Make Marketing Suck Less

Well, isn't that curious? Curiosity and staying curious is one of the core values of my company Communication Rebel. And I'm curious by nature. I always want to know how something works, or I want to hear the backstory of how you came up with that remarkable idea. I'm constantly reading to find out more information so that I can understand the world better and satisfy my curious nature.

But to operationalize curiosity in my business, well, that means asking better questions. With my clients, I ask questions about the assumptions they are making about their audience and their most ideal clients. If I don't understand something, I ask. If I want to know the why behind a certain belief, a really strong stance, I dive in with a better question.

But I also do this in all the other areas of my business. With my marketing -- if a post on Instagram works very well, I wonder, “Huh. Why did that get so much attention?” If one flops and I thought it would do well, I ask myself, “Huh. What didn't work about this post?”

I'm always asking more and better questions so I can get better results for my clients and my business.

And today, I want to ask you some questions that finding the answers to will help you make more sales in your business. It will also make marketing so much easier and help you become known for your ideas and your work. If you're ready to have your curiosity piqued and you want to answer some better questions that will help you grow your business, then keep on listening because we're going to do this.

You're listening to the Rebel Uprising Podcast. This podcast is dedicated to helping passionate business owners become recognized leaders who make more money and impact the world by turning their messy, complicated ideas into thriving thought leadership businesses. I'm your host, Dr. Michelle Mazur, and I'll be your no-BS guide in the art of building a business that gets noticed. 

Each week I share strategies, tools, and insights on how to turn your complicated ideas into great messaging and solid business structures. Are you ready to create an uprising in your industry? Let's do this.

The origin of these four questions came about because I realized that I was always answering them for my own business, revisiting, trying to make my work, my marketing, my sales process better. In times of turmoil -- like, let's say all of 2020 or the upcoming election -- I tend to return to these questions again and again. So, what are these questions?

Well, we're going to start with the first one, and this first one is critical and a bit tricky to answer, and that is how the hell do I get anyone to pay attention or care about my business?

At its heart, this question is really about growing your brand awareness -- getting the attention of people who don't know or don't care about you quite yet. And I don't have to tell you that we live in the most distracted time ever. One day of news feels like a freaking lifetime. Even news reporters look overwhelmed and exhausted by all that's going on in the world.

So the competition for people's attention is intense (partially thanks Facebook for that one). And that's why many people rely on word of mouth, but ultimately word of mouth and referrals doesn't really give you control over making sales and generating revenue. You're at the mercy of waiting around for someone to refer you. 

So the question is, how do you get more eyeballs on your business?

How do you attract people who don't know you? And that's something you want to focus on, especially if you want to get out of waiting for referrals. So for me, how I get people's attention and make them care is really focused around my three-word rebellion, which is Three-Word Rebellion, because I believe that you need a message that is other-focused to get people's attention.

So your message can't be all about you or just solely focused on, “Hey, look at me!” And I've really noticed this lately because when I'm on Instagram, I have noticed I've developed selfie blindness. If someone posts a picture of themselves, I just keep on scrolling. I don't read the caption. I don't care.

It's been fascinating to see how consuming social media has changed for me. I'm far more likely to stop and look at, well, a cat picture or a funny cat picture, of course, but if it's a quotation or something more educational, I slow my scroll and actually will consume that. So you have to have a message that is other-focused, like what's in it for them. So for me, a Three-Word Rebellion is perfect because it's not my message, it's your message. I want everyone to have a three-word rebellion, right?

The second part is having a message that causes intrigue.

And I think this is one of the things that the Three-Word Rebellion can do well for your business. So if you're working on your Three-Word Rebellion, keep on working. Because in order to get attention, you want people to stop and think, “Ooh, what does that mean? And what does that mean for me?”

And I think the ultimate example of this is to start with “why,” because we heard it and we're like, “Okay, yes, I'm going to start with my why. That sounds so interesting. What a great place to start” and “What is my why?” And all of a sudden, we're thinking about that message. It's gotten our attention, it's in our brain.

And finally, another thing that I think about is how is this message that's going to grab people's attention also positioning you as the only one who can do what you can do?

So Simon Sinek is the only one who can help you with your why. I know there's a lot of “why” coaches, but he's kind of the originator, right? Or I'm the only one that can help you create a Three-Word Rebellion. So how has this message that's for other people also positioning your business?

To cut through the noise and make people care and wonder about your business, what it is you do -- you either need a message that intrigues or something along the lines of a Three-Word Rebellion, because that will help get the right people's attention. And we're not talking about everybody's attention, we're talking about the right people's attention on your business.

The second question that I ask myself and ask others is how do I get people who don't know me at all to buy into the work that I do? Getting people's attention is the first critical step, but once you win it, once you've got their attention now, what do you do with it? How do you make them stick around and start wondering about your business? How do you get them to buy in and eventually buy the work that you do?

And it's quite the journey to get people from not knowing your business at all, to knowing what problem you solve, to having them ready to pay you money for that transformation your business provides. And you might be thinking, “Oh man, Michelle, that sounds like it's going to take a ton of time.” And it really doesn't have to if you make the right argument.

So think about what argument you're making in your business. For me, I've had people going from hearing me on someone else's podcast to reading my book in a matter of weeks to hiring me -- just a  couple of weeks -- heard me on a podcast, bought the book, read part of the book was like, “I'm not doing this myself,” and then they were working with me because they didn't want to figure out their message on their own.

And in my work, I call this the client journey and that is the journey from not knowing you at all, complete stranger, to wanting to do business with you, wanting to hire you. So what conversations do you need to create in order to shift your right people's beliefs (because there is some attitudinal shift that has to occur so that they take action).

And honestly, this is one of my favorite things that I get to create for clients, because it's all about persuasion. Once you have a client journey, it tells you what content to create, what lead magnets or community builders you need to create in order to move people from each stage of that customer awareness.

So your ultimate goal is to know exactly what conversations to create with your audience, with your potential clients and what to say so that you move them from unaware/problem aware to solution aware because once you know what your conversation buckets are (or I call them talking points) you'll never be out of things to market. You'll always have content. You’ll know to position your offers when selling.

But that also might make you start thinking, “Well, what about me? When do I come into this? I've always heard that I'm so important, that the message is me, right?” We talked about that in the last episode with the rebel truth that your message isn't you, but, yes, you are still very important.

But the question, the third question I want you to think about here, is how do I make an emotional connection to get people to know, like, and trust me? This is so pivotal for your business because we always hear “people buy people” (I always feel like that saying's kind of weird. I don't know. It's never sat well with me).

But I do agree with the fact that when someone decides to work with you or your company, they're also buying into you. So the answer and where to start looking for the answer to this question is your story. Now, I believe story has been a bit over-hyped by all the online marketers. Like, “You just have to tell your story and then they will know, like, and trust you.” While it's important, it's not the only thing. You need the client journey, you need to grab their attention first.

But people want to know who they are doing business with. And that's where storytelling comes in.

I did a podcast episode, I think pre-pandemic about storytelling and the three types of stories that you need for your business. And we'll hook that up into the show notes, but these signature stories include your connection stories -- so how you're relating to people, your “reason to believe” stories. So this focuses on your clients and the results and they get an elevated social proof, which is I way of saying like, “Hey, I just didn't make this up. Other people talk about this too so that's why it's important.”

And your stories really work in conjunction with your client journey and your Three-Word Rebellion to convert strangers into clients so you're successfully marketing your business. So when you think about, “How do I make an emotional connection and get people to know, like, and trust me?” start looking at the stories that you're telling in your marketing and your sales conversations, in media interviews, and ask yourself, “Are they making the right emotional connection and is it building the relationship?”

Then the final question is how do I become the recognized expert in what I do? The goal for myself and many of my clients is to be known for our work and known for our ideas, to have clients coming to us and saying like, “Oh, I want to work with you because you do this specific thing and there's no one else in the world that can do it like you can do it.”

The three other questions that I have asked, those lead you to the raw ingredients of your message or marketing or sales, but it doesn't do your business any good if these raw ingredients just sit in a Google Doc and die alone. So that's why you need a visibility action plan because visibility and marketing, that's the way you become a recognized expert.

So thinking about things, like what kinds of marketing assets are you going to create for your business? I like to think about it as assets, because you're going to use these again and again and again, and these assets come from your client journey. They come from your storytelling, but they're just so great to have because once you've created them and optimized them, they can work hard for your business.

And the second question under this is how and where are you going to show up and promote your business? So creating assets is how you do less better. A marketing plan -- like what I teach in Marketing Uprising -- is how you know where to show up and grow your audience and find your next client. This is how you go from passively receiving referrals and word of mouth to actively putting yourself out there, putting your work out there, making offers, attracting new people.

So once you have your message and once you can answer these four questions, it's really all about just rinse and repeat, you know, share the same message, share the same stories, optimize, figure out what works. And this is what I always call radical consistency because now you're showing up and you’re sharing.

So let's reflect because this episode had a lot of questions.

So I only have two reflection questions for you today, outside of all the other ones I've given you earlier, but this should give you some clarity on where you need to focus next.

So the first question I want you to think about from this episode is what question does your business need to most focus on right now? Is it the question of how the hell do I get anyone to pay attention or care about what I do? Or is it question number two: how do I get people who don't know me at all to buy into my work? Or question number three: how do I make an emotional connection and get people to know, like, and trust me? Or is your focus on question number four: how do I become the recognized expert in what I do?

And then once you've zeroed in on that question, then the next and final question I have for you today is what's one action you can take to help you begin to question and start moving forward so that you can make more sales?

Now, before we wrap this episode, if you're ready to answer these questions once and for all in your business, so that you can show up consistently to market your business, grow your audience, and make more sales, I'd love to help you answer those questions in the Three Word Rebellion Messaging Intensive.

And this is where we will create your Three-Word Rebellion, your client journey, your signature stories, and your visibility action plan. And right now I only have five one-on-one spots remaining to work with me in 2020, so if you're interested in using  my curious mind and my prowess in messaging to help you figure this out so that you are set up for becoming known and marketing your business with ease and making more sales in 2021, the first step is to go grab the Three Word Rebellion Service and Pricing Guide drmichellemazur.com/guide. Because it's time that your business grabs all the attention and grows without solely relying on referrals and word of mouth. You're right -- people are waiting for you.

Thank you for listening all the way to the end of the show. Your support means the world to me. Did you know, the Rebel Uprising Podcast has a quiz that can help you pinpoint the number one way to build an audience of superfans while staying true to your unique personality? We do. And it’s called What's Your Rebel Roadmap to Exponential Impact and Influence, and you can take it at therebelequiz.com.

If you're loving the podcast, do us a favor and rate and leave us a quick five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. It helps more people like you find the show. Until next week, remember: your ideas matter. And now get back out there and cause an uprising in your industry.

You got this.