Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Today, we're talking about building a personal brand and what content that you need to be creating. We're talking about your origin story, your niche audience, and your point of view. I'm David Belville.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: And I'm Joe Barker.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: And this is the Amerilife Marketing Mentors podcast.
All right, Joe, let's dive right in. We hear from so many people who do not know where to start, where to begin when it comes to building a per a personal brand. And more specifically, they don't know what content to create. So what's your advice to those agents and advisors who are just getting started?
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's probably one of the most frequently asked questions that we receive as people, you know, spin up their social media channels. If they want to do blogs. They always ask, what should I be posting? What is it that I should be doing? And the first thing we tell everybody is don't overthink it. That is the hardest part to get past, is everybody overthinks what it is that they should be talking about or creating content. For data. The easiest way to start is first always start with a piece of content or a video where you say who you are and what you do and who you serve. That way, no matter what channel they come to, whether it's your social media channel, your website, it doesn't matter where they go. There's something there that says, hey, this is who I am. This is the industry that I'm in, and this is who I help. It's going to help in the long run as you're working towards SEO and everything to where it knows, okay, who is this person? And this is exactly who they are. So that's definitely the place I would start. Start with those. And then again, don't overthink it. There's so many tactics that we can put into play to help build content.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Great first piece of advice.
Although for those that might be listening to that advice, they might have just gotten hung up on. I have to create a video.
So. And that's another thing that we often hear is, how do I get started? What do I need? And so let's calm the nerves of those out there who are thinking that they need some sort of elaborate TV studio setup. They truly just need a phone and a topic to talk about, right?
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. So if you're just getting started, we've seen plenty of those videos out there where the person's just holding it and taking a selfie and. And saying who they are and what they do. If there's a few little tools That I would recommend it would be getting a stand to hold your phone so then that way you don't have any of that shaking that's happening. Get a microphone. There are so many that adapt to all the different cell phones where you can simply plug it in with, put it on your shirt. It's super easy. They're very user friendly. So a microphone and then lighting, lighting is the other thing that we watch. But to be honest, if even if you just went for a walk and you just started creating content and just get comfortable with that, that is, that's key of just get going for sure.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: And I often would encourage agents and advisors to think about their own habits and, and more specifically what content that they like to consume. If you're scrolling on TikTok on any given day, you're going to scroll through many videos of someone just sitting in their car or to your point, just going on a walk. So you don't need an elaborate setup. And it's important to remember that in this day and age, the best performing content is the most authentic content. The posts that feel like they're from real imperfect people.
So having said that, it's actually easier than ever to be creating content because it doesn't need to be overly polished or overly produced.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: No, absolutely. It reminded me as you were speaking, it reminded me a couple of weeks ago I had somebody ask me a question and the question was, well, what is attribution? And to me, I was just talking and I used the word naturally in the conversation we were having looking at their reports as I was like, oh, let's go look at the attribution. And they're like, well, what is it? And then it like was a light bulb moment and I'm like, oh wait, if you don't know what attribution. And there's probably a lot of people out there that don't understand what attribution is. So it made for the perfect video. I got in my car and I made a video from my car right after that meeting of this is, you know, you may be asking this question, I just received it, here's what it is. And it was quick and easy and, and that's an example of how easy content can be.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: It will become easier and easier for our agents and advisors out there to identify those kinds of opportunities to make content if you just get started in doing so. The hardest part is just getting started. But over time you'll be surprised by how naturally content ideas start to come up. But if you're just getting started, there are some anchor pieces of content, some staples that you always want. Joe, you already mentioned just creating a video explaining who you are, what you do, and who you help.
Another great piece of content to get started is sharing your origin story. It's something that your competition can't replicate. It's something AI can't replicate.
And it's why you got into the business, why you like helping people. And so, Joe, I want to kind of put you on the spot and to provide a real life example of what this sounds like. What is your origin story? Why did you get into marketing? And why do you like helping people?
[00:04:57] Speaker B: So I started in the newspaper industry and it was pretty telling as we got into like 2008 that, you know, the newspaper industry was probably not going to be the future. As all the digital channels started coming. Coming to light, I started selling Yahoo through the newspaper, started getting more into the advertising of it. I realized how at that time we were doing retargeting for a car industry.
And so it was really interesting to me, the retargeting that we could do and the ads we could put on there. And then it just started pushing me more towards digital. And, and that's really how I got over there is. It was a lot of interest to me. I'm like, wow, this is really cool the way that this works. I don't even think it was called retargeting back then.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: But it was really cool how that worked. And then it became like a game to me. And so as I got into different channels, I was like, oh, well, I did really good with this email. Let me see if I can beat it with the next one. And then I would move it over to paid ads. And I just kept moving it around until eventually I found that there was. I kind of knew all the channels. And I was like, over, you know, over the next 10, 15 years, I was like, all right, well, I can do the, you know, like now I'm in it and I love it. You know, I'll do this for the rest of my life. But. But you're 100% right. Even just sharing something like that and, and the connections that you'll make of just being real and being you and that's a great piece of content to be able to start with.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Right. And. And nobody else has that unique story. It is uniquely yours. It can't be copied. And when we talk about creating content, especially in the day and age with AI, there is a lot of generic content out there. There's a lot of wallpaper content that everybody seems to be posting way, shape or form. And so having content like this that is just true to who you are will start to set you apart. And Joe, one thing that you mentioned that I kind of want to ask you about is as you were getting into marketing, it seems like the more you learned, the more opportunity you saw and that would just kind of take you to the next level. Can you speak a little bit more to that?
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think as I was just getting started and I would get into meetings and people would bring something up and I would be curious and I'm like, well, what is that? I don't understand what that is, or I've never heard of that before. And I would just start going and looking in that direction. So no matter what channel it was, if I didn't know about it, I did a lot of research and I, I don't like to not know what people are talking about.
So I naturally just wanted to keep learning and wanted to keep branching off. And it's now even more like, if I would have had AI back then, I mean, I would know so much more because then I put it right in there and be like, hey, this is something I'm hearing about. Te me everything I need to know about it. But that's really how it, how it really started to branch out is it was every time I was in a call or in a meeting, if somebody would ask something or somebody would say something, and I didn't know what that meant. I absolutely needed to, you know, needed to find out about it. It got to the point in this industry where I kept hearing terms or kept hearing things from the agent or advisor's perspective. And I was like, man, I don't like not knowing from their perspective what they're dealing with. So that's why I went and got my agent license. My 215 is. I was like, I want to understand everything they went through. I want to, I want to know what is it that it takes to become an agent? And so to me, it's worth it to just go through that process and become licensed. And now I can say, okay, I'm a licensed agent. I don't, I don't practice it, I don't utilize my license. But I'm that much more knowledgeable now because I understand what they're dealing with.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: I love that story. And as you were talking, I just can imagine this being a very successful post that you make and a very successful TikTok because it also gives you credibility. And so to tie this back into our audience today, just listening to her talk and what motivates her and how she's gotten to where she is today and the relationship you've developed with your audience, you truly do understand them. All of that is, if you can apply it in your industry and with your business, is how you start to stand out.
So we've established an origin story.
I want to now talk about stories of success because as you're out in the field, as you're making sales, as you're, you know, developing relationships with your clients, you're also garnering more stories to share and stories to tell.
And, and these can include, you know, what objections have you recently overcame and what objections do you see the most of that? You can start consistently creating content for what are, what's often like the final factor that made a client choose you over anyone else. Again, these are stories that can feed your content strategy that nobody, including AI, can replicate. Do you have anything to add to that?
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, think about it. Even if you did like A Day in the Life of. I mean, that's a great video series that you can utilize over and over. If you have different, you know, different things that you're doing that day to where you can just say, hey, here's a day in the Life. And you just capture pieces of it throughout the day and then put it together as one piece at the end of the day of this is A Day in the Life of what I Do. Think about how many people. Even if you don't show the people that you're helping and their faces, you can still show house one, house two, house three. You know, you can still show like local points of where you were that day, saying, this is what I do on a day to day. I go around and I help people and I teach people. And then maybe it's sharing. One question they asked of like, hey, here's a great question I received today that I haven't spoken about before or I haven't shared, you know, my thoughts on before. So there's so much content you can, you can get just out of organically what happens throughout your day that would be valuable for somebody else because they'll be like, oh, I didn't think about that. But that's good to know.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: That's great advice.
You mentioned like A Day in the Life that sparked like a Get Ready with Me video. Those are really, really popular. And it's a way that you can tell a story while giving your audience something to concentrate on. So often you'll see people doing their makeup as they're telling a story or something along those lines. So there's different approaches that you can take to share the same type of content.
Um, and so taking it back now to the audience or, excuse me, the agent or advisor perspective, why do you think that these stories of success are so compelling, especially from a consumer's point of view?
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Well, I think it just shows that, that who you are and what you're actually doing. So there's, you know, we're out. Nobody's out there making false claims. And, you know, nobody's out there saying, oh, I help hundreds of people and I don't help them. You are. I mean, this is what you're doing. So you should be showcasing. And it just builds your credibility and it builds your knowledge. So it's. If you, you know, however many people you help and, and get them in their own words to provide those testimonials to you, you may be surprised at the impact, the real impact you've had on, you know, on these people's lives or in that moment of decision where you really brought them comfort. That's the type of stuff where you can say it a hundred times, like, I explain things really easily. I'm really good at this. The fact is, is if somebody else will say it and confirm that and say no, they really are good at this. And they really do take their time and to understand what my needs are, that is really powerful because it's truly coming from their own words. So don't hand them a script. Just ask them to be honest and say, you know, how it was to work with you and, and how you helped them.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Those then become pieces of content that you can share. It can be a quote, graphic from one of your happy clients. It can be a screenshot of a Google review, or to your point, it can be a video testimonial. Regardless, what the point is, is if you're getting positive reviews and positive testimonials, then that feeds into your content strategy. And once again, I keep saying this, but it's something AI can't replicate. It's something that your competition can't replicate. Those stories are unique to you. Also. What's unique to you are your opinions, your hot takes, your lived experiences. These often become your key differentiators. Sharing this is how you start moving from just being knowledgeable to actually connecting with your audience in a way that feels real. Joe, how can people get more comfortable sharing their opinions?
[00:12:51] Speaker B: I think it's a matter of, of knowing your industry and keeping an eye on things and then looking at it and thinking, okay, what is it important to my target audience that they would like to know about this? So I'll give an example.
I keep a very close eye on the news for marketing with them. Even outside of our industry, within our industry, it doesn't matter.
So one of the recent updates, and all it was was meta saying, hey, we're updating our profile picture to where you can animate it utilizing AI. I could have very easily just taken that Facebook update. I could have shared it on LinkedIn and just been like, hey, here's a new cool little tool. Here you go. But instead, it's taking that extra time to look at it and be like, all right, what's really happening here? And then throwing on that extra 2 cents of, yeah, it's fun. Yeah, I like their update and I'll share it. Here's what they're doing. But let's think a little bit deeper about this and let me give you my opinion of what's actually happening here and what you, you know, it's not in their release that that's what they're doing, but it's true that's what they're doing, is they're trying to change consumer behavior, which is great, but that's where you can add that extra 2 cents. I'll give an example from an agent or advisor's point of view is if there's a Medicare change, sure, say there's a plan change or say, say there's something that plans are no longer available in your area. It could be just sharing that and you could actually add like, hey, but it's okay, here's, here's some alternatives, like you add on those $0.02 to, to bring some sort of comfort, some sort of knowledge or some sort of impact to those posts. So it's, it's providing knowledge and then it's finding out from there, what is it that I want them to know about this? Because I could just give them the link. But let me just say a couple
[00:14:25] Speaker A: of things about it oftentimes too, we'll tell our audience that you are one of thousands of agents and advisors that are selling the same things, that are trying to overcome the same objections and are dealing with the same challenges. But by sharing those opinions and your lived experiences, that's how you start to differentiate yourself. And more and more, we're seeing algorithms start to reward those who are giving their pov, who aren't just sharing generic knowledge. They're leveraging their personal brand and what they can uniquely bring to the table. And we're seeing that be rewarded on platforms like LinkedIn. And is there anything else that you want to add to that? Because you're also very active on LinkedIn, as we both are, as we both try to build our personal brands.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: I love reading opinion pieces. Yeah, you know, you get a little. Our industry's a little tough because, you know, we are highly regulated, so we have to be careful with some of the things that we say. So I do have to be careful.
But, you know, some of the best pieces of content is. Is when you put out an opinion that maybe not everybody agrees with, and that's okay. I mean, that's the things that get people talking and get people to have conversations. So those are the type of things that I love when I see someone who's giving an opinion and you can tell it is uniquely their own opinion. And I may not agree with it, but it does get the conversation started. And I have no problem going on there and saying, hey, I respectfully disagree and here's why. But that's what social's about, and it should be about dialogue, and it should be about having those good conversations with each other and. And not trying to just make it fit for everybody. But keeping in mind, in our industry, we do have to watch compliance and regulations and be a little careful in the things that we say.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: Sure. And we're not encouraging being confrontational. We're not saying you have to be controversial, but just providing your own. Take your own point of view often is just enough. And it doesn't always have to be industry specific. If something pops up in the news that it might be adjacent or happens in your real life at, you know, a service that you just received something along those lines, it's okay to inject a little bit of your flair. It doesn't always have to be black and white. By the book. This is textbook copy that I'm just regurgitating. So don't be afraid to just add a little bit of spice every now and then, as long as it's compliant and you're not getting anybody in trouble.
So now that we've established some content ideas that our audience can walk away from, I think that we need to talk about who we're creating this content for, and we talk a lot about niche audiences. But, Joe, why is it so important for those listening today to. To understand what a niche audience is and to have one?
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Yeah, it's important because, one, it really helps you build your content. So when you know who it is that you're speaking to on a daily basis, it makes it that much easier to create content because you're not trying to be everything to everybody. You're now just trying to be this one particular thing to this one group of people. And again, I mention it all the, I always keep like one Persona or one person in mind. So when I post, I, I'm not posting to 5,000 or 6,000 people. I'm posting to this one person who I think this piece, you know, this piece of content would be valuable to them and it just makes it that much easier. So if you're out there and say, say you do sell Medicare life annuities, that's you can sell a various array of products. But who is it? Who is that target audience? If you know it's 65 plus, okay, that's great. Is there an income level? Is there, is it. Do you typically work with, you know, with, with certain areas of the community? Is there certain demographics that you really want to target? Do you tend to go more male or female? Those are all things that you can look at to help build your Persona, to help you narrow down. This is my target audience. And then think about how easy it gets to create content when you think of that one person in mind. So if I was thinking of the 65 year old female and, and maybe she's dual sniff, so maybe she's Medicare Medicaid and so maybe. So then we know she's a budget, budget conscious person.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Okay, well then if I'm in the community and I find out that there's this great deal at this, you know, at one of the stores locally, I can share that with her and I can put that out there knowing I'm providing real value. It has nothing to do with me selling to her. This is me providing real value, saying, hey, go check this out. This isn't insanely, you know, great deal in our community. You need to go here, you know, this is something that I would recommend people go look at. Then you're providing value and people trust you more and more as you do that.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Yeah, great point. It is so much easier to create content for one person than it is for everyone. And you use the example of income level, you know, those making financial decisions who have seven figure incomes and you know, a family inheritance and old money is gonna be making decisions a lot differently than those who are living paycheck to paycheck or you know, might be working multiple jobs to stay afloat. So you're right. Just by niching down, you're also making It a lot easier to come up with content ideas. And as we have this conversation about what content to produce, that's just an important point to take home.
And Joe, of course, as always, we can't have a marketing discussion in 2026 without bringing AI into the mix. What role do you think AI is playing when it comes to developing a niche or building content for, you know, your personal brand?
[00:19:59] Speaker B: I think it can play a role in all of it. So if you, if you have a tough time being able to narrow down, you know that target audience, you can have an interview with AI and ask it to help build you that audience. It will go all the way to build you that Persona, to give you the person's name and tell you exactly who that, so you can use it from that perspective. What I think is the strongest value that AI brings to the majority of agents and advisors is helping come up with ideas. So if you can go to AI and you can say, hey, act as a content specialist and here is who my target audience is and here are the channels that I'm trying to reach them on or I'm trying to create content for, and here is who, here's exactly who they are. Help me come up with various content ideas, both industry specific and just a value to them. And let, and just begin building that with it. And you can say to AI, ask me one question at a time until we feel like we have a thorough list and give me 30 ideas.
And then right from there it will start asking you questions and then you can say, okay, let's build the list. And then it will give you a list of 30 ideas. Are they all going to be amazing? No, but do you need 30? No. Right. So hopefully there's good five or ten out of there where you know, okay, two or three times a week I'm going to post, you know, this one post every week is going to be my thought on something and, and then I'm going to utilize the AI ideas for the other two or three posts that week. And then you're not having to overthink it because now at least you have an idea of what you know, what topics could be important. And it's simply either sharing or finding that news or breaking story and then
[00:21:27] Speaker A: being able to share with them 100%. AI is a tool to accelerate brainstorming, generate topic ideas from new approaches and new angles over time. As long as you're posting consistently, you'll also develop a trend of data and those that data is what's going to help you in the future, make refinements to your strategies, refinements to your content, refinements to your messaging. And I can help with all of this. So if you're implementing some of these best practices that we have talked about Today, then in 90 days or so you have a great sample size with legitimate data that you can then feed your favorite LLM AI platform and have it analyze that data for you. And going one step further, share successful pieces of content from that 90 days and tell AI, hey, this is what's resonating with my audience. Let's create more content around this. Do you have anything to add to that or any other AI best practices that you think that our audience should hear today?
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say the only other thing that, that I like to do is if I see posts or even if I have a post that I really like, I'll, I'll take a copy or a snippet of it and I'll put it in an AI to use it as a reference for future posts or for future ideas of like, hey, this is something that I really like, or here's something that I posted and I really, you know, I, I like to stay, you know, this type of post just to give it a reference point. So that was, that's the only other thing that I like to do is I will snip or take pictures or screenshots all the time. A post that I like that really grabbed my attention and I will put it into that same feed and be like, hey, can we create something or come up with an idea and to, to provide it in a post that is similar to this one. And so that's a, that's another little cheat of a way that you can come up with ideas and work with AI to expand and elaborate even more on those ideas.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Great point. You don't need to be reinventing the wheel. What works is already out there. The only thing it's missing is you, is you creating the content, you putting your own spin on it, your own take.
You don't have to go, you know, searching the world for something that is already out there and performing well. So I love that advice, Joe. Get inspired and bring it into your own strategy and make it your own. The last point I want to make here today is that we're not copying and pasting from AI here.
Everything that we're talking about is, is meant to be supported by AI. But if you truly want to be authentic and build a personal brand that's truly yours, then AI has to just be a tool it can't be where you're just copying and pasting. And Joe, as we wind down this conversation today, what's your biggest takeaway? Any final thoughts?
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's just getting used to creating the content, you know, to get started, create that, create that bio video. Create, you know, where you came from, your why. Create the video of who you are and who you help. Use those frequently asked questions as great pieces of content and just get comfortable getting out there. And even if it's just in text in the beginning, putting your opinion, if it's, you know, capturing it with a photo of something that you did, just get comfortable doing that. And I completely agree. When you're utilizing AI, you can lose trust very quickly, even with an audience that's known you for a long time if you. If they know that you're not writing it. So just remember, don't copy and paste. Make sure that you're always putting your two cents in there and making it sound like you.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: That sounds good. Joe, I hope that you found this valuable today, but if you need help with any of this, that's why we're here. That's why the Amerilife Marketing Mentors exist.
We want to see you succeed. We want to see you build a personal brand that you're proud of. And we're here to help every step of the way. So ensure that you're subscribed to the Amerilife marketing mentors on YouTube. We have a ton of content out there.
Our website, amerilifemarketingmentors.com you can book a consultation where we can dive a little bit deeper into this. Joe, any final words before we say goodbye?
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Nope, that's it.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us today for Joe Barker. I'm David Belleville and this is the Amerilife Marketing Mentors. We'll see you next time.
