Make Marketing Suck Less

Hey, rebel, before we launch fully into the uprising, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should check out episode 200 of the podcast, I want to talk to you about being bold with your messaging

And yes, of course that includes the 3 Word Rebellion, but it includes all of your message, like every single word you create for your marketing, every piece of copy for your website, because words matter, language creates our reality.

Words have wattage. Are you getting the maximum wattage out of your words? What kind of reality are you creating for your clients and customers when they land on your website? What experience are you creating for people when they interact with your marketing with your words and your message? My guess is that you're probably not thinking about the wattage you're creating with your words.

So let's play a game real quick. So what I've done is I have found three pieces of copy from three different life coaches. Why did I choose life coaches? Well, because I love my coaches. I work with a lot of life coaches. I work with a lot of life coaches from Brooke Castillo's Life Coaching School on their messaging. I think life coaches are transformational human beings. They are rad. And for the most part, they struggle with their messages because it's intangible what they do, right? It's not like they're a plumber coming to fix a leak. Well, maybe they're fixing a leak with your thoughts. It's really hard for them to describe the magic of their work.

Here's a pop quiz. I'm gonna read you three pieces of copy. Which of these stands out most to you? Which one of these life coaches would you go, oh my gosh, I've got to work with this person.

• Option 1: empowering individuals to be healthy, happier, and more successful. Online life coaching is a process and practice of personal growth, empowerment, transformation, and achievement. It focuses on helping you to make the most of your life and all areas of your life.

• Option 2: personal coaching that fits your budget. Life coaching is a collaborative process that quickly identifies pain points, creates fast solutions, sustains positive change and increases overall self esteem for the future. 

• Option 3: we'll design a life you'll love, discover work that lights you up, start your own business, identify your personal criteria for what makes you happy.

So which one of these three options? Trick, question. They're all boring as fuck. You can literally copy and paste any of these from one life coach’s page to the next. It wouldn't make a difference. There's no wattage, there's no boldness. This might be a punch in the gut to you because you might be thinking about your own website.

Maybe the words that you're using are not that great. Maybe those words could be copied and pasted on any of your competitors' websites. But that's a fixable problem and it's time to step it up.

And that is what we're talking about today because behind the scenes I have been developing an assessment to help you get the star power out of the words you use and how you describe the work you do. And it's called BOLD.. And of course each letter stands for something. So for the next four weeks we're going to dive into what each letter means.

Today on the pod I'll give you an overview of the bold messaging assessment and we're going to talk about what B stands for. And it's not exactly what you think it is. So the bold messaging assessment, it's a little bit of a word work in progress. This is still a bit messy in my mind, but I do my best work when I'm talking stuff out and I figured I would just roll this out on the pod because it is developed enough or I feel comfortable talking about it.

Let me help you be bold because I know you struggle with this. I know you say things to yourself like, does my messaging even represent who I am, what I do, how I help people? Does it make sense to anyone other than me? Am I overwhelming people with what I am telling them? Are they even gonna care and does it actually resonate and are people gonna want to open their wallets and pay me for what I do based on the words that I'm using? I've got a sneaking suspicion that you think the answer is no.

So what does BOLD stand for? 

B is “be the only”, and I think where this is going is going to surprise you. O, which we'll talk about next week is “other focused.” So how focused are you in your copy, in your marketing, on making a connection with other people, your clients, your audience, understanding them, speaking to them directly versus talking about yourself. The L stands for leadership. Your thought leadership. Because as a business owner, as a marketer, leadership is key. You are leading your audience somewhere. You're leading them to your offer. You are a thought leader. How well are you doing that with your message, with your marketing? And then D is direction. Are you giving your people direction on what they should be doing next? Are you making asks? Are you telling them what to do?

So let's focus on B, be the only, because being the only doesn't mean what you think it does.

Yes, it is about having that one of a kind message, but it also means being the best in the world because being the only being, the only option, being the only one who can do what you do, having a one of a kind message allows you to be the best in the world.

Now hear me out on this. I've been thinking about this one quite a lot and part of this has come from working with my own coach, Stacy Fisher over at The W Collective because I went through this period of really being triggered by Donald Miller. I know it's crazy to suffer like I suffer from comparisonitis like everyone else, but ah, he drove me crazy for a while. All I would ever hear is like, oh, building a StoryBrand. It's the best framework for your message. And I would just be like, ah, is it really? Is it really the best?

What I realized is Donald Miller is the best at the StoryBrand framework. He is the best in the world at that. Yes, he certifies other people and how to do his StoryBrand framework, but he owns that, right? He's the best in the world at that framework. He created it. He's the only, he is the best and I applaud him for that. There's a lot that I do love about that framework. You can learn things about that framework. I do think that framework is good for a certain type of business that is doing something very concrete. You know, like if you're a plumber or a pool guy, you're selling SEO. I think it's a great framework.

But you know what Michelle Mazur is the best at? She's the best at 3 Word Rebellions. That is my only-ness. I am the best in the world at 3 Word Rebellions.

I don't want to be the best in the world at building a StoryBrand. That's Donald Miller’s thing. That's his only-ness. I'm the best in the world at 3 Word Rebellions and Donald Miller does not want to be the best of the world at that. I mean, I don't know. Maybe he does. Maybe it's in the book and he's like, man, this 3 Word Rebellion thing is great. I need to get good at this.

My question for you is what are you the best in the world at now?

Don't say nothing because that is not true. You are a leader, dammit, and you are running a business that is here to impact people and change lives. You are amazing and remarkable at what you do and really this is about finding the one thing that you are amazing at and finding the right words to package it up, sell it, really sell it to the world because no one can do it quite like you can.

Let's face it, that's what people like, Simon Sinek did, and Mel Robbins and Marie Forleo and Tim Ferris, all of those business owners, all of those leaders and anyone that you look up to, they have found a way to use words, words that have wattage. They have found a 3 Word Rebellion.

So keep working on your 3 Word Rebellion. Find your only-ness because when you do it will be so much easier to walk in a room and make an argument for why you're the best at what you do. And you can walk into that room and own it. You can walk into any sales conversation and make that argument, and that is what being bold is all about, and that's what being the only option is all about.

So until next time, step into that power, identify what makes you truly great at what you do and find that 3 Word Rebellion. Find those words to describe it.