Michelle Mazur [00:00:00]: Here's a strange and unusual fact about business. Some businesses actually thrive during an economic downturn. Isn't that weird? But here's what it means for you. It means that your business can also thrive. And these businesses are thriving not because they have some BS recession proof service. It's because they know how to position what they do as essential and not optional. And today, I'm going to start sharing with you how to do the same. So let's dive in.

Michelle Mazur [00:00:47]: 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 [00:01:27]: Here’s some real talk. The economy is shaky. I just finished up the launch of the Expert Up Club. It started the day Trump put tariffs in, and it ended the day that he paused tariffs for ninety days. Since the stock market was going up and down like a roller coaster, you can just imagine how my launch performed.

Michelle Mazur [00:01:57]: Not well. People were distracted. And I know, for me, that this means I need to start thinking strategically about how to fix my own messaging and marketing during an economic downturn. And I want to share that with you for three very simple reasons. The first reason is I want you to cultivate business resiliency. I want you to see that no matter what is happening, that there are options. There are levers you can pull that you're not even thinking about. Because if we know how to approach our messaging and our marketing in an economic downturn, then we can put our offers out there a bit differently.

Michelle Mazur [00:02:53]: And when we have resiliency, when we see that we have options, this gives us freedom. And I want you to know that there's always a way to do things differently, because your business is resilient. You are resilient. And if you just take a moment to pause and think about how you can fix your message, fix your marketing, then you too can weather this economic storm. And the second reason I wanted to do this Fix Your Messaging Series is I know that most of the time, like nine out of 10 times, you do not need to change your offer. And that is the first place business owners go. Like, what else can I sell? Can I sell something lower ticket or higher ticket? Maybe I need a completely different framework for how I work with people. And most of the time, you don't need a different offer.

Michelle Mazur [00:04:02]: What you need is to change how you talk about your offers so that people view it as something they need right now, not sometime in the distant future when the economy gets better and they have the budget for you. And finally, reason number three, I wanna help you position your expertise and your offers as necessary, not “nice to have.” Because when budgets tighten, people aren't less interested in solving the problems they have, but they are more selective. They want to see in your messaging and marketing that you put out there that you truly understand what they're going through. You get their problem at a deep, fundamental level, and you know how to solve it in a unique and different way, in a way that gives them a reason not to wait, but to choose you right now. So we're gonna talk about these three concepts over the course of the next few weeks. But to start, I want to talk about something we all experience, even me. The curse of sloppy messaging.

Michelle Mazur [00:05:27]: I'm not saying the word sloppy to shame you. We all suffer from sloppy messaging at one time or other. I think it's good to have a definition of what sloppy messaging is. What it is, it's you're not clearly articulating how your expertise solves an urgent problem for a well defined audience, And that's it. We all have had periods where a message gets a little sloppy. Sometimes it's because we haven't been working intentionally on our messaging. Sometimes, and this is my case right now, it's because our message has evolved and we've evolved, but it's not out there formally yet. Y'all, if you go to my home page right now, drmichellemazur.com, my home page messaging sucks.

Michelle Mazur [00:06:23]: It is not encompassing what I do and it's definitely not positioning me as necessary. I'm definitely would be a luxury item. So I have to update that. And I'm rebuilding the back end of my website. Well, my developer is rebuilding the back end of my website right now. So in the next few weeks, I will be updating that messaging to be more relevant to the shifts in the market, but also more relevant to me and how I'm showing up as a service provider, as a community leader. So how do you know if you have sloppy messaging? I'm gonna give you four signs to be aware of. Actually, it's three signs plus a bonus one that I just wanna talk a little bit about.

Michelle Mazur [00:07:14]: So the first sign is the problem you solve for your client isn't concrete enough. It's too abstract. You're saying things like you're stuck. You're not making the money you want. You're not as healthy as you want to be. And all of those are really super vague. And even for my own Done For You Messaging work, I've really transitioned that messaging from, hey, you don't know what to say in your marketing, to dial into a specific pain point of my people are great at sales, but they're not getting enough people on the sales call, which is a marketing problem. Right? Like, not being able to generate leads, that is a marketing problem.

Michelle Mazur [00:07:59]: And usually, we're not generating the leads because our message isn't doing the job of getting people ready to work with us. So I'm going all in on that very concrete problem. So look at your website. Look at your LinkedIn post, your podcasts. Be more specific about the problem you solve. I know that's hard to do because you feel like, well, what if I'm ruling people out? But in this economic time, people are already ruling you out if you are vague, if they don't see themselves in your message. So if somebody is stuck, what are they stuck at? If they wanna get healthy, what's their specific problem? There are a million reasons we don't feel good. From knee pain to lack of sleep, like figure out what problem your people are solving that you can uniquely solve for them and make your message as relevant as possible.

Michelle Mazur [00:08:59]: Number two. You are using empty buzzwords that make you sound like everyone else. So things like, I transform your business without specifying, like, what are you transforming their business from what to what. I empower women to succeed. I empower women to use their voice. But what does success look like? What does using their voice? How are they using their voice? Ready to take your business to the next level? What does that even mean? Is this an elevator? What level are they at now? And what is the next level? What does success look like? Right? So these are all vague phrases that don't speak to the actual results you get for people. They undermine your value because you are not being specific enough.

Michelle Mazur [00:09:54]: And now I'm not saying you need to promise that they're gonna make 10 figures in ten minutes or any of the other online bullshit, and we're gonna talk about overpromising in just a moment. But how can you be more concrete? What solution do you provide? What result do you help them get? And remember, the results don't have to be big and flashy. What do people typically experience? Like, on average, your average client. And that can become your marketing message. Number three, The vague results you are promising don't connect to the real problems. Right? Achieve success doesn't connect to a problem. My process get results. Cool.

Michelle Mazur [00:10:44]: But what problem does it solve? Maximize your impact and influence. That sounds nice, but I don't know what problem that actually addresses. Like, we have to connect the dots. We just can't say, hey, build a business you love without connecting it to what? Do they hate their business? Is their business not making enough revenue? Like, what is going on? Our jobs as marketers, even reluctant marketers, is to connect the problem they have to the solution you offer. And if you're not doing that, it's sloppy and vague and people don't know exactly what you do. So on my services page for my Done For You work, I make it clear that the reason you're struggling to book sales calls is your marketing message isn't getting people ready for your work, and you've positioned yourself as luxury and not an essential. So if you buy the problem, if you're like, yes, this is the problem I have, and, like, oh, you're right. I am marketing, but the message just isn't working, the next logical step is to work with me.

Michelle Mazur [00:12:00]: So if you can connect the dots, show how your solution solves their very real concrete problem, you are positioning yourself in a place where people won't be as reluctant to hire you because they know what you can do. Alright. And the final sloppy messaging is exaggerated results. This is why I'm giving this one as a bonus because I know all of you don't do this next one because you listen to me and you most likely also listen to Duped, the Dark Side of Online Business, which is coming back shortly. If it's not, I'll back already by the time you hear this. But watch out for exaggerated promises without substance. And a lot of coaches and messaging strategists out there will encourage you to go this route. So skyrocket your revenue, experience a breakthrough in your business, create exponential growth.

Michelle Mazur [00:13:02]: My proven system guarantees results. None of that means anything. It is all vapor. It is all word salad. So what can you actually promise your people? I call this the Why Buy statement, and this is the most compelling reason to work with you. And it combines what your clients want and the results you feel are typical, where, like, 90 per percent of people achieve that result. And this is something you'll learn to create inside The Expert Up Club. So if you're not, get on the interest list for the Expert Up Club for the next time we open.

Michelle Mazur [00:13:45]: It is at expertup.club. I'd love to chat with you about the Expert Up Club. So the bottom line is sloppy messaging is vague. It doesn't get specific. It undermines the value that you create. You're not showcasing the concrete problem you solve. You're not reflecting your potential client's lived experience so that they know you're talking to them, and you're not connecting the dots between the problem, the solution, and the results. We have to connect those dots.

Michelle Mazur [00:14:23]: That's part of making our argument for our work. So in tough economic times, we can't afford to be sloppy with our messaging. People want us to get down to the brass tacks of what we do and the value we create. The more we can do that, the more specific we can get, the better positioned we will be to thrive and weather whatever is next that's coming for us in this economy.

Michelle Mazur [00:14:54]: 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.