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Strategy

Do NOT Break This Marketing Rule if You Want to Sell Anything

I’m a bit of a rebel and I think I always have been.

I’d rather paint outside the lines than try and fit in.

I like expressing myself. I like exploring and experimenting.

Even when I’m the only one doing it.

Even if it means going against the norm.

Even if it means bending or even breaking the rules sometimes.

I remember back in high school when my geometry teacher gave us equations to solve on the chalkboard.

When I got to the front of the class, I quickly wrote my answer and something compelled me to sketch a giant picture of an elephant on roller skates around it…

My classmates loved it and soon they started drawing pictures around their answers.

It became a thing… and drawing problem sets on the board became a lot more fun and interesting — at least for us.

My teacher didn’t quite see it that way…

While I got an A in the class, I got a C for behavior!

Letting my “inner rebel” run free has gotten me into a bit of trouble sometimes but it’s also helped me stand by my values and stand up for what I believe in, even in the face of resistance, pushback and even criticism.

And here’s the best part…

Accepting myself — inner rebel and all — and being who I truly am is the the secret behind my success as an entrepreneur…

I get to do what I love and I get paid well for it — Live Your Message is now a multi-million dollar business.

The moral of this story? When you show up as who you are, you’re going to find success because you’ll be following the #1 Rule in Marketing…

Don’t be boring. Ever!

The Cloak of Invisibility

Sharing a boring marketing message is like wrapping yourself in Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility…

No one’s going to see you, hear you or pay any attention to you…

And if they don’t know you exist, guess what? They’re not going to buy from you.

In marketing, boring is just another word for indistinguishable and indistinguishable is sales suicide.

People will get bored — they’ll “switch off” — when they hear the same thing over and over again. They’ll switch off when they can’t tell the difference between what you’re doing, saying and selling with what everyone else in your industry is doing, saying and selling.

In the marketing world, this “switch off” is called “mental opt out.” And the worst thing? When someone opts out, you’ve lost them…

And they’re never coming back.

Turn Up the Volume

There’s only ONE antidote for the switch off and mental opt out:

Turn up the volume on your unique expression.

Dig deep and infuse your marketing messages and content with your personal style, your beliefs, your values and what you stand for.

Do that and you’ll never bore people into a mental opt.

Here’s the thing…

There’s no one else in the whole world quite like you.

When you adopt a fearless, “this is who I am” approach, you’ll easily stand out from the crowd.

You’ll consistently create marketing and content that grabs attention because everything you put out there integrates your unique perspective.

So, here’s what I want you to do…

Go over your key marketing messages and campaigns and while you’re at it, take a look at your sales and value content — your emails, blog posts, sales pages, opt in pages and your website.

As you’re working through all of that material, I want you to ask these questions:

  1. Is this who you really are? Does your content look, sound and feel like you?
  2. Does your marketing reflect your values, what you believe in and what you stand for?

Play the Reframe Game

Not being boring isn’t about reinventing the wheel.

There’s no need to come up with 100% original, unique or incredibly innovative messages to get people to sit up and take notice.

You just need to find a way to say it YOUR way and reframe a message in a way that both aligns with who you are and cuts through the noise.

We do this all the time at Live Your Message.

There are countless marketing and branding experts out there, but LYM stands out because we have a unique way of crafting and sharing our ideas, insights and expertise that’s congruent with who we are.

We don’t say, “Become the #1 Authority in Your Field.”

We say, “Be the Superhero to Your Tribe.”

We don’t ask you to “find your passion and your gifts.”

We ask, “What’s your secret entrepreneurial superpower?”

These are fun, fresh yet down-to-earth messages that reflect my personality and my unique perspective…

And guess what?

These messages stand out and they resonate with thousands and thousands of students, clients and customers…

And we’re attracting more and more people to our tribe every day.

NOT breaking the #1 Rule in marketing — NOT being boring — and staying true to our value of authentic self-expression is at the heart of our success at Live Your Message.

So, how about you?

How can you not break the #1 Rule? How can you stop being a snooze fest? What’s one thing you can do to spice up your messaging and how can you add more YOU in your business?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Love it? Hate it? Let me know...

  1. Richard Mowrey Avatar
    Richard Mowrey

    Excellent message flow here…

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Thanks Richard! 🙂

  2. VictoriaSwan Avatar
    VictoriaSwan

    Hi! I just had a breakthrough yesterday. I realized I had internalized what an important-to-me told me: that my vision was not authentic and that it was not for me to hold. I had no idea that I was living by this totally wrong belief. So this morning I see your email about being oneself! Perfect. Thansk!

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      First of all, I love the phrase “important-to-me” as a noun lol but yes, no one else can tell you what is authentically “you” and what is not. Those answers, by definition, must come from with in. So I totally agree about ditching that belief 🙂 Thanks for sharing Victoria!

  3. Ognyan Avatar
    Ognyan

    Wow, there’s a lot to digest from your article, Marisa! Every day I am finding new dillussions we are cling on due to our society limiting beliefs. What if not a great way to go out of the borring to just point – Hey, there is something really wrong here! BTW I love your rebel style!

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Thanks so much Ognyan! And I totally agree thanks for sharing 🙂

  4. Azlan Avatar
    Azlan

    I’m enjoying your messages ; struggling myself with disasters and survival. I would love to have the stability to put my communications out. I’m too unstable too much moving and clearing of grief and limitations to overcome to get here

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Hi Azlan, I’m sorry to hear you’re going through a tough time. Once you regain some of that stability (and I know you WILL — keep your head up), I recommend you check out this monster blog post I created about stepping into the spotlight and creating a personal brand that expresses who you are authentically and unapologetically: https://www.liveyourmessage.com/ug/personal-branding/ I think you’ll get a lot out of it. Wishing you all the best <3

  5. Gerrie, Executive Impact Coach Avatar
    Gerrie, Executive Impact Coach

    Maria, Perfect timing for your message. I’m revamping my marketing messages to have more pop and energy to them and marketing images to have more vibrant colors – both reflect my natural style. I love your rebel self.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Thank you Gerrie <3 and that sounds awesome! Can't wait to see what that looks like for you 🙂

  6. Jennifer Parker Brown Avatar
    Jennifer Parker Brown

    Yep I still don’t feel my mission message is unboring yet!!! Still working on it!!

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Keep it up Jennifer! You will get there ?

  7. Kitimbo Annette Avatar
    Kitimbo Annette

    When i went the beginning of the month to checkout of my customers the first supermarket they told me to change my product, then the send please they did the same so what should i do becuse thet gave me options different from my product so what should I i do

  8. Rosalyn Avatar
    Rosalyn

    Love it! Thank you.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      So glad you enjoyed this 🙂

  9. Eivind Andersen Avatar
    Eivind Andersen

    Hi Marisa. I wonder, who IS to tell that we have a boring content on our website. Is a website not subjective to who made it? And again, if we all follow the same “rule” will our website not look alike?

    I say; If YOU are happy by your website, why change it?

    Yes, after 1 or 2 years you might want to make new content anyway, to show the website is still alive, but again, make it as YOU think it should look.

    Now, I do not say that your work is not relevant for some Marisa, I just reflect over if everybody needs it. :o)

    Have a nice week!

    Regards Eivind

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Sure Eivind, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so is “boring”.. what is “boring” to a teenager might be highly engaging to an adult and vice versa. I think the key is knowing your audience and predicting what might be “boring” to them… and then doing the opposite. Great insights, thank you for sharing 🙂

  10. Leah Cochrane Avatar
    Leah Cochrane

    I have to practice not being boring to my ideal client. I have a little problem in that I highly amuse myself. Unfortunately (my children tell me) I’m way more boring than I think I am. So I will continue to amuse myself but perhaps learn an additional repertoire of ways to be interesting to others as well as myself! Particularly my ideal client. Thanks for the really good blog entries–I get a lot out of them.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Lol love that Leah! And yeah, unless your kids are your ideal client, I wouldn’t take their opinion to heart on this one 😉

  11. Christine Lutley Avatar
    Christine Lutley

    Let me start by saying you are brilliant at what you do.

    And Ah-ha.You are a Rebel. That must be why some of the messages in your e-mails make me want to scream at you, when I am not a screamer. You do stand out and you do create an impression. You are a clear role model for being you. May I ask, are you a Myers-Briggs ESTP? I ask because that is exactly opposite to my personality type INFJ type.

    King Arthur and a Quest matches my personality better than Maxwell Smart and a mission. I shall give this some serious thought and make adjustments in the words used in my messaging. I’ll use the tools and adjust the words to stand out that matches who I am. That is a big ah-ha for me. Thank you.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Thank you Christine! I hope you’re screaming in a good way lol 😉 And I love that idea about King Arthur and a Quest. It’s original and adventurous — I like it! Thanks for sharing <3

  12. Mary Stephenson Avatar
    Mary Stephenson

    Maybe I need to start drawing elephants around my content! Yes, I definitely need to re-think how to not lose someone before they event start. I can be funny, but you gotta get them to read first. I have stories and experiences, funny and heartbreaking. In depth research which benefit others but unless they know where you are at, it doesn’t rattle any cages. Any you become knowledge alone residing on an island by yourself. Nice to know an interesting side of what many people fail at.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      LOL elephants would definitely be interesting Mary! But yes, I agree that no matter how valuable and informative your research or message is, no one is going to read it or get it if it’s not presented in an interesting and engaging manner — in a way they can relate to and use in their own life 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  13. Jordan Avatar
    Jordan

    I like a lot of what you are saying but You say this is a multi million dollar business?

    Is there anyway you can show me your last tax return to prove this and give all you say some credibility and transparency?

    I honestly believe these qualities trump any else written here.

    Thanks a million
    Jordan.

    1. Marisa Murgatroyd Avatar
      Marisa Murgatroyd

      Hi Jordan, while I’m all about credibility and transparency, I’m not going to share any tax docs publicly. Since Live Your Message started in 2011, we have grown to 4.5 million in revenue… You’ll just have to take my word for it 😉 What we really care about at LYM (more so than our bottom line) is the transformations our students experience through our products & programs. We’re all about empowering entrepreneurs who have a big message for the world to get out there and make a difference. And we have plenty of proof to back that up 🙂 Just check out what our Experience Product Masterclass students (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfPvBGbFw_8nYVzmqML8Q1WYd_FokDY2-) and our Message to Money Live attendees (https://www.liveyourmessage.com/m2mlive/2019/#testimonials) had to say about us.

  14. Nkwo Peter Akachukwu Avatar
    Nkwo Peter Akachukwu

    Helpful to me, Life and Honey.

    1. Shannon Goodell Avatar
      Shannon Goodell

      Thrilled you found it helpful!

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