Building Your Brand - A Journey to Wealth with Scott Betley 19:22

This is Wake Up To Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham. All right, what's up, everybody? We are back with another episode of Waking Up To Wealth. And before we get started, I just want a huge shout out to everybody out there. Last episode, we're north of 20,000 downloads.

because of all of you guys out there supporting us. We are number two in the United States right now as of today in investing. We're number 16 in business and we're well under the top 200 in overall categories.

I'm extremely excited because when I started this show, I wanted to go out investing and have just a completely different attitude on everything. And I greatly, greatly appreciate everybody supporting us. I just want to say thank you because being number two in the United States is pretty cool. So let's get into it today. Today, I've got Scott Bentley here with us. And Scott actually is...

one of my neighbors, actually. I've got a property on the water and he's down the street from me and they got introduced through a mutual friend. So tell, for those that don't know who you are, tell us who you are and what you do. Yeah. So my name is Scott Bentley. I'm commonly known as that mortgage guy online. I built a brand of roughly 1.1 million followers, which is

generated about 40,000 leads over the last three and a half, four years on the mortgage business side. And it's kind of flipped the script in terms of loan officers and how it's worked over the years just because it's always been

You know, pounding pavement and building relationships with agents to try to get the referrals and now having a brand and being able to go direct to consumer. It's just a whole different, whole different way to go about it. So it's been very exciting and chartering unchartered territory. And it's turned into the first influencer division that I launched with NFM about, you

Two and a half years ago, so we have a team of about 15 influencers that were online. We have about 5 million followers combined. We generate about 10 to 15 million organic views each week through socials. So that's kind of our game and what we focus on. But there's just, we're now starting to scratch at leveraging the brand to be able to create value for referral partners and doing all sorts of other things because the direct-to-consumer piece is just one slice of it. Yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, that's amazing. Those are amazing numbers. You know, I believe in any business you're in, you've got to be a marketer in light of what's going on in real estate right now. It's more important ever to build a brand and obsess about being a marketer. But so, so how do you,

You kind of nonchalantly told us, you know, all these cool things. Like, so how do you go from zero to a million and some change followers to generating these type of views every week? Like, how do you do that? How did you do that? Honestly, it's a, it kind of sounds cliche, but it's a game of consistency, you know, and just refining the craft. Like when I started three and a half, four years ago, producing video content, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. And it's just evolved so much, but yeah,

It's a game of consistency and staying on the pulse of what's performing well, because obviously as far as content goes, it's just evolved so much. Like if you look at what was on TikTok four years ago and Instagram four years ago compared to right now, it's completely changed. So that's part of the game. But I would say, you know, when it comes to content and building a brand, it really comes down to providing value and being authentic and, you know, being entertaining to some extent. But I just try to be really thoughtful about the content and

like when i post a post like what value is this bringing someone you know and is it shareable so um what's interesting about what you just said is you didn't talk about selling anything right you talked about authenticity um and i say this a lot and you hit the nail on the head is a lot of people ask me how i built a brand how the podcast is so successful

What I do is I wake up every day and obsess about what can I provide to my audience that's of value. And a lot of times now, I don't even put any calls to action on anything to sell anything. And it just happens organically. So what you just said, like, I think, you know, follow this man on social media, look at what he's doing. But what he just said is provide value to your audience and be consistent. Right. So.

So, and I think the other thing to make a, to make a point on this, you've done it for several years now, probably in the beginning, correct me if I'm wrong. You put some posts out, you put some things out and it was like crickets, right?

Right? Yeah. If you go back and look at my first 20 videos, I did not know what the heck I was doing. Sure. And you just, but you didn't stop, right? That's it. So what would you say, you know, you're posting at least once a day, twice a day? Like, what's your cadence now? Yeah. So I slowed down over the last year just because last year was really rough for our family. And then we had the baby three weeks ago. Yeah.

I thank you very much. So we're, I'm now in a position where I'm trying to get back to two to three posts every single day across all platforms, probably like seven to 10 story posts a day, but just trying to get back to like my normal cadence and the frequency of posts that I was putting out. Cause it's a lot of work and it takes a lot of time, but you know, I feel like once I got to a certain level, I got a little bit obsessive over the numbers and like my

my engagement and how well the videos were performing and kind of got in my own head, which I had to pull my myself out from like, just focus on the content and just pounding it out. Cause you know, you can, it's a rollercoaster ride being a creator. Cause you've got videos that you'll spend two hours creating. You're like, Oh, this is going to be great. And then you do one on the fly and it goes, exactly. Yes. It totally messes with your head and it's just an emotional rollercoaster to some extent. Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, from a like, where did you see like the turning point? So obviously you did it for a while. You started out, you know, little to no engagement. And then at some point something started to build or something started. Like, can you define that moment or can you can you tie anything to like what changed? Yeah.

You know, I think I started to realize it came down to value and being less selfish about the post I was putting out because you look at the real estate industry and a lot of brands in general, a lot of the posts are selfish. It's about creating a sale, creating a lead. Call me, send me a referral. Yeah. And if you look at some of these, these huge brands that are out there that

just crush it like Gary Vaynerchuk. He puts out so much value and it's just, it's like a delayed gratification. He doesn't ask for it. He just, he just puts it out and he lets the chips fall where they do. And nine times out of 10, you know, those people come back to him if it's a service or product that he's selling that they're interested in, they're already warmed up and ready. So yeah. Yeah. So it was, um, you came from a standpoint of educate,

educate and give value. That's it. Yeah. I would say the first 20 posts that I put out were just really selfish. And then I think like my 21st post back in 2020, like January, 2020, it got like four or 500,000 views. I was like, wow, this is legitimate. And I was getting like a hundred inquiries over, over my landing page that I had tied to Tik TOK. And at the time I had like seven or 8,000 followers. So that was the real turning point where I was like, wow, there's

some legitimacy to how, how much this can impact my business. Yeah, no, that's, that's amazing. So what kept you going of, cause this is, you know, I talk to people about social media all the time, you know, I lead a bunch of salespeople and I've got a bunch of different companies where I'm always drilling them. Like, man, you got to market on social media.

And, you know, the one thing that I see is people will start and then they stop and they won't be consistent because of the instant gratification. Like what for you was, you know what, I might have only gotten three views on this or two. Like what kept you going? Like what was the mindset behind this? Like because you you had to know where there was something driving you to not stop.

Yeah. I mean, I had a previous business that I had launched in 2017 that was a magazine business that did really well. I built the brands for it, but that was really where I started to get my feet wet in terms of building a social media brand and what it came down to. And it took me the better part of a year and a half to build that brand page up to like 25,000 followers. And we were...

That was a big piece to like our sales tactic in terms of bringing on new advertisers to the magazine. And that was really where I started to understand like the value side and exactly what it took to generate engagement and to create interest on the consumer side. And it just comes down to value. So I would say that was it. That was kind of like the turning point for me, for me.

And for you, what is where do you get your highest lift as far as what platforms like where do you see that?

You know, where do you see the best response, highest lift? It's a mix. You know, I've got videos that perform really well on TikTok that don't go off on Instagram or Facebook. But over the last year and a half, I started to focus on Facebook and on Instagram because prior to 2023, I think I had like 7,000 followers on IG and I had like five or 600,000 followers on TikTok.

So I started to push more followers there and then just repurposing all of my content for IG and Facebook. But the organic reach on Facebook right now is outrageous. Like I know Zuck is really pushing hard to compete with TikTok and he made that known, like I think it was in Q3 of 2020.

last year or the year before that he was doubling down on short form video and coming after TikTok, which, which you go to any, any video you go to post on Facebook. Now they're like, do you want to make this a right? Yeah. Yeah. So they're, they're pushing heavily for that. And that's part of the reason why I pivoted and just started repurposing the content, but you have to pull off that TikTok watermark. Like for me,

I film all my content and tick tock. So I've got, I need to repurpose it and pull it out to repost it. But like I said, I have videos that perform so well on Facebook that totally flop on tick tock and then, you know, in reverse too. So it just depends.

So what do you say to, cause this, you know, again, you know, for me traveling, speaking on stages and talking to people, here's another huge kind of like fear, right? Right. All right. So I started going on social media and I get this following and I start getting, you

And, you know, people will, you know, then people are going to troll me and say negative stuff. And, you know, right. Have you, I'm sure you've had to, had to have had that happen to you. Yeah. It just comes with the territory. Unfortunately, there's just no way around it. And if you're a real estate agent, for whatever reason, these Gen Z and millennials have such a hard on for agents. Like they think we're the, or you guys are like the slime balls of the industry, like used car salesmen. And it's just insane.

it's wild. I feel like there needs to be a big movement in the real estate world. And in regards to like the value you guys actually provide throughout the transaction and like relaying that to the consumer, they just don't understand. They have no idea. Yeah, absolutely. So it's just, it is what it is, right? You know, if you're going to build a brand, people are going to take shots at you. You just got to be comfortable with it. Just, it is, it is what you have to take it with a grain of salt and, and approach it from like a space of empathy because if somebody's,

a keyboard warrior and firing her off, firing off like cuss words on your post or whatever the case may be, they're probably in a rough spot. You know, they got some shit going on. That's it. Something's motivating that energy. That's not good in their life. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. So, um,

I think real estate is, is misunderstood by the most consumers. And I think the headlines right now will, you know, attest to that. And I've talked to a bunch of people, a bunch of news folks in the last week. And, and I can't say enough how off they are. But like on the mortgage side for someone that's listening to this, like what are, give us one or two of the biggest myths. That's like, I,

that people don't understand that you thought you wish more people understood from the mortgage standpoint. Yeah. I mean, I would say, uh,

Two of the biggest myths are that you need a perfect credit score to buy a house and that you need an abundance of money. We're a local lender here in the States, so we work with a number of down payment assistance programs. We lend down to a 500 credit score. And to be honest, I grew up in a family that didn't come from a lot of money. And the financial literacy in this entire world that I'm now wrapped up in,

I didn't know the first thing about it. And so like when I went to go purchase my first home, it was very eyeopening for me. And that's part of the reason why I've built my brand to be able to spread education because like, I feel like this is something that we should be taught in school that we're not. And so that's kind of where I come from and, and why, but, um,

I lost my train of thought and what your question was. So first one, what, well, the miss and you said credit score and, you know, down payment, right. You know, is there, is there anything else that you, that you would wish more people knew? No, I would just say, you know,

It's not that difficult. I would just try and just see what you can qualify for. Like there's, I talked to so many people that have kicked the can down the road for a few years because they're just afraid to try. Yeah. It's a fear. It is. Yeah. And this fear built up in their head and they just don't want to take the jump. But you know, we have so many clients that close with us and they're like, man, I didn't think I would be able to purchase a home and you guys got me to the table. This is incredible. So that's, that's what I would just say. Just take the leap and try it. Can't hurt.

Um, switching back to the marketing side, um, which that's great advice, by the way, you know, if someone's out there and they want to start marketing their brand, right. It doesn't matter what, what they are. I think we would both agree that social media is just the fastest way for you to just rocket ship anything. But to the person who's like, you know, I don't know what to talk about. I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. Like, what's your advice of like, Hey, this is where you start.

Right. And, and understanding you gotta be patient, but what would you tell somebody that's, that's out there? That's doubting that this can make them successful where the, should they start?

I would start with consuming content. You know, like I talked to so many agents that have that same feeling, like they don't want to jump in, they're unfamiliar. And I didn't do this when I started, but I was, I would spend 15 to 20 hours consuming content on TikTok and on Instagram reels within your niche. So you can get a good grasp on what's out there, like what other creators are putting out, the nuances to their content, the styles that they're putting out.

And as you do that, you know, you can figure out how you want to position your brand and like all these different transitions and different things that different creators are doing that you can incorporate into your content.

I would start there. But as far as like specific styles of content, I mean, the green screen videos, they're so simple to produce. You can produce them right in TikTok and use the green screen effect. Just click a still where you can do a green screen video and you drop it right into TikTok and it's a filter in the app. You don't have to have a green screen room. It's very simple. I just filmed a green screen video before I came into the office to do the podcast. Yeah.

So that's one style of content that performs really well. And then another style of content that is super easy is stitch content where you can ride the coattails of other viral creators, take a piece of their content and use it as your hook to your video, and then go into your two cents about why it's important or your stance on it and so on.

So those are two styles that are performing really well right now. But I would say like if you're struggling to come up with ideas, there's so many resources out there. I mean, you look at these news outlets, housing wire, there's resources like ask the public where you can go online and look at keyword searches for what consumers are looking for online. So you can kind of reverse engineer how you want to position your content and what you want to talk about. But that's where I would start.

Yeah. One of the things I always say to people that they don't get or understand is whatever profession that you're in, it's,

If you do it every day, you have 99% more knowledge than the rest of the general public. And you don't understand your own skillset and how much you can actually talk about that people don't understand. Because a lot of times people say, I don't know what to talk about. It's like, talk about what you do every day. That's it. Do you know what I mean? Talk about how you solve problems in whatever vertical that you're in. You know so much more than everybody else. You just don't even realize it. 100%. And then we have so many people that are like,

well, I'm 56. I can't post on social media. It does not matter. We have a guy named Craig cam who's on our influencer team. He's 60. I'm going to say 61 or 58. He gets like two, 3 million views a week on Tik TOK. He's crushing it. And he does very simple videos. He's talking about client situations and regulations and new things.

new headlines, but it's very simple and it's pretty dry, but it works like he's crushing it. Check him out. Craig cam. Yeah. So we always end the show the same way and the show's called waking up to wealth. So, you know, I always ask everybody and it's whatever your version is, right. Can be whatever it is, but what is waking up to wealth mean to you?

I mean, waking up to wealth for me really comes down to like my family and health. Like at the end of the day, I feel like success and business, you know, is great. It's a wonderful thing. But for me, like my family and our health is my priority. And I try to wake up every day and just be grateful for the fact that like we get to see another day. And so that's where like I approach things. And that's my idea of wealth, I would say.

Yeah. Where can people find you? How can they find you? Anywhere online. If you search that mortgage guy, you'll find me. All right. Perfect. Hey, man, I appreciate you being here today. You dropped a lot of nuggets and a lot of tactical stuff. You actually weaved in a lot of legit tactical stuff that anybody who's listening to this can actually go implement and market better. I greatly appreciate you taking your time to come on the show today. Of course. Thank you for having me.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcast. This way we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us. Until next time.