Make Marketing Suck Less

Michelle Mazur [00:00:00]: If I could just figure out the right way to market. I hear this all the time from my clients, and maybe it's something you've thought yourself. Because I get it. There are so many marketers out there who are promising you that they have the proven formula or that there is some secret to success in marketing that only they have. And if you pay them, they will tell you all the secrets, and you'll never have to stress about marketing again. But what happens? You buy the course. You enroll in the program, and those results never quite materialize as they promised. And not only that, what they are teaching is making marketing suck more, not less.

So let's deconstruct why there's no one right way to market and how letting go of that idea is going to help your business. And fair warning, I'm gonna get a little ranty on this episode. So let's do it.

Michelle Mazur [00:01:25]: Welcome to Make Marketing Suck Less. The podcast that knows marketing is freaking hard, especially when you're a solo business owner trying to juggle it all. I'm your host, Dr. Michelle Mazur, author of the 3 Word Rebellion and founder of the Expert Up Club. Forget the latest marketing fads and tactics promising social media stardom. I'm here with research-backed strategies to help you clarify your message and get twice as effective with your marketing. And while I can't promise you'll ever love marketing, I'm here. to make you hate it a tiny bit less.

Michelle Mazur [00:02:06]: First, this is my core belief when it comes to marketing. I am a marketing agnostic. Yeah. You heard that right. I believe that any marketing tactic can work for your business if, and this is a very big if, three conditions are met. The first is your people are actually on that marketing channel. The second is your message is dialed in to attract your right fit customers to your business. Because, friends, you can't market without a message. And number three, and this is probably the most important one, you actually want to do it.

Michelle Mazur [00:02:56]: So let's break these down so that you understand that there is no one right way to market, and the only right way to market is what works for you. So let's talk about condition number one. Your people are actually on the marketing channel that you want to use. I get it. Marketing tactics get so much buzz. Like, TikTok is amazing to grow your audience. And Instagram, oh, totally where it's at. Everyone should be on Instagram.

Michelle Mazur [00:03:30]: No. No. No. LinkedIn is your golden ticket to all the clients you'll ever need. Or, hey. Maybe you need a podcast or a YouTube channel. Maybe you should be doing all of these things. Let me share a little story about this to make it concrete.

Michelle Mazur [00:03:46]: I had a client who works with C Suite executives, and she was super excited to start a TikTok channel. She loves TikTok. And, I love her enthusiasm. But here's the thing. C Suite executives, they aren't going to be looking for her on TikTok. In fact, since they are older, they're probably not on TikTok at all. And I had to tell her, like, listen. If you wanna be on TikTok, be on TikTok for fun.

Michelle Mazur [00:04:22]: But that is not going to be the best place to reach an audience of C Suite executives. Because they're not looking for you there, even if they're on there. And here's the thing. There are plenty of ways for her to grow her audience, to get in front of those C Suite executives who would want to hire her. But if your people are not on a platform or they're on the platform, but they're not engaging with your content, it's not gonna work for your marketing. You have to make sure that whatever marketing channel you choose actually fits with how your clients are showing up. And if you are curious about all the marketing options that you have to grow your audience, I do have something for you, and it is completely free. Head over to drmichellemazur.com/MLE, or just open your podcast app.

Michelle Mazur [00:05:24]: There is a link to it in the show notes. And get my free 7 day crash course called Market Like An Expert. It lays out all of your marketing options so you can make smart decisions about how you want to show up in market and start doing less marketing but better marketing because it's actually getting you results. You'll leave with a fully formed marketing strategy that gets you to your goals and helps you reach where your clients actually are. Right? So go get that, because it's gonna help you. So let's talk about condition number two. So condition number one, your people are actually on the platform looking for you. Right? Looking for the type of content you're going to be putting out there.

Michelle Mazur [00:06:14]: Condition number two. Your message is dialed in. Y'all hear me talk about this all the time. You've got to have a message. All the different marketing tactics out there, I don't care if it's Instagram or YouTube or your email, those are all a communication tools. All they do is amplify your message. So if you don't know how to talk to people in a way that makes them feel seen and heard, if you don't know what conversations you need to be putting out there in your marketing so that they shift their beliefs and they slowly get ready for your offer, your marketing is always going to fall flat. Messaging always precedes marketing.

Michelle Mazur [00:07:09]: Just a quick teaser. Next week’s episode is gonna be another barn burner because we're gonna talk about how we have to match our message to the marketing channel that we use in order for it to bring clients into our world. And you won't want to miss it because this is a mistake I see so many business owners make, which is really making their marketing suck more. Alright. So let's talk about condition number three. You actually like doing it. Listen up, my friends, because you are a solo business owner. You don't have a team behind you.

Michelle Mazur [00:07:53]: So the marketing that you do needs to fit two criteria. Number one, it fits into your schedule. You have a limited amount of time to market your business because you have a lot on your plate. You have your clients. You have sales. You have the business admin, and you have your life and the whole world that feels like it's exploding sometimes. Right? There's so much that you don't have the capacity to do marketing you don't like doing. You don't have the time to do it.

Michelle Mazur [00:08:28]: So it fits in your schedule, and, number two criteria is you actually want to do it. Because for the love of God, please stop doing marketing you hate. We don't have enough hours in the day to do something we hate on repeat because marketing is an activity that you always have to be doing. And if you don't like it, if it's a slog, if it takes so much motivation for you to actually show up and do it, find another alternative. You don't have to create social media content if you hate being on social media. We don't have to show up on social. If you don't wanna do a podcast, don't do it. If you don't want to do video, don't do it.

Michelle Mazur [00:09:21]: Don't do marketing you hate. Just don't do it! Because if you try to do it, if you try to make yourself like it, you're just wasting your time and energy, and you're going to fall off the wagon for doing that marketing because it feels like such a slog to do it. And there are so many options out there that there's no excuse to do something that you hate doing. And that's exactly where Market Like an Expert will help you 100%. So please do yourself a favor. Get that crash course. So here's the bottom line, my friends. Any marketing tactic can work for you as long as, number one, your people are there, and they are there to consume the type of content you create.

Michelle Mazur [00:10:14]: That is the first condition. Number two, you've got a message, and that message is leading people to your offer. There is no sense in marketing when you don't know what to say to bring clients in. That is a waste of your time and your effort, and you just don't have a whole lot of it. Number three, for the love of all things good in the world, do marketing that you actually like. You don't have to love it. No one really loves marketing. But if you somewhat enjoy it, that is a very good sign.

Michelle Mazur [00:10:55]: Alright. So that is it for this slightly ranty episode. I will see you next week to help make your marketing suck less and be way more effective and in getting the clients you need. Until then, remember, there's no one right way to market your business. There's just your way.

Michelle Mazur [00:11:18]: If the Make Marketing Suck Less pod is making your marketing more effective so that your clients can find and hire you, please share the show with a friend. The easiest way to do that is through pod link. You can find the show at pod.link/rebel, and that page will allow anyone you share the show with to subscribe and start listening in their favorite podcast player.

That's pod.link/rebel.

The Make Marketing Suck Less podcast is a production of Communication Rebel. Our production coordinator is Jessica Gulley-Ward. The podcast is edited by Steven Mills, our executive producer is me, Dr. Michelle Mazur.

The make marketing suck less podcast is recorded on the unseated traditional lands of the coast salish peoples, specifically the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish people, original stewards of the land, past, and present.