Advice Line: How To Fix A YouTube Channel That Isn't Converting (Eric Rodriguez)

Speaker A: Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor and we're

Speaker B: here to make advisor marketing simple. Today's conversation was recorded live at Future Proof surrounded by a couple hundred advisors. So if you catch some extra laughs or some comments, that's because we had a built in studio audience for this recording. Now our advisor guest who joined us on stage was Eric from Wealth Builders. He's a solo advisor. He's been serving clients for seven years. His AUM is 50 million and he wants to grow to 250 million in the next five years. His perfect client is a pre retiree or a retiree with 3 million in investable assets. Their primary pain points are that they are in the accumulation phase of assets, taxes in retirement and life planning.

Speaker A: So Eric, what's that big question you want us to solve for you live today?

Speaker C: Yes. So I've been spending a lot of time, money, energy on YouTube and it's resulted in zero clients. So how can I fix my YouTube channel so it not only drives views but also quality leads that uh, essentially will help me get to my 250 million AUM goal.

Speaker A: So for the advisors in the audience listening and those who will listen later, you might hear this question and think, well, I'm not on YouTube, this doesn't apply to me. But really, I think the question we're truly going to answer today, a, uh, deeper question that applies to most of you is the question we get from a lot of advisors, which is this. I'm spending a lot of money on marketing time and energy, but it's not converting. And most importantly, where is it broken that I cannot see and what the hell do I do next to fix it? So that is what we're going to answer today through the lens of YouTube. But there's a lot of pieces to this conversation that I think will apply across any platforms. So I'm excited for each of you to get one or two tips that you can take back and apply to your firm regardless of what stage of growth you're at. So Eric, where I'd love to start with from your side is right now. Are you doing any other marketing activities to drive awareness to the firm?

Speaker C: Yes. So I'm pretty active on Instagram, on LinkedIn, uh, even did some Tiktoks, uh, mostly those channels prior to YouTube.

Speaker A: Okay, awesome. And right now, how many hours per week do you have to spend on marketing?

Speaker C: I'm probably spending right now 10 to 12 hours a week.

Speaker A: Okay, cool. And right now with your YouTube channel and your marketing, what are you spending specifically on marketing? Overall and what are you spending on your YouTube channel and the production there?

Speaker C: Yeah, so prior to launching the YouTube channel, which I launched maybe eight months ago, not much money, uh, on marketing. Uh, but the past nine months, roughly $15,000 or so on marketing.

Speaker A: Okay. Total. Okay, so that breaks out to, uh, can somebody advise her on the stage math here for me, like what, 1200? I'm a marketer, not an advisor.

Speaker C: 1200amonth, it averages somewhat, you know. Yeah, 1200.

Speaker A: Okay, so marketing spend is about 1200amonth. And of that marketing spend, what percentage of that are you investing in? YouTube specifically?

Speaker C: All of it.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker D: What's your budget, your annual budget, like, if you could or wanted to spend more?

Speaker C: That's a great question. I, I'm not clear on how much I should be allocating. So the firm over the last two years has grown pretty rapidly. So I've, I've never been that intentional about how much I want to spend on marketing. So if there's a best practice or something that I should know about, I'd, I'd love to hear it.

Speaker D: Okay. And another follow up question. You mentioned a few other marketing channels. LinkedIn, TikTok. Uh, what has contributed the most to your success up to this point?

Speaker C: I'd be lying if I didn't say all of it because I could pinpoint clients I've gotten from Instagram or podcasting or et cetera. Um, but I would say Instagram has probably been best for me. But since I switched niches working with retirees, not many retirees are on Instagram. So.

Speaker D: And maybe my last question before we go Deeper is why YouTube? You have all these other things that are doing really well. You've had success with Instagram?

Speaker C: Well, I've listened to many of your podcasts and I know that when you spread yourself too thin, you end up being mediocre with some of these social channels. So, um, video for me gives me energy. I love to do the videos. Um, I find it to be fun and that's the medium I choose because I, I really enjoy doing video.

Speaker A: When it comes to your YouTube production right now, who's doing your thumbnails and your video editing?

Speaker C: Uh, but the same guy. Um, so I hired a firm, um, does all the video edits, does thumbnails.

Speaker A: Okay. And when it comes to the tools that you're using on the back end to help you produce these videos, are you using any tools to help with your ideation or your script writing?

Speaker C: ChatGPT, mostly. Um, I know there's other tools that I should probably be using, but mostly chat GBT for that.

Speaker A: So you told me you have 10 to 12 hours a week right now on marketing. Of those hours, how many of those are you spending on YouTube versus like your other platform? So for example, I have, you know, 10 hours, I'm doing two on YouTube. Like how are you distributing your time?

Speaker C: I'd say 90% of it is YouTube. So whether it's recording, scripting, um, I actually do all the posts and I do all the show notes, all of that stuff. So that's, that takes up a lot of time. Uh, but I've really stepped away from focusing on all the other channels just to really be intentional about growing YouTube.

Speaker A: Okay, Taylor, what's coming up for you?

Speaker D: I think it might be helpful to maybe really quickly run through the marketing funnel. I think that's on one of the slides if you want to run through each of those different layers. Before we start to go deeper here,

Speaker A: when we talk about a marketing funnel, there's a few different layers here. And the way that we like to describe this top, uh, of funnel is just awareness. And really how do people find out that you exist? That's it. A lot of advisors come to me and say, hey, I'm getting views on this channel or that platform. So in theory that top of funnel is working, but they expect that top of funnel to do the full funnel work. So top of funnel is just how does somebody go from not knowing Eric exists to hey, who's Eric? Middle funnel, I like to say top of funnel is where you earn awareness. Um, middle of funnel is where I like to say you earn trust. So this is, hey, now that I've found Eric and I watch his videos, I can see his expertise, I can see the problems he solves for me and I trust him. I like him. Right now the bottom of the funnel, that's where I like to say we actually earn assets. Most people think we earn assets at the top. That's not the journey of the funnel. So a lot of times advisors have a lot of marketing activities, but very few marketing funnels. And really all a funnel is is how do we take someone from content to client in a clear, easy way. So most of the time you're usually missing a piece of this funnel. So this is what we really talk about. We're talking about the marketing funnel. So for Eric, let's break down with this framework. We what his current funnel looks like. So the top where people find out he exists, YouTube long form videos in some social short form clips his middle of the Funnel is also long form videos in social, short form clips. Now, for each of these platforms, each platform is a little bit different. Some of them can operate as that visibility that you need and also that trust factor. So YouTube is one of those channels. And at the bottom of the funnel for Eric is just someone going to his website and booking a call. So we need all of these layers working together, clearly communicating who we help, how we help them, and if they want to hire us, how to easily do it.

Speaker D: So Eric, talk to us about the bottom of your funnel. So we understand that the top and middle is YouTube and some social media. What happens when somebody sees a video, likes your video, you've nurtured them for a period of time and now they want to reach out to hire you. You've been doing YouTube for eight months and haven't seen a single client. So is it because the top and middle are broken or are we also struggling at the bottom of our funnel?

Speaker C: I think all of it. Um, right now the bottom of the funnel is really just a type forum. Um, and it goes to the calendly. They book a meeting, um, they can opt to join my newsletter list. Um, but if I'm being completely transparent, vulnerable here, always, um, grown pretty organically from client referrals or just, you know, um, so I've never really put in that much thought into all the different aspects of the funnel, which is probably why I'm here. Um, but I think, um, these are things that are broken and I need to fix them. M. So yeah, it's really just really as simple as that.

Speaker D: How direct are you with your call to actions in your videos?

Speaker C: I think I'm pretty direct. I ask for business after every video. So there's a little 30 second clip of me saying, hey, if you want to work at Wealth Builders, you want to work with me. You can click the link, book a call, et cetera. So that's in, that's in every video.

Speaker D: So In a typical YouTube video, you don't have a call to action until the end of the video.

Speaker C: Until the end of the video.

Speaker A: All right, Eric, so I looked at your funnel and I think there's three big issues, one of which is one that you need to fix now and two of which you may not see coming. So I'll start breaking down a couple of things that I see and then we'll see what comes up for Taylor. So the first thing I see here, uh, with your top of funnel is that your packaging needs work. So YouTube is a packaging game and what that Means packaging is three things. The idea or the concept of the video. And it has to be something interesting, intriguing, not just something people can Google because they'll Google it, right? So that your ideas need work, your thumbnails need work, and your title. So packaging is concept, thumbnail title. And I'm going to show you what Eric's thumbnails look like. So I hope your YouTube agency doesn't listen to this because you need to fire a thumbnail artist. Sorry, person listening. Here's the thing. If you're producing content and you're not getting views, you're not getting clicks, it's because your packaging isn't working. And I think all platforms actually have a packaging element to them. For example, if you're working on an algorithm driven platform, for example, like LinkedIn, your packaging would look like your hook, your idea, your content, and your supporting visual for every platform that you're posting on, whether it's YouTube or another one. If your content isn't getting reach, it isn't getting visibility. The top of funnel, the packaging isn't working. So Eric, the first problem I see here, your, your packaging needs work. So the title of this first example Here is top 10 hobbies you should pick up in retirement. And there's a picture of you. You look great, but the, the colors of the thumbnail really don't speak to what works in the ecosystem of YouTube. Now I'm going to show you Taylor's thumbnails and you're gonna feel a totally different vibe. Look at the colors, the contrast, the curiosity, and that great grin. Nailed it.

Speaker D: Taylor, as funny as it is, this is what works on YouTube and the trends do change. And so right now, this is what my agency is putting together and packaging up for the videos. And they're working and you can see some of the views there down below. Um, compared to Eric's. I also think too, in terms of packaging, we want to hit on the pain points of our ideal clients. And so if you go back to Eric's slide there, 10 fun hobbies after 60 is probably not keeping retirees up at night. And so we think about the content we're creating and even packaging it up, because you might hit on pain points in some of these videos, I'm not sure. Um, but hitting on those pain points in the packaging, to encourage them or entice them to click through and watch

Speaker A: the video, your thumbnails should ask a question they can only answer by clicking. So you know, the, the images here, the titles, you know, top 10 hobbies you should pick up in retirement versus Taylor's, which is why you should retire at 62. Even if you're behind. Can you see how that feels really counterintuitive? So if you're looking to improve your packaging here, Eric, a couple things. Um, one, you're going to have to evolve your ideas to be more thought provoking. A couple simple ways you can do that. Uh, there's a tool called 1of10, which you can use to find some viral ideas, some viral titles, thumbnails. And it's not that we copy them, we use it for inspiration and we ask, how can I apply this to the people I love to serve? So using it for ideation. Um, the second thing I like to recommend is study the content recommended, um, on your homepage. And I think this works for every platform. Look at what you pay attention to and compare your content to that. How do they stack up? And then also, I think you need a better thumbnail designer. You know, we run a lot of YouTube type content on our side at Rebel, and typically what I see a good thumbnail designer goes for is 50 to $150 a thumbnail. You might be able to find somebody cheaper. You can definitely find somebody more expensive. But like, it's. You need a good thumbnail designer. If you don't have a good thumbnail designer, you're pretty much dead in the water. Any thoughts there, Taylor?

Speaker D: No. I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, in order for people to see your great content, watch your great content again, you have to have the right thumbnail in place. Um, I think one company out there to consider. I think it's called Clickables, Um, and they have a great process in place. Not the cheapest agency out there. Um, so you can piece this together on your own and find a great video editor and a great thumbnail artist and a great copywriter and piece this together yourself. Or you can hire these full service agencies that can cost upwards of $5,000 per month. So you're spending $1,200 per month. You probably should be spending closer to $5,000 per month. How does that feel?

Speaker C: Uh, I gotta do it. I mean, I gotta do it. I mean, spending the money I'm spending now, it's the most I've ever spent on marketing in seven years. So it's a tough pill to swallow, you know, so that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker D: Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I come from the podcasting world. I've got a retirement podcast and very cheap to produce. And when I ventured into YouTube earlier this year, hired an agency and spent more money than I've ever spent on this stuff. But, uh, YouTube is a beast. It's really complex and the trends change really rapidly. So having the right team in place is really important. One of the most unique things that I learned about YouTube this year, and I think I'm only about four or five months in, is that you have to train the algorithm so that the algorithm knows who to serve your videos to. And if you get it wrong in the beginning, YouTube has no idea who you're trying to reach and your videos don't get seen. So in some cases when an agency comes in, I don't. How many videos do you have published?

Speaker C: Uh, over 25. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker D: In some cases they'll come in and say, we have to scrap, scrap your channel, delete it, and we have to start over. Because YouTube is so confused about who your audience is that if you just keep publishing videos, they're not going to get seen. So it's really important in the beginning for anyone out there venturing in YouTube to spend the money in the beginning and hire the right people in the beginning so that you get it right and the algorithm knows exactly who you're trying to reach.

Speaker A: And a lot of times the reason why we really talk a lot about, you know, one avatar, one channel, is because every channel has this nuance. There's different things changing the trends, what's working, how to package it, how to make it perform, constantly changing. So you have to really narrow in on that channel that feels natural and organic to you and then build a full funnel there. Um, Eric, another big issue I see this one's a really right down the road from you, you just don't know it yet is that your scripting needs work. So the thing about YouTube specifically is once they click, do they stick? So let's say we earn the click. Somebody sees your great thumbnails like Taylor, but if they click on the video and they don't stay watching, we don't win. The reality is these algorithm driven platforms, they actually want to put your good content in front of their users. And the key is good. If you're not getting visibility, you're not getting views. So for you, once you get the click, has the packaging done its job and then does your hook and your script keep them watching? So when you said, when I asked what tools you were using, I think that's an opportunity. Once you get that packaging fixed, next you're gonna have to move further down the funnel, the middle of funnel, the video, to make sure that your hooks are working. So with YouTube, if you're not getting views, your packaging needs work. If you're not getting leads, your script and your offer needs work. So what's cool about this is can you see how we're breaking down at each point using data and numbers where this funnel is broken? So let me read you a hook from Eric and then we're going to read a hook from Taylor. All right, For Eric's video, which the title is Top 10 Hobbies for Retirement. Here's his hook. He said, today we're going to be diving into a fun and informative topic. Sorry, Eric, I didn't give you any heads up on this. Um, and that's finding the best hobbies to pick up in retirement. And what I'm going to do today is I'm going to rank them from least to most popular so you can see what's trending among other retirees. All right, we're going to the Taylor Schulte side. Taylor's, uh, video, the Secret Roth Conversion Strateg Changes Retirement. Can you already feel the difference in that title? You're like, what is he talking about over there? Let me click on this. So here's Taylor's hook. He says, did you know there are actually two different five year rules for Roth IRAs? It gets confusing and mixing them up could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in penalties. Today I'm breaking down the Roth conversion, uh, five year rule. This is the one that financial professionals, mainstream media, and even know it all AI tools still get wrong. Can you feel the difference in that hook? Like, I read Taylor's and I was like leaning in. I'm like, what do I not know? This is a good hook. So once you get the click, you gotta make them stick with a good hook. And Eric, that's gonna be the next opportunity for you for improving your middle of the funnel is improving your script writing and those hooks, there's different tools you can use, uh, to do that. Um, as far as, like dialing that in. Um, any questions there?

Speaker C: How much time should I be spending on scripting? I try to batch content as well, so I'll do maybe three to five videos every week. I think that's a flaw I have. I feel like I don't spend as much time on scripting, but I'm just curious, is that hours? Is it, you know, days? I mean, you know, what does that look like?

Speaker D: The agency that I work with, there's a data Nerd on their team. And so he has all the numbers. But what they tell me is there's a direct correlation between how much time an advisor spends on the script and how successful the video is. So that time is probably different for everybody. We all work and operate differently. For me, it's often around 10 hours on just the script alone. Now, not that you probably couldn't cut that in half, maybe with some AI tools and a good process. But I will spend as much time as needed to write the script where I'm happy with it. And again, sometimes it can take upwards of 10, 12 hours. Not every video. And it depends on the length, of course. Right. Some videos are longer than others, but it is the number one. Again, if you have the right team in place and you're like, I just wrote a badass script. This is going to be a great video. They can handle all the packaging after that. So again, once. Well, I want to mention this earlier too. You got a great title. You have a great thumbnail. Somebody clicks on the video, even if they have the hook and they get through the hook. The average retention on YouTube is, I think it's around like 40% or something of a YouTube video compared to the podcasting world where people, you know, Ben, what, 98, 99% of an episode gets consumed. That's not the case with YouTube. So we have to keep them interested throughout the video. And I want to go back to your call to action earlier you mentioned it's only at the end of these videos. So we only put at the end. Very rarely are people going to actually watch all the way to the end and hear your call to action. So it's YouTube videos that you're trying to convert people into clients. We have to sprinkle in at least one other call to action. We usually do it around the two or three minute mark of a video. You can play around some of the timing there, but you'll want to add another call to action other than just at the end of a video.

Speaker C: That's good feedback.

Speaker A: Awesome. So I have one more kind of big thing coming up that I think is gonna be really helpful for you as you start to strengthen the layers of your funnel. From a conversion standpoint, when you start looking at the bottom of your website. I have a question for you. Have you adjusted your niche over the last 12 to 18 months?

Speaker C: Oh, yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. I didn't have to ask you to know that. I knew it from reading your website. Cause your messaging was muddy. So when I looked at the top of your Website, think about this. Someone reads your content, consumes your content, they like you, you solve problems that they're keeping them up at night, and then they, they meander over to your website. And the top of your website, is it not a, uh, connected through line? It doesn't match who they are and what they care about. So right now you have a really good opportunity to just adjust the copy at the top of your website. And this is a key word. I said copy, not redesign your website. That's a really easy way to hide from doing the important work. So copy is just like simple words right? Now let me read your header, and then I'm going to read you a header of a competing client of mine. And I wrote their header so we can see before and after. So your current website header says, you've built wealth, now it's time to enjoy it. I hope you retire on your terms with a tax smart wealth plan. And when I look at your website, I actually didn't even see the word retirement. It was invisible to me. So a client of mine has your avatar and here's how I wrote their headline. You only retire once. We make sure you're excited for what comes next. Subheader reads like this. We design retirement plans that proactively lower your tax bill, draw from the right accounts, uh, in the ideal order, and help your money last as long as you do. By the way, my clients on YouTube. So if someone's watching my client's videos and they're watching your videos, and they could be equally awesome, when they make it down to the bottom of your funnel, there's going to be that mismatch. So it's a really easy fix, but it's a big, glaring conversion problem I see you running into. Once you fix the top and the middle of your funnel, since you're talking

Speaker D: about the website, I'll just add that when I was reviewing your website ahead of this, one thing that tripped me up is that almost every page on the site looks like the homepage. So I think there are some design improvements. The internal pages all look like this. So just from a design standpoint, there is some improvement to be had there. And to Kendra's point, we're going to move these viewers off of YouTube and onto our website. And we needed to connect those dots. Whatever brought them to your site needs to, you know, land really well with what they just watched on YouTube. So there is a, uh, disconnect here in terms of the copy. But I also think there's some design improvements as well.

Speaker A: And when it comes to the header, all we're looking to communicate is who do we help, how do we help them, and what are those problems they care about? Keep it really simple. Um, one other quick thing that I saw on your website, and this is how I knew that you had changed niche without even asking you, is that your social proof metrics right below your fold spoke to like Henry's. Am I accurate?

Speaker C: Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: Nailed it.

Speaker A: Okay, so again, uh, here's a couple of those social proof metrics, which are really awesome. Like social proof metrics are great. You just got to make sure they align with who you're trying to serve. So your current social proof metrics, uh, 30 jobs changed, 27 IPOs, 26 promotions, 24 homes purchased. My competing client. This is what their social proof metrics look like. Serving clients for 45 plus years. I want to tell people this is not our first rodeo. We've been doing this for a long time. We do it well. Number two, 786 tax smart retirement plans created. We are speaking to pre retirees who want to lower their taxes. We've created hundreds of these. And finally, 98% client retention rate. What we don't realize is that other people are unaware that retention is really high in this industry. So recently my client actually said, um, they asked one of their prospects, hey, why did you choose to work with us? And they said two things. They said, you're amazing Google reviews and the fact that you have a 98% client retention rate helped close a prospect, which is kind of wild to me. But it's the fact that those social proof metrics can be such an important part of the conversion process. Taylor, do you have any, uh, closing thoughts here as we wrap this up a little bit?

Speaker C: I was going to turn over to

Speaker D: Eric and see if you had any additional questions for us.

Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me. This is so helpful. Thank you, Taylor and Kendra. So I guess in terms of priority, um, we're talking about YouTube. We're also talking about the website. Do I tackle both of those at the same time to try to make them, you know, not perfect, but try to elevate them? Do I, do I tackle this, what we're talking about now versus do I do that first or do I continue with the YouTube stuff and firing my thumbnail designer? And, uh,

Speaker D: I mean, to Kendra's point from earlier, we're not telling you to go hire a new website developer, right? Uh, these are basic copy changes that you can probably make on your own. You could probably spend Two to five hours just going through your website and rewriting some of the copy on your site. So I think that's something really easy that you can tackle this weekend. Lazy Saturday? Um, I wouldn't say it's the priority, but it's a really easy task to check off your list here. I think the bigger priority is maybe getting rid of some things that you're doing because you rattled off a lot of different marketing activities. And if you want to have success on YouTube and you want to repackage a lot of this and maybe fire your agency and hire a new, it's a lot of work and time. It's going to be really hard for you to create awesome YouTube videos while producing awesome Instagram TikTok blog posts. It's a lot. And so if you are going to do those other things, understand where they fit in your funnel and how they start to complement each other. Otherwise you may need to set these to the side for a moment, maybe for the rest of the year while you focus on getting your YouTube strategy right.

Speaker C: Yeah. Awesome.

Speaker A: So Eric, I do want to give you some kudos because I think there's a part of marketing that people don't talk about enough and it's consistency. So before you can get good at any kind of content, you've got to get it out there. So I know today you were brave, you came up here, you let us, you know, pull apart your marketing funnel. Uh, the upside too is like your funnel hasn't actually changed. A lot of advisors that come to us, they don't even have a funnel in place. So we didn't rebuild your funnel. We basically just rebuilt your action items list. So here's what that looks like going forward. Your funnel will not change. Your top of funnel, where people just find out that Eric exists is just YouTube long form video content. That's it. Your middle of funnel is gonna, those videos are gonna function as the same. Once you get the click, it's gonna help earn that trust. And then uh, for the bottom of funnel, it's just gonna be you making that call to action. They're gonna come to the website and they're gonna book the call. Now your action times are very, very simple. One, reduce ruthlessly your marketing activities. We've got to get better at the YouTube packaging piece, the scripting piece and you're going to take all that time, all that energy, uh, and effort and you're going to slash everything else away and reinvest it in YouTube. Second, you're going to look at um, hiring a new thumbnail designer. Third, you're going to look at improving your scripting process using tools. Uh, fourth, you're also going to look at your ideation process. Before we even get to the thumbnails, we kind of get a really good idea to start with. Um, also, when it comes to your bottom of the funnel, bringing your call to action way further up in the earlier part of your videos, look at testing it two to three minutes in and then just in general test. Um, and in addition tweaking your website homepage copy, like Taylor said, let's focus on the homepage and, uh, just the simple social proof metric. So thank you so much for joining us today. You've got a great funnel built that has a lot of opportunities and we can't wait to hear how it goes next.

Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker B: We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To get the resources shared or sign up to join us as a guest on one of our advice line episodes, check out the links in the show notes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.