Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, welcome back. Today's episode is all about building your brand. We're talking personal brand, business brand, whether you're building your brand for the very first time or maybe you've been in business for a while and you're just looking to revamp it. That's why we're here today. I'm Joe Barker, and this is David Belville. And let's jump right in. David.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Yeah. When we talk about branding, I think for many people, more often than not, we, we think about logos, we think about color palettes, and we think about typography. And there's a time and place for that discussion, and it is super relevant to building a brand. But today we should focus more on why it matters and why people resonate with especially personal brands, but also how they can resonate with your business brand as well. And so, Joe, as we get into this discussion, just straight off the top, why is it so important for our audience to build a personal brand in 2026?
[00:01:00] Speaker A: That's vital. I tell everybody, you know, the personal brand is. Is really where the business is. You know, if you think about it, whether you're selling insurance or, you know, you're an agent or advisor out there, or like us, you're a marketer and maybe you're in the marketing field, we're all teaching the same things. We're all doing the same things. We're all, you know, if you're an agent, you're out there selling the same products to the same type of consumer that your competitors are. Are selling to.
So what really sets us apart is us. I mean, we are the unique factor that comes into play. So where there's 10,000 other digital marketers out there, what really sets me apart from all of them is the way that I explain things. It's my personality, the way that I try to break things down and I try to simplify things and make it digestible. That is what sets me apart from them. We're still talking about the same things, we're sharing the same information, but our personality set us apart. And I think it's really important, as people start building their personal brands, you start to second guess yourself a lot of, um. And I think it's just important to level, set and know you're not going to be relatable to everybody, and that's okay. But the ones that you are relatable to and the ones that really get you, those are the people that you really want to connect with and follow you. And you'll build relationships out there. But and you won't even realize it's happening. But when you start building your personal brand and people will start following you and they're building a relationship with you and it's vital, and they really start to trust you and they. You become a thought leader in. In whatever industry. Industry that you're in, Right?
[00:02:27] Speaker B: And especially in the day of AI, people more and more are craving that human connection and that authenticity, which is why every time we talk about AI, we make sure to point out that the human touch is still relevant. The human touch is still paramount. And when we talk about that human element, a lot of times we are talking about personal branding, because AI is a great tool and it can make your life a lot more efficient, but it doesn't know who you are unless you tell it. And so take inventory of your mission and your purpose and what your values are, how you want your audience to engage with you and look at you, and then build content that resonates with those points.
But you have to really get clear on who you are, what you stand for, and create goals that align with those values. Before you can really start jumping into social media and creating content or recording videos, you need to know who you are and what you stand for. It first.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's so funny. You know, we. We do marketing for agents, advisors, FMOs, broker dealers. You know, that's what we do. We do marketing in this industry every single day. And I always find it funny when we have a new agent or advisor call us and say, hey, I really want your help building out my brand online.
And then we start asking questions back. And one of their first responses is, well, you're the marketing team. Go figure it out. And it's like, okay, we can. And we can do that for you, but understand you're gonna sound like everybody else that we're doing it for if. If you don't tell us more about you and what makes you different because that you're the unique part of it. And there's always something unique. Like, I'll give an example. There was an agent who was really, really big in triathlons.
And so that was a passion of his. And there was a way that we could incorporate that into the marketing and really make it his own. And so it's little things like that that we can do to where it personalizes it to who you really are, and it makes people relate to you even more. When I started building my brand, I shared a lot about the softball world because my girls played softball, right? All of a sudden, I started Getting messages from people on LinkedIn, and they're like, oh, I was a coach too, or I did this also. And I'm like, it's amazing, that personal connection that you start to get when people really get to know you. So building your personal brand and putting yourself out there, in my opinion, is absolutely vital if you're trying to, you know, get more clients or grow your online presence.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: I couldn't agree more, Joe. And let's see. This is our. This is our second podcast episode of the year. But what many out there might not have seen is the weeks and weeks and months leading up to this podcast episode where we spent time getting clear on who. Who our target audience is, what challenges are they facing, and what content that we can create to address those challenges. So, you know, before the lights turn on and the cameras turn on, get really clear on what your values are, what your mission is, and who you're speaking to. And then what you'll find is once you start putting yourself out there, everything starts to fall into place and everything starts to get easier and easier. And so once you've taken stock of what your brand stands for, then you can start creating content, at least the beginnings of that phase. And so, Joe, if. If I'm just now launching a brand and I feel clear now of who I'm speaking to and what I believe in, what would be like, the first technical step to start, you know, putting this plan to paper?
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Well, you know, you have to build that online presence. There's. There's some basic things that you have to do just to show you're credible.
Website. Website's always been that. Number one. It's your online storefront. It's where people go and they're like, oh, they're legitimate. They actually have website.
Even if you don't post on a lot or do a lot on there, it's. It's really vital that you have that online presence. So people just get that. That feeling of. Of you having a credible and that you are credible business or. Or company.
Next up is social media. You know, you could sit there all day long and build websites all day, but the fact is, is people are spending two or three hours a day on social media, so. So don't worry as much about how many people are coming to your website, meet them, where they're at, you know, see their current behaviors. If you know your target audience, you know, probably where they're spending their time. If your target audience is. Is that 65 plus, guess what, guys, they're on Facebook and they're on YouTube, get on there with them. They're spending two hours a day on Facebook. They're there, just go meet them there. It's not about selling to them there. It's about being, you know, in the community with them. You know, there's plenty of community groups, there's plenty of things that you can do to connect with them and they're already there, so they're just waiting, you know, to be found there. YouTube's the same thing. You know, especially for the male audience, the YouTube in that 65+ is huge. Get on there and do what we're doing now. You're making videos and you're just teaching and you're just sharing your expertise in your industry and it's amazing how many people will begin to follow you on there. So I think you have to have a website for the credibility. Get on social media, be where your clients are. You don't need to be on all of them. You just need to know where your main client base is. If you're in the wealth industry, you, you probably want to be on LinkedIn. People don't spend a ton amount of time on LinkedIn. You're talking, you know, probably less than 30 minutes a day. But the fact is LinkedIn is that networking platform and if you're looking for professionals, then that's, that's probably where you need to be. Um, so get your social media up and running, get your website up and running. Gotta have Google my business. If you're selling local, you have to have it, it is free. Can't beat free. Um, Google my business, you just go Google it. Get in there, set up your storefront, start getting reviews to that. It shows that your local, you know, search now has dropped a little bit because of AI. But Google at one time had over 90% of all the search and of that 46% was local searches. So if people are looking for an insurance agent in Medicare near me, Google my business will pop up as long as you have it optimized for that. So you've got website, you've got social media, you've got Google my business.
I'm sure there's, you know, you got to do the basics of the business cards and attending events and stuff like that. But, but those are the bare minimum in my opinion, that you have to have online if you're getting going and getting started or even revamping.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, so we've got some technical aspects set up. We, we've established some more abstract ideas when it comes to the brand and so now, putting those two together to ensure that the message that you're sending out there is discoverable is also an important part of that. But this is where everything kind of starts to come together, because if you're sending a message and you're wanting to address challenges that your audience is facing, you need to answer their questions. And so by answering frequently asked questions of your audience, what you're doing is you're also building brand authority and you're building a thought leadership presence in the industry that you're in. So in the health and wealth industries, more times than not, I'm sure brands want to position themselves as authoritative figures and thought leaders.
And so when it's time to finally start creating content, you have an opportunity to both address your audience's challenges, but increase your chances of your brand getting discovered. And so create social media content that addresses those frequently asked questions and then also publish content to your website and publish blogs that will increase the SEO value of your website.
And those two things right there also add to your brand's credibility.
So you're really knocking out a few birds with one stone just by consistently answering your audience's most frequently asked questions. And this is also a great opportunity to engage with your audience. So, Joe, you, you mentioned, you mentioned the importance of setting up social media profiles where your audiences are. But you can't just throw content out there and cross your fingers that it performs well. There's some legwork for us to do as creators as well, and that's to engage back with our audience. It's right there baked in the term social media. Make sure that you're getting social and you're interacting with your audience regularly. And through that, you may get one or two content ideas as well.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. You know, you mentioned SEO, and so I think it's important to, to just touch base on it real quick. So SEO for, for those not familiar, it stands for search engine optimization and it's. So it's mainly used for Google so you can rank organically. But as we're talking about social media, SEO absolutely plays a vital role in social media also. And it's making sure that you're, when you set up those channels, that you're setting them up for those keywords and those phrases that you want to be found for.
So more and more we're seeing that people aren't just utilizing Google for searching anymore, they're now utilizing social media too. So think about YouTube and how many people are looking up videos on YouTube of how to or what does this mean? Same Thing with Facebook, people will go on Facebook. So the, the process that we normally see is when somebody's researching somebody, they're going to Google them first. They're going to say, oh, there's their website. Perfect. If you have it optimized, your website should be popping up there for its name.
They go there, they make sure they're credible. They next spot they go to is they go to social media and they want to see, okay, now I know you're credible, but who are you really? And social media is that platform where you really do get to see who they are. You see the, you know, the, the behind the scenes and who they are in real life.
And so I think it's vital to make sure that, you know, I'll give an example as I'm in digital marketing. If you go to my LinkedIn profile, it's digital marketing's listed all over that thing. It's in my headline, it's in my about, it's everywhere. And it should be because that's if I'm going to pop up for something I, I want to pop up for digital marketing. It's no different if you're a life insurance agent. If you're a life insurance agent, make sure that you have that in there. If you specialize in an area, say you are the life insurance agent for Clearwater, Florida, put that in there, optimize those keywords, put it in the about, put it in the description, put it in and pepper it throughout where it makes sense. And that's where you'll organically start to pop up the frequently asked questions. I absolutely love that.
I think when, you know, when a agent or advisor, FMO or anybody who's out there that's trying to think of content to create, it can feel overwhelming at first. And you're like, well, what am I supposed to make? I don't know what people want. Those frequently asked questions are gold. It's gold.
So that's what you start with. Just list five or ten questions, make a video on it, make a blog about it. So here's the top 10 questions. I get that one blog turns into 10 social media posts, turns into 10 short form videos. Maybe it's one long form video. There's so much you can do with one piece of content and you can just use it and on all the different social media channels and all the different formats. It's absolutely amazing what you can do just by starting with frequently asked questions 100%.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: And when we start to get into the social media side of branding, that's where you get to have a little bit more fun too. This is where your personality gets to shine.
And so I really want to throw three or, excuse me, I really want to put a very easy process in place for our audience to follow. If you're ever getting stuck on what type of content to be creating, whether that be social media or for your website, start to generate content buckets. Think of three to four buckets or topics that you want to consistently fill. That way you not looking at the insurance space as a whole and trying to pull topics out of that, you're going to be talking about frequently asked questions in the health insurance space or how, let's say you have a dog and that is a huge part of your life. Earlier you mentioned someone that was into long distance running.
Incorporate those parts of your personality into your brand. So you, you have a dog, you have a few dogs, you just got a new dog named Rocket. Right.
So one opportunity you may have is just showcasing a photo of you and Rocket or incorporating Rocket into your content. And then maybe you've got a cute way to present three marketing tips from Rocky this week or something like that. But have something that's memorable and consistent that can provide you a little bit of personality and something real and authentic that your audience can latch onto. So you've got an educational element, you've got a brand personality element. And then try to think of one more bucket that you can fill. Maybe it's a little bit more abstract or maybe it's something extremely specific. So you get questions all the time of how to make sure you're choosing the right coverage for your family.
So maybe, you know, you're doubling down and tripling down on best practices and ways that you can ensure as a consumer that you're picking the right plans for your family. So there's three content buckets right there that can inform your content strategy and help inform your brand as well.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's so much content that you can create. You know, if you think about it from the FMO perspective and maybe it's recruiting agents, it's literally just sitting there and looking at the process of somebody going through it and writing down the questions that they ask as they're going through it. Some of those frequently asked questions may be, you know, how long does this process take? Yeah, that's a, that's a valid question. That's something that, you know, you put that into that bucket of, okay, I'm recruiting agents. This is their frequently asked questions. These are things that are important to them. Maybe it's that back end office support, maybe it's, you know, having their, their own schedule and creating their own schedule and you build content based off of those. So I think it's a great idea. I think sometimes people, they just tend to overthink it and they, they make building content and creating content more complicated than what it actually needs to be.
And sometimes the gold is really just sitting in the basics. It's the behind the scenes shots. It's a day in the life of. It's, this is how I do this. It's just answering those questions. Those pieces of content do amazing because they're real and you're giving it from your perspective and you're providing those answers and that guidance 100%.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: And so there are strategies that one can put into place that will allow them to create content efficiently but also at scale.
So let's take this podcast for example. You know, we're talking about how to build a brand in 2026.
We can take the transcript of this very podcast, download it, upload it into AI and then ask it to write a blog post now based off of everything that we talked about in this podcast. And then that blog post may lend itself to four graphics that you could post on Facebook or LinkedIn. And so one strategy to take away from this is start with a piece of anchor content and then create derivative content off of that.
Then, you know, you don't have to think of 15 different topics or how to create 15 different messages. You can use AI to your advantage and work smarter, not harder.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. If I was getting started and I didn't have the podcast studio or I didn't have the equipment and I just didn't know what to do, I would start with my cell phone, I would create one piece of long form content. When I say long form, I'm talking 12 to 15 minutes. That would be my long form. I would pick the subject, I would speak for 10 to 15 minutes, sharing my thoughts on it and sharing my expertise on it. After that's complete, I would then begin to do what you said, begin breaking it down, turn it into the blog post. You can upload it into AI and help you do that. So turn it into the blog post, turn it into multiple social media posts, turn it into shorts. There's so much you can do just with one 8 to 15 minute piece of content.
And it will really start to build up the whole week. It's just getting organized and committing. It's just committing to it and it really doesn't take a lot of time once you start to get the system in place. You know, when you start anything new, it's a process, and it's just creating behaviors and getting used to it, and then it just starts to flow. You know, you and I have been doing podcasts between the, you know, the different platforms for six months now, and now we're in our second episode of our newest podcast. And it flows. Yeah. And that just shows you over time how things get easier and easier.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: And go look at any of your favorite creators out there, whether they're in the same space as you or not, and go look at the early videos. You can see the progression happen in real time over the course of weeks and months. And so just by getting started, we say this all the time. And you will, you will find a groove and you'll find some momentum and you'll get a better idea of what's resonating with your audience and what you enjoy creating, because there should be some fun involved in this as well. And so to keep things moving, we talked, we've been talking a lot about social media.
One thing I want to make sure that we kind of double click on here, though, is as you identify what those content buckets are and you identify your audience, try to niche down even a little bit further, because that will just increase your chances of finding the right audience.
And kind of adjacent point to that is making sure that you're really staying in your lane as consistently as possible. Over time, you'll train the algorithm to know who to deliver your content to, because you've been staying in that lane so often. And so identify those content buckets. Use tools at your disposal to work smarter, not harder, and then just make sure that you're consistently staying in that lane and creating content.
You know, going back to getting discovered. More and more people are turning to social media as a search engine itself, too.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. You know, you brought up the niches, and the first thing that popped in my head is riches is in the niches. Yes, but it's true. Like, that's an easy way to remember it. That's, you know, that's. It's a fact. The more you can narrow it down and know who you're speaking to. You know, even before we started this podcast or honestly, before we start any videos, one of the things that we always do is we always sit there and say, let's picture that one person. Who is that one person that we're. That we're trying to help. And it, it helps set your Mindset so clear. One, you don't feel overwhelmed because you know, you don't feel like, oh, this is going out to the public and so many people are going to see it. You, it really starts to give you that mindset of I'm making it for this one person and it will help others. But if you keep that person in mind, it keeps you on task and it keeps you realizing that you're, you know, you're trying to provide as value as you can.
But yeah, social media for, for searching and, and behaviors, social media is, is not going anywhere anytime soon.
I would say the only other thing I would mention about social media is just keep in mind is as people spend more time there, they, they like to be met where they're at and with that comes customer service too. So if your friends or if you start to connect with people on social media, don't be surprised when they start messaging you on social media. And, and it kind of becomes like a alternative to email or other platforms or your website because it's just more convenient for them. And I mean you can go on social media and some of the channels will tell you how fast you're going to respond to me and I'm sorry, but if, if I email you, I have no idea how fast I'm going to get that back. But if I'm on social media and it says, hey, David usually replies in five minutes, well, Petcha, I'm going to be messaging you on social media because I kind of want that response quickly. So I think people just need to be prepared as, as you begin to interact more on social media.
It is a pleasant surprise when you really start getting those messages and people reaching out to you and you realize, wow, this is really working.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Wow, yeah, that's so well said. Another way to tie this all back into how to build a brand is if you are going to turn to social media to search for a specific topic, what do you want people to be searching for when they find you? And that's going to be really telling of what you want to be known for and how you want your brand to stand out on social media. So Joe, as, as we look to kind of wrap up this conversation today on building a future proof brand and making sure that you're relevant in 2026 and beyond. What's one major takeaway of this conversation that you want to make sure that our audience leaves with today?
[00:22:32] Speaker A: I think it's just getting confident and getting the courage to build the personal brand and put yourself out there. That's the hardest part, I mean, honestly, the hardest part for a lot of people is like that judgment and just being afraid that they're going to say something wrong or that somebody's going to not like what they said or maybe, you know, they, they just don't do it right. Don't worry about that. I think it was Mr. Beast who actually said, like, make a hundred videos and then your hundredth and one will probably be okay and get a little bit better, but your first hundred are going to be horrible. And I think it's just getting comfortable knowing that and doing that and saying, you know what, it's not going to be perfect at first, but I need to build my personal brand. I need to put myself out there because that's how people, you know, people are researching more themselves more than they ever have before. So before they're even calling you, they've already been to your website, they've already researched you online, they've already looked up the reviews on your Google my business. They do their, they do their homework. And if you're not out there, well, guess what? They're going to the next person. And so the more that you can just get comfortable with it and not be afraid to put yourself out there and realize that people want to hear from you. People, people want advice, they want to find somebody that relates to them that they connect with and it may be you. So. But the only way to do it is to actually get started and not be afraid to put yourself out there 100%.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: And especially in the health and wealth industries where, you know, people are looking for that trusted source, you know, there's a huge opportunity for those listening today and for those health and wealth professionals that are out there. You know, one of my biggest takeaways that I want to make sure is understood today is that there is a difference between branding and marketing. And so much of what we talked about today, you know, we did talk about content and what output that we can provide. But what I don't want to get lost in that messaging is that branding is what you want to be remembered for and how you want people to feel when they do come across your content.
And so whether that be a real or a YouTube short or an email that that's hitting your client's inbox, those are marketing tactics. But how you want your user or audience member to feel when they see that email or when they watch a video, that's branding. And so think about what you want to be known for, what you enjoy educating people about. And don't forget to show that personality. And that's how you'll stand out in 2026. Joe, is there anything else that you want to add today?
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Nope. I would just say that, you know, if you're feeling stuck or you're not sure where to go, just, you know, that's why we're here. Our whole goal over, you know, over the next year or so is, is to really teach everything that we, you know, that we know. And building your personal brand is definitely going to be one of those things. But if you're unsure what to do and you, you are feeling stuck or you just need that, you know, that extra conversation to get you going, don't be afraid to reach out to us. That's exactly why we're here. That's why we're doing. Everything that we're doing is just to help in any way that we can.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. So make sure to, like, follow and subscribe to the Amerilife Marketing Mentors. We're going to be with you all year long. Let us know down in the comments what questions you have because we want to answer those as well, and we may do so in a future video. So for the Amerilife Marketing Mentors, I'm David, that's Joe, and we'll see you next time.
