of segment on a radio show. It's turned into 13 one hour shows now. Then, started doing mainly workshops and seminars and I've kind of take my foot off the gas pedal there just because I need more time with my family. So, eight years we've been in Charleston.
Dean: Okay, perfect. And so, what's the idea for the second book then? What are you looking for?
Adam: Well, that's where I need your help. That's where I need your help because the book that I have in my head is more of a kind of a catchall. The first book that we wrote was called The Power of a Plan: Your Politically Incorrect Guide to a Worry-Free Retirement. So it's kind of, hey, everyone could pick this book up and learn how to put together a retirement plan. We have politically incorrect in there. I do business in South Carolina. We market mainly through conservative talk radio. Us conservatives like to be politically incorrect. It was kind of a catchall. Everyone under the sun can pick up this book and gain some level of wisdom for how to put together a retirement plan.
So the second book that I have in my mind's eye, kind of speaks to this idea that we have all of these different financial gurus out there, Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman, Clark Howard and Robert Kiyosaki. All of them have excellent, excellent advice and put together great plans, far more eloquently than I'll explain. But what I find is most of these people are very rigid in the type of advice that they give out. Dave Ramsey is just pay off all your debt with everything you've got and then put all your money in mutual funds. And Robert Kiyosaki is, leverage yourself up to the hill and buy lots of real estate.
What I think is missing with a lot of Main Street retirees is that type of advice is far too rigid. They need a balanced approach using all of these different financial gurus. The book that I have in my head speaks to this idea of taking the wisdom of all of these financial whizzes and kind of taking the best out of each and every one of their worlds to deliver a financial planning practice that's going to hit a Main Street retiree a little bit more on the marks rather than the rigid approaches.
So that's kind of what I had in my head. But when I read your stuff and when I look at my marketing, I feel as though that the book ought to be more targeted, meaning peel out one particular segment, call it. What I'm fooling with lately is, my market is getting inundated with people from the Northeast who are moving down to South Carolina so they don't have to shovel snow. Why don't we put together a book that simply says, "Your Guide to Retiring in South Carolina"?
Dean: I like that.
Adam: That's where we need your help.
Dean: Okay. And so here's the thing. The idea is that you want to get in front of people who are your target audience. And one of the big, undeniable segments is the migration of people from the Northeast down South. I mean come South Carolina, Georgia, Florida. That's where they're all going right? Now, that's not going to stop anytime soon, so you got a lot of good momentum on that. I just did a podcast called Thinking Out Loud and it's just me, just my thoughts on stuff. And I saw just recently that Lee Iacocca died and that brought to mind one of the most brilliant things that he did was get in front of an inevitable audience. In 1964, he invented the Ford Mustang and that became the most popular car for 20 years. But it was because he perfectly timed the baby boomers who, starting in 1946, were the ones born then were just turning 18 in 1964.
And what they wanted was, sporty, affordable cars. And there was another 20 years’ worth of record numbers of people entering that 18 to 20 year old market. Then, 20 years later when Chrysler was in trouble, they brought in Lee Iacocca and he invented the minivan for the same audience. Now instead of these guys being 18 years old, they're 38 years old and they need not sports cars, they need people movers, get their whole family in there. And that was another huge thing.
Well, if you look at right now, we're that same group of people, all the people that were born in 1946 are now entering where they are, how old would that make those people now? If you were born in that 1946, would they be 73?
Adam: 73
Dean: 73. The oldest of the baby boomers now are 73. And so, you look at it, that, I saw a stat that there are over 10,000 people a day turning 65 right now and that's going to continue for the next 20 something years, and some portion of those are going to be moving to South Carolina from New York and New Jersey or somewhere in the Northeast. Right? So it's a viable market. It's a viable thing is getting in front of the right people. What age and asset level are the people that you're primarily focused on?
Adam: 55 to probably 75 with a half million or more of investible assets.
Dean: Okay. And, 55 to 75, and 500K. There's a lot of those people.
Adam: Yeah. We serve the mass market. We want to work with middle-class millionaires as we call them.
Dean: Yeah. Right. I love it. And so, one of those things is definitely getting in front of that migration. It's not all about you at this point. It's about finding the people who are looking for their retirement homes now because the 55 year old is buying a beach home or a home that will be a vacation home until they turn it into their retirement home. Is that where you are-
Adam: And everyone has questions as to what the approximate level of state tax are and the property tax and what type of income gets taxed by the state. There's a definite need for that and I think you just, in this very short amount of time, just gave me some clarity as to the vanity project can wait. I can write the big book a few years from now, but it seems like the demand would be for what the market wants, is something that's going to be capturing people-
Dean: Well, if you can get in front of people, and I look at your radio show as, the radio's really just a distribution channel for it, right? Because you could do that same thing to create the content of it as a podcast.
Adam: Yeah. Might not get the type of people I'm looking for though.
Dean: Well, certainly you can because the podcast is not a lead generator. The podcast is a lead converter. I'm not looking to use a podcast as a lead generator. I'm looking at it as a way to communicate with my audience, with the people who have already come into our world, you know?
Adam: Absolutely. Okay.
Dean: So I look at it as what we call a profit activator three, see? So if somebody gets offers the book on retiring in South Carolina, the person who asks for that is really going to be someone who has self-identified as someone who is going to be, or is interested in retiring in South Carolina. And that becomes now interesting to other people in addition to you. I mean, when you look at who else might be interested in that person, certainly, real estate agents and certainly real estate developers, new home developers, mortgage brokers, there's all kinds of people you could kind of collaborate with on finding people. If you take this holistic approach to being the source or the publisher of information about everything that would be involved in retiring in South Carolina.
Adam: It's no longer just a deliverable on the radio show.
Dean: That's exactly right.
Adam: You think it can grow a mind of its own. I see what you're saying.
Dean: That's exactly it.
Adam: Yeah.
Dean: You want to start thinking like a media property. One of the things is that the distribution just happens to be on the radio and now you can create great content for people who are all interested in the same topic. Right? They're all interested in retiring to-
Adam: And then you got realtors who are giving your book away, seemingly as though they're delivering a gift to others. Yeah, that's brilliant.
Dean: That's exactly right. I mean the realtors, one of the strategies we teach for the realtors is creating a relocation guide for their town. What geographic area do you serve, primarily? Is it-
Adam: Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
Dean: Okay.
Adam: And soon to be Hilton Head. We're going to be expanding there. Hilton Head, Savannah area in the next probably three months or so.
Dean: Okay. And so when you look at it, the realtors, I have a whole real estate community, so I mean, I could connect you with realtors in those areas, but the idea would be, they're all looking for the same person. They're looking for people who want to move to South Carolina.
Adam: Even if it's a retiring in South Carolina guide, if it's not even pointed towards people relocating, there's a lot of people here in South Carolina that were born and bred, that want to read the book called Retiring in South Carolina.
Dean: Yes, that's exactly right. And maybe, you start to think about all the things that went to that. Maybe there's the guide to active adult communities. That's the kind of thing somebody maybe want to be at a 55 plus community. You know?
Adam: Mm-hmm.
Dean: And now you've got the directory there of all of them. Somebody who's thinking about South Carolina as retirement, there's a good chance that they have some connection to South Carolina in that they have vacationed there, they spent spring breaks and stuff at the beach.
Adam: Well, here's another question as a follow-up because I got some clarity as to which direction I'm going to go with the second book. I'm always trepidatious about having more than one simple call to action during a radio show. I don't want to say, "Oh, you can call and get a book or you can call and make an appointment or you can come see us speak here at this place."
So, how do you advise second-time authors to juggle the two different books? Or am I just overthinking this entirely?
Dean: Well, I would look at the main thing. You've got the audience of people who listen to the radio, right? So what do you know about that audience? How many people are listening? What's the frequency that you do the show? What are we talking about there and how many leads do you typically generate? Let's talk through some of the numbers of it here.
Adam: Okay. Okay. I cannot speak to the bandwidth if that's even the right word for the radio stations. I do know that we primarily market on talk radio stations, right?
Dean: Yeah.
Adam: So, the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity type crowds, and we're on every single one of them. And we do long format, so we do an hour on Saturdays and we generally aim for morning time slots, anytime from eight to about noon on both Saturday and Sunday.
Dean: Right. And you buy that time slot?
Adam: That's correct. Yep, we buy it. We've tinkered in the past with kind of-
Dean: Do you buy it or does the radio? They're producing it and doing ads on it or are you buying the time?
Adam: We've tinkered with the idea of turning it into more of like a profit center, but I just came to heck of a lot easier just managing it through our business, through a marketing endeavor and just doing it all ourselves. We don't farm out any of the advertisements in the show. It's a one hour infomercial for our business.
Dean: Okay, great. So let's talk about that because there's a perfect correlation here now, right? Because now it truly is your just distributing through the radio and you're getting the outcome that you get. So let's just walk through it and then maybe I'll present a comparison kind of analysis for you. Maybe we can see which direction might make sense. So, you buy a one hour time slot that costs how much?
Adam: Oof. I would say probably average, you're looking at anywhere from $200 for the hour on a very smaller station to as much as $600 an hour on a larger station.
Dean: Okay. So you're getting 200 to $600 an hour for the time. And what kind of a commitment do you have to make to get that? What are you buying, so many weeks in a row?
Adam: Yeah. At this point, I think the stations we run, we've got a track record where we literally have 30 day opt-outs But, typically you're making a six month commitment or something like that.
Dean: Okay. And, so when you look at it right now, what kind of monthly budget are you spending on this to do it?
Adam: Probably 15,000 a month.
Dean: Okay. All right. So there we go. So you're 15,000 a month and when you look at that, then you get your one hour. Is it prerecorded and you're just running the show on the-
Adam: Yeah, I'm typically recording and on Monday and it airs on Saturday morning.
Dean: Okay. So you're just giving them the fully produced show and there you go.
Adam: Exactly.
Dean: Now, when you run the $15,000 worth of radio ads, that's exactly what it is really, because you're buying it, so you're making that investment there, how many people ask for your book or how many leads do you generate from that?
Adam: Again, that's variable, but let's use an average per se. Say we get 15 leads per week.
Dean: Okay, so you're getting 60 leads a month, would you say?
Adam: Yeah, that's fair.
Dean: Yeah.
Adam: Probably a little low.
Dean: Okay, well, I'll let you tell me. A hundred?
Adam: Right in the middle there, we'll say 80.
Dean: Okay. We're getting 80 leads for our $15,000. So let's just do some quick math on this here. You're a financial advisor, so you could probably calculate it out, but I'm going to use my calculator. $15,000 divided by 80 gives me $187.50, is what it costs me to get somebody to ask for the book. That sound about right?
Adam: That sounds spot on exactly.
Dean: Okay. Is there any other calls to action on the radio or any other outcome that you get from the radio.
Adam: What I love about the radio is, I know you talk a lot about your before unit and your after unit. It's a perfect medium for not only generating new leads, but all of our clients listen to the radio show. And as much as it is an infomercial, I've got an hour in there to kind of vent my opinions and beliefs. And most of the people came to work with us because their beliefs coincide with mine. Right?
So it's also an opportunity to check in with our current clientele as well. But as far as the call to action, it's simply pick up the phone and give our office a call and you'll get a complimentary copy of our book in the mail. The books called The Power of a Plan: Your Politically Incorrect Guide to a Worry-Free Retirement. And, along with that book, we can schedule a 15 minute initial planning call and you don't even need to cross a bridge or get in your car. You can do that call from the comfort of your own home. We'll gather all the peripheral information that we need to piece together a written retirement plan.
Dean: So, you're telling them all this on the on radio show?
Adam: Exactly. Exactly.
Dean: As you're saying it. Okay.
Adam: Pick up the phone, call us up, get a book, and along with the book comes a 15 minute initial planning call. So then when our appointment…
Dean: That right there. Let's stop there for a second. That's costing you people asking for the book right now. Because what you're doing right now is your future basting beyond that. You're switching into convincing mode, right? I've talked a lot about compelling versus convincing. And what you doing is your saying to somebody, "Respond for this book. Plus, you're going to get a 15 minute consultation." It's like beyond all this stuff, right? And in their minds that is being heard as call now trained people are standing by and we'll rush your auto debit commitment contract to you.
It sounds very scary for somebody if they have to call and talk to a person and then do a consultation with you.
Adam: I just have book.
Dean: Yes. Do you have a landing page for it where you could just say the name of the website?
Adam: Just our regular website.
Dean: Okay.
Adam: Which is kind of front and center.
Dean: What's your website called?
Adam: Retiree y'all y-a-l-l dot com.
Dean: Okay. So I think that, if you just send people to retireyall.com, to get the copy of the book, that first of all you would get more people to download the book. Now that would be something you could test one week just to see. Right? Rather than go into all the stuff that's happening after the book, if you get them to go to retire y'all and get a copy of the book to download, that would be a big win. You'd be able to get more people. Because that's all we're looking for at that level so let me ask you this too then. How many people have asked for the book total so far? How many do you have that you have name and email for?
Adam: 400 year to date.
Dean: Okay. So you got 400. So that's about right. 80 times six. We're not too far off on the 80 a month. Right?
Adam: Mm-hmm.
Dean: Okay. So, those 400 people, what happens with them?
Adam: I'm looking at the data right now from billing numeric standpoint. 56% of them schedule a first visit or 223 of them scheduled the first. Now answer me this. I want to pick your brain here because now I'm just saying, "Hey, get the book, get the book, get the book." Is my office now when they're delivering that book, are they asking, "Would you also like to schedule an initial 15 minute retirement planning?"
Dean: Yep. I think that you can package that up as the way we've described that as a cookie, right? The next offer where you just want to get them in the living room first that they've got the book and then we can say, "Whenever you're ready, here are three ways we can help you. Number one, get a 15 minute planning call. Or number two, join us for a retirement workshop at the library or number three is, whatever other sort of trigger, type of offers that you can make." You know?
Adam: Got it.
Dean: Now, how often do these 400 people hear from you right now? What's your profit activator three plan here, what are you doing with these people?
Adam: So it's something I wrestle with. So right now we just do a weekly email, which truthfully is far too canned ham for me. I wish we can personalize it a little bit more. I just need to go ahead and do it. Now if you are deemed to be the type of person that we want to work with, we do a bimonthly newsletter, which is very personalized, pictures of the office and my family mixed in there perfectly with relevant content. Of course, clients are going to hear from us a heck of a lot more. You know that. We'll do the traditional reviews and everything and then we also do a bunch of client events, which we can get into later I guess.
But those 400 people through looking at myself in the mirror with a fall here, we're just kind of sending them a very canned ham, generic weekly email that needs improving. Now I guess I need to separate that. So we have 400 people who are raising their hand. Those people generally if we get their email are just going to get put on our drip list and get that email.
Dean: That's what I mean.
Adam: The 223, that book a first appointment, they're kind of being separated and there's certain layers of love so to speak, where, if you're a typical prototypical client, you're going to receive our bimonthly newsletter, you're going to get invited to a bunch of different events that we do.
Dean: Do you mail that newsletter or is it email? Digital?
Adam: Yeah, that's snail mail. The newsletter goes-
Dean: Oh, it's physical.
Adam: Yeah. It's physical.
Dean: Yeah. So you mail it twice a month or every other month?
Adam: Once every two months.
Dean: Once every two months. I never understand what bimonthly. I've never noticed that's every two weeks or every two months or what. Let's just set the record straight because I'm sure people listening to struggle with that. So bimonthly means you're doing it every other month.
Adam: Don't use me as the-
Dean: I'm just wondering.
Adam: I blurted it out. You confuse me just as much as anything. So I don't know. You're going have to do that research on your own.
Dean: Okay. All right. We can't answer all the questions on this podcast, but that sounds about right. Bimonthly sounds like you'd do it every other month and biweekly sounds you do it every other week. Okay. So I think we settled it. So you're bimonthly physical newsletter goes to the 223 people that scheduled a first visit. By the way, what else has happened with those 223 of the ones who scheduled the first visit? Is there more to the story? What else?
Adam: I guess we have a tremendous stick rate and I guess I would probably attribute that to the book. Our stick rate is of those 223 people who actually scheduled a visit, 95% of them actually can complete the visit. So there's not a lot of people who are going, "I don't want do this anymore." Which is a feather in the cap of the book probably. We'll do our 15 minute planning call and I'll get a better understanding of where they're currently at, gather all the information that I need to piece together a plan. We're willing to help anyone, even if you're riddled with debt, we'll find some time to show you resources to help get you out of debt.
But obviously the typical person that we're going to work with has a certain level of assets, has a certain temperament we want to work with happy people. Is that music?
(singing)
Hello?
Dean: Hey, sorry about that. I got cut off. We were talking about that they come in, you do the 15 minutes and 95% come through the call and in that 15 minutes, then I lost track of where you were and I got cut off.
Adam: Then we're sorting people based on if they're someone we want to work with or if there's someone who probably is not a very good fit for the firm. Obviously people who are not good fits for the firm, we're not ongoingly marketing to. If they are good fits for the firm, even there, there's different layers of tender loving care. I personally have my own group of individuals that are on my "hit list" and then I have other advisors who work for me. They're continuously adding value, meaning giving them a call every couple of months if something interesting comes across our desk. We'll do a webinar from time to time and blast that out.
They're going to get invites to some of our kind of fun events. We do an Oktoberfest, we do a day at the baseball park, we'll do a big state of the union event. So our prospect, we kind of treat them as clients for about a year or so, just to give them the client experience to see if those added touches are going to push them over the edge to want to work with us.
Dean: Got you. Okay. How many of the 223 has gone on, if any to, to be clients yet?
Adam: Right now it's 60.
Dean: Okay. So that's a pretty good conversion rate right now. Right? So you've converted more than 10%, almost 15% of all the people that asked for the book have converted into clients and-
Adam: Completed first visits to clients, it's a ratio of about 35%.
Dean: Yeah. And I was talking about from asking for the book. So 400 people, you've had since the beginning of the year and you've got 60 new clients. And what's the annual value of a client for you?
Adam: Ooh. Okay. So, my business of course is very residual. Revenue comes in 1% per year or something like that. It's typically lower than that.
Dean: Right. Exactly.
Adam: I always wrestle with what multiple I use. But immediately I would say, let's see, I've got that number kind of in front of me, let me extract it here. Average client is going to give us around $400,000. If you use maybe a two multiple meaning 1% on the 400,000 times two, maybe call it $8,000 per client. Oftentimes there's upfront commissions that are made when you're dealing with people who want all their money in fixed instruments and things like that. So, maybe really use a round number of call it $10,000 per client.
Dean: Okay. So you looked at that and that's, of course it's going to be more than that because they're going to stay longer than two years mostly. And you're going to have that ongoing relationship with them than your after unit, which is awesome. But that's a good working number to figure on, right? That's what you'll get in the first two years?
Adam: Yeah, exactly.
Dean: Okay. All right. And, so you basically have spent in the six months or seven months so far, six times 15 is, what are we at there? That's 60, 90,000.
Adam: 90,000.
Dean: So you've spent 90,000 to bring in, 600,000. Basically, right?
Adam: Yeah. I look at my ROI at more about three and a half, but I'm discounting the future revenue.
Dean: The second year. Yeah. Yeah. When I look at this, part of your thing is that you need to get the, I call them proprietary metrics, right? So you have to establish where do you draw the lines between before unit, during unit and after unit? Right. So I look at that as you've got the great opportunity there of doing the first year as your during unit. I would look at that probably. So I might try that first value in half and look at what the first year value might be plus including the upfront things that you're going to get. Would it be fair to say that it's five or $6,000 first year?
Adam: Yeah, that's perfectly fair. It might even be a little bit more up front in the first year. Call it six and four or something like that. But yeah.
Dean: Okay. So if it's six or whatever it is that you've generated 360,000 from a $90,000 investment right now, but you also have 400 people who, we don't know what's going to happen with them yet. Right? Because not all of them are ready to come in. Honestly, these are very impressive numbers. You've got a really good system. So, you must be harmonizing with their philosophy and everything about it. You're really on track with them.
Adam: I think that was one of the benefits of doing the first book. And I can tell you the numbers all just increased. I can honestly say I kind of found my voice in writing the book and then it was just a matter of basically beating the drum that the book spouts off. So, the numbers haven't always been so good. It's taken me a while to build my listenership and there's something to be said about the continuity of my message. Most people, we just wear them out. They'll call me up and say, "Hey, I've been listening to you for five years and I finally called you up to get the book."
Dean: Right. I love it. Do you video that the show when you're producing it?
Adam: I don't. That's something that we've been talking a lot about. It seems like that's where the market's headed. I should be in that.
Dean: Yeah, definitely get in studio camera kind of thing because then you could start distributing on Facebook. I honestly, with these numbers, your message is resonating, right? Your cost per lead is really pretty high, but your conversion makes it all worth it. And a lot of that is because you are consistently on the radio. So it, in a lot of ways becomes like your profit activator three in that you're distributing it to everybody all at once. Do you have a sense from the radio station how many listeners you're gathering?
Adam: I don't. I keep track of each station and each hour and I can tell you which hours are most effective. I did look at that number in the past and I mulled over it. But the truth is all I really cared about was actually people who raise their hand because oddly enough, my station that has the highest listenership is my least effective from an ROI standpoint, which is kind of a funny thing in our business. There's really only, when you look at the demographics, there's probably only about 50 or 60,000 people who fit our bill of the type of person we'd want to work with in both of those markets. And it's sometimes it's not all about listenership. There's a lot of people who listen to the most popular radio station, but they don't have any money.
Dean: Right. Exactly.
Adam: We find the wealthy sometimes listen to maybe stations that are not as popular, but the messaging resonates with them a heck of a lot more. The masses are not indicative of the wealthy.
Dean: Right. I got you. And part of the thing that you can do is target specifically the right people. I would look at maybe doing some Facebook distribution to that audience geographically in the area where you want to be. So if you think about all of the 55 to 75 year olds in Charleston that end up whatever, all the targeting is a moving target now with Facebook. So who knows what we'll be able to select whether it's homeowners or income levels. But certainly, even if you just did the broad audience like that, there's a good chance that you can build an audience that way by running, if you have some things that are, do you know Joe Rogan is?
Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
Dean: Okay. So one of the big strategies that Joe Rogan uses to build audience is taking clips from the show, putting controversial or compelling headlines on them, running ads to an audience to get people to click and that introducing them to him. Right? So if you think in a one hour radio show, you may have several sort of isolated things that could be individually compelling, right? That you could do as videos that were three minute little clips from your show. What are some of the things that are kind of the most hot topics or compelling or controversial conversation starters that you talk about on your show?
Adam: Like I said, this is talk radio, some of it's on the AM dial, these are flag-waving God-fearing conservative people, family-oriented, value-oriented people. And I think just the whole discussion about some of the social justice warriors out there is driving people up a wall. So just kind of rolling that out there and talking about how we've lost our minds and are no longer looking at things logically in the name of not hurting people's feelings. To put it very, very lightly, our radio personality is far more punchy than that. That's what getting people to raise their hand. It's not me talking about mutual fund fees and the different elements of social security. It's me showing my true colors and that's what's getting people to raise their hand and want to work with us. And I think that's what speaks to what you said, why we're converting so many because people know, like, and trust me from putting my neck on the line on the radio week in and week out.
Dean: But that's the kind of thing where if you took some of those where you're showing your true colors or you're rallying the crew, you're getting everybody on the bandwagon like, "Amen. Yes, I'm with you. I agree," that kind of thing, that would be what I would maybe look at creating some videos that you could show to the entire audience of people who are 55 to 75 and then track who watches the videos. So you can say, "If somebody watches 50% of this video, I'm going to consider them interested in this, like a warm audience for this." And you can pixel them and then you're building an audience on Facebook of people who resonate with your message. And then to that group, you can show additional content and run ads to that group for your book.
We run book offers all the time online to get $3 book opt-ins, sometimes as low as a dollar 50. And sometimes, as a little more, even to $5, but compared to $187, I think we could really bring that cost down, you know?
Adam: Got it. And that's something that we've been tinkering with doing. And, and I truthfully, what I've done with that in the past is I've just farmed it out to "social media marketing expert". I think what they were doing is just putting together canned ham ads with clip art and I think I need to bring that in house and just like we do with our radio show, show our true colors and be authentic, do the same thing with our Facebook marketing as well. So I think that's great advice.
Dean: Is this a passion for you being the radio personality like that? Is that a passion of yours?
Adam: Yeah. I know I'm good at it and obviously when you're doing stuff that you're good at, you're having a good time. I guess the answer is yes, but I don't get excited about walking into a radio studio anymore and recording a show. There's no stars in my eyes surrounding the process anymore. I don't need to take my pictures in front of microphones anymore, but yeah, I do enjoy it.
Dean: And do you have audience interaction? Is it a call in show-
Adam: No. We did that for many years, but your show gets hijacked. And of course, I'm on 13 stations and there's no one live show anymore. I prefer the recorded format.
Dean: Yeah. Okay. And do you have a co-host or group of people or guests?
Adam: I have a co-host who's with me. Yeah, exactly. Matter of fact, we record the show right here at my office and she's actually just in the headset just like we are right now.
Dean: Oh, that's great. I mean, there's so much you can do with that content, is, I think when you start looking at it that you've got something that could potentially work in the entire Southeast. And so that platform to grow.
Adam: Yeah. I got to do it myself. I got to take that responsibility on myself because the different companies out there that want to help with social media marketing are, get this rapport that's black and white or a couple holding hands, walking down the beach if you want a retirement income plan. I got to maybe brand myself a little bit better. I think that's really great advice.
Dean: Yeah. I think that's the thing. And you maybe have the opportunity to be the voice of these people, but have your advisors that work with you. Very similar to how Dave Ramsey has his endorsed local providers. Right?
Adam: Exactly.
Dean: You could be the guy with the endorsed local providers for Mississippi and for all of these cities in the entire Southeast, everywhere that Retire Y'all make sense.
Adam: And we're already kicking around doing that with estate planning attorneys and accountants. We put together an offer cut from the cloth of your teachings of just, hey, money back guarantee. I guarantee this will work for you. I just haven't really felt the need to babysit other financial professionals when it's working just fine with me alone. Why complicate it by adding other people's emotions? But you're absolutely right. That thought crosses my mind regularly.
Dean: Yeah. You've got to certainly set the model up for there's lots to do still in Charleston. I just can't help but think bigger for you.
Adam: No, I appreciate it.
Dean: I think still, there's lots of opportunity just right there in Charleston and Myrtle Beach. I just think, well, you got a great thing and that there's so much content that you can create out of that weekly show.
Adam: It's basically getting recorded, broadcasted over the weekend and for all intents and purposes just disappearing into the cosmos.
Dean: Yes, you should be taking that content. And if you were video recording it too, like I said, you could slice it up into little segments that you know are going to be something that you can use for lead generation. And you can create blog posts and articles and you can send people to go to your website or go join your Facebook group. You kind of have this thing that everybody's singing from the same hymnbook. Right? You've got these are the songs that resonate with me and that's why they're so compelled to work with you because you're philosophically in alignment with them.
Adam: I love it. Now I know the book I'm writing. Yeah, absolutely.
Dean: Cool.
Adam: I'm sitting here looking at my data and as you're just asking these questions, kicking myself, saying, "Why am I not reaching out to these other 200 people who didn't go through the first initial thing. What happened to them?" It's funny, when you're in the trenches, you forget to reassess. It's crazy.
Dean: Yes. Yeah. I think that's so much potential for you. I think this is a cool thing. I think you'd get a lot out of coming to a breakthrough blueprint where we can spend three days focused on that, laying out, expanding on this. I mean we've been talking about it for an hour.
Adam: Amazing things seem to happen when I leave my office, that's for sure. Especially right now with a six week old and a 19 month old. I could probably use a couple of days not changing diapers and actually thinking about the-
Dean: Yeah, right. Exactly.
Adam: I love that. I'd love to be a part of one of those.
Dean: Cool. Yeah, so that's great. I'm in Toronto. I think the next one in Orlando is in September, but it'd be awesome if you could come because I think of all of the things when you listen, it's just a clear path you got. You got a lot of potential there.
Adam: Awesome. Dean, I appreciate everything you did for us today.
Dean: What's your recap? What's your takeaway and your action plan here?
Adam: Well, my action plan is no more vanity project. As much as I want to write this book just to show how important and special and intelligent I am, I can still dedicate my retiring and South Carolina guide to my boys. But that book needs to be a heck of a lot more pointed. So that's one. Two, I need to just use this radio format, which is really good in more mediums. I got to extract it in, whether it be short soundbites that I'm blasting on the internet or social media or video, I got to just take the content and distribute it more than just on radio dials.
Dean: Yup. Articles, emails. I send three emails a week to everybody in my world and all of those emails are derived from things that I've said on the podcast. It's a very similar model to what I'm doing. I record, I do a weekly podcast just like this, where the whole point is to spend one hour brainstorming ideas with one business owner applying the eight profit activators to their business. So when we hang up, all these wheels go into motion where that gets transcribed and I have a writer who goes through and picks out some of the things that we've talked about that might turn it into three to 500 word articles that become the weekly emails that I send out, and all carry my super signature that say, whenever you're ready, here's three ways or four ways I can help you.
Yeah, we just need to amplify more structure to what you're doing.
Adam: Got it. Awesome.
Dean: I appreciate it.
Adam: Well, we'll see you in Orlando in September, it sounds like.
Dean: Awesome. That sounds great. I'll talk to you soon.
Adam: Thanks, Dean.
Dean: Thanks Adam. Bye.
And there we have it. Another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation or go deeper in how the eight profit activators can apply to your business, two things you can do. Right now, you can go to MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com and you can download a copy of the More Cheese Less Whiskers book and you can listen to the back episodes of course, if you're just listening here on iTunes. Secondly, the thing that we talk about in applying all of the eight profit activators are part of the breakthrough DNA process. And you can download a book and a scorecard and watch a video all about the eight profit activators at BreakThroughDNA.com. And that's a great place to start the journey in applying this scientific approach to growing your business. That's really the way we think about breakthrough DNA as an operating system that you can overlay on your existing business and immediately look for insights there. So that's it for this week. Have a great week and we will be back next time with another episode of More Cheese Less Whiskers.