Podcasting has emerged as a compelling marketing strategy due to its unique ability to engage, educate, and build trust with a target audience. One study found that 43% of decision-makers listen to podcasts, and the Pew Research Center found that 88% of podcast listeners tune in to learn something new on a topic, making it a leading channel to reach sophisticated retail investors.

Overall, podcasting is a versatile and effective tool for advisors to enhance brand visibility, establish authority, and forge meaningful connections within their niche.

Peter Ciravolo is the Co-founder of BC Brokerage and the host of the five-star rated podcast Only Fee-Only, which just surpassed its 65th episode. We asked Peter how other advisors and entrepreneurs can successfully (and affordably) launch their own podcasts. 

Why did you launch your podcast?

My Co-founder, Broc Buckles, and I had been thinking about launching a podcast for a while. We wanted to ensure we created a network of referral partners and COIs; otherwise, we knew our podcast would have a short life. This was our biggest concern and hesitation, and it’s why we didn’t start it earlier. 

Broc used his Twitter following to ask for name ideas about 2 years after starting BC Brokerage. Having the podcast has forced us to consistently make and distribute content. In just over a year, we’ve been able to generate 200+ appointments with new financial planners who met us through the podcast.

How do you determine what to cover in each episode?

Regarding topics, you have to understand your audience and research the guests before they come on. 

Our podcast is specifically for fee-only financial planners (B2B), many of whom came to this industry through a career change or another side of the financial services industry. We ask about their background, where they went to school, their first jobs, how they found the fee-only community, how they work with their clients, and more. 

After booking, the guests receive an automated email, sent again 24 hours before the podcast recording, with a list of about 10 guiding questions. 

I recommend inviting different guest speakers for each episode to keep the topics fresh and interesting. For many, they should start by creating a newsletter and use this newsletter as a “roster” for new podcast guests. You’ll likely have more newsletter subscribers than you do to podcast episodes, so there’s no excuse not to have a new guest come on. 

An additional benefit to always having new guests is having some of their audience see you for the first time. This is “top of funnel” for us: they click our profile, or we see they saw ours, and then the drip marketing campaign continues. 

Do you have any advice for insurance advisors looking to launch their own podcast?

A lot of entrepreneurs can get caught up in the logistics of creating a podcast, but it doesn’t have to be a complex or expensive process. 

We have some friends who do their podcasts in person. But doing so involves driving, reserving spaces, setting up, tearing down, rescheduling, and more. So, I highly recommend, even if it is someone local or super important, to keep it virtual. Sure, top podcasters record in person, but they also have full-time dedicated staff members. Don’t make it complicated – keep it simple!

For Only Fee-Only, we record our episodes on Riverside. You could use Zoom for free, but what we like about Riverside is the lossless audio feature, which records guests’ computers separately and then uploads at the end. This helps when Wi-Fi is slow and improves audio quality. Riverside also has its own editing features and AI, whereas, with Zoom, you would need to use your own editing software, like GarageBand. 

We distribute the episodes to various podcast platforms through Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout puts it onto Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many more simultaneously. 

I would also recommend a high-quality TSA-friendly microphone to record on the go if needed. There are a lot of options available, but I personally use the Shure MV7. Logos and cover art are only a one-time investment, and Fiverr and Upwork are affordable options for outsourcing logo creation.

For logistics and scheduling, make sure to use a custom Calendly link that puts it on the host and guest’s calendars, sends reminders, has the meeting link, etc. 

Building up a bank of content is very important too. You want to have four to five recordings ready to go at all times so you don’t feel stressed if someone has to reschedule. 

In addition, podcast episodes are easy to repurpose. Once recorded, I can use the transcript for an article and video clips from the interview to tease the episode across our social channels and newsletters. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a 30-minute video podcast is a storytelling journey.

You’ll also be surprised how you start getting invited on other podcasts. You can then repurpose those podcasts or re-release them (as free episodes) on your own platform. 

How do you measure success from your podcast?

We look at three main pillars for success: downloads, newsletter subscriptions, and revenue.

Whenever someone books an appointment, we ask them how they found us via Calendly. We’ve found that many people have discovered our brand from the podcast, and it continues to grow month after month. 

We measure everything through our CRM and have studied the data to know what works and what does not. It is way too easy to look at irrelevant KPIs. The podcast is a slow burn, so you do have to give it some time. Figure out a frequency that works for you, whether that be weekly, every other week, or monthly. You still need to run a business and get new business in the door today. 

It also pays to look at how you're distributing the episodes and which platforms perform better than the other platforms. For example, we share our episodes with our LinkedIn network, Twitter, email newsletter, our website, and more. 

Next steps

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