I had a heck of a Wednesday last week.

Two inbound leads from YouTube in one day.

For context, I've been religiously posting on LinkedIn almost daily for the last 6 years.

I was an early adopter—the first insurance guy I know of to really take it seriously and post consistently.

My thinking was that eventually the 20-somethings using the platform would become decision makers and I'd be the one they thought of. And while that's proven to be true to an extent (I'll explain more shortly), it hasn't been a huge revenue generator for me.

$30k a year in revenue would be generous. Not nothing, but not exactly life-changing either.

Meanwhile, over the last year, I've talked to two producers pulling considerable revenue from YouTube. And since I don't mind being on camera, I started creating YouTube content a year ago, but really only got serious in the last month or so.

And what do you know?

Two Inbound Leads in One Hour

Last week, within an hour of each other, I got two inbound leads from YouTube.

Both contractors (my specialty). Both nowhere near Texas. Both found me because they had a specific pain point, went to YouTube to search for a solution, and my video showed up.

[ Cue lightbulb over my head ]

Man, that's amazing! I thought. I post a few videos and people call me?

Brilliant.

Then came the kick-in-the-pants.

An hour or so later, I cold-called a guy I hadn't talked to in 6 years. Found him on Insurance X Date (quick plug—shout out to Rob and the team, great tool, go check it out).

I said, "Hey, you probably don't remember me, but I called on you 5 or 6 years ago."

He says, "Oh yeah, I remember you. I actually follow all of your LinkedIn content."

Holy crap, this is about to be deal number three from content in one day.

Then he drops the bomb:

"If you would have just called me a little sooner. I just signed a BOR over to a kid from Gallagher who's been calling on me for a year."

My jaw hit the floor.

I didn't ask him, but I was thinking:

If you know who I am and you follow all my content on LinkedIn, why the hell didn't you reach out to ME?

Grrrrrr.

But after a hot matcha and some deep breathing, I got honest with myself.

I know why.

[ Cue the second lightbulb over my head ]

Here are my thoughts on all of the above:

If You're Playing the Content Game, YouTube Is Your Huckleberry

If I was just starting to get into content, YouTube is where I’d plant my flag.

The only thing you need to know to start is:

Reverse-engineer your titles based on the pain points of your ICP.

For example:

If you focus on manufacturers, make videos like:

• "Did You Just Get a Nasty Work Comp Audit? Here's What Every Manufacturer Needs to Know"

• "Cyber Insurance for Manufacturers: What Actually Gets Covered After a Ransomware Attack"

• "How to Insure High-Value Manufacturing Equipment (And Not Overpay)"

Here's why:

YouTube is intent-based. It's actually the world's second largest search engine behind its parent company Google. Unlike LinkedIn, YouTube is where insureds with a problem go looking for a solution.

Therefore, everything you create should be built around search intent.

Start there and you've got 90% of the YouTube game squared away.

You're Going to Get a Lot of Small Potatoes (And That's Okay)

What I didn't tell you was:

One of those two YouTube leads, after some probing, fell below my $15k minimum revenue threshold. Not a good fit.

From what I've heard from the other two guys, this is very common. Lots of small potatoes, and mom-and-pop operations looking for help. Which logically should be expected. The vast majority of businesses are small.

So know that going in. You're going to get people who aren't big enough for you, and you'll have to sift through them.

Or, even better, if your agency has a small business unit, just feed them those leads.

YouTube 100% works.

Just be ready for the volume and the filtering.

The Harsh Truth About Infotainment Content

Here's the thing about the guy who didn't call:

And it’s the perfect example of intent-based search versus just being on someone's feed as infotainment.

When someone has intent, they go looking for you. They have a problem, they search, and boom you show up.

But content in people's feeds? It's just more noise. Think about it, they're not actively looking for you. You're just being spoon-fed to them by the algorithm. Probably right after a cat video and right before some political commentary from a celebrity.

Despite 6 years of seeing my content, the guy signed over his business to another producer because that guy had been showing up in person.

Sure, he knew who I was thanks to LinkedIn, but clearly that wasn't enough.

My Biggest Takeaway

No matter how good you are at content, there's no substitute for person-to-person interaction, whether that's over the phone or showing up 1-to-1 in real life.

You cannot replace that.

As much as everyone wants to sell you on webinars or becoming some internet marketer, I believe content should supplement your cold outbound efforts. Not replace them.

To put a bow on this thing, look at prospecting as a hierarchy:

• The undisputed champ at the top of the pile is warm referrals.

• A not-so-far-away number two is cold outbound.

• A close third is intent-based search.

• And a very distant last is infotainment content in people's feeds (LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, X, etc.).

Now, I have nothing to sell you regarding 1, 3, or 4.

But, if you want to master the skill that actually moves the needle, and doesn't leave you wondering why prospects who "follow your content" still sign with someone else, check out my Producer Playbook.

It's everything I've learned about systematic prospecting, objection handling, and actually getting in front of decision makers and closing them.

No fluff or theory from someone who’s never done it, or hasn’t been in the game in years.

It’s the real stuff that’s working for me and thousands of other Producers actually in the trenches, right now.

—> Link to Producer Playbook 

See you Friday.

Kick ass take names,

Micah