Make Marketing Suck Less

Dr. Michelle Mazur (00:00): Have you ever noticed how many cliches there are in online business? Scale your business, grow your audience, take it to the next level, make money while you sleep, and do it all while avoiding burnout. Now, if everyone is saying the same thing and relying on these cliched marketing messages, it makes it hard for you to stand out. And if you want to go from being that overlooked expert into being known by your right people and hired by them. Well, my friend, it is time to move past these cliches. Now, how do you do this? On this episode of the pod, we're doing marketing message makeovers. I'm going to take three overused marketing messages and make them stand out by asking two very simple questions. Let's do this.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (01:11): 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.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (01:52): If you've been a listener of the podcast for a while, you know that every December I release my top meh messages of the year. And today I wanted to take those messages and transform them into something that is hyper specific, speaks to a real human being, and also allows you to stand out from everyone who is saying the same thing. And what's really cool about this is that it's going to allow you to narrow in on who you are talking to, so that you can be specific and get those right people who need what you have to offer.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (02:40): But before we do that, I wanted to spend a moment talking about how did we end up with so many cliched messages? How did we end up with so many websites saying the exact same thing? Well, the answer is on page 94 of the 3 Word Rebellion book. And that answer is messaging is hard. It is hard for a number of reasons, including we are too close to it, and we can't think about what we do in the same way that our clients do. And if you've ever sat at your computer wondering what to say in that email to motivate people, to work with you or to sign up for your program, you've felt that struggle. The loss for words, the frustration of knowing that your program, your services get amazing results, but you don't know how to express those results to somebody who's never worked with you before. That my friend is painful.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (03:58): So what do we do when we don't know what to say? Well, we tend to look around and see what other people are doing. And there is a scientific reason for this. There's a theory in communication. And I used to call this the No Shit Sherlock Theory of Calm. And it is by Berger and Calabrese from 1975 called Uncertainty Reduction Theory. And basically the theory says, hey, when you meet someone new, you want to reduce the uncertainty that lies between the two people. So when someone lands on your website, doesn't know you, they're wondering, oh, is this person for me? Are they talking for me? Do they solve the problem that I have?

Dr. Michelle Mazur (04:47): So for us, when we are creating that copy, those marketing messages, and we don't know what to say, and we're uncertain about what to say, one of the things we naturally do is look around and see what other people are doing. So you look to Amy Porterfield, for instance, and you think to yourself, oh, well, if she's talking about grow your audience, my people most likely want to grow their audience too. So I'm going to say that that's going to work for me. Except it doesn't because it sounds exactly like something Amy Porterfield would say, and a million other online business owners would say. And when something sounds like what everyone else is doing, your right fit client breezes right by you because they've heard it before and they don't think it's for them. So let's get specific and do some marketing message makeovers.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (05:56): Messaging cliche number one, grow your audience. Figured we'd start here since this has been my ongoing example for this episode. Anytime you see a marketing message cliche, there are two questions that you can ask in order to get hyper specific so it actually resonates with your audience. And those two questions are why? And what does that look like? So let's take, grow your audience. I'm going to use my clients as an example, since I know them inside and out, backwards and forwards, I've talked to them so much. My people want to grow their audience, but why do they want to grow their audience? The vast majority want to launch a group program. So what does growing their audience look like for them? It means growing their email list with engaged subscribers, usually without depending on social media so they can send out a few emails and fill their group programs. They know that they have enough people to fill up a group program. That is what they want.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (07:16): So if I'm writing marketing copy or copy on my website, the grow your audience message becomes, grow your email list with people who are ready to work with you so you easily sell out your new group program. It's way more specific compared to the generic, grow your audience. And it narrows my audience from anyone who wants to grow their audience. So that could be a course creator, a membership site person, an internet celeb who wants branding deals and partnerships. Now it's hyper specific and it speaks to my people who are currently doing a lot of one on one work and really want to have that group program.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (08:02): Hey friend, this summer I'm going to be doing a low cost, three part virtual workshop called Finally Nail Your Message. Harness the power of your words to explain what the heck you do and why it matters to the people who need to hire you. This workshop will give you the messaging essentials so you can be specific enough to attract prospective clients while also communicating what it is you do and how it helps them and why they need it. Interested? Get on the waiting list at drmichellemazur.com/nail. That's drmichellemazur.com/nail. And I'll let you know as soon as the workshop opens. Now, back to the show.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (08:54): All right, messaging cliche number two, overwhelm. It seems like everyone is talking about overwhelm these days. People selling marketing, business advice, parenting advice, and dating advice, all speak about the overwhelm. So how do we make the idea of overwhelm come alive? How do we make it specific so that it's not a marketing cliche and speaks to your specific audience? So let's say I'm a dating coach and copy that I would see on a dating coach's website might say dating feels overwhelming. Okay. Yes, yes, it does. Now let's ask why and what does it look like? Why? Well, my clients are recently divorced and haven't dated in a long time and so much has changed. Okay. So what does that overwhelm with the change look like? Well, it looks like logging into Tinder, trying to create a bio and then thinking all about all those people who are going to swipe left and not right because of the picture and a few words. And that just feels overwhelming. And you just delete the app again.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (10:15): So then knowing that, dating feels overwhelming becomes you haven't dated in a long time. And the thought of logging into Tinder and creating that profile makes you want to hurl your phone into the Potomac. So we kind of jazzed it up, but we're getting to that core idea of what overwhelm looks like for those people. And yes, I know, there are more words, but when your words actually tell a story, they're encapsulating what your right fit client is thinking, they're going to want to read it, my friend.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (10:56): All right, our final messaging cliche. This one is for my coaches. Align your purpose. Whenever I see this message, and I do see it often, I always think what the heck does that even mean? And why? Like, why do I need to align with my purpose? It's one of those cliches that we see as a standalone piece of copy or in an Instagram post, but it needs a lot more detail. We have to answer the why and what the heck does it look like? So let's say that my client is a career coach and they say, yes, I want them to align with their purpose. Okay. Well, why? Why do your people need to align with their purpose?

Dr. Michelle Mazur (11:53): And maybe it's because they hate their job, their work lacks any real meaning to them. Okay, that's helpful. But what does that look like when you hate your job and your work lacks meaning? Well, it looks like dragging your ass into the office at 6:15 in the morning to beat traffic. When what you really want to be doing is figuring out work that's meaningful and actually makes a contribution in the world. So okay, that's a lot clearer than align your purpose. So then you could transform, align your purpose into stop dragging your ass to work before the Sun comes up and find a career that's meaningful to you, and you can't wait to go back to and make your contribution. Way more specific, talks to a very specific type of person. And here's the deal, my friend. Messaging is all about specificity. The more specific you are, and this means you need to understand your people, the more your message will resonate with the people who want to hire you, the more you will become visible to those right people, and they will want you for your expertise.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (13:19): So my challenge to you is to go to your website right now and find a marketing cliche. Any marketing cliche will do. Find something that a lot of people say in your industry, and if you need some inspiration, check out the meh messaging episode from the end of 2021, and then find that phrase and ask yourself these two questions. Why? And what does it look like? And see how you can transform that message yourself because this is the way to go from overlooked expert to seen, valued by the right people and hired. It's with an ultra specific marketing message. Then your right client will know why they should hire you.

Dr. Michelle Mazur (14:12): 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 super fans 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 therebelquiz.com. If you are loving the podcast, do us a favor. 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've got this.