How to Stay On Top of Your Content Marketing: Get Accountable

[00:00] Hi and welcome to Broker Tools, where we unpack the tools, systems, and strategies that help brokers optimize the way they work. I'm Katie, your host, and today we are diving into a topic that so many brokers want to be good at, but often struggle to stay consistent consistent with content marketing. Joining me for this conversation is Sam Panetta, broker, business coach, and allround content marketing advocate. If you have followed Sam online, you'll know he is one of the most consistent creators in the finance space. He's built powerful personal brand by showing up, sharing value, and making content feels simple, authentic, and doable. His background as a broker and business coach mean that he understands the realities of the industry, time constraints, compliance concerns, and what actually makes that needle move forward without making it too complicated. Sam, welcome to the pod. >> I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having

[01:01] me on. Thanks for having me on. >> You are most welcome. I guess we should give, you know, Christian a shout out cuz he connected us. I said he hard launched us into a friendship. Thanks, Christian. Shout out to you, mate. >> We love you. Can you because I guess you and I don't really know each other and I was talking about this to somebody else earlier today. There's been a lot of things that we've covered in the marketing conversation landscape so far. And I think having the people know a little bit more about you, what's your background, how did you become a broker coach, that would be a >> all those sorts of goodies. All right. All right. I I'll do a quick I'll do a compressed version right from the start. Um I don't know if anyone could tell, but I was a little bit cheeky at school. So I exited in year 10 quite early. Uh done 10 years as a spray painter. Um which was uh rough and ready. You went from a a boy to a man quite quickly being around some of those tradies. Early 20s, I hurt my back. Had to get

[02:05] out of it. Always wanted to be in finance, but never quite had the had the grades. So, ended up going back to school, getting a gig at a yellow road franchise. Done really well straight um straight out the gate. Young gun of the year, top 30 out of 30. Was a good run, right place, right time, and I busted my ass a little bit as well. Uh but a lot of luck. A lot of luck. Uh after that I started the Oreus Financial Group uh which was basically diversified financial services including a mortgage broker business. Um started scaled and sold that over a period of seven years. Took six months off and didn't quite know what I was going to do next. I was being encouraged by my peers in the the mortgage industry to uh to coach brokers. I never really saw myself as a business coach. I thought business coaches are a little bit weird to be honest with you, Katie. But um I'm glad I I did make the decision. I'm glad I did make the decision to do it because uh we're about 12 months in now and I feel that I feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing uh in the in the mortgage space. I always knew I was going to stay in finance because I'm

[03:07] a finance guy in my heart of hearts. I just didn't know it was going to be in the in the coaching side, which has worked out quite well actually, which I'm pleased about. >> Yeah. And I guess you I mean not that we're going to go straight to content marketing, but obviously you leveraged a lot of content marketing to be so prevalent for a year old broker coach. >> Yes. Yes. I've probably produced thousands of pieces of content uh over the past 12 months across, you know, multiple platforms, you know, social media content, but you know, stuff on websites and, you know, live presentation, live events. To me, content, it's the whole genre. Do you know what I mean? It's not just social media. It's it's all sort of content. Um, and I've done a lot of it and it's you can almost get it down to a combination of art and and science once you've done enough of it. >> Wow. What made you choose to go that pathway? Because I mean I we were just talking before we started this like I've already had conversations on various forms of marketing >> and you went down the content path.

[04:11] >> Yeah. Well, I I've I've always done content. Even when I was in the smash repair industry, I was doing content for the smash repair business that I worked for. And so, you know, that was 15 years ago, longer. Um, so I've always done a little bit of content. And I've probably progressively gotten better at it over time. Sheer hours, do you know what I mean? Just just sheer hours. You tend to get better at doing a thing. And the last business, we've done a lot of content. We've done a lot of paid advertising. We've done a lot of referral partners. We've done a lot of, you know, repeat business for existing clients. and client referrals. And I probably think they're the four ways that you can you can sort of get business. But the reason that I doubled down on content at the start when I launched broker coach a it was a niche that I was deeply interested in um you know passionate about. I knew a little bit about it. I had a bit of a competitive edge. So the the niche was sharp enough where content would work. And I like the fact that it scales like ads, >> you know, based on the amount of value that you provide and the amount of volume that you do, but it converts like a referral because by the time somebody, you know, gets in front of you, there's

[05:16] that no like and trust factor that's been built because they typically been watching you for, you know, days, weeks, months, years, uh, before a client actually gets in front of you. And so it converts, uh, really well as well. Nice. And I guess I mean again everything's languaging. When you say content, what do you mean? >> Uh to me content is is typically typically social media content, right? Typically uh stuff, you know, for brokers it would be Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, YouTube. Uh they're probably the most prevalent uh platforms today for a broker. >> Okay. So I guess it's that whole dissemination you're would when I guess you're saying content you're saying video and then disseminating across or would you use a blog post as well? >> Really really interesting point. So for like for the website, the SEO needs blog posts and so a lot of the time my my copywriter will take my videos, turn that, expand it, turn it into a blog post, get it up on the website um

[06:19] because that is what the Google universe and SEO demands. And if you're talking um you know Instagram, Instagram doesn't mind images, it doesn't mind reals, all the stories, all those sorts of things. Tik Tok loves a long, you know, blabbering video. Uh, and but something like LinkedIn doesn't perform that well with videos, right? It loves written copy uh or a spicy image. Do you know what I mean? Break up the the bland nature of of of LinkedIn. So, I think producing content that is true to the platform uh is is key. And you can recycle a lot of stuff, but it will always perform where its natural habitat is, but will perform better where it natural habitat is. >> Nice. And I think um the reason I'm kind of drilling down is you and I are in marketing. We had prior experience before doing the whatever we are doing now. So we've been in the landscape, but a lot of brokers have never been in the landscape. And so the languaging alone is one of those, you know, things where um I realized that if you're not in the map of the world um you need to create a

[07:24] new terrain for the other person. >> Yes. And so >> when I I guess um I say content and you're saying content and if people are trying to understand what content is, it may start off as a video. >> Yes. >> But then I guess before you even launch that video, you might have had a pre-thought about what that video was going to be about. >> Correct. And so you create this video and then hopefully you can hand it over to somebody else and they will sharpen up that video so it can be pres presentable in whatever format that needs to go next. And that's whether you turn a blog post into it, then you can have it as a social media post, but then you're making that post from that one video meet all those uh channels. Is that the word we should use? >> Yeah, I I guess so. platforms, platforms, channels. Yeah. Yeah. Inter interchangeable interchangeable words for but same thing basically. >> Yeah. Cuz I mean social media is just

[08:28] too big and wide and there are so many ways you can do it. But that is the pathway of content. Would you say that's true or what would you say is your pathway of content? >> I think there's there's two trains of there's two trains of thought with it. It's either a going sort of, you know, thin and, you know, narrow and deep and picking one platform and and mastering the one platform. And I've seen plenty of successful brokers who literally only exist on on one platform. Um, or it's, you know, going shallow and wide, uh, where you are producing less content but over a wider space. I prefer to go, you know, you know, shallow and and and wide, but either way works. >> Awesome. And I guess this is really about messaging. So you at the end of the day, the content is the thought ever whatever thought you had and you thought it was good for your audience to hear. >> 100%. And it's it's typically you start with the niche, right? You start with the niche and you basic it's very difficult to produce content without a

[09:30] niche. And the more highly defined the niche is, the easier it is to get cut through with our content. Right? If anyone watches any of my stuff, if you weren't a mortgage broker, like you wouldn't give a [ __ ] about my content. You know what I mean? Because it's it's so broker centric. People wouldn't even know what we're talking about. Uh but people in the broker world do and they sort of resonate with it. And and so you can start off with that high level. Okay, I'm talking to the to the broker world. And then you can zone down onto a singular piece of content that strikes a singular piece of like a pain point or an ambition. All right. So you can go as micro it's like a little little thing that annoys brokers and you can you can tug on it a little bit. Um so you know the macro audience and then the micro audiences that that are having you know very acute uh things topics that they want to discuss. >> Perfect. And I think this is where the wisdom of marketing really comes into play because that is the niche thing and you're like I know that say first home buyers they struggle with but then within the first home buyers there's

[10:35] that broad niche but then you have layers of it from everything. One of um the people that we were having the pod with earlier had mentioned the immigration first home buyers. Do you know what I mean? um versus uh mom and dad just out of high school first-time home buyers. The approval process is different for them. And so you need to talk to the pain point of that person. >> Correct. >> And and how you decide that, how you draft that content as they're a broke because you obviously do a lot of coaching on brokers and their marketing. >> Yes. >> Where would you take them on that journey? Well, the the greatest thing, right, and this is how I do my content, too, and this is how I teach the brokers, is I'm having the conversations with brokers each and every single day, right? So, I have an endless supply of ideas for content because I know what the ambitions are. I know what the pain points are. Could collect a list at the end of every day, 20 or 30 things, right? Just based on the conversations that I'm having. Brokers are exactly the same. Like if you're if you're a broker that's working with first home buyers, then you are having conversations with

[11:38] first home buyers each and every single day. You know what their pain points are. You know what their fears are. You know what their ambitions are. You know what their goals are. And you can collect your ideas or your thoughts for the content based on the conversations that you're having in real life every single day with your ideal clients. There's, you know, once you start doing it, the audience will start asking questions as well. So that puts fuel on the fire. They might ask questions in the comments where you can, you know, respond to with copy or you can pick up the video and you can do a video response to it which fuels more content. You know, Instagram's got that feature. You can do a story and like, hey, you know, ask me anything. First time buyers ask me anything. You might get 10 first time buyers ask you a question. There's 10 pieces of content. And the the questions that come from the audience directly, the you know the ideal niche are the best because number one, you know, they want to know the answer because it's the ideal audience that's asking the question. So, you know, they want to know the answer. And number two, it doesn't come across as as preachy. Do you know what I mean? I think content that says you should do this or you should do that. I don't think people

[12:41] like that sort of content. Whereas, if you're genuinely answering a question, it comes across more as useful than as as being being a bit of a preacher. Nice. And I guess this is the the window of opportunity because AI is here and so how do you cut through the noise? >> Yeah, AI it's I don't know what's going to happen there yet. I I'm undecided. I I am unapologetically on the fence. A lot of AI content bloody terrible, but it might get to the point where it's not, Katie. Do you know what I mean? It might get to the point where it's not. And I think that's a lot of where I think the messaging and the things that we're saying and the and the the words that are coming out our our mouths are one thing when it comes to content, but I actually think the core thing is the character that's coming across because people end up building no like and trust with the character that they're following. And I think I feel like that's hard to replicate. Like you you can only be yourself. You know, you're going to attract some people, you're going to reflect others. And good marketing really, that's what it should do. >> Hopefully. You'd hope so

[13:46] >> cuz it it it um I guess that that is why you create content is so it's like your pre-qualifier like as in I don't want to just talk to people who aren't even within the realm of what I want to actually be of service to. I mean the industry is so wide you can silo into so many components of it >> 100%. And I guess from going through that if you were so someone would come to you and go okay I'm I'm just launching my business where would you have them start? >> First step um would be to pick a niche right and for for me the three qualifying criteria for for a good niche uh something that we're passionate about >> uh something where we have a real competitive edge and uh number three to a demographic that we can market to. So being passionate about the thing, if it works, we're going to have the same conversations over and over again each and every single day. So you better like the topic. If you don't like working with first buyers, don't pick that as your niche, right? If you love working with business owners or tradies, whatever it is, but if it works, you're

[14:49] going to be having a lot of the same conversation. So make sure you enjoy the conversation. Um, number two, having a real competitive edge. This is important. You know, if I'm an ex-broker who started, scaled, and sold a broker business, um, I might have a bit of a competitive edge being a coach for brokers. If I was a coach for dentists, I would have no clear competitive edge. Same thing for brokers, right? If if you're for 10 years you were an SMSF accountant, right? and then you started your broking business, I would be damn sure that you would have a competitive edge as an SMSF lender because you know the ins and outs of it more than other the other 99% of the participants in the marketplace. So having a real edge I think is is really important. Even being able to speak a language that someone else can't speak and you got a demographic of people that speak a similar language like nearly no one can compete in that right if it's not English nearly no can compete with that. And then the having a marketable demographic, right? And that is more about seeing people that the way they see themselves. Mortgage brokers

[15:53] identify as mortgage brokers. Dentists identify as as dentists. Nurses identify as nurses. First home buyers identify as first home buyers. No one identifies as a high net worth individual uh that wants to do an equity release from their property up to a 70% LBR. Like no one identifies as being that person. So, we've got to see people the way they see themselves, not the way that we see them. >> I just I love how you said that because I'm like I'm like trying to rack my brain. Like I just I have so many wealthy friends, but I would never call them, hey, my high NET WORTH FRIEND. >> WOULD NEVER YOU WOULD NEVER. You know, they could have a Bentley in the garage and it's like I'll wake up my high net worth today. It doesn't happen. You know, people don't see themselves like that. No, imagine that like sorry now I'm kind of go digressing in the whole >> how do you even like talk to that person because you can't even reach what resonates at a soul level for them. >> Yeah, we would it would have to they'd have to identify as something else. Maybe they're a surgeon and maybe they identify as a surgeon or maybe they're a

[16:55] business owner and they identify as a business owner. You know, maybe they're you know they live on the northern beaches and they identify as living on the northern beaches. like that it would be something they identify as. It's just not you know someone who wants to release equity from one property to buy a second like things like that right they don't identify as the transaction they identify as a human. >> Yeah. And even if you take your content which is also part of your networking ecosystem. >> Mhm. >> People will go out into the market and they will start talking to you but they don't know that they need you yet. And so it's how you can log in and we were talking about this in a different pod becoming like the rolodex memory like it's in how do you become that that reference point in your um the human database >> 100% and it works great not only for attracting new business but it works fantastic for converting business that you've already attracted. So a broker might have had a client come to them six months ago and weren't ready and then you know they've decided to move forward six months later. And for existing clients, for existing referral partners,

[17:58] people that are already in your network, you're going to stay front of mind and be recommended, you know, at a barbecue on a Sunday, much more likely if they saw a piece of content from you that morning rather than if they haven't heard from you from 18 months uh since since you wrote the loan for them. So, you know, having it as a a retention and a conversion mechanism, it's just as much that as it is about attracting new business in the first place, I feel. >> No, I would have to agree because sometimes, as you said, there's a human who's coming to you and initially they might need a mortgage to begin with and and we're not talking to them because they are a high netw worth individual. They said, "I need an SMSF loan and I'm purchasing this property." But then they happen to have a business and so then they will need financing for whatever reason for their business. If you have the I guess the silo of actually doing commercial loans as well, that's also something that you can do. And then if they have family and friends who need

[19:01] the service, that's where you I guess expand and grow within from one interaction. >> 100%. you know, once you you brought the the client in from the first place from the content, you deliver a fivestar experience, you blow their socks off, um they're likely to do business with you again. They're likely to refer their their family and friends again. And you know, when we're talking about content or paid ads or any of those, not aggressively getting strategies, but ones that you your effort-based lead strategies, the idea for is to win an opportunity to deliver a fivestar experience. And then that's then you start building from from both ends from new business and from the existing stuff. >> Nice. And I guess this is like that transition stage. Sure you might start out with content but now the systems and the processes you build are the key things that keep that retention flowing back to you from that one person that you already had an interaction with. >> Correct. Bang. >> Perfect. And I guess if we were to think about things because obviously content marketing can be a lot for some people. How would you I guess teach the mindset

[20:05] because we you know there's there's so many things you can do. It's look, mindset's a big thing, right? It like the fear um the fear of producing content is a massive thing and the only way to get over it is just to keep doing it. And like I know some content creators in the industry uh who have huge followings, right? Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of of of followers across multiple platforms. And even the conversation with them today, it's like sometimes when some of their content performs really well, the trolls will sort of come out. So they'll they'll tame down their own content just to, you know, just to be able to handle the negativity that comes from it. So even once, you know, success has been procured uh from content marketing, there's still always that that element of judgment, putting yourself out there. But you're in business, you just got to do it. You got to think about the end result. You're in business for a reason. And if you know, you got to do the work. And it's the reps that count because volume matters with content. Volume matters for performance, but it also

[21:09] matters for getting good at it. You're going to be better on your 10th piece of content than your first. You're going to be better on your hundth piece of content than your 10th. You're going to be better on your thousandth piece of content than you are on your hundth. But most people are just not going to do the reps. They're just not going to produce enough content for it to have an effect. And that's one of the edges of content marketing is that nearly no one's willing to stick at it long enough to make it work. >> Yeah. Uh Victor, who we were talking about podcasting as a lead generation tool the other day had said 20 20 podcasts is where most people cap out at. They can't like as in once they've reached 20 they they cannot remain consistent. But I guess this is where partnering with someone like yourself who can coach them along the way so that when you are having those little doubts, you have that other hopefully good devil voice to say you got this >> on the other side. Yeah, it's true. It's true. Like I I think being in the coaching business for 12 months now, I knew strategies and tactics were always important, right? I knew strategies and tactics are always important, but

[22:12] they're a finite thing, right? There's not an unlimited amount of strategies and tactics, but once someone knows what to do, the I've actually found majority of the battle is getting to do get getting them to do what they need to do. It's the accountability piece. Do you know what I mean? And you know, a lot of the time it's it's great to learn, but money's made in implementation and and execution. It's not made in learning. >> Completely. And as you were saying that, I was thinking, sure, we're not in PT anymore. We're not doing personal training, but we are hopefully doing some other kinds of training. And ultimately, we you were talking about reps and having your reps in. And sure, some of us may not be fitness bros who want to do weights, but it is the same principle like as in if you got a personal trainer in who and you're just not sure that you can lift that one dumbbell a little further, someone can just tap you on the elbow and help you just make that one little bit more of a push and then over time you can increase your reps.

[23:14] >> 100%. Even being accountable to show up like to a personal trainer, do you know what I mean? A lot of the time if you got to train at 6:00 in the morning and you're on your own, you don't have a partner to train with, you don't have a a trainer to train with, it's easier to stay in the bed. Whereas if committed to someone that, hey, I'm actually going to show up at the gym at 6:00 a.m. to train with my my trainer, you're more than likely to go. So even even that psychological barrier helps to to get people moving along, >> which is I guess the key gifts. And then I mean, sure, not everybody has to come to you, Sam. Obviously, if they want to do their own But I guess what we're mostly communicating is content marketing is going to be always great for your business. >> Yes. >> No matter what. Sure, you might be inconsistent at times, but being to some degree consistent in service and delivery is probably going to outweigh that anyway >> eventually. Eventually. So, it's the getting business from your existing clients is a great way of getting business, right? It's really high margin

[24:16] because we're not paying for it. uh and it's not we're doing the work anyway, right? So, we might as well do a good job of it. So, it's not an additional workload. There's no additional spend, but you're limited by the amount of clients that you actually add. So, you know, if if a broker has five clients and they just write at the start, saying that they're going to rely on client referrals to grow a brokerage is not a reasonable expectation. All right? It's not a reasonable expectation. For a broker who's been at it for quite a long time, who has 500 clients, it is more of a reasonable expectation uh that they can grow purely uh from the organic traffic that their that their clients refer to them. And it's just about, you know, the paid ad stuff and the content marketing. It's the fuel in the rocket to get it off the ground. And if we don't get the rocket off the ground, the rest of it not going to have an opportunity to work its magic. I like that because you obviously even before you get the fuel off the you need like the jetpack engine to just like >> very visual in these commentaries. >> Oh, okay. And so I like to think of

[25:23] things as ecosystems or loops and how people go through. So if they were to start obviously with content and whether they kind of go to a broker like you to help them be consistent or not, that's not I guess the end goal. The end goal is how do you get yourself out there? How do you do the reps even if you don't feel like it? If you need to build in an accountability group, then that's probably the key thing or do like a 30-day uh there's always like those 30-day social media posty things. >> Some some sort, you know, if you can't hold yourself accountable, having someone else hold you accountable or even, you know, even if you pay someone to do the content for you. Do you know what I mean? For entry- level guys, it becomes a little bit expensive, but it at least it gets you started, right? someone else is is is doing doing the doing for you. I think the hardest thing is at the start before the results start rolling in. So I know when I mentioned earlier about a little bit science and a little bit of art towards the start of the year when I was doing content, it was basically for every four pieces of unique content I would generate one lead and then for every four leads I would

[26:27] generate one new client. Right? So there was a direct mathematical thing whereas like 16 pieces of content produces one new client. Now, over time, as the content's become more valuable, that's three and three. So, three pieces of client, three pieces of unique content produces a lead. Three leads produce a client. So, it's now nine pieces of of content produces one new client. And over time, if you get better and better, I should be able to get that down to two and two or whatever it is, right? You can you can continue to improve how much how much reach you get by the amount of, you know, value and volume that you that you do. But when you get it down to that point and there's a direct correlation between, you know, produce x amount of content and get y amount of result, it becomes easier. It becomes easier to do. It's hard at the start when you're staring into the abyss. You're just producing content. You're getting no traction. It feels like you're, you know, staring off the edge of the cliff. Uh that's the hardest part. It gets easier and easier and easier once once people get their get the hang of it, get their rhythm. >> Yeah. And I think it's exactly what you're saying. It's that rhythm, like getting into the rhythm of it. And once you're hooked, it should be fine. And

[27:30] and not that every day flows because we are still human and you might have a off day. >> Correct. Correct. You can always build a library out. Can always build a library content out and schedule and schedule it out, >> which is what we're doing here at Broker Tools. Because as you and I know, we have not officially launched at this moment in time. But because I had a change in direction of how I was building the website, I'm like, I'm not going to stop momentum here. I'm just going to lock in a couple of pods. >> The best. The best. >> And so pre-recording is not a bad thing either. And especially if you're highly an emotional person because if putting yourself out there like yesterday, you might be um better for future you if if you just lock it in the bag and then hand it over to somebody else to take care of. >> Correct. If you're feeling high energy one day, smash it out. Um, it's going to be much easier than when you're feeling depleted. >> Yeah. How do people engage with your services, Sam? Like, I know that you have a range and I think it would be

[28:33] good to talk about your range because if they want to reach out to you, they should. >> Yeah. The broker coach model is essentially membership based. We have two memberships, platform and private. Uh, platform is basically group coaching and private is is one-on-one coaching. Um, but you know, for for for if anyone's listening to this or best thing to do is follow me along on your on your favorite social media platform. Uh, I do, you know, try to deliver a shitload of value. Uh, so that's probably a really good place to start is, you know, wherever you frequent the most, go find me there and that that'll be a good start for you, I reckon. >> Oh, perfect. Thank you, Sam, for joining me on this conversation. It's been so much fun. If anybody wants to ask more questions or if they should think that Sam and I should do another pod on another topic, let us know. We are keen to see how we can help you. >> Amazing. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thanks. Bye.