Welcome to episode 213 of the Business Development Podcast.

And today we're diving deep into marketing materials and what is important in 2025 and beyond.

If you're an entrepreneur, business developer, marketer, or just interested in what you need, stick with us.

You are not going to want to miss this episode.

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relations, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more.

This is the Business Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.

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You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development capitalbd ca.

Let's do it.

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hello.

Welcome to episode 213 of the Business Development Podcast.

Wow, 213 episodes, guys.

Just clipping along, rolling along.

Just a heads up for each and every one of you.

We are actually guest recorded at this point to episode 308.

So mark my words, we're gonna get there.

It's, it's, it's been incredible.

This journey has been incredible, guys.

I could not have come this far without your support.

So to my rock stars everywhere, thank you so much for your support of the Business Development podcast and for helping us continue to achieve pretty incredible milestones with this show.

Two years of the Business Development podcast to date.

It's been, it's been incredible, guys.

I just want to wish each and every one of you a really happy family day weekend.

I hope your family day weekend was incredible and that you all got some time away with your families.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, what that kind of means is a crazy week.

I know, I don't know about you guys, but this week for me is absolutely bonkers.

But you know what?

That is the, the entrepreneurial world we live in.

So it's a blessing and a curse, isn't it?

Today I want to speak to all of my entrepreneurs, my marketers, my business development people everywhere.

Today.

I want to talk about something we haven't talked about in a really time on this show and that is your marketing materials.

Okay?

This critical, critical piece of the business development formula.

It's actually so critical that it is the second thing I do with every coaching client and every business I work with is we review the marketing materials because it is essentially in creating interest with your potential clients.

So today I'm going to walk you through it.

I'm going to tell you guys what you need, how we should create it, how we should design it, and why we want to do it this way.

And hopefully set you guys up for much greater success with all of your marketing as we move into 2025.

The reason I want to talk about this, guys, is that marketing materials are probably one of the most important and yet most neglected and misunderstood tools of business development.

I'm incredibly passionate about this subject because when it is done correctly, it can be a major advantage for your business development, us, and your business as a whole.

So let's get into it.

Everything we do in business development is designed to build interest.

If we do our jobs right, utilize our marketing materials correctly and generate enough interest, we secure meetings that lead to revenue relationships and repeat business over time, right?

The ultimate goal of business development is to generate relationships that lead to repeat business over time.

Marketing materials are a ticket to those relationships.

The importance of great marketing materials cannot be overstated.

In both my coaching program and business development consulting projects, it's the first thing we look at after we set goals, right?

We have to know where we're going.

But the next thing we have to figure out is what do our marketing materials look like?

What are we utilizing to get where we need to go?

This is not by accident.

It's because having the right tools available vastly improves the success rate of business development.

Guys, this cannot be understated and we're going to get into it a little bit later.

But the quality of your marketing materials reflects in the eyes of your customers, the quality of your business, the quality of your products and services.

You could have the best products and services in the world.

If your marketing materials suck or they're not up to parenthood, it will reflect badly.

And the perceived value of your products and services goes way down.

The good news about all this, guys, is that we can even the playing field here.

We live in a time where it has never been easier to create beautiful brochures.

How it has never been easier to create a really stunning 20 story skyscraper website.

So there's really no excuse anymore, guys, to having crappy marketing materials.

It just takes a little bit of time and effort and knowing what you're looking to do to create visually impactful, stunning marketing materials that will help you close that business.

Today we're going to chat about the core materials that all businesses need and how to design them for maximum effect.

Okay, number one, guys, the first thing that every business, no matter who you are, needs to create is your website, okay?

In the 21st century and beyond, your website is your 20 story skyscraper.

I have been touting this message since the launch of the business development podcast, Guys, and nothing on the website has changed, okay?

Websites are absolutely critical, critical to anybody doing business operations.

Whether you're an independent consultant or whether you're a Fortune 500 company.

You need a great website to push traffic to, to build credibility with, okay?

Your website, like I said, is your 20 story skyscraper.

In 2025 and beyond, no matter how big or small your business, you will benefit from a well designed website.

It really is the great equalizer in modern business and not having one will hurt your credibility.

Let me restate that.

Not having a website in 2025 is not acceptable, okay?

It is not acceptable.

Whether you're a one person company or a 10,000 person company, you absolutely, absolutely need to have an effective, well designed, well laid out website.

It is the great equalizer.

It allows you to stand out in a crowd as a solopreneur or as a 10 person or 20 person or 50 person company.

It really allows you to compete with the big dogs of the world by just investing in a great website upfront.

A well designed website can last you guys a long time, but you have to keep it modern and you have to keep it relevant and you have to make sure that you are speaking to your target audience with it, okay?

It can't just be a jumble of words.

You have to be deliberate with it.

You have to think about who am I speaking to with this website and speak to them directly.

We have to have all relevant information and we have to remove all irrelevant information, okay?

Because too much information is information overload.

And if it's laid out poorly, it's still not going to help you.

Things to consider in 2025 when creating your website, okay?

Number one, visual appeal is absolutely, absolutely critical.

This cannot be understated, okay?

The days of coming to a homepage and it just being plowed full of words, that has to end.

You have 12 seconds, 12 seconds to hook a millennial.

Very good odds at this point that the person making the buying decision at the companies you want to work for is a millennial, okay?

And if you by chance are marketing to Gen Z.

Well, Gen Z is eight seconds and we're going to get into that a little bit later.

But guys, it is not a lot of time.

You absolutely, absolutely have to hook people in as quickly as possible.

And words are out unless they are a Big, bold statement accompanied with a visual of some type.

Words are not going to cut it.

We have to utilize a high quality, modern layout and wording.

Okay?

But not too wordy.

So we have to make sure that whatever words we're putting on our websites, guys, are deliberate.

Okay?

And, and always only enough to convey the message less is more.

In this modern world with wording less is more.

Think about how can I make the most impactful message with as little words as possible?

This needs to be your motto on every piece of marketing material you guys use moving forward, okay?

This isn't 2010, 2012 anymore.

People are not just looking at pages of words like we used to do it.

We do not have the attention span to keep up with that.

The odds of somebody reading your entire brochure, if that's how it's laid out, are slim to none, okay?

We have to make sure that our websites, our brochures, and everything we create from this point forward is done utilizing as little words as possible to convey as much impact as possible.

And visual appeal is going to be absolutely, absolutely critical.

Video.

Let's talk video.

Okay?

Video.

I've talked about it for a while now.

I think video is going to be the great differentiator in 2025.

And that's for personal branding.

That's for any of the marketing materials you guys are putting out to the world.

That's for building your personal brand, sharing your knowledge with the world.

Video is king.

It is absolutely king in 2025.

Why do I say this?

Because in 2023, the impact of AI was now everybody can create marketing materials, okay?

And what happened was the social medias and everything like that, all copy got flooded with AI generated stuff, okay?

And what that's ultimately done has created a massive craving within humanity to get back to humanity.

We want to be able to connect with people outside of you actually making a phone call or hopping on a video call or having lunch with somebody.

A video is the most impactful way that you can communicate your messaging, your brand and your authenticity with your potential clients, okay?

This is why if you create websites in 2025 and beyond, you must, must incorporate video, okay?

From this point forward, one way or another, even if it's just like a created video, it doesn't have to necessarily be you, but make sure that we are incorporating high quality, visually appealing videos in all of our marketing materials and especially our websites as we move forward.

It is the great equalizer in a time of AI and robots.

Be human.

There's nothing more authentic outside of an in person communication than utilizing video in your websites as we move into 2025 and beyond.

Like I said, this doesn't necessarily have to be a produced video of you talking.

This can be a created video, essentially a commercial, if you so desire.

But we have to be utilizing connecting, impactful video on all of our websites as we move forward into 2025 and beyond.

And this doesn't have to be expensive, guys.

This doesn't have to be crazy expensive.

It just has to be well done.

Wording needs to be minimal and powerful.

Don't be afraid to use bold statements as opposed to wording everything.

Remember what the goal is, is of marketing materials.

And I know many of you are like, well, it's to sell stuff.

No, that's actually not true.

Marketing material is designed to build interest.

Remember, the goal is build interest.

And the more interest we can build, the more powerful our in person meetings or our teams meetings, or our lunches or our RFPs and bid orders are going to be.

If the interest is high, the demand will also likely be very high.

So it's critical that we are designing everything with the goal of building as much interest as possible.

And in a time where we don't have, you know, long attention spans and, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna vouch for it.

I'm a millennial.

I have a super short attention span.

I might be a Gen Z, guys, in this, like, attention span world.

So understand, when you're marketing to me or any other business leaders, most likely you're marketing to millennials.

We have to be creating our marketing material with that in mind.

How can we create as much engagement?

How can we rope them in visually with powerful wording as quickly as humanly possible?

Because guys, it is not getting better, it is getting worse.

I can't even imagine what, you know, Gen Alpha is going to be like at this point.

It's going to be very hard.

It's going to change the whole marketing game on its head.

SEO and Google Optimization must be part of the design, guys.

We have to be incorporating the tools that are available to us to market as far and wide as we can for as cheap as humanly possible.

What does that mean?

We have to be designing our websites utilizing Google SEO optimization.

We have to be making sure that we are utilizing the free tools available to us to market our websites as far and wide as possible to rank our websites as well as they can possibly rank without having to pay for services.

Because me and you both know we have very limited marketing budgets to work with each and every one of us is working with extremely limited marketing budgets and we have to make sure that our marketing dollars go as far as humanly possible.

Okay.

Which means we need to do a good design up front so that we don't have to pay for SEO optimization down the line.

Or if we do have to pay, it's in addition to an already great, well designed, SEO optimized website.

Okay?

So make sure if we have to, if we're designing a website, that maybe we're bringing in a consultant to help us with that SEO optimization upfront.

Trust me, you're going to save a lot of money long term if we can get it right the first time.

And last but not least, on the website, keep it focused on your products and services.

Make sure that the website only has what it needs to have to be impactful.

Let's make sure that the website is laid out very, very well, that we have organized it in an easy to use way, that we don't have too much information, we the right amount of information and it is laid out in a powerful, impactful way.

Okay, let's start to think about the efficiencies when we're creating our websites.

Try to give as much information as possible as easy as you can in a layout that is as easy to digest and understand as possible.

Okay?

Let's make the customer journey as easy as humanly possible when we're designing our websites moving forward.

But remember, visual impact is.

That's absolutely the most important thing that you need to consider when creating websites.

As we head into 2025, 2026, you have to be able to rope them in.

If you cannot get the attention of your millennial or Gen Z audience as quickly as humanly possible, it does not matter how great your products and services are.

It does not matter how great the pitch is in the wording.

They won't read it.

You have to rope them in.

You have to build enough interest within them so that they want to read the product and service description so they want to actually tour your websites.

Guys.

It doesn't matter if you can't rope them in.

Number two is one of my favorite things to talk about as a business developer because I think it is the most overlooked marketing material of any company and that is your brochures.

Brochures are often the completely overlooked marketing material in modern business, and you know it and I know it.

I've heard companies tell me brochures are obsolete.

We don't even use them anymore.

This is the silliest thing that I have ever heard as a business developer.

Okay.

Because they are actually more relevant than ever.

And my argument to this would be the less other companies are using them, the more you can stand out by incorporating them.

It's really this, like, weird scenario where the less they're being used, the more effective they are.

So power to them.

Companies that don't want to use brochures anymore, power to them.

They're going to make the companies I work for much more effective when we utilize brochures effectively.

And you are going to be one of those companies from this point forward.

Brochures are not dead.

Let me repeat that.

Brochures are not dead.

They are actually more powerful than ever.

If you take one thing away from this entire show today, it is that brochures are more powerful than they have ever been.

A well designed brochure is the ultimate interest building tool that can close that next big meeting and even help you during the meeting itself.

Let's talk about the design that I always recommend and why, in my mind, it is the best option for nearly every business.

Okay.

Number one, just like in web design, visual appeal is absolutely critical.

Wordy brochures are out.

Okay.

Out.

Beautiful visuals and powerful statements and messages are in bold.

Beautiful brochures win every time.

Okay, let's talk about that.

Just like the website, make sure that only what you need to have in your brochure is in there.

Don't just put words for word's sake.

Make sure that every message is as short and powerful as it can be.

Make sure that every brochure has bold statements for your products and services.

Right?

We need to be making sure that we are creating confident, bold statements for all of our products and services followed by the best written copy that you possibly can in as little of words as possible to make powerful, impactful statements for each of your products and services.

Okay?

Make sure that we are not overloading people with words.

And I can't, I can't overstate this, guys.

Words are out.

Too many words are out.

If people open a brochure and it's just packed to the brim with words, they're just going to close that brochure.

We just don't have the attention spans for it anymore.

That doesn't mean that we don't care about that.

Have a place people can go to find more information on your products and services.

But understand that the brochure is not the place.

Remember what the goal of a brochure is.

The goal of a brochure is to generate enough interest in your products and services and company so that the company will want to have an actual discussion with you.

A meeting, right?

Meetings are where the magic happens.

Everything we do in business development is to get a meeting, which means every tool we use is to help us accomplish that goal.

From the websites to the brochures, to the business cards, and then eventually to our social media strategies.

We have to keep our eyes on the prize.

The prize of all business development is a meeting that leads to opportunities and repeat business over time.

A meeting, okay.

Everything we use is to get us there.

Don't forget that.

Don't take your eyes off the prize of what the marketing materials are really for.

They are interest building tools.

Now let's get back into the attention spans of Millennials and Gen Z, because I did some research before the show and I thought it was kind of funny.

Millennials, guys, you know, me and you, probably most likely the decision makers, the people listening to this, you know, you're probably millennials.

I wouldn't doubt it, Gen Z's, if you were listening.

Good for you, good for you.

You guys are going to be way far ahead.

But you have 12 seconds on average to capture the attention of a millennial.

12 seconds, guys, that is not a lot of time.

And you can tell that if they open up a piece of marketing material, whether it's a website, whether it's a brochure, and they aren't engaged pretty well, immediately you are not going to get them to actually engage with the material in its entirety the way you need them to engage.

Okay.

It is important that we are prioritizing visual appeal over everything.

And I know that kind of sucks.

I know that from your standpoint, you're like, well, the messaging, I can't, I can't give the messaging without them reading the words.

Absolutely.

But you can't get them to read the words if you can't nail the visual appeal.

So what comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Right.

You have to lock them down on visual appeal.

Let's talk about Gen Z.

Okay.

Gen Z is 1997 to 2012.

The odds are really good at this point that you work with somebody who's Gen Z at the top, out for the age of Gen Z.

At the moment they are 28.

So they are heading into leadership positions at this point if they are not already in leadership positions.

Okay.

This is a very real marketing segment for you.

As you move forward, Gen Z is going to be within 10 years, many of them the decision makers that you're going to have to market to well, interesting fact about Gen Z, and I'm sure it's not for all of them, but the average attention span for Gen Z at this point is eight seconds.

Eight seconds.

So millennials, you have 12 seconds on average, but Gen Z, you only have eight.

Eight guys.

And just for like, just for like a funny comparison, I don't know where the statistic came from, but I found on the Internet that the average attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.

Which means that with Gen Z, you technically have less time than you do with a goldfish.

Think about what this means for your business, okay?

Think about what this means for roping in the attention of the next leadership generation, okay?

We have to be considering these things.

You have to be considering these things because within five to 10 years, these are going to be who you are marketing to very heavily.

Okay?

So remember, visual appeal, it really is everything.

We have to be focusing on creating the most impactful marketing materials we can.

Which means we have to prioritize visual appeal in everything we do from this point forward.

Okay, let's get into the brochure design that I think will work the best for your organizations.

And the reason I think this is, I've seen many different types.

I've seen essentially the four pager brochure.

It's just one brochure.

You open it up, you got a front page.

You open it up, you got a second page, a third page and a back page.

This is a good brochure depending on what you're doing, depending on what your services are.

Right?

If you have a very limited amount of services, maybe you only have one service.

A brochure like this can work really, really well.

So I have nothing against this brochure, but I think that there is a one up on this brochure now, especially for businesses who are growing, who are incorporating new products and services fairly regularly, or who may have multiple products and services to start with.

Okay?

And this is that same high quality four page design, but on the third page, the inside page, right hand side, we have a pocket.

And I'm going to go into the full design of a brochure here shortly.

But this pocket style brochure will allow us to create specific product and service inserts that can expand as we expand.

So it's a brochure that grows with you.

This is the brochure I'm going to be talking about today because I genuinely believe it is the best selection for any business.

Who is creating a brochure in 2025, who has.

Let's call it two or more services.

Okay.

All right, so the folder with an insert pocket in my mind is the ultimate brochure format.

It allows for a folder design that can be focused on high visual appeal covers, interesting company info on the inside page, and a slot to put one page double sided services and product cut sheets for each of your products and services with infinite expandability.

Okay, so think about this for a second.

Okay?

The reason that I, that I choose this particular folder is this.

We need to create high quality visual appeal to rope our millennials and Gen Z's in.

Okay?

It has to be visually appealing, which means your cover needs to be, boom, bold, dynamic, beautiful, beautiful colors, high contrast.

We need to be able to make sure that they want to stop and look at this brochure cover.

And so I always recommend use a really impactful image, use your logo.

And really, if you're going to have any words on the front cover at all, just have a bold statement at the bottom.

Just something bold and beautiful about your company.

This really is the best way, guys, to create impactful brochures that people will hold onto.

Okay, remember, it doesn't matter what is in your brochures.

It doesn't matter how great the wording is, how great your product descriptions are, how compelling they are, if you can't even get them to open the damn thing.

With our covers bold and beautiful over everything else on that first page, I don't want you to have a ton of words.

I want you to maybe have two or three impactful things about your company.

Just remember the whole point of this is to build interest, have two or three interesting things about your company on that first page.

Now, when we go over to the folder page itself, typically we don't have too much writing.

You might have a little bit of writing on the pocket itself, but we're going to let our cut sheets do the speaking for us.

If you've gotten them this far, if they've opened the brochure, they've, they love the front cover, they love the two or three impactful things about your business on the first page.

It's very likely they're willing to take a look at the cut sheets that you're going to utilize to build their interest.

So that would be inserted into the third page.

We're going to talk about cut sheets in a minute.

But you would insert these cut sheets, as many as you want into that pocket of the third page of your folder.

The last page, once again, should really just be visually appealing.

You might want to have your locations on it.

But remember, visual appeal is everything.

Make sure that the back page is almost as visually appealing as the front page.

You want them to keep it around.

You just want it to give enough great information to rope them in.

Okay, Back page can have your contact details, maybe office locations, if you have certifications, that's a good place to put it.

But remember, our back page needs to be almost as visually impactful as our front page.

If you do this folder right, people will hold onto them.

And I've had people hold onto my folders for over two years.

I remember one time, guys, I dropped a brochure off and literally got a call two years later from that person.

And you know what they said?

Kelly, your brochure has been sitting on my desk for two years and today is the day I need you.

That brochure was incredibly well designed.

It was visually appealing even for that time.

Like, I remember at the time being very impressed by that brochure cover.

And that would have been in like 2015 or 2016, guys.

So, like, it was a while ago now, but even then the visual appeal mattered and it matters even more today.

Inserts, what are they and why do I think this is the best way to do a brochure?

Because the folder itself should just be an interest generator.

Really.

All of the information you're going to give to people is going to be in the inserts.

And the cool thing about the inserts is they're typically a one page design, double sided.

So you can have both sides with information about your products and services and you can create them very specific to the industries you're marketing to.

Okay?

I always say we have to speak to the people buying our products and services.

We have to speak to them in a way that they understand.

So if you sell, let's call it quality services, and your quality services can support the automotive industry and they can support the oil and gas industry, you need to create a quality services insert.

One for oil and gas and one for auto manufacturing.

Okay?

If you do it this way, you're speaking to them in words and terminologies that they understand.

You're making your product relevant in a way that they can understand.

If you just create one quality services insert and you're just speaking to all industries, you're speaking to no one, you're speaking to nobody.

And there might be a handful of people who understand what you're doing.

But if you can really narrow that down and speak to every single industry, whether it's automotive, whether it's oil and gas, whether it's forestry, whether it's manufacturing, Speak to your prospective clients in a way that they understand and watch your conversion rates skyrocket.

Okay, many companies are not doing this right.

Many companies are making one brochure and calling it good.

The idea of the insert is that it's very easy to create a one or two page marketing material and you can create one that speaks to any industries you want to work for in a terminology that they can understand.

It also allows you to only include the inserts that are relevant to your prospective client.

When you're having an in person meeting, when you're doing brochure drops, or when you're just doing your digital marketing, this is the best way.

The other thing that's really great about the inserts is whenever you add a new product and service, it's as easy as creating a one or two page cut sheet for that new product and service and boom, it incorporates with your brochure folder design.

This is the best way, guys, as we expand into 2025, 2026 to be creating your brochures, if you can do this right, it is going to grow with you.

The brochure folder will probably last five plus years.

And whenever you update your services, all you have to do is update a one or two page cut sheet as opposed to an entire brochure.

Mark my words, this is the best way for you to be doing brochures in 2025, 2026 and beyond.

So I'm just going to go over once again, guys, what is a cut sheet?

So for any of you who are maybe a little bit confused about what I just said, I'm going to go a little bit more in depth on a cut sheet itself.

Okay?

With a cut sheet, it is a one to two page product descriptor, right?

It's, it's, it is a brochure.

Right?

But it's a one or two page brochure.

It's visually appealing, just like we talk about with everything.

But with this, you can include pictures and words and people are more likely to resonate with it.

They're more likely to resonate with it because you're speaking to them about the industry that you're marketing to.

So for instance, once again, if you're speaking to oil and gas, you want on your cut sheet to say quality services for the oil and gas industry on your, on your title for that cut sheet.

Okay?

If you do that, they're going to be far more likely to stay engaged with your content and actually read all of the information that you have to offer them.

Don't be afraid to show statistics.

Don't be afraid to show visual graphs.

Still use visual appeal.

Still use it.

But you can be more wordy with this particular layout than you could with, say, your website or your folder itself.

Okay, this is where we can build a ton of interest around our products and services and get deep, get deep with the description of it and how it would be relevant to that particular industry.

So it's a one to two page brochure, but it's just a one pager and it fits inside of your presentation folder design.

You can create as many of these cut sheets as you like.

I've worked with companies that have like 8 to 10 of these things and we just swap them out interchangeably depending on whether we're marketing to oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, you name it.

The secret is create a cut sheet for every single application that your product and service is relevant to and use them as needed.

It allows you to create industry specific materials.

Okay, this is the nice thing about it.

You can speak to your customers in a way that they actually understand.

This is massive.

It gives a much better presentation because when you send this digitally, you always include the presentation folder because that's the visual appeal, that's the thing that wraps them in.

And then you can include the specific cut sheets for any service that's relevant to the client you're marketing to at that time, making you much more effective.

And it gives you infinite expandability and expands the service life of your brochure design.

Otherwise you'd be making a new brochure probably every year.

Every year or two years.

Me and you both know business changes very rapidly.

Your services change rapidly.

Do not force yourself to create a brand new brochure each time.

Create a fairly generic presentation folder about your company that's visually appealing, engaging, bold statements.

And then if you have to update something, just update the one pagers.

Makes your life much, much easier and greatly greatly expands the service life of, of your presentation folder and brochure design structure.

The secret to creating the best cut sheets, guys, is simply to speak to your audience in a way that they understand.

Okay?

Many companies are not doing this.

So if you do this, you're standing out in a massive crowd.

You're speaking to them in words they understand, in terminologies they understand, in services they understand.

Create the cut sheets for the customer.

And yes, this might mean that you have multiple cut sheets about your quality services that speak to multiple different industries in ways they understand.

This speaks to your expertise though, and Your understanding of how your services differ depending on the industries you market to.

This is a big leg up if you can understand this and do it correctly.

All right, and number three on our list of needed marketing materials in 2025, guys, is business cards.

Okay, I get they're probably a little less relevant than they've ever been.

We're doing a lot less traveling and dropping brochures and dropping business cards than we ever have.

However, a high quality business card when you have those face to face meetings is still absolutely critical and a great, great way to stand out from the crowd.

Okay, I'm not going to go deep on this one.

I don't think I have to.

I think many of you understand how to create a great business card.

So I'm just going to give you six tips to create a great business card.

Okay?

They need to be on high quality card stock.

The feel of a business card is everything.

Thick, high quality card stock makes a huge difference.

If you want to go even further with this, have some level of texture or feel to it.

I felt velvety business cards, I felt glossy business cards.

I felt metal business cards.

Okay, there's lots of cool ways you can, you can change the feel of your business cards.

But once again, think about it.

From who are you marketing to visual appeal is everything.

Make sure that they feel cool, that they look cool, that they have strong visual appeal.

Make sure they're memorable.

Okay?

I've seen business cards that were actually useful.

I've seen business cards that had like multi tools built into them.

I know that's a lot to ask of a lot of people.

But think about it, how can you make your business card memorable?

You do not need QR codes.

So I've seen a lot of you guys put in QR codes on your business cards.

Guys, people are going to just Google you, right?

People are going to check you out on LinkedIn.

Don't worry about the QRS.

They can find you easy enough.

Just make sure that the important, relevant information is there, but not too much information, right?

What do you need?

You absolutely need your phone number, you absolutely need your name, your title, and you absolutely need your email if you have those things.

Maybe include the LinkedIn handle or your Instagram handle, depending on how you do your business.

But less is more.

Only have relevant information on your business cards.

Less is more, which I just talked about.

And then last but not least, visual appeal.

Visual appeal is absolutely everything.

So high quality cardstock feel is important.

Memorability is important.

Email, phone number, and just the necessities less is more and visual appeal is everything.

If you follow these things, you're going to have incredible, incredible business cards.

All right?

And you know What?

New for 2025, in every single marketing materials show I did before this, I'm pretty sure I never talked about LinkedIn as a marketing material.

But guys, in 2025 and beyond, LinkedIn is absolutely a marketing material, not just for your brand, but for you personally.

Okay?

It has changed.

LinkedIn has changed.

Covid changed the whole game, okay?

Basically 2023 and beyond really just changed the business landscape and how we utilize social media.

Specifically LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is King King in B2B business, okay?

I don't go to a meeting without researching the people.

Likely I actually found the people on LinkedIn in the first place.

So it is absolutely critical that we are looking at LinkedIn from this point forward as a mandatory, necessary marketing material to focus some time on, okay?

And I'm going to talk about what is important in a high level.

To get into LinkedIn deep guys, you would have to go to one of my previous LinkedIn shows.

LinkedIn is its own monster, it's its own beast.

There's a lot to it.

All my personal branding shows talk about LinkedIn and I think actually have a LinkedIn specific episode that I will be redoing later on this year.

But put it this way, LinkedIn deserves its own 10 shows, not just one.

Not just, not just a tidbit of one.

So LinkedIn is absolutely critical.

That's just what I really need you guys to take away from this particular show, okay?

LinkedIn is now a marketing material, period, full stop.

LinkedIn is now a mandatory marketing material for all B2B and B2C business, okay?

Visual appeal and cohesion really matter with LinkedIn.

If you look at some of the best LinkedIn profiles, they have banner images that match the profile pictures.

And whenever I'm doing my coaching, I actually recommend a few branding experts on LinkedIn.

I'm going to name them right here.

Check out Amelia Cerdell, check out Nat Berman and check out Marcus Chen, okay?

Check out those three people.

They're absolutely knocking it out of the park with personal branding on LinkedIn.

They're all branding coaches.

Trust me on this.

This is absolutely critical to have a unified cohesion between your banner images and your profile pictures as we move forward.

Cohesion matters with our LinkedIn profiles.

We need to make sure that our profile descriptions are completed and authentic, okay?

Don't just have a boring ass profile description, okay?

Talk about who you are.

In an authentic way.

Genuinely, how did you end up on this journey?

Don't be afraid to share who you are on your LinkedIn, because that's who we want to know, right?

In this, like, new era of personal branding.

2024 was like the year of personal branding.

I think for me, on the business development podcast, it was one of my, like, most requested shows.

They wanted me to get on a whole bunch of personal branding experts.

I actually had all three of the ones that I just listed.

Maybe not all their shows are out yet, but they have all been interviewed and at least Marcus Chan and Nat Berman is out.

Amelia Srdle is coming out later this year.

So trust me, personal branding is like a keyword, catchphrase, important thing in 2024 and beyond, I would say it was the most important thing of 2024.

With regards to topics, Take some time and really focus on how can I build my personal brand on LinkedIn?

How can I make sure that my profile pictures and my banner images are done really well, are cohesive, are beautiful, are bold, make people interested in who I am and what I am doing?

And this doesn't matter whether you're an employee, whether you have your own company, or whether you're just actually building a personal brand.

It matters for everybody at this point, as we move forward, so make sure that we are doing a great job creating a personal brand and a unified brand on LinkedIn.

Like I said with profiles, make sure that we are speaking to who we are, not just what we do.

Who are we?

Why should you care about me?

Why should you care about what I do?

Make sure that by the time I finish your profile, I know who you are, what you stand for, what you do, and why you're awesome.

If you can do that, I'm going to be much more interested in getting to know you and taking that next step in your product and service.

After you market to me, make sure that we are incorporating our full work histories.

Okay?

It's not.

It's not good.

It's not good to have, like, one thing on your LinkedIn work history.

All right?

Put it all.

Put it all.

Don't be afraid to put it all.

Okay?

I want to know your whole story.

LinkedIn is about your story.

It's about you, right?

It's not about your business, not about the company you work for.

Your LinkedIn is about you.

And I want to know who you are, which includes your work history, the certifications you've done, schooling you've done.

I want to know who you are.

Completely fill out your LinkedIn profiles.

Okay, I cannot, cannot, cannot overstate this enough.

Make sure all of your information is completed, including your work history.

Relevant work history.

Okay?

Like, sure, let's call it last 10 years, but make sure at least the last 10 years are on your LinkedIn.

For the record, I don't care about the time you worked at Taco Bell, unless.

Unless it was in the last 10 years.

Okay?

Make sure your awards and certifications are on there.

And last but not least, I actually have.

I actually have something kind of new to add.

Did you know there is a recommendation section on LinkedIn?

Marcus Chan taught me this in my interview with him way, way back now.

But I had no idea.

And I'd use LinkedIn for like, 10 years.

And I had no idea that LinkedIn has a recommendation section, but it absolutely does.

And you can ask any of the people that you're connected with to give you a recommendation.

So if you are a business development person, if you are an account manager, if you're a business owner, ask your clients to give you recommendations based on their experience with you.

And start to build that Recommendation section on LinkedIn.

It is powerful.

It's a powerful thing.

I didn't even know existed.

Did you know that LinkedIn has a featured item where you can feature websites?

Maybe your company website, maybe your coaching programs, Whatever you're doing, you can add a featured section.

If you have a LinkedIn Premium, you can add a Featured section to your LinkedInedins.

Start to incorporate your featured sections.

Okay?

This just comes down to utilizing LinkedIn to its full potential.

All right?

If you're paying for LinkedIn, as many of us are, make sure that we're using it to its full potential.

It's an incredible platform.

It's an incredible tool.

I can't even imagine doing business development anymore without it.

It's changed the game, guys.

It's changed the game.

But you have to utilize it to its full potential.

So start using your LinkedIn.

Make it a part of your daily process, okay?

Remember, guys, people will look you up.

Let me repeat that.

People will look you up and they are going to find you on LinkedIn.

Make sure they find your very best version.

Marketing materials are the business developer's secret weapon.

Great materials can be all that's standing in the way between you and your dream customers.

Take your time.

Create beautiful, compelling websites and brochures.

Prioritize building interest and visual appeal, and watch your meeting rates soar.

Show update, guys.

We are sitting at 24 months of the business development podcast.

237,000 downloads as of this recording, 3400 followers on Apple podcasts and Spotify.

And let me just say, if I'm catching you for the first time on this show and you enjoyed the show, please do give us a rating.

Please do give us a follow.

It really does help us grow this show to new audiences.

We are sitting at 2800 followers to our LinkedIn page.

Guys, that's in like one year.

We've only had our LinkedIn page for like a year and it is growing like crazy.

Why is it growing like crazy?

It's growing like crazy because everything is there.

Clips from the show, our upcoming guest list for the coming month, any of our promotions or posts or things like that.

It's all on LinkedIn.

We are building a community on LinkedIn, a business development, development rockstar community.

Please come join us.

Give me a follow.

Kelly Kennedy, Give the business development podcast a follow and just come check us out.

We're doing lots there.

That is the home of the BDP.

We do have a YouTube, we do have an Instagram, but we live on LinkedIn.

So follow us there and continue to join us on this crazy journey we call the Business Development Podcast.

And guys, if you have not noticed yet, we are trialing something a little bit new on the business development podcast.

It is not, not me alone.

We created.

Me and four other guys, Vijayan Swami Nathan, Colin Harms and Brian Hayes have created a show called Authentic Hustle.

You may or may not have seen it.

It's definitely been posted on our LinkedIn.

So if you follow me on LinkedIn, you've seen it.

Authentic Hustle is a live entrepreneurial focus show.

We do every Wednesday.

It's at 11am MST.

No holds barred on Authentic Hustle.

We talk about business, we talk about personal life, we talk about politics, we talk about anything we feel like.

It is a modern day talk show.

It runs 45 minutes typically and it's at like the perfect time.

It's 11:00am MST.

Many of us are kind of between, you know, that and lunch and we need something to motivate us and uplift us.

It's a great time.

Come join us for an Authentic Hustle.

Not sure how long we're going to do it.

Testing the waters.

But as of right now, we are doing them live at 11am MST on Wednesdays is subject to change, but come check us out.

Follow us on LinkedIn and check out an Authentic Hustle.

I think you might like it.

And last but not least, guys, I am accepting coaching clients.

So if you want to attend like the best business development program you have ever taken part of and I I kid you not, it will be the best thing you've ever experienced.

It is my one on one Business Development Mastery Program.

I am accepting coaching clients at this time from my LinkedIn page or from www.capitalbd.ca.

you can book a discovery call with me to chat about the program.

See how it might fit your goals in 2025 and beyond.

I would love to meet you, love to have that discussion.

We're going to help you create an effective business development program for you and your company.

We're going to chat about a goal oriented program that actually achieves your revenue growth goals based on meetings.

We're going to review your marketing materials just like in this show.

We're going to set you up with a CRM and a proper CRM flow and we're going to give you the tools and the toolbox and the process to do effective business development from this point forward for not just your current business but any business you work at past this point.

So would love to meet you, would love to learn more about your business, your business development strategy and see if we can't help.

Book a free discovery call to my Business Development Mastery Program with Kelly Kennedy.

I can't wait to meet you.

Shout Outs this Week Gary Noseworthy, Jesus Arrowjave, Kirk Silver, Eric Portillo, Susan Paseca, Colin Harms, Micah Dixon, Nathan Plumb, Michelle Sammy Wieb, Rodney Lover, Jamia Zagel, Tim Zagel, Lauren Graff, Sophie Barron, Jason Chakalakal, La Ser Jorgensen, John Pelly, Vijayan Swaminathan, Carmen LaBelle, Stuart Morawski, Adam Kimmel, Alison Mair, Matt Bayer and Mindy K.

McRae Broadbent until next time, you've been listening to the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.