Most entrepreneurs build a business, but only a few build a brand that is actually “fundable” and ready for a multi-generational exit.
In this episode of the Exit Strategies Radio Show, host Corwyn J. Melette sits down with Jason Fishman, CEO of Digital Niche Agency (DNA) and a “New Media Enthusiast” with over 15 years of experience in scaling brands. Jason pulls back the curtain on how to move past “hustle marketing” and into data-driven strategies that attract investors and secure your company’s future. Whether you are looking into Regulation Crowdfunding or simply want to optimize your digital footprint, this conversation is a masterclass in preparing your business for its next great chapter.
Key Takeaways:
- 02:45 – The DNA of Growth: Jason explains the transition from “New Media” curiosity to managing nine-figure digital funding campaigns.
- 08:12 – The 8-Point Strategy: A deep dive into the framework every business needs to audit competitors and map out a scalable path.
- 15:30 – Demystifying Crowdfunding: Understanding Reg CF and Reg A+ as tools for community-driven capital and legacy building.
- 22:15 – Testing vs. Scaling: How to use real-time data to know exactly when to pour fuel on the fire without wasting your budget.
- 29:50 – The “Investimer” Model: Turning your customers into your most loyal shareholders and brand advocates.
Legacy Takeaway:
“True legacy isn’t just about the product you sell today; it’s about building a data-backed, fundable asset that can outlast its founder. By leveraging the power of the crowd and digital precision, you transform a ‘lifestyle business’ into a community-owned pillar of wealth.”
Connect with Jason:
- Website: https://www.digitalnicheagency.com/
Connect with Corwyn:
- Contact Number: 843-619-3005
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmelette/
Shoutout to our Sponsor: Country Boy Homes
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/corwyn-j-melette/support
CORWYN:
Raising capital isn’t just about having a good deal. It’s about reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time. Good morning, good morning, guys, and great morning to you. Hey, it is a wonderful day, a bright and sunny day. As you guys can see, I got a glow going about me today. I figured this thing here out. So look here, guys, look.
Welcome to Exit Strategies Radio Show. Hey, I’m your host, Corwyn J. Melette, Broker and Owner of Exit Realty Low Country Group in beautiful North Charleston, South Carolina. Hey, y’all know what this thing here is. If it’s your first time listening to this show, you saw a man ran for a treat because our mission here is very simple. That is to empower our community through financial literacy and real estate education, guys. We are legacy building. I always tell you to put that thing, a hashtag on that thing, let people know what you’re really, really, really, really doing, which is you’re making a change, not just for today, but for generations yet to come. And we’re super stoked and super excited, guys. Always got to give a shout out to our faithful listeners, Pastor Vanderbilt Evans Sr. If I don’t put that senior on that thing, y’all know that dude will snatch me up. Look here, y’all guys rock. So, there’s so, so many. Y’all know where I holla at. Hollywood, all the way out to Monkey’s Corner. And I always got to give a shout out to my hometown, Mullins, Marion County. Look, thank you guys for tuning in. We really appreciate it. And most importantly, we love you. So, look, today, scaling capital and community wealth through data-driven investor strategies, guys. Raising capital. Look here, we’re talking about that money. That money, money, money. Raising capital isn’t just about guys having a good deal. It’s about reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time. With over 900, 900, that’s a lot of people, clients, guys. And over 500 funding campaigns under his belt. Our guest today is like the man in this space. Jason Fishman reveals how data-driven marketing, community-based funding models and investor, because we’re talking about investors and raising money, guys. Trust can transform real estate projects into long-term legacy building ventures. So, Jason, look, he ain’t no stranger to none of this. He is the CEO. And y’all know every time I say CEO, I’m talking about the boss of DNA Investor Marketing in Los Angeles. He specializes in data-driven growth strategies, has steered, again, over 900 clients and over 500 fundraising campaigns, is an expert in regulations, CF, A&D, crowdfunding, and digital commerce, helping raise non-figure capital, guys. That’s a lot of money. He’s known for traffic algorithms that scale brands and investor outreach. He’s an industry speaker and respected thought leader in this space with over 65,000 YouTube subscribers. So look, he’s the guy that I’m chasing. Passionate about breaking down complex growth tactics. So I want you guys to pay attention to this conversation today. It is meaningful. Most importantly, it’s going to be impactful. Get your hands right and let’s start clapping right now and welcome Mr. Jason Fishman to our show. Jason, how are you doing this morning?
JASON:
Doing great. Doing great. Excited to be here on the Exit Strategies Radio Show.
CORWYN:
Well, look here, I greatly appreciate it. Now look here, you got a long resume, man. So look, we’re going to jump right into this thing. I done told them people about you, but I need you to tell them who you is. So tell them, who are you? What is it you do?
JASON:
Absolutely. I’m a marketer. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years. Started my own agency after being in the ad tech space and working with a lot of Fortune 500s. Wanted to focus on startup mid-market businesses. Began a growth agency here. Quickly found capital raising as a common theme in the conversations with founders and learned about Regulation D-506C, which allows for solicitation of accredited investors. High net worth, high household income audiences. With my advertising background and data partnerships, I was suddenly able to target investors with ads, bring them to different opportunities, offering online, virtual vertical pitch deck, often with the video. Our first campaign raised over $2.83 million and with a very light ad spend. We were introduced to more issuers from there, companies issuing shares or different types of investment opportunities. Reg CF, Regulation A-plus, those are other exemptions that went into law around 2016, allowing us to also target retail investors and across a whole spectrum of different verticals and industries. So for Reg CF, as of right now, it creates up to $5 million on a Regulation Crowdfund campaign, up to $75 million on a Regulation A-plus campaign. There’s not a cap for Regulation D and you get to set your valuation, your share price. I started getting approached by different types of funds, many in real estate and a variety of asset classes from there. At first Reg D campaigns, you know, 25, 50k minimums, deals up to $500,000 as the minimum entry point for an investor, millions, tens of millions of dollars in many of these rounds. And whether we’re looking at a Reg CF campaign where it’s more of a $1,500 average investment and building a large audience base that’s going to continue to promote what you’re doing or bringing in six-figure, seven-figure investments from accredited investors. There’s still a crowd element. There’s social dynamics at play. I’m going to get into that today. I’m happy to be an open book, but I showcase a lot of the results in my podcast, test by scale. I do a monthly webinar, serve on a bunch of professional boards. I try to be transparent about what we see working and not working in the world of digital marketing to reach investors and effectively bring on capital.
CORWYN:
And one of the things I’m interested to kind of get into, so I guess let me start with this and we can kind of work through, because that is a strategy. Again, what is you guys do? You guys are essentially a mechanism that investors can use to fund their projects. Is that a lay way to say it?
JASON:
We’re on the marketing side, bringing investors to those investors, to those funds, to those founders. Yes, if they’re looking to meet more investors, we can use digital marketing to bring them to them. We’re an agency, we work on behalf of the entity, the company that’s hiring us, of course. There are broker dealers, there are FINRA regulated portals, marketplaces with many of these investment opportunities. There’s some that are real estate specific you could find online, others that have list of different verticals, real estate being one of them in there. And then we market on behalf of that company. It could be a group of investors, a sponsor around a project itself. So we market, we bring the investors in and convert them.
CORWYN:
Let’s take a short break.
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CORWYN:
So crowdfunding is kind of one of the things that I kind of threw out there. One of the things that essentially what you guys in some shape, form or fashion or what you do. So how can crowdfunding bring local investors into property deals and development projects? A matter of fact, let’s not even, obviously it’s hit local, but the opportunity is endless, right?
JASON:
Yes. Well, I like how you bring up local because proximity has a power to it. Okay. If someone calls me about a project in Marina del Rey, where I live, where our office is in Los Angeles, I’m going to pay a lot more attention than if it just says properties across the US or the market I’m not familiar with. And notice I mentioned Marina del Rey. Could have said Los Angeles, could have said Southern California, but Marina del Rey, I may run into these individuals at the market. I could go meeting for coffee, even if we just set up a call, I still feel more connected to them immediately. So I love your question in the sense of, hey, how do I bring on target audiences that have a geo-targeting element to it? And yes, crowdfund, more commonly used around Reg CF, Regulation A+, that terminology. I would also classify Reg D as a crowdfund, an investment crowdfund. But looking at a crowd sale, you want to bring investors to the deal from your first degree network first and inspire them to share. So it gets into second degree network, referral traffic, referral introductions, so that you have some validation, something to point to. Hey, we’ve raised 100K of a million, we’ve raised 500K of 5 million, 200, what have you. You can then start introducing traffic from advertising, from outreach, and digital allows you to be very focused. We can do zip code targeting with advertising and reach people in a specific area. We could AB test that and have variance and contrast the performance, the results from audiences, just playing off my example from earlier, that are in Marina Del Rey audiences that are in Los Angeles, maybe excluding Marina Del Rey audiences that are in Southern California, or are following specific pages online, they’re visiting specific sites, they’re reading articles around content with keywords that we’re targeting with contextual targeting. So we can absolutely be laser focused with advertising, can do something similar with outreach. I love LinkedIn for outreach. You can search by city, search by town, larger, greater, DMA areas at that, can be doing outreach and can even change up your messaging, change up your advertising, creative accordingly. So something that you said, one, here’s what I heard.
CORWYN:
I heard hyperlocal. So let’s start hyperlocal, not LA, but Marina Del Rey. So that way you like honed into almost like a smaller community, if you will. So hyperlocal. And then also what I heard you say is like start and then kind of circle out. So it circles out. So you got this first ring, which is your internal and so forth and so on. But you touched this, but I want to go a little bit further because by doing it that way, when you talked about recognition, you talk about the potential of, hey, I may bump into whoever it is with this local, but what does that do for credibility? In the eyes of people that may be looking to invest, what does that do for credibility?
JASON:
Sure. People don’t believe what they see online. Social proof, third party validation are best practices for any digital marketing campaign. We see the same thing with offline fundraising. Of course, you’ll have some investors who are on the fence. They haven’t closed yet. And then you’ll have a major investor, someone who’s very well known, come in and start seeing more checks come in right and left. Same with digital. For these types of offerings online, there’s typically a total raise amount and volume of investors that’s showcased on the offering page. And it speaks loudly to a cold audience, someone who doesn’t have a direct relationship with the team, with the project company, what have you. So it absolutely checks a box and serves as a validator. It makes it seem more exciting, more trustworthy. If an amount of funds have already been raised, if there’s already a strong number of investors involved, given the type of filing. And then it gets into the world of third party mentions. So logos on a landing page, offering page. As an audience member, you could scroll down and may not remember what those logos are, but those could be strategic partners, publishers, local news stations, websites, blogs, social pages. You can have testimonials from lead investors. Hey, here’s exactly why I got involved with the project. Audience can project themselves there. And the more times we hear the same information from the same sources, the more we believe it. And if that’s shown on the page or if a prospective investor searching around doing their due diligence, and this is what they’re finding is articles, podcast appearances, conference appearances across the board. Everything seems more trustworthy. It could even create a bit of fear of missing out if you get involved. If it closes before I can get involved, that’s a loss.
CORWYN:
That’s huge. That’s huge. So obviously you’ve done this a lot. Over 500 campaigns. 500. Yeah, that’s a lot, man. And as much capital as you’ve raised in doing this, give us some of the lessons learned. And real estate, you know, obviously is part, a good focus on what it is that we do. But give me some insights on that.
JASON:
Absolutely. So digital, measuring the amount of traffic. You’re anticipating an average conversion rate. And if there’s not enough people getting to that offering page, your campaign is crossing its fingers for some large investor to find you out of nowhere. By the advertising, that’s why the outreach has been so impactful for us and the campaigns that we run. As an example, Reg D campaign, accredited investor. You’re going to need to drive a lot of traffic to a landing page to get information to contact those individuals. Phone number, email. You may have a few questions. Drop down menus they’re selecting from. If we’re running advertising, we know roughly every dollar, $2 we spend on most channels is a visit to that landing page. We may still have to spend $50 on average to get a lead. Maybe some channels, it’s $5, $15 based on what we’re spending and what equates to the lead. And this is round numbers and maybe $16 and 32 cents. But if we then have channels where it’s $50 to $100 per lead averages into $50 and then we look at the closing rate of those leads. Maybe one out of 50 closes. That accounts for people not showing up for calls. We need to be accredited. So high net worth or household income. We go to the specific numbers, of course, to actually invest and you have to do a KYC process and know your client to ensure that they’re accredited. So maybe some of the investors think they’re accredited, but they’re not. At least they don’t have the right information to justify that. Maybe some investors say they’re going to get back to you. They don’t. Some say no. Whatever it looks like. We’ve all been in a sales conversation before. If one out of 50 comes through and it’s a $2,500 acquisition cost, $100,000 or more is your average investment. OK. Your AOV, your average order value as a digital marketer would say. That’s a 40x return or higher. I would tell you if your minimum’s $25k, $50k, you’re probably looking at $125k or more. If $100k is your minimum investment, probably $260k or more as your average investment. The amount of people coming in at that benchmark, at that minimum level, others coming in at higher amounts. So you need to have enough traffic where even if you’re getting a standard conversion rate, even on the retail campaigns, the investment takes place on the offering page and you may not ever speak to the individual offline. That is great. That means 98% of the people who get there won’t be moving forward. And even the 2% that do, it may require multiple touch points, a lot of follow-ups, a lot of content going out to them to actually see them convert as an investor. So you want to have enough traffic coming through, reasonable projections, not just testing a few channels or reaching out to a few people. Hey, my deal’s live online. It’s the internet. Someone’s going to find me. You want to be able to say, hey, we’re going to get 50,000 visits from these traffic sources. We’re going to get 100,000 from those, 10,000 from those. Based on that, we’re going to get 1,000 leads if we’re able to convert 20 of them and they come in at $100,000 each, $200,000 each. It’s 200 and 4 million off of that. You really want to be able to put together those type of algorithmic roadmaps to how you’re going to be able to hit those goals.
CORWYN:
So what I heard and what stood out to me, Jason, and it’s funny because ultimately we speak the same language, right? There’s a cost per lead. Then based upon what your conversion is, then I forgot the term that you put in there, OV, whatever it is.
JASON:
Average investment, average order value.
CORWYN:
Yeah. Average order value. That’s what it is, AOV. So we speak the same language in that because I was impressed by your average cost per lead, but I’m definitely way overpriced, way over impressed with your AOV. So love that. I love that. So you guys really focus on like algorithms and all that stuff to kind of funnel investors in and things of that nature. What does that look like? What, like who is, obviously accredited investors are included in this. How do you dial this in to get it to do what it is that you get it to do?
JASON:
Yeah. Great question. There’s different advertising channels. Meta, Facebook, Instagram. Sometimes I hear misconceptions like, oh, investors aren’t on Facebook.
CORWYN:
I was going to ask that.
JASON:
Join daily active users. Who you’re looking to reach is absolutely on Meta. Not, you know, 100% of that audience persona, but definitely some of them. There’s Google. You can have search ad placements. You can have display banners, a whole ecosystem of places to buy display banner ads. You can purchase them on major media websites and apps, mid-tier sites, lower tier sites. A lot of times boring sites will have the best performance. Think like a weather.com. You know, hey, I want to sell an investment. You’re not calling weather.com. But on an advertising exchange, you could put together a site list. Hundreds, maybe thousands of sites. And you want to chiffle some of these big box sites, top tier sites. And they don’t always sound exciting, but it’s all a matter of who you’re reaching. Almost less where you’re reaching them. But you could absolutely have in there various types of real estate sites. Even real estate marketplaces have lots of ad placements on them. Investment sites, financial management sites. You can do what I mentioned earlier of contextual targeting. So you put in a keyword. Let’s say you’re saying real estate IRR. And now you’re running ads with articles that have real estate IRR featured in there and banners alongside it. Web, mobile, mobile app and have ads running inside apps. So you can do display. You can do similar types of sites, publishers for video ads and sponsored content. Those articles they say sponsored next to it and pay maybe something like that or as a thumbnail headline. Those are cost per click. So you’re bidding 15 cents, $1.50, somewhere in between per click. Video and you determine, hey, which ads am I going to use to prospect to meet people for the first time? And then which ads am I going to use to retarget? And those are the ads that feel like they’re following you around, but you keep seeing them everywhere. You could actually be far more aggressive with the advertising follow-ups than you could with email or direct messaging where they can see an ad for you every day. When clients, when we speak to investors and ask, hey, where did you learn about this opportunity? They’ll say somewhere online. I just, I kept seeing you guys. It’s usually not an advertisement or I saw a banner and it’s part of their phone time or screen time. They just remember seeing you online, but you look at the different channels. Then within the channels, you want to set up campaigns that balance out traffic and retargeting initiatives, what you’re optimizing towards for each one of those campaigns. And then you look at the audiences, the creatives and the funnels, who you’re targeting, what you’re targeting them with, the visuals, the messaging and the funnels. It’s a digital term where picture a funnel, you’re taking audiences from the top awareness, consideration, intent. Even those who intend to invest, there’s going to be a drop-off. Only percentage of them actually move through to conversion. Depending on the type of campaign we’re running, the retail ones, it’s often repeat conversion that we’re playing for. And at the bottom is advocacy, peer-to-peer marketing. How could you get an investor to tell their brother, co-worker, you should probably take a look at this, that that is the ultimate form of marketing. So you can take audiences down different funnels and you can vary and test and run for 10 different audiences, previews, even funnels, probably less of the funnels, maybe two to five, four to 10 on the others. And then you’re looking for pockets of performance. You’re looking to say, hey, getting a good cost per lead on audience two, creative three, down the primary funnel. I’m going to spend more on the advertising and buy more traffic, even just reallocating from other audiences, other segments to that performing ad set. And essentially you want to be able to look at the cost per lead, cost per acquisition, the retail campaigns, we’re measuring the investment and see, hey, it’s costing us a hundred dollars. It costs us $200 to get an investor. Maybe the average investment, average order value is a thousand, $2,000. We’re going to 5X, 10X return on ads. It’s somewhat systematic to buy more traffic, to reach more investors. These laws were created to democratize access to capital for companies that we’re raising. It’s no longer limited just to who you know or who your family knows. You can solicit, you can market, you can reach out and advertise to all different types of investors. On the investor side, it gives you access to growth stage deals. It’s no longer limited to the deal flow from your network. You no longer have to be a member of a certain country club or social circle or went to a certain school or a fraternity, sorority. You can seek out these deals on these marketplaces. You’ll likely be advertised, messaged about, advertised to, messaged about these types of deals. I believe this is going to be the primary approach towards capital formation in years to come. I’d say we live online today, but more and more and more of our life is going to be online years down the line here.
CORWYN:
So Jason, this is a great time because we’re quickly getting to the end of today’s show, but tell people where they can reach you. Because you’re dropping a wealth of knowledge on our listeners. Where can people reach you? Where can they find you, find DNA? Where can they get you?
JASON:
Sure, I’m accessible on LinkedIn, Jason Fishman, Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles, DNA. You’ll find me. You can go to our website, digitalnicheagency.com. You can go to our YouTube channel. I believe it’s youtube.com/digitalnicheagency. Have my podcast playlist on there, my webinar playlist, guest appearances, a lot of educational information and can reach out to us through any social channel for that matter. But always welcome a warm marketing conversation and can share exactly how we’re bringing investors today. Awesome, awesome.
CORWYN:
So, Jason, I want to take you, I want to thank you for taking time out to be on the show with us today. I got some takeaways. So, for our listeners, look, y’all stay, y’all hold tight one second, I’m about to give it to you. But Jason, again, thank you for taking so much time and being with us here today and dropping these jewels and nuggets on our listeners. Now for our listeners, hey, look, let’s get it. Raising capital, look here, raising capital, get that money up, isn’t just about asking for money. You’re an investor, looking to do invest, looking to do larger projects. You want to scale, you want to bring money in. It’s about showing investors a clear path, a trustworthy vision and a project they can believe in. People give from their heart. Now, Jason, my takeaway from what you said today is growth becomes predictable. I love it. Predictable when you combine data, credibility and consistent communication. That’s how real estate professionals, real estate investors can create lasting wealth and community legacy. So Jason, again, I want to thank you one more time for being on the show with us today. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. It was an honor. Thanks for having me on. Awesome. For our listeners, guys, look, hey, y’all got some amazing information. Don’t just sit on a plot, reach out to Jason. Let’s get in contact with your DNA and do something. How about that? So look here, y’all know how I feel. Y’all know what I say and you know how we always put those two things together and we give it to you this way, which is to tell you that And we’re going to see you guys out there in those streets.
