Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's easy to want to go viral, to gain a million followers, and to build a massive digital footprint. But for our agents and advisors out there, Joe, we know that that's not the approach that they need. So today we're talking about local authority. How it can help you grow your business and how you can use it to elevate your personal brand. I'm David Belville.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: And I'm Joe Barker.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: And this is the Amerilife Marketing Mentors podcast.
All. Let's start off simple, Joe. Let's just level set on a definition. What is local authority and why does it matter to our audience today?
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Yeah, so local authority is if your, if your target audience was to look up online to find somebody in their local area who provides the services that you provide, it would be your brand and your company popping up there. It would be the ones who, if people were to ask, hey, who do you go to for Medicare in this area? It's your name that people are talking about.
So it's all about making sure people realize who you are, what you specialize in and who you help.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: That's great. In, in a world where anyone can market themselves online these days, why does being known in your community still convert at such a high level?
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Well, because I think if you think about our target audience, especially if, whether you're on the annuity side of the house or you're in the Medicare side of the house, you're still 50, 55 years plus as your target audience of who you're looking for. If you look at the, how people search online, so, so we know even as of now, 90% of people go to Google and they're searching for, for their local searches on Google. Of the 90% that are actually searching on Google, 46 of all of those, 46% of all those searches are local searches. So people still are looking for local, they're looking for, for people in their area and they're looking for people that they can trust. It really does become important to make sure that you're showing up online and that you're showing up in those communities as people are looking for those trusted individuals that they can call for advice. The other thing that we know is the, the 50 year old plus and the 65 plus, all of them, they may do their own research online, so they may want to learn a lot about what it, whatever it is that they're looking for. If it's an annuity, they may go and research, but they all get to a point where they want to talk to someone that is where you see them pivot and they look for that local person or that person who's going to advise them that they believe has, has the knowledge that they're looking for that can confirm what they're thinking and if they're making those right decisions.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: And as those consumers are doing their research, when we talk about personal branding, this is where your personal brand absolutely really sets you apart. Because as they're doing their research, if they're coming across you and your personal brand, then they're getting closer to the buying stage than they ever have before, just by nature of the work that they're doing and what content you're putting out there and if you're discoverable. And visibility is extremely important to this conversation. And so, Joe, if for those agents and advisors out there who aren't in this space every day, who might not have a firm grasp on what we're talking about, what would you say is the first step that they need to take to ensure that they are visible to those that may be searching for their help?
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I think you start out with that website. You get, even if it's just a one page website, it doesn't need to be anything too robust if you know that, that you're going to specialize in local. So say I was just going to do digital marketing in the Clearwater area. I may even get a domain or get something that, that ties in Clearwater into my actual domain that I, that I purchase for my company.
But the more that you can tie into that local, the better. But I would definitely get a one page website. I would for sure get a Google my business page set up very quickly.
Google my business is, is what's popping up at the top whenever somebody's searching local. And so you don't have to have a website for that, but you are going to. If you have a storefront. It's even more important to make sure that you're, that you're stating, hey, I'm here, this is where I reside. Um, so I would definitely do that. And then the other area where I would hit would be social media. If I could only pick one social media because of the limited time that and the resources that I have, I would pick Facebook. So I would go straight to Facebook. I would make sure that I'm optimizing my Facebook page for, for everything SEO. So we're popping up locally. So I'll be sure to put in there that I'm in Clearwater, who it is that I'm helping, what I specialize in and then I would probably next step is go look for those groups within my neighbor, within my area that I could naturally become a part of and be able to help. So I'm not going on there to. Yeah, but I'm going on there to just be a part of the conversation and be a part of the community.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: That's great. So we've established a presence within Google and now we're moving to social media. And in between we have a simple website that's identifying who we are, where we are and who we help.
And Joe, you mentioned it, the consumers out there, they're doing their research and we know that through their research they're looking for someone that they can trust. And if someone has seen you pop up repeatedly, then they're going to by nature start to feel like they're the, that's the go to source, that's somebody that I can trust with these really important decisions that we're making. So speaking of social media, how can agents and advisors use it to gain their audience's trust? Because you've kind of set the foundation. Let's just go a little bit deeper here.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I think for both Google and Facebook or whatever social media platform you, you're targeting or you're deciding to go on, I would concentrate on the reviews. So anybody that you've helped previously, any, anybody who, who knows you in the industry, I would ask them to go on and leave a review. What that helps is as people are going to your Facebook page or your Google my business page or even your website, if you add the reviews to your website, they're seeing that you've helped other local people in the community and they're seeing those, those solid reviews and it gives them that social proof and that verification of like, oh, okay, you know, other people have trusted them and it starts to build that trust a little bit more. So reviews are going to be critical on there and then again making sure that you're optimizing, you know, for your local area and making sure that you know in the about section and in the description posting. So if you're, if you're going out to, to a local restaurant or if you're going to a local sports game, post those type of things. That's where when people scroll on your page and they see who you are, they see that you are real, you're local in the community and you're out there and you're there to help 100%.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: And I do want to kind of narrow in on that when it comes to being a member of your community and being out there in the community. Can you speak to that a little bit?
Because there is a, when we're talking about local authority, there's still so many offline activities that you could be engaged with that does enhance your, your local authority. Can you speak to that a little bit? Especially not to cut you off. But we, we did talk to so many principals at kickoff meeting this year and time and time again, seminars and, and this type of conversation kept coming up.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it was really interesting as a few of them were sharing that they do local, you know, they go to local libraries and they set up educational sessions. So they'll go to the local library and they'll say, hey, on a, you know, what dates do you have available? I would like to come in and give an educational session on whatever topic it is. So a lot of them were about Medicare educational sessions where they invite the local community. The local community can come in and it's at no cost because the, the local libraries don't charge. You can advertise that online, keep it all educational. You're trying to teach everybody what it is that they need to think about. As they're getting close to Medicare age, they can come to the library and you can teach them everything you know and answer their questions and really become that thought leader, that adviser for them. So between the library, between local communities, so, you know, in the area where we are, there's a lot of local communities that are that 55 plus. And so going into them and seeing if you can offer educational classes for them is another way of doing that. So there's definitely ways offline and online to be connecting with your local community.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: What I'm hearing is be a helpful neighbor.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: You have this expertise, you're obviously licensed, this is your career. You are the go to source of knowledge in a complicated industry that many don't understand. So just to put it simply, you're being a helpful neighbor and you're putting yourself in a position to be able to support your community.
And so many of the agents and advisors that we do talk to, that is, you know, their number one motivation is providing that support and help within their community. Joe, what do you think is a signal that what they're doing is working? So in other words, how does our audience know that they're on the right track in building a local audience and building that local authority?
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Well, there's a few ways you can track it utilizing data. So you can put Google Analytics on your website. You can see where that Local traffic is coming from. It will actually narrow it down. So you can see where is that traffic coming from. You can watch the followers and you can see who's engaging with you on the different social media channels and you can, you can kind of gauge it from there. You can check your messages, how many, how many messages came through your social media channel. If you have email marketing or a CRM and you have a newsletter, those are all ways to engage. Depending on what tactics you're deploying, if you're doing a monthly newsletter, it could be subscribers. So you've, you kind of have to look at it and you have to figure out what is your ultimate goal. How do you want them to get a hold of you? Are you trying to build? Are you trying to build? So where you're starting with a, a newsletter and then slowly over time, you want them to set an appointment, then you're going to start with, okay, let's look at those newsletter subscriptions and let's see how many we can drive there as we're trying to convert them into spending more time with us and getting us, getting them to trust us in order to have a conversation.
The other way to look at it is when you go to these events, see where you started at. So you're going to have that first event. The first events are usually the toughest. It's your first time doing it. I always say it's a great thing if you don't have a huge crowd at your first event because it gives you time, if it's your first time presenting, it gives you time to work out all those K things. So why not do it in front of a lower audience, you know, a lower number of people than having that huge number. But you learn as you go and then you can learn of, you know, as you build those relationships, think about the referrals that you can get off of there. And then you could base it off of referrals of telling everybody, like, hey, if I helped you, can you tell your friends and family about me? And if you, if you truly are helping and providing value, people won't mind when their friends or family bring it up to say, hey, this is who
[00:10:22] Speaker A: you should contact and how often is the driving factor when it comes to make a decision because someone that you trust recommended someone, oh, it's huge.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Referrals is still up there as the number one, you know, the number one source of new clients.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Right?
[00:10:38] Speaker B: So, and it means so much more when it's coming from somebody that you trust. And so you see that Happen a lot of the times where somebody in a community utilizes, you know, whatever service they were looking for, say it was an AC company. You see that they, that they, if they have good service, they will share it with all of their neighbors and be like, hey, call them next time you want that same effect with you. So if you just remember with every single person that you're working with that it's not just that one person you're working with, it's their network of friends and family who could be your potential clients. So go above and beyond, do everything you can to help them. Even if you don't close that sale, it doesn't mean that they're not going to tell somebody else about you because of the seller work that you did.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: Yeah. When I think about this, and I want to encourage our audience listening today, two to think about it this way.
Take stock in how you search for help. Take stock in like when you're looking for services, what are some of the driving factors that help you make that decision? You know, I think about maybe finding a mechanic. It's an industry where, you know, there is skepticism. You're dealing with a thousands and thousands of dollars worth of investment and you want to make sure you're making the right decision. And so those, those testimonials and those referrals could often be the one thing that people look to in determining where to take their car to get f.
So I, I want to bring this back to testimonials and reviews because even if it's not a word of mouth referral, those testimonials and reviews can often also be the driving factor.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So anytime that you're working with somebody at the end of say say you close or, or you get them contracted or you, you know, you get them their plan that they're looking for, that's the time that you want to ask for that review. So it's as simple as setting up an email platform to where after a lead status gets switched to where you can trigger an email that says like, hey, if with that service, please be sure to give me a Google review. You can do the same thing with SMS or texting where after you complete it, you can just text them and say, hey, if you wouldn't mind taking two minutes, if you provide them good service, they're gonna wanna help you back. Cause it is, it, it does. You know, you guys wanna help each other, you helped them, now they're gonna help you. Those type of things do become vital because as people hear your name, most likely they're gonna go research you and they're gonna go Google you, or they're gonna go to AI and they're gonna look you up, and then right from there, your website's gonna pop up. The website's what tells them that you're credible. All right, this is a real business. This is real people. Where am I going to go next? Let's go over social media. Let's see who they really are. Let's see what they're posting about.
Are they posting? I mean, that's really important, too. If you haven't posted in six months or a year, they're going to be like, oh, well, maybe they stopped doing this. Maybe they're out of business. That's where posting consistently comes into play. And even better, if you consistently are on social media, say you're utilizing Facebook and you are quick with responding, people are going to see in the messages there, it says, typically replies within five minutes.
That is gold.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: And that's where you start to see the communication. And the messages pick up a lot in on Facebook, as opposed to people just calling you directly because they know you're going to reply within five minutes.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: And that speaks to the importance of, of getting back to your DMs and staying on top of those communication channels. And while we're on the topic of social media, there's a school of thought out there that in order to be successful on social media, you need a massive audience, you need a million followers, you need to be going viral, you need a million views. And we know that that's not the case, especially in our industry where growing a local client base is everything.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: So, Joe, why is it, though, that a narrow, focused audience often outperforms a massive following?
[00:14:18] Speaker B: I think it just goes back to that old saying that it's, you know, quality over quantity. And that's what we're looking for. It's if you can say, hey, I have a million followers, but if only 1% of them, or even less has any interest in what it is that you're doing or has any interest or even has the propensity to purchase from you, it all means nothing.
So I hear people say all the time, oh, I only have 500 people connected on LinkedIn or something. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Imagine being in a room with 500 people that know your industry and they know what you do because they're quality contacts. Like, that's huge. And imagine you have the opportunity to speak to 500 potential buyers every single Day. That's huge. And I think that's the way you have to think about it is do you really want to go out there and try selling yourself to people who have no interest in, you know, what it is that you do? I mean, you don't want to be talking to Medicare about kids that are 18 and 19 years old that are on TikTok. It's just, it's not your match. So unless they have great grandparents or grandparents that they're taking care of, it's probably just not the best timing for them to be targeting them.
So know where your audience is, know who you're trying to speak with, and, and know that you only really want to connect with those that truly could be that potential client that you could help. Otherwise you're just going to feel like you're going round and round for vanity metrics of, oh, well, I really want 10,000 people following me. But why?
[00:15:36] Speaker A: Why? Yeah, that is such a good reframe, Joe. Like picturing 500 people in a room.
That is just a fantastic way to give yourself some credit as you're building an audience. And so that's. That' great advice. If we strip all of this down, Joe, what separates someone who's known in their market from someone who's just there, who just has a presence? Maybe I am on Google, maybe I, I do have a simple website. Is that enough? What's, what's going to set someone apart from me in that space?
[00:16:08] Speaker B: There's plenty of people who have, who have relied and continue to rely on referrals and those connections. And if that is, if that is how you get business and that is, and it's working for you, don't change what's working for you. Everybody excels differently. Not everybody's good at, not everybody's good at or comfortable or wants to create content and that's okay. But you have to work to your strengths. So if you're not good at creating videos or content and you're not comfortable with it and you're not interested, then get out in the community, get out there and do those things. A lot of people still utilize direct mail. So I'm one of those where I will never say, like, digital is the end all, be all, and you, like, you can't survive without it. That's not true. Digital is here to amplify and to compliment all of your efforts. But every single person is different in their strengths and what they're good at.
Mind being in front of a camera. I don't mind being on digital but do I want to go into the library and give a speech every Saturday? No, not really. That's not really my thing. But there's a lot of people where it is their thing, and that's perfect. Find what works for you, find what you're comfortable with, and find what you're good at, and then just compile on top of that to try to help drive that even more.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: And that speaks to the importance of trying new things. Even, you know, even if you haven't gotten in front of a camera and tried to record a video, just give yourself a chance. See if that is something that you could incorporate. You just mentioned so many different tactics there that you'll only know if you're able to pull this off if you actually take the plunge and try it. Before we move on, and as we're talking about growing an audience, I also want to talk about if you have 10,000 followers on Facebook, if only 500 of those followers are ever engaging with your content, you're also hurting your chances at getting your content distributed.
Because what the algorithm then is, is seeing from that is, okay, only 500 people out of 10,000 of their followers is. Is engaging with this content. It must not be very engaging content. But if you have 750 followers and 500 are engaging, then that is a true signal that your audience is resonating with your content.
So before we moved on, I just kind of wanted to illustrate that even further, that the size of your audience here can almost be a detriment if they're not resonating with your content.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: So the one thing to keep in mind with, with social media, as we're talking about numbers, is the platforms. Because we have to keep in mind all of these social media platforms are there to make money.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Because of that, they. They do not deliver your content to your entire audience base. So keep that in mind. Also, as you're looking to see engagement rates, they want you to boost. They want you to put some money behind there. And so if you have a thousand followers, Most likely only 10% of them are getting hit with your. With your content.
So at that point, it doesn't really matter how many you have, because it's a very, very, very small portion organically that are going to pick it up anywhere. But what I would say is of those that you organically post, and you see that you're getting good engagement from, those are the ones you want to boost. So those are the ones you want to push more money behind, because Even if it's $5, it's worth it, especially if it's resonating organically. You know it's going to resonate with putting some dollars behind it to force the platform to add, actually put your content out to people who follow you.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Those successful pieces of content too, you should be doubling down on and trickling down on and finding new approaches to share that information. And then that becomes a pillar of your strategy moving forward that you always revisit and that helps you become a true expert in your field and in your community. So fantastic point there.
Obviously, the through line in so much of what we're talking about here, Joe, is trust and trust in the age of AI. AI is the most important factor when it comes to people making decisions about their finances, about their health and for their families. And so as we wind down this conversation, without losing trust, Joe, how can people leverage their local authority to lead to true real business outcomes?
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Yeah, so I, you know, you can utilize AI and you can utilize it to help build your business. So I'll touch on that real quick and then I'll. And then you'll probably have to remind me of that question because time I get, I got you. But one of the things that you can do just to point it out there is if there is an area where you're trying to go grow organically and you've already set up all of your channels, go to AI and ask it to do a scan and let AI know and say, hey, I am trying to build my local authority or trying to build my name in this community or in this city. Can you scan my website, scan my social medias? Can you scan these, these online channels for me and let me know where the opportunities to improve my local SEO and my local audience and it will actually come back and it will give you those type of ID ideas. Now I forgot your question.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: No, that's great advice. We'll take any AI tips and tricks from Joe Barker. So always interject with those.
I'll re ask the question in terms of how can agents and advisors essentially scale their local authority without losing their audience's trust? Because if you do start gaining momentum, it can kind of be easy to fall into the traps of like wanting to gain a million followers and wanting to go viral. So. So just to bring it back to the point we want to scale but without losing trust.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So I think a lot of it is just getting your name and getting your brand out there and getting people to keep seeing you. So there's a reason that you hear on all the radio stations There's a reason you hear that car ad 17 times in a day. It's not because they think you want to buy a car today. It's because when you go to buy a car they want to be top of mind. So they're going to hit non stop just for that repetition and that frequency. It's the same thing for us as we're building our brands in our local community. The good thing with us though is if we have a smaller community then the price comes down for us to have to do that if we're utilizing paid dollars. So if it's, you know, if I was looking to build really locally and try to really get my brand out there and become known, I would do all those things I said originally of getting your online presence and then I would start targeting like local stores or local locations and I would start running some ads there. So Walmart's one of them. If you're looking for a certain target audience and they fit your criteria, you can go onto Walmart Connect and you can target your local one store and you can run ads for people that are, that are shopping just on that store and that it's an easy way to get your brand in front of it of like, hey, have Medicare questions come to me? I, you know, and as long as you keep it educational, you can still do all of that. The other thing you can do is if you're on Facebook, if you are drawing the right attention, you can create an audience under Facebook.
So if you're running ads, you can say, hey, capture this audience of everybody who follows me. They're all very, very good audiences. And you can do what's called a mirroring of it. So then you can say I want to look alike audience that looks like these people in my neighborhood. And then you go to boost those posts, you're now boosting it to people who look like your target audience. And it's all really easy ways of doing that. And you're talking $5 so it's no brainer. Same thing with Google my business, keep posting on there, don't set it and forget it. Come back. If you, if you do an event at the library, post a picture of you doing the event at the library. There's so many tactics and so many things you can do to really grow that authority that doesn't even cost any money.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: And there's two approaches here that we're talking about an organic approach and what you just touched on was a lot of paid strateg and there is a paid approach that you can have on Google. There's a paid approach that, as you mentioned, that you can have on Facebook. And essentially what this means is that you're cutting the line.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: You're.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: You're paying to cut the line. And so when you are considering a paid ad strategy, you don't want to lose sight of your organic strategy because that is free to you. And that consistency is what keeps you visible and top of mind when you need a little extra help. Then there's that paid ads approach that the Amerilife marketing mentors are always here to help support and guide you if this is something that you may not have done before.
Joe, as we start to wrap this up, is there any final thoughts that we haven't got to. That you think is important we discuss?
[00:24:09] Speaker B: No. I think if you're trying to grow your brand, a lot of people, when we meet with them for the very first time, one of the first things we always ask is, you know, what states are your licensed in? And then they say it, and we're like, all right, well, what's your local area that you want to concentrate on? They're like, oh, no, no, I want all of them. I want all the states that I'm licensed in. And we're like, well, okay, but let's own your local market before we go too big. So keep in mind that even if you're licensed in 15 states, it doesn't mean that you need to own all 15 states immediately. It means that you can help people in those states. But let's start somewhere knowing that especially if you're in the Medicare or even annuity business, and that's at 50, 55 plus, they still want to meet with somebody or at least talk to somebody. And so if you can hit that local community and then begin to grow, it makes it a lot easier than trying to own 15 states. So I always say, start. Start small, start local, and let it compound to where, okay, now you have the city. Let's go after the county. All right, now you have the county. Let's go after the region. Now you have the region. Let's go after the state, and you start building it from there. But you have to start somewhere, Right.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: And where you start is building community, building local community. And that's the final thought I want to end on, is that that community here is really what we're talking about, and that is what succeeds on social media. I think off the top you mentioned creating Facebook groups.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: And looking in community Facebook groups to see what challenges that people might be facing. But if you can reframe your thinking from I just need to develop a lead list to I want to build a community around my brand, then you're going to gain organic trust and you're going to go back. I, I go back to just being a helpful neighbor.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: And so if you can look at this conversation through lens of being a helpful community member and building a community around you, you're going to have a lot of success in growing your local authority. And as we mentioned, if you need help doing this, we'll be happy to assist. Head over to the amerilifemarketingmentors.com book a consultation with us and if you're not already subscribe to us on YouTube because there's a lot more where this all came from. Joe, any last words?
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Nope. Just get started.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: Just get started. And with that, I'm David Belville, that's Joe Barker and we'll see you at the next episode.
