If you’re heading into 2026 thinking, “I need a better marketing plan,” this episode will challenge that.

Most consultants and service providers assume their slow marketing results are about visibility…consistency…or needing to “do more.”

But there’s a single shift — a foundational one — that quietly determines whether your marketing works or feels like guesswork.

In this short episode, I break down:

• The invisible bottleneck that stalls even the smartest experts
• Why doing more marketing rarely solves the real problem
• The hidden reason your audience isn’t taking the next step
• What changes when you make this one shift heading into the new year
• How 2026 can finally be the year your marketing feels simpler (and more effective)

This isn’t about adding more tactics. It’s not about learning a new platform. It’s about making one change that supports everything else you do.

Give it a listen — it’s short, sharp, and it might just rewire how you think about getting clients next year.

➡️ Ready to make that shift?

If this episode hits home, your next step is simple:

Book a private tour of The Expert Up Club.

Inside the Club, we help you make this shift and turn it into real marketing assets — things like your sales page, lead magnet, signature talk, or outreach strategy — so your marketing finally works.

And if you book your tour by Thursday, you’ll also get a

1:1 Messaging Strategy Session with me (a $500 value).

Together, we’ll map out exactly how to implement this shift in your business so you’re ready for whatever the market throws at us in 2026.

👉 Book your private tour: https://expertup.club

The real talk: After hitting episode 400, I completely disappeared. Not because I was celebrating - but because I was DONE. If you've been marketing for a while, you know this feeling. Here's what happened and why I'm switching things up.

What we're talking about:

• Why I ghosted after episode 400 (spoiler: podcast fatigue is real)
• The question you need to ask when your marketing feels like a slog
• Why the traditional podcast format feels stale AF
• What I'm actually craving in my business
• The new direction: treating this like a Voxer chat or coffee date with you

Want more make marketing suck less in your life? Join my newsletter: https://drmichellemazur.com/newsletter

This podcast originial aired on Real Business Connections! Thank you, Ben Albert, for letting me publish it here.

Does marketing suck?

For many experts, yes, it does! In this conversation, Dr. Michelle Mazur joins Ben Albert to unpack why so many experts struggle with marketing. Often, their deep knowledge and skill are overshadowed by louder, less qualified voices who are simply better communicators.

Michelle explains that the core problem is not ability but communication. Experts tend to rely on their expertise to speak for itself, but in today’s noisy digital space, that’s rarely enough.

Instead of pumping out generic “how-to” content (which Michelle says devalues expertise and makes you replaceable), she urges experts to craft opinion-based or diagnostic messaging grounded in their Three Word Rebellion, a powerful concept to communicate unique value and spark curiosity.She also emphasizes identifying your ideal clients, not just choosing a niche. Once you know who you serve, you can speak directly to their needs and create a clear path for them to work with you.

Dr. Michelle Mazur is the founder and messaging strategist at Communications Rebel. Listen in to tap into her wisdom and expertise.