Transcript:

Brad Powell: 0:00

If you’ve ever opened Instagram or TikTok and thought I could never show up like that, this episode is for you, Because here’s the truth most marketing advice ignores you don’t need to act like someone else to become visible. It’s not about being a dancing bear on TikTok.

Brad Powell: 0:19

This is about building trust that actually converts, and in today’s episode, I’m going to show you why being yourself online is a smarter visibility strategy than any of the trend chasing marketing tactics, and why your expertise is more than enough to build trust, especially right now. So welcome to episode number two of the new season of the Standout Business Show. I’m Brad Powell, and if you missed episode number one, I talked about why posting more doesn’t make you more visible. So definitely go back and catch that, because it sets the foundation for everything we’re covering next. All right, so let’s get started. I want to get one thing straight next. All right, so let’s get started. I want to get one thing straight you are not the problem, but the content marketing playbook being pushed at you. That is another story.

Brad Powell: 1:14

Most of what’s being taught was built for content creators, not expert entrepreneurs like you.

Brad Powell: 1:18

We’ve ended up in a bizarro world where trust the thing that really drives sales is being traded in for attention.

Brad Powell: 1:26

You’re told to perform, to post every day, to chase trends, to entertain, but you’re not a performer, you’re the expert, you’re the authority, and you’ve already built trust offline. Now you just need a visibility system that lets your trust scale. So there’s some shifts that needs to happen from the old school, more traditional way of marketing to the new way, what I’m going to call the new school, and I’m going to mention four of these shifts. So number one is we need to move from this idea of let’s be everywhere to be unmistakable where it counts. And number two is a shift from this idea that polish equals authority to presence equals authority, and so showing up as a human being, as an actual person. That is what’s going to grow you more than all the professional polish that makes you look less human. Here’s a good example of this, a short video by Kathleen Booth, who is the senior vice president of Pavilion and she’s talking about how to show up as a human in our increasingly AI-driven world.

Kathleen Booth: 2:48

Do you want to know the best way to make sure your audience doesn’t think your LinkedIn post is AI-generated? Make a video. There has been so much talk on LinkedIn lately trying to sniff out whether posts are created by AI people looking for em dashes or overuse of emojis. Side note, I do both of those things all the time when I’m writing posts myself. Stop playing detective and stop worrying about whether posts are AI generated and start really just trying to connect with your audience. In this case, the best way to do that is to make a video and show who you are. Show yourself, share your unique insights and your point of view and who you are, and that’s how you’re going to connect with people. That’s how you’re going to make a point and that’s how everyone is going to know that the content you’re creating is you and not artificial intelligence.

Brad Powell: 3:32

I want to point out in Kathleen’s video that that was very impromptu. She was obviously doing it at a time when there were a lot of other people around you can hear background noise going on and she just decided I’ve got something to say, and so I’m going to say it right now, while I’m thinking about it. And this actually leads into shift number three, which is that, instead of talking more, you want to say what matters. And the fourth and final one that I want to mention is that, instead of creating more, you move into capturing the right moments. And here’s another example I want to share this one by Chris Savage and Brendan Schwartz, which are the two co-founders at Wistia, and they are capturing a moment when they’re actually on a retreat for all their 190 employees.

Chris Savage: 4:22

So it’s been 19 years to the day since we started Wistia. We have the whole company here, most of the company here in Colorado, for our annual offsite. It’s pretty incredible we’re at you can probably tell we’re at Red Rocks. It always is really striking to me. You know we see groups of people in person, but to have everybody together is so energizing and joyful, like look at this, what the hell is going on over here? That’s great. That’s the people team creating some kind of experience for each other. I think a lot about the fact that there’s 190 people in the company and it’s once a year that we get to see everybody. You get used to seeing the numbers and the numbers can get big and it’s just like a reminder for me of like there’s real humans behind all of this doing their jobs, caring, building things. I find it like very humbling and really awesome.

Brad Powell: 5:11

So why does this matter so much? If you’ve been doing content in the old school way, you’re leaving money on the table every time a dream client scrolls past because they didn’t feel a connection with the real you and clients can feel the difference between trying to perform and showing up in your zone of genius. So here’s my take you don’t need a script In fact, I don’t let my clients use a script, that’s not allowed. You don’t need to go viral, you just need to be real. Trust is built when you share what you actually believe in, not what you think is going to perform well, and you’ll build more trust when you show up like you do when you’re in the room with your clients, which is calm and clear and confident.

Brad Powell: 6:00

So here’s the mic drop truth. You are the single most valuable marketing asset for your company and the most effective branding is being known for something real, something human, not just something that is popular. I want to share two real world examples of experts that I’ve met who’ve leaned into being themselves and have seen great results. The first example is from Marina Krivonosova, and I interviewed her back on episode number 152, if you want to go back and check out the whole thing. So in this short video she’s talking about using your personality and the personal connection when you are doing any kind of content marketing or interactive networking on LinkedIn.

Marina Krivanossova: 6:47

You’ve probably gone to some kind of networking dinner where you’re trying to, you know, schmooze a potential partner company. Where you’re trying to prove to a potential partner company like, hey, look, we’re really great, we’re awesome to work with, you should work with us. And odds are you’re not just sitting there at that dinner for three hours being like look at our forklift pictures, look at our forklift videos. That’s probably not what you’re doing. You’re probably asking oh, hey, man, how was your trip here? How was the wife doing? How are the kids? You know what I mean.

Marina Krivanossova: 7:17

You’re probably having those more intimate conversations. You’re probably connecting on the basis of did you watch the game last night? Oh, wow, you know, your outfit’s awesome, I really like your outfit. Where’d you get it? You’re having those human conversations and, at the end of the day, yes, it matters what you do for business, it matters how good your product offering is. The stats matter, the facts matter, but those personal relationships are going to play a huge role in whether or not those potential partners turn into real, concrete contract signed partners. And I look at B2B networking on LinkedIn and B2B content creation in the exact same way. You have this opportunity to stand out without even needing to be at those networking dinners. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, or from the comfort of Tahiti, or from the comfort of, you know, your local cafe, really anywhere you want, if you take advantage of using personality in your content on LinkedIn and just online in general.

Brad Powell: 8:14

The second example I’ll share is with Rob Gilbert, who I interviewed back in episode number 112. He’s someone who’s a great example of completely being himself online. He’s always sharing his quirkiness and his idiosyncrasies, and his personality is always coming across in a really strong and positive way.

Robb Gilbear: 8:35

We go on LinkedIn and search for life coach over a million hits. Same thing for mindset coaches. Same thing for leadership coach. What is going to help you stand out and what’s going to help you connect with people that you actually want to serve, that you’re excited spending time with that. When you see them in your calendar, like, yeah, I can’t wait to chat with this person. There are people who connect with you your quirks, your sense of humor, your perspective on life, your values and that’s how you end up attracting, connecting and working with people who you genuinely enjoy spending time with.

Brad Powell: 9:02

So now, if you’re wondering how to do this and wondering what you should be sharing, I’m going to share my standout moments framework, and there’s just three parts to this. Part number one is say the things that other people are unwilling to say. So what this looks like is you want to take a stand. What do you stand for, do you stand against? You want to bust myths Like what are all the best practices out there that you know aren’t actually working anymore. You want to challenge the industry norms. Where in your industry, in your field, do you go against the grain? And lastly, I’ll say you want to name the monster, the thing that you’re standing against and throwing rocks at and helping your people throw rocks at. So, for example, the monster here on the Standout Business Show is the content machine, and it’s this big problem that we all face of avoiding becoming fuel for the content machine.

Brad Powell: 10:05

Pillar number two is you want to show what others are unwilling to show. So in this case, what you’re doing is you’re building trust through transparency. Experts become trusted faces when they do things like share behind the scenes, when they are showing case studies. You know with real clients and the real results that they’re getting, and they’re revealing experiments that they’re running, what are you learning, what are you testing, what are you refining along the way? All of this is about documenting your expertise, and you want to use video because you want to show, not tell. And that’s really one of the fundamental rules of video Show, don’t tell, all right. So pillar number three is be more human, and be human in all the ways that you show up. So you’re building trust through your presence. So, instead of performing, you’re going to lead through your lived experience and instead of using scripts, you’re going to speak in your real voice and everywhere you can, you want to humanize the process, even share what’s messy or what’s not quite done yet. All of this stuff makes you more relatable and when you become more relatable, you become more trustworthy.

Brad Powell: 11:25

This framework, the Standout Moments framework, is exactly what I help expert entrepreneurs do inside my Mic Drop Moments program. I help capture the clarity and power of how they already show up in real life and bring it to video without overthinking, without over-scripting and without over-sharing. And if you’ve been wondering how to do this for yourself, then I’m going to invite you to schedule a free standout on video call with me. On the call we’ll take a look at where are you currently not very visible online and why? The hidden opportunities in your business, where trust building content is already happening but you’re just not capturing it yet, and the exact strategy that I recommend to turn your expertise into visibility and demand in a way that fits you and your business. So if you’re ready to start showing up in a way that stands out without feeding the content machine, go to standoutcallcom, grab a time and I’ll see you there as we wrap this up.

Brad Powell: 12:31

Here’s my final takeaway for you your expertise is enough. You can stop chasing trends and start sharing your truth. The fastest way to build trust is to show up as yourself, because when you’re aligned with your values and what you believe in, people feel it and then they lean in. So now that we’ve covered how to show up, next time we’re going to explore exactly what to say, because a lot of experts fall into the trap of being helpful but forgettable. So in episode three, I’m going to show you how to share ideas that actually stick and start attracting clients who quote your words right back at you. And here’s my final thought you don’t need to be someone else to stand out, just show up like the expert you already are, and it starts with capturing standout moments that are already happening. So remember, this season we are ditching the content machine so you can keep making a bigger difference by doing business differently, and I’ll catch you next time.