Episode 185
Why Authenticity Will Be Your Edge in 2025: Embracing the Human-Centric Approach
In Episode 185 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy explores why authenticity will be a critical business advantage in 2025, as companies increasingly shift toward a human-centric approach. As AI becomes more integrated into everyday operations, genuine human connection and authenticity are emerging as standout qualities that businesses can use to build trust and loyalty. Kelly shares his own experiences of incorporating authentic content on social media, discussing how stepping away from AI-generated posts and embracing his own voice led to stronger engagement and meaningful connections.
Kelly dives into the importance of showing up as your true self—flaws, imperfections, and all—and explains why this shift to a more human-focused business model will drive success in the coming years. He emphasizes that in a world filled with polished AI content, real, relatable interactions foster trust and set businesses apart. This episode encourages listeners to reconsider their approach to communication and challenges them to build deeper connections by prioritizing honesty, transparency, and personal touch in their interactions.
Key Takeaways:
1. Embracing authenticity will be key to standing out in 2025 as more businesses rely on AI-generated content.
2. Human-centric communication creates trust, which AI-driven messages often lack.
3. Write posts and create videos without AI to enhance engagement with genuine, personal content.
4. Show up authentically; audiences connect more deeply with real, relatable stories over perfection.
5. Use video to strengthen human connections, even if it feels intimidating at first.
6. Embrace vulnerability; sharing challenges and flaws builds rapport and relatability.
7. Focus on creating content that genuinely addresses your audience’s needs, goals, and challenges.
8. Prioritize value over promotion; helpful insights keep people engaged long-term.
9. Maintain a conversational tone; audiences are more receptive to friendly, approachable messages.
10. Encourage two-way communication; respond thoughtfully to comments and foster active engagement.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Welcome to episode 185 of the Business Development Podcast.
Kelly Kennedy: lf will help you stand out in: Kelly Kennedy:Stick with us.
Kelly Kennedy:You are not going to want to miss this episode.
Mark Cuban:The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.
Mark Cuban:Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed in any one deal.
Mark Cuban:And we couldn't agree more.
Mark Cuban:This is the Business Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.
Mark Cuban:You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps.
Mark Cuban:You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development Capital BD ca.
Mark Cuban:Let's do it.
Mark Cuban:Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.
Mark Cuban:And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:Hello.
Kelly Kennedy:Welcome to episode 185 of the Business Development Podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:My gosh, 185 episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:It blows my mind.
Kelly Kennedy:It won't be long now until we be crossing our 200th episode, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:And let me just say it is an absolute honor to be here.
Kelly Kennedy:It is my pleasure to show up week over week, month over month and nearly year over year doing this show with you.
Kelly Kennedy:For you, it is a pleasure, it is an honor, and I just want to thank each and every one of you for supporting this show, for helping me to stay motivated to keep coming back week over week to do this.
Kelly Kennedy:Never saw this coming, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Talked about it on the show plenty of times.
Kelly Kennedy:Never saw podcasting to be, you know, an avenue that I would explore as just a lowly business development rep.
Kelly Kennedy:But yeah, it's come a long way as we approach 200 episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:I think we've done a lot of good in this world and I hope that we can continue to educate and inspire for many, many, many more episodes.
Kelly Kennedy:Today I want to chat all about the human centric approach and how we have to go back to leap forward.
Kelly Kennedy:I am absolutely pumped about this episode, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:It's been one that I've wanted to do for a while, really.
Kelly Kennedy:We've talked about it on the show a lot, about how we need to be more human, how we need to bring humanity back into this, how authenticity is the way forward.
Kelly Kennedy:And we are absolutely going to chat about that today and how authenticity and being human can be the secret to standing out here in 25 and beyond.
Kelly Kennedy:But before we do, I want to do a show update, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:We are sitting at 223,000 downloads, we have 2,957 followers on Apple podcasts and Spotify, and that is growing all the time.
Kelly Kennedy:Appreciate it, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:We are at 21 months, 21 months of the business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:We are three months away right now from our two year anniversary of the show.
Kelly Kennedy:I can't even believe it.
Kelly Kennedy:I really can.
Kelly Kennedy:It's hard to believe.
Kelly Kennedy:We have come a long way in those two years and man, it's been a, it's been a ride.
Kelly Kennedy:For those of you who are new to the show, we try to do a community questions episode once per month.
Kelly Kennedy:This is my ability to connect with you, my incredible rock stars out there, my amazing BDP audience, where we can hopefully do one on one coaching sessions essentially with our audience.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys all have incredible, amazing questions.
Kelly Kennedy:The funny thing is I get a lot of people who are reluctant to send questions and they say, well, you know, I don't want to seem stupid or I don't want to.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't want to feel like it's a silly question.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, the answer to this is there are no silly questions.
Kelly Kennedy:If you have a question regarding podcasting, business development, or business in general, the odds are that there are thousands of people just like you out there with that very same question.
Kelly Kennedy:There are no stupid questions.
Kelly Kennedy:We are first name only unless you give me permission to use your full name.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't want to put anybody on the spot, I don't want to highlight anybody unless you are prepared to be highlighted.
Kelly Kennedy:And so if you send me a community question, understand, I will keep you first name only, Anonymous, unless you give me permission to use your full name and tag you.
Kelly Kennedy:I will do so if you give me permission to do so.
Kelly Kennedy:Otherwise, feel free to submit whatever question you want and it will come through essentially anonymous, so you don't have to feel like I'm, I'm standing you out in a crowd.
Kelly Kennedy:We are currently still taking questions, guys, for our November Community Questions episode, you can submit those to podcast@CapitalBD CA, that is podcastapitalBD CA.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, if you enjoy this episode, I'm excited about this one.
Kelly Kennedy:Every once in a while an episode comes up and I'm really excited to have that conversation and this is definitely one of them.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you enjoy this episode, please do share it with a friend, family member, colleague.
Kelly Kennedy:There are a lot of people out there, guys, who would benefit from this show.
Kelly Kennedy:So feel free to spread this thing, word of mouth.
Kelly Kennedy:That is really how podcasts grow.
Kelly Kennedy:They grow the best through referrals and word of mouth.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I sure appreciate it when you guys do that.
Kelly Kennedy:For the business Development podcast, and for those of you once again, who are new to the show, please do follow us on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:Business Development Podcast has its own LinkedIn page.
Kelly Kennedy:I, Kelly Kennedy, have my own LinkedIn page.
Kelly Kennedy:We, we definitely keep most of the stuff going on around the show up to date on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:And so if you're looking for kind of the latest news on the business development podcast, who our upcoming guests are, things like that, you can absolutely, absolutely find it on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:Join the Conversation there, and I very much look forward to seeing you.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, let's just get into it, guys.
Kelly Kennedy: If: Kelly Kennedy:Guys.
Kelly Kennedy:We've been seeing the trend bending back towards authenticity and humans for a while.
Kelly Kennedy:It's funny, when I got into the show, I didn't really know much about AI.
Kelly Kennedy:I was really introduced to ChatGPT and AI at the start of this show.
Kelly Kennedy:I hadn't even used it.
Kelly Kennedy:When the very first episode of the business Development podcast came out, I had not even used ChatGPT yet.
Kelly Kennedy:That's how, like, that's how, like, new this has been.
Kelly Kennedy:But it's funny how it's just, like, crept into everything from show production to editing to social posts, AI is in absolutely everything.
Kelly Kennedy:And it's funny because it's like on a certain level, we've gone so far into that AI world that as humans, we're really, like, craving genuine, authentic human connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Genuine, authentic human posts.
Kelly Kennedy:And so the idea for this episode really came from just a realization in myself that I was missing genuine, authentic human connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Right.
Kelly Kennedy:You know, I almost hate to admit it, but the reality is, in almost every single social post that I have made nearly since the beginning of this show, AI has played some sort of role.
Kelly Kennedy:It started out very small, and now it's kind of gone to a point where it's very substantial.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I actually made some posts last week on LinkedIn and I intentionally wrote them myself and I said it in it.
Kelly Kennedy:This post was written by Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:Look, mom, no hands.
Kelly Kennedy:I was genuinely just trying to see.
Kelly Kennedy:My gosh, can I still write a post?
Kelly Kennedy:Can I still communicate myself without the help of AI?
Kelly Kennedy:Because, like, don't get me wrong, AI is incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:Communicating using AI is incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:But you can tell, like, it just doesn't feel authentic.
Kelly Kennedy:It's almost Too perfect.
Kelly Kennedy:It almost does too good of a job.
Kelly Kennedy:And there's a certain level of, there's a certain something that I feel I've lost in my ability to communicate.
Kelly Kennedy:Like Kelly, like Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I made a post last week and I just said, hey, look ma, no hands.
Kelly Kennedy:This is Kelly Kennedy actually writing this post.
Kelly Kennedy:There's no AI in this post.
Kelly Kennedy:I included a picture.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, that post blew up.
Kelly Kennedy:That post was like probably my highest engagement post all year thus far.
Kelly Kennedy:And then I did one similarly after it and same thing.
Kelly Kennedy:We are craving, genuinely craving human, real human connection, real human interaction.
Kelly Kennedy:We are, I believe we are getting AI out.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm not saying that AI isn't incredible.
Kelly Kennedy:It absolutely is.
Kelly Kennedy:I still use AI on a daily basis.
Kelly Kennedy:I use it for research.
Kelly Kennedy:I use it to ask questions back and forth.
Kelly Kennedy:I use it for literally googling.
Kelly Kennedy:Basically.
Kelly Kennedy:We use it for a lot of stuff now.
Kelly Kennedy: e need to focus back in on in: Kelly Kennedy:And so today I just wanted to chat about the human centric approach.
Kelly Kennedy: ore human centric approach in: Kelly Kennedy:And not just stand out a little, stand out by leaps and bounds.
Kelly Kennedy:But before we do that, some of you are asking, what the heck, Kelly is the human centric approach?
Kelly Kennedy:Human centric is a philosophy and approach that puts human needs, values and experiences at the forefront of decision making, design and development.
Kelly Kennedy:It's about creating systems, products, services and solutions that prioritize and respect the well being, emotions and goals of people who interact with them.
Kelly Kennedy:Rather than focusing solely on profits, efficiency or technological advancement.
Kelly Kennedy:Human centric approach asks how does this benefit or impact people?
Kelly Kennedy:In other words, in a world of AI and robots, we want to be treated like humans.
Kelly Kennedy:Yeah, guys, I talked about this earlier.
Kelly Kennedy:You know, last week I just, I did, I did a wall with regards to my AI post and I just said my gosh, like there's gotta be, there's gotta be a better way to interact with people.
Kelly Kennedy:And yeah, kid you not.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, I did two things last week that I've not done since literally the introduction of AI.
Kelly Kennedy:One, I wrote a couple of LinkedIn posts completely on my own, by hand, mistakes and all, Kelly and all.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, I am not an English major.
Kelly Kennedy:I did not, I did not go to university for writing or anything like that.
Kelly Kennedy:I am a business development specialist.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, half the time I'm probably lucky if I can type out a sentence properly.
Kelly Kennedy:But I did it.
Kelly Kennedy:I did it, I wrote it.
Kelly Kennedy:It probably has spelling mistakes, it probably has grammar mistakes, but it was written by me, completely, from my heart, from my head, from my real hands.
Kelly Kennedy:Like this had zero AI.
Kelly Kennedy:And it sounds crazy.
Kelly Kennedy:It sounds like, why is this the bar?
Kelly Kennedy:Why is this the conversation that I, that I have to have today?
Kelly Kennedy:But we do.
Kelly Kennedy:We're all using and overusing AI to communicate with other people.
Kelly Kennedy:And the funny thing is that we don't really connect well with other people through AI messaging.
Kelly Kennedy:And I think we're realizing this.
Kelly Kennedy:I genuinely think as like, as a community of humans, we're like, holy crap, AI is really cool.
Kelly Kennedy:But we're not really connecting with people when we are doing AI posts.
Kelly Kennedy:Does this mean that I am done using AI and posts?
Kelly Kennedy:No, absolutely not.
Kelly Kennedy:What this means is, is that I am going to take an authentic approach to this.
Kelly Kennedy:I am going to do my darndest to insert myself back into my posts, back into my social, engage engagements as much as humanly possible.
Kelly Kennedy:And yes, I think it would be a great challenge.
Kelly Kennedy:And I'm going to do my best to once a week from now on, at least write one post completely myself, mistakes and all, Kelly, humanity and all.
Kelly Kennedy:And you will be able to tell they're very different posts.
Kelly Kennedy:They are incredibly different than the posts that are coming out from AI.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because we don't write like AI.
Kelly Kennedy:That's the funny thing.
Kelly Kennedy:Humans don't write like AI.
Kelly Kennedy:You can spot AI posts a thousand miles away and you can spot a genuine human post a thousand miles away.
Kelly Kennedy:And guess what?
Kelly Kennedy:You connect better with genuine, authentic human posts.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, I did something else last week that I have historically shied away from completely.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:One, because I'm afraid of video.
Kelly Kennedy:Two, because I get performance anxiety.
Kelly Kennedy:And guys, I've tried to avoid video since the beginning of this show.
Kelly Kennedy:I think it's pretty bloody obvious I have an audio specific show.
Kelly Kennedy:On the one hand, I don't think that that's a bad thing.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because I think most people listening to this show are busy executives, entrepreneurs, people doing lots of stuff who don't necessarily spend a lot of time watching video.
Kelly Kennedy:I think a lot of people listen to the business development podcast when they're driving in their car, when they're doing data entry, when they're doing something else, yard work, you name it, we listen to this show.
Kelly Kennedy:I genuinely believe that that is my audience.
Kelly Kennedy:So for me, I haven't felt like it's been a Huge loss that I haven't gone deep into video.
Kelly Kennedy:However.
Kelly Kennedy:However, understand that there's an underlying thing to this that is Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:And it is genuinely.
Kelly Kennedy:And you know, like, yeah, I'm a little bit embarrassed, sure.
Kelly Kennedy:I'm a little bit embarrassed to say this video has scared me.
Kelly Kennedy:Being that real, being right there to have that conversation and that connection has been a scary thing for me.
Kelly Kennedy:Obviously, we've done clips for a long time, but clips still feel disconnected.
Kelly Kennedy:Clips still feel like I'm having a conversation with another person.
Kelly Kennedy:You're kind of having that back and forth.
Kelly Kennedy:It doesn't feel as vulnerable.
Kelly Kennedy:Doing a genuine video speaking to you, my rock stars, or my audience on LinkedIn or whoever else I'm speaking to has genuinely felt like a pretty scary endeavor.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because I don't want to look stupid.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't want to look dumb.
Kelly Kennedy:I get it.
Kelly Kennedy:I get the same fears as any one of you.
Kelly Kennedy:The other hand is, you know, I didn't have the skills to do video.
Kelly Kennedy:Video was never a skill set that I learned.
Kelly Kennedy:And so.
Kelly Kennedy:So I'm going down an endeavor with video now where I'm having to learn all the skills again.
Kelly Kennedy:And yeah, that is scary.
Kelly Kennedy:That is vulnerable.
Kelly Kennedy:I have performance anxiety.
Kelly Kennedy:I have stage fright.
Kelly Kennedy:Believe me.
Kelly Kennedy:These are things that are like, oh, my gosh.
Kelly Kennedy:However, it is the next evolution for me, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:It is that fear that I need to face in this moment.
Kelly Kennedy:And I recognize that it has been the fear that has been holding me back the most in this journey, in this journey of not just the business development podcast, but my journey as a business development specialist, as Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:It has held me back.
Kelly Kennedy:My fear of video has held me back.
Kelly Kennedy:And so I went to the store last week, guys, and I bought a really fancy DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera and I recorded my very first video speaking to you, my rock stars, my audience.
Kelly Kennedy:And I just put it out there.
Kelly Kennedy:I really did.
Kelly Kennedy:It was just me and Jet and I put that video out there and it's the first of many guys and I said that.
Kelly Kennedy:And that video got a whole bunch of engagement, too.
Kelly Kennedy:And I also hand wrote the caption and post that went along with that video.
Kelly Kennedy:If you guys want to see what this is, just hop on over to LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:You'll be able to find it there either under the business development podcast or me, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:But understand, we all have those things that are holding us back.
Kelly Kennedy: and the thing about video in: Kelly Kennedy:I think it genuinely is the way forward.
Kelly Kennedy:It's just if you're like me and you've struggled with it, I can totally understand your fears.
Kelly Kennedy:I can totally understand you.
Kelly Kennedy:You guys listening right now and saying, kelly, I don't want to do video.
Kelly Kennedy:I get it.
Kelly Kennedy:I also didn't want to do video, but I recognize that for me, it has nothing to do with the fact that video is not going to be a great option, because it is.
Kelly Kennedy:It's obvious.
Kelly Kennedy:Video connection is a great option for connecting with your audience.
Kelly Kennedy:We just have to get past our own fears of it.
Kelly Kennedy:Our own fears of inadequacy, our own fears in general.
Kelly Kennedy:They're typically what are holding us back from that genuine, authentic connection that we need to make.
Kelly Kennedy:It's the same reason that we're using AI.
Kelly Kennedy:Could we handwrite it?
Kelly Kennedy:Of course.
Kelly Kennedy:But we feel like, well, if I use AI to do it, I at least know there won't be any mistakes or I can at least hide.
Kelly Kennedy:I have a degree of separation, right?
Kelly Kennedy:We get a degree of separation with AI in the communication.
Kelly Kennedy:We absolutely do.
Kelly Kennedy:But in that degree of separation, we're actually losing a bit of our authenticity.
Kelly Kennedy:We're losing our humanity in that connection, in that dialogue.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, the.
Kelly Kennedy:The video and the handwritten posts, I did those on purpose.
Kelly Kennedy:And it wasn't just to challenge myself.
Kelly Kennedy:It was.
Kelly Kennedy:It was to inspire you guys to do the same.
Kelly Kennedy:It was to literally practice what I preach.
Kelly Kennedy:I know from the beginning of the show, I told you guys I was going to be honest.
Kelly Kennedy:I was going to tell you the truth.
Kelly Kennedy:I was going to be as authentic as I possibly could be on this show.
Kelly Kennedy:And it's very hard to be truly authentic if you are unwilling to communicate authentically.
Kelly Kennedy:Right?
Kelly Kennedy:If you are unwilling to communicate as yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:And so, you know, we're going to get into it today.
Kelly Kennedy:We're going to talk a little bit about the human centric approach.
Kelly Kennedy:But.
Kelly Kennedy:But before I do, I want to challenge each one of you listening this week.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't care when you're finding this.
Kelly Kennedy: ou're finding this episode in: Kelly Kennedy:If you have not communicated authentically without the use of AI, without, you know, without some type of medium separating you from your audience, from your clients, from the people that you want to communicate with.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to genuinely do one of two things this week.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to take an authentic video of yourself talking about Something you're passionate about, talking about, something that you want to have a conversation about or that you want to start a conversation about, that you want to maybe inspire people with or that you want to educate people on.
Kelly Kennedy:Just take a video of yourself and put it out to the world.
Kelly Kennedy:And if that is too much, I want you to type out a post.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to genuinely, fully write your own post, whether that's talking about your business, whether that's talking about yourself, and maybe that's talking about a life challenge or something you've had.
Kelly Kennedy:I want you to genuinely hand write out a post without the help of AI and just watch.
Kelly Kennedy:Just watch.
Kelly Kennedy:Watch the engagement you get.
Kelly Kennedy:Watch the comments you get.
Kelly Kennedy:I think you're going to be surprised.
Kelly Kennedy:People connect with that level of authenticity.
Kelly Kennedy: And I think as we move into: Kelly Kennedy:I genuinely believe that, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:I really do.
Kelly Kennedy: I think as we move into: Kelly Kennedy: he way to stand out, guys, in: Kelly Kennedy:We genuinely have to go back to go forward.
Kelly Kennedy:And, you know, I talked about it, guys.
Kelly Kennedy:Some of, you know, like, I've struggled a lot with video.
Kelly Kennedy:It's not a format that I've used personally or on the podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:I avoided it for as long as I humanly could.
Kelly Kennedy:And yeah, a lot of it is I struggle with perfectionism.
Kelly Kennedy:You know, I've talked about on the show a lot.
Kelly Kennedy:I win at a lot of things I take on.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because I hate losing.
Kelly Kennedy:Like, I just.
Kelly Kennedy:I do what it takes.
Kelly Kennedy:And part of that has really led me to be a bit of a perfectionist with things.
Kelly Kennedy:Although I've gotten better at it.
Kelly Kennedy:I've gotten better at just putting things out there in the world and realizing that most of the time it just works out for the best.
Kelly Kennedy:But I think video has shown flaws, for instance, that I just have been reluctant to show to the world.
Kelly Kennedy:It really kind of pulls out that performance anxiety and stage fright.
Kelly Kennedy:So I want you guys to understand.
Kelly Kennedy:I get nervous too.
Kelly Kennedy:The idea of video freaks me out.
Kelly Kennedy:However, I cannot, I can no longer let that fear hold me back.
Kelly Kennedy:Because guess what, guys?
Kelly Kennedy:Fear Is funny.
Kelly Kennedy:I struggled with these same fears when I started the podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:But when I faced them and I learned audio editing and I put myself out there and I released these shows, guys, I told you, episode three was nearly the end of the business development podcast.
Kelly Kennedy:I was literally that afraid.
Kelly Kennedy:Episode three was nearly the end.
Kelly Kennedy:It could have been the end of the show.
Kelly Kennedy:But, guys, I faced my fears.
Kelly Kennedy:I put it out there.
Kelly Kennedy:And we are now at 185 episodes of this recording.
Kelly Kennedy:That could not have happened if I would not have faced my fears.
Kelly Kennedy:And let me tell you what.
Kelly Kennedy:I started out not knowing a thing about audio editing.
Kelly Kennedy:Now I can create incredible audio.
Kelly Kennedy:I can turn horrible audio for the most part, into pretty decent, listenable audio.
Kelly Kennedy:Could I do that in the beginning?
Kelly Kennedy:Absolutely not.
Kelly Kennedy:But over time, I learned the skills.
Kelly Kennedy:And I will learn the skills with videos.
Kelly Kennedy:You will too.
Kelly Kennedy:I will learn to type out great posts.
Kelly Kennedy:You will too.
Kelly Kennedy:You will too.
Kelly Kennedy:This is the thing.
Kelly Kennedy:We just have to do it.
Kelly Kennedy:We just have to take that leap, put ourselves out there, be vulnerable.
Kelly Kennedy:You will be surprised.
Kelly Kennedy:Some of you might be wondering, those posts I talked about, that I did, that I hand wrote out, did they do okay?
Kelly Kennedy:Absolutely.
Kelly Kennedy: that I've put out to date in: Kelly Kennedy:Think about that.
Kelly Kennedy:Think about that.
Kelly Kennedy:The only thing I did differently in this was I didn't use AI to write the post.
Kelly Kennedy:I wrote the post.
Kelly Kennedy:I took a video of myself and put it out there in the world.
Kelly Kennedy:It was authentic.
Kelly Kennedy:It was Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly Kennedy:There was no fake in it.
Kelly Kennedy:Mistakes, flaws and all.
Kelly Kennedy:But guess what?
Kelly Kennedy:But mistakes, flaws and all are not robots, are they?
Kelly Kennedy:It's not AI, is it?
Kelly Kennedy: We can stand out in: Kelly Kennedy:That is the secret.
Kelly Kennedy:That is the secret to standing out.
Kelly Kennedy:Those posts got more likes, more comments.
Kelly Kennedy:They started genuine conversations.
Kelly Kennedy:They created genuine connection.
Kelly Kennedy:It was engagement through human centric approach.
Kelly Kennedy: oing to be the key forward in: Kelly Kennedy: tric approach to stand out in: Kelly Kennedy:One, we have to understand and address the audience needs, okay?
Kelly Kennedy:We have to research what matters most to our audience.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to speak to our audience in a way that they will care about, that matters to them.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to create content that speaks to goals, challenges and values.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, we got to speak to our audience.
Kelly Kennedy:In a way they actually care about.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to provide real value to them.
Kelly Kennedy:We got to give them something they actually want.
Kelly Kennedy:2.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to provide value over promotion.
Kelly Kennedy:We need to focus on sharing helpful insights, solution or inspiration.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, from the beginning with this show, I just wanted to provide value.
Kelly Kennedy:I wanted to educate and inspire the next generation of people who have to develop businesses.
Kelly Kennedy:Why?
Kelly Kennedy:Because that information should be available to people.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't want businesses to needlessly fail.
Kelly Kennedy:I want people to have resources available to them.
Kelly Kennedy:And from the very beginning with this show, I focused on benefiting my audience and building trust.
Kelly Kennedy:I focused on sharing helpful insights, solutions or inspiration.
Kelly Kennedy:And I still aim to do that with every show.
Kelly Kennedy:And by doing that, we are automatically engaging with our audience and providing value that keeps them coming back week over week, month over month, year over year.
Kelly Kennedy:3.
Kelly Kennedy:We have to show authenticity and transparency.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, this is the part we struggle with the most.
Kelly Kennedy:We struggle with it because we get vulnerable.
Kelly Kennedy:We're afraid of what people will think of us.
Kelly Kennedy:But I think you'll be surprised.
Kelly Kennedy:I think you'll be surprised of the support you will find in the community when you start being authentic.
Kelly Kennedy:Authentic and transparent.
Kelly Kennedy:I really do.
Kelly Kennedy:Share real stories.
Kelly Kennedy:Share your successes, share your challenges and share your failures.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, we connect with flaws.
Kelly Kennedy:We are flawed as human beings.
Kelly Kennedy:We are flawed.
Kelly Kennedy:None of us are perfect.
Kelly Kennedy:I don't care if you have a $500 million company.
Kelly Kennedy:You have flaws.
Kelly Kennedy:There are things about you that are not perfect.
Kelly Kennedy:And we as humans can connect with those things.
Kelly Kennedy:What we don't connect with is perfection.
Kelly Kennedy:Which is what's funny.
Kelly Kennedy:The thing we struggle with as humans the most to connect with is perfection.
Kelly Kennedy:Because we are all imperfect in one way or another.
Kelly Kennedy:And so stop trying to hide the flaws.
Kelly Kennedy:Stop trying to hide behind perfection.
Kelly Kennedy:Stop trying to be something that is damn near impossible to be and just be yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:Share yourself.
Kelly Kennedy:Share your challenges.
Kelly Kennedy:Share your flaws.
Kelly Kennedy:You will be surprised about what happens.
Kelly Kennedy:Absolutely.
Kelly Kennedy:You will be surprised.
Kelly Kennedy:Authenticity fosters a strong emotional connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Mark my words.
Kelly Kennedy:Number four, we need to encourage interaction and two way communication.
Kelly Kennedy:Don't leave comments unanswered.
Kelly Kennedy:Like how many of you are putting posts out there and just walking away.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, stop doing that.
Kelly Kennedy:When someone comments, respond back in an authentic, thoughtful, honest way.
Kelly Kennedy:If they give you a paragraph, give them back two paragraphs.
Kelly Kennedy:Start real conversations with these people.
Kelly Kennedy:Genuinely create connection.
Kelly Kennedy:Invite your followers to share their own stories and photos.
Kelly Kennedy:Encourage two way communication.
Kelly Kennedy:Encourage a story to be created.
Kelly Kennedy:Build a community and give your supporters a voice.
Kelly Kennedy:Guys, if you have a platform, if you have a social platform.
Kelly Kennedy:If you have a podcast, give your community someplace where they too can truly participate.
Kelly Kennedy:For us guys, it's on LinkedIn.
Kelly Kennedy:You can find us on LinkedIn, you can find us on Instagram.
Kelly Kennedy:I encourage conversation, I encourage comments.
Kelly Kennedy:And if you leave me a comment, I genuinely will write back to you.
Kelly Kennedy:And it will not be a bot, it will be me, Kelly Kennedy, authentically responding and starting a communication with you.
Kelly Kennedy:Number five Be relatable and use friendly conversational tone.
Kelly Kennedy:Okay, stop trying to be so perfect.
Kelly Kennedy:We're all human.
Kelly Kennedy:You can speak like a human, you can type like a human, you can interact in a relatable, friendly conversational tone.
Kelly Kennedy:Real images, real video, natural conversations.
Kelly Kennedy:Prioritize relatability and accessibility over perfection.
Kelly Kennedy: In: Kelly Kennedy:Prioritize authenticity over the status quo, relationships over ego and human centric approach over AI and let's build a future that we can all be proud of.
Kelly Kennedy:Shout outs this week Billy Martin, Colin Harms, Sean Neals, Deanna Keane, Emily Rushworth, Jason Michad, Tash Jeffries, Tim Lynn, Aaron Haberman, Gary Ridge, Daniel Sonnenberg, Connor Nichols, Steve Austin, Gary Noseworthy, Joshua Singh, Amira Bass, Mira Corle, Brian Hayes, Corey Seller, Marie Soprovich, Melanie Whittingham, Jesse Shuchak, Jory Evans, Jamia Fong, Zel, Jamar Jones, Marcus Chan, David Fair, Jason Chakalakal, Lauren Graff, Mindy K.
Kelly Kennedy:McRae, Broadbent, Vijayan Swami, Nathan, William Silva and Susan Paseka.
Kelly Kennedy:Until next time, this has been the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.
Mark Cuban:This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.
Mark Cuban: business development firm in: Mark Cuban:His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
Mark Cuban:The show is brought to by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.
Mark Cuban:For more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.
Mark Cuban:see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.
