Michelle Mazur is a messaging expert who helps brands of all shapes and sizes craft their own unique and powerful messages. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. But with her “3-Word Rebellion” approach—drawing on social movements and her background in market research—Michelle helps brand builders simplify and clarify. She shares how this week on the On Brand podcast.

About Michelle Mazur

Dr. Michelle Mazur is a messaging expert who works with brilliant business owners who are shaking things up but having trouble talking about it. She combines the tools of successful social movements with the qualitative research skills she earned in her Communications Ph.D. to help them craft their powerful, captivating message. The author of the 3 Word Rebellion, host of the Rebel Uprising podcast and featured in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Inc., she knows that speaking about what you do in a clear and captivating way is the key to reaching the people you could help the most and making more money in your business.

Episode Highlights

“We are terrible at describing what we do!” Michelle exclaimed as we began our conversation. Why is this? Part of it is the Curse of Knowledge but she also cited the work of Lee Lefever noting that our level of knowledge on our business or area of expertise is often Level 10. The mistake we make is addressing our audience at Level 6 when they’re actually at a Level 2.

The Russian nesting dolls of messaging. The metaphor was mine but Michelle’s definitions for these concepts imply this hierarchy. “What is messaging? It’s what you want to say. Copywriting is how you turn that into words. And marketing amplifies this—but you have to have the messaging first.”

Just three words? How does this work?!? As Michelle explained, 3-Word Rebellions are everywhere. “Look at Simon Sinek and Start with Why and Tim Ferris with the Four-Hour Work Week. This has its roots in social movements such as Black Lives Matter, Make America Great Again, and Me Too. You want to create curiosity around the change you want to see in customers or your industry.”

What’s one thing listeners can do to get started? If you’re excited about crafting your 3-Word Rebellion but don’t know where to start, consider this advice from Michelle: “Listen to your clients—they’re constantly talking about you. Plus, it’s great when you can pull from customer language.”

What brand has made Michelle smile recently? Funko Pops! I couldn’t agree more—with over 20 of the fun figurines adorning my desk and the walls of the On Brand podcast recording studio.

To learn more, check out Michelle’s 3-Word Rebellion audio workshop and her website.

As We Wrap …

Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

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