In our more and more AI driven world meaningful relationships are harder to come by and maintain over time. We’re getting more and more disconnected from our social and professional circles. We’re using AI tools because we think they will make everything better. We think they will make doing business easier, which is true in some cases. They look fancy, they have cool reporting, so we think we’ll get more leads and then maybe we’ll get more clients.

Unfortunately, often they’re putting layers of separation between us and our prospects and clients. When that happens, we don’t really understand what’s going on with our business outreach. We start to make up scenarios because we don’t have all the personal information to go alongside the data. We can end up not knowing much personal information about many of our prospects, instead we could primarily know what AI tells us about them.

I discuss how to create meaningful relationships in this AI driven world with my guest, Casey Cheshire. Casey is a seasoned marketer with over two decades of experience and the author of “Marketing Automation Unleashed,” a guide to leveraging marketing technology for business growth. As the founder and CEO of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing, a B2B podcasting agency, he helps businesses build authentic connections with their audiences.

The Unfortunate Trend of Weakening Ties

Prospect and client relationships are weakening. We no longer remember many of their names off the top of our heads, we certainly don’t know what’s keeping them up at night, so we just make up what we think is keeping them up at night. Then our products and our services start to morph in that direction. No wonder that email campaign you just sent out only got crickets back. Or maybe you had a webinar, and nobody showed up or just a few people did. AI is one of the big reasons.

You wanted an in-person or virtual room full of people; why were those marketing messages falling flat? Because you’re disconnected, you didn’t know what your prospects wanted because you put apps in the way. The crazy thing is that AI isn’t making those scenarios easier.

AI isn’t getting us more connected; it’s adding more noise to our world. Let me get this straight, it’s always been noisy but now it’s getting noisier. AI is behind tons of content, tons of marketing strategies, and at times it’s having fake conversations with people. Overall, it’s just going to be a noisier world for everyone.

We’re not going to be able to do more of the same or do better than the status quo unless something changes. The old ways of doing business just aren’t working anymore. We must pivot hard to avoid getting wrapped up in all that disconnected noise.

Getting Started on the Journey of Cutting Through the Noise

How can you reconnect with your existing network or connect with new prospects or potential referral sources? It’s a revolutionary thought: By making calls. Having one-on-one calls whether you’re the founder or the marketer and so on. In the case of sales roles, they’ll reach out, but that’s a different kind of outreach.

We need to be reaching out to learn, to ask personal questions, not just to make a sale. It means you’re asking things like what are your goals this year? What are you trying to achieve? What are your responsibilities? What are the things that are really bothering you?

Get to know their real wants and needs.

We’re not really inquiring. Sometimes if we do get on the phone with people, we’re just pitching them. We’re soft pitching and we’re not really listening to them. We’re just looking for an opportunity to talk about our product or service. We’ve got to take a step back and have a conversation where we’re trying to learn about the other person.

Things change all the time. It makes it harder for you because you think you know everything. For example, when you think you understand the customer because you are marketers selling to marketers or manufacturers selling to manufacturers and so on.

You need to put that thinking aside and pretend like you’ve never been in your industry and ask some meaningful questions about the other person.

Once you’ve cut through the noise you need to know…

How to Prevent the Noise from Coming Back into Your World

The amount of noise is not getting better. It’s accelerating and it’s continually getting more and more noisy. What you can do now to prepare yourself is to build an audience of people who trust you. Much of that is going to come from the one-to-one conversations and one-to-many conversations.

LinkedIn is a great place to have one-to-one conversations. Podcasts are a great tool for the one-to-many conversations. Posts and communities here on LinkedIn are also great for that, based on your podcast or topics related to your personal brand.

You need to build the audience now and then get your audience talking to each other. Help them make meaningful connections with each other.

Build those trusted communities of real people so as things start getting more and more fake, everyone knows who to turn to.

They’re going to turn to you because they view you as a trusted resource.

We dive into topics including:

• Unique ways to build trusted communities.
• The number one rule of building a trusted community.
• Examples of ways to help people solve their problems.
• The best ways to build trust in both one-to-one and one-to-many situations.
• How to grow your business and community with integrity without “pitch slapping” everyone you meet.
• How to build meaningful relationships without slipping into pushy sales mode.
• How to positively leverage AI to help build your community.
• Examples of AI prompts to create authentic content true to your voice.
• The one thing, above all else, you need to do to create and build meaningful relationships in an increasingly AI driven world.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

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About My Guest

Casey Cheshire is a seasoned marketer with over two decades of experience and the author of “Marketing Automation Unleashed,” a guide to leveraging marketing technology for business growth. As the founder and CEO of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing, a B2B podcasting agency, he helps businesses build authentic connections with their audiences.

With more than 500 hours spent interviewing industry leaders on podcasts like “The Hard Corps Marketing Show,” he delves into real-world marketing strategies and tactics.

A former U.S. Marine, he brings discipline, commitment, and integrity to his professional life. His style blends professionalism with fun, shunning traditional marketing approaches that feel impersonal.

Outside of work, he is a proud husband and father of two who enjoys adrenaline-fueled activities like skydiving, mountain climbing, and off-roading in his Jeep. Committed to sharing knowledge and making a positive impact, he connects with professionals passionate about pushing boundaries.

Click here to learn more about Ringmaster Conversational Marketing!

Click here to connect with Casey on LinkedIn!