The Revenue Rockstars Series continued with a live-streamed session featuring marketing industry icon Ann Handley! The session entitled, “Writing for Response and Revenue,” focused on how today’s marketers can effectively create engaging Marketing and Sales content for response and revenue growth. In this blog, we’ll outline some of the key advice from Ann Handley. Don’t miss these highlights and takeaways she shared in this action-packed session.
If you’d like to watch the webinar in full, you can check it out here. Be sure to sign up for our full Revenue Rockstars Series, running through January 2022, here.
We’re thrilled to help attendees learn more about how revenue rockstars grow revenue throughout the entire marketing funnel in this new webinar series. Through the live sessions, you’ll have the opportunity to attend each show and participate in Q&A sessions. And we’ll share key takeaways on our blog, like these notes from our session with Ann Handley.
Ann Handley on the evolution of content marketing
I think that the focus on revenue in this series is really important here. I think if there’s one thing that we’ve seen over the past 18 months or so, it’s the importance of content. Not just top of funnel, right? Not just as a way to attract customers or prospects to us, but also as a way to nurture them, to convert them, to think about building relationships post-sale, as well. So I think what we’re seeing really is content growing up. It’s no longer just top of funnel, it’s no longer siloed. It’s really increasingly being integrated throughout the sales and marketing function, which to me, you know, it’s kind of about time. And I think it’s a really watershed moment for marketing and sales.
Ann on 3 questions people consider when reading your content
I think about how we should be writing to drive revenue and to engage with our prospects and with our customers. The thing to think about is that when your prospects come to your website, to your social channels, almost anything that you publish or produce, they’re thinking about three different things.
They’re thinking about — do I see myself reflected in your words and in your copy? Do I see myself? And then secondly, do I trust you? Like everything that you are producing, does it seem like you’re the best fit for me? Can I trust that you will be there, not just now, but maybe post-sale if and when there is a problem (and there’s always a problem of some kind or another), right? And so do I see myself? Do I trust you? And the third thing is, do I like you? I think that’s another important piece. And if you think about those three things when you sit down to craft anything that you publish or produce on behalf of a brand, it helps. I think it just really helps you understand how you should be showing up for the people that matter to you and your business.
Ann on what it means to be “authentic” in your writing
I think it’s hard to manufacture authenticity because literally you can’t, right? It has to come from you. It has to come from your brand and the people who are a part of your brand. That’s kind of where it lives. I do think it’s very important to think about being accessible, as well, and sort of another word in content marketing. And that’s why I like humor so much, because I think humor can signal belonging. It can signal that, like, we get you. It can bridge that connection of likability and accessibility. So yeah, that’s another reason why I like humor a lot, and I like the way that humor is so subjective, right? If you can make your audience laugh, that’s a very powerful moment.
Ann Handley on the power of storytelling
I think that the most important thing is to think about the human at the center of your story. And you know, we hear this all the time that you make the customer the hero of your story. But what does that actually mean? It means you know what you do or what you sell is not your story, right? Your story is not your product. Your story is what your product or your service does for the person who matters to you and you find the person that you help — essentially find the person and tell their story. And that will resonate more than anything else that you publish or produce from marketing, right? I think it’s important to think about what you do for the customers.
Ann Handley on why she’s reissuing her book, Everybody Writes
Why am I redoing or reissuing a book that is still selling pretty well? The reason is because there’s a few things in it that I’ve evolved my thinking on for, and we’re going to talk about some of those things today, including newsletters, for example. There’s some things that I wanted to build out. There are some ways that I approach my writing, and my voice has changed in my writing. My voice changed, I wrote that book six years ago. And so when I read it, now I can see ways that I would maybe say things a little differently. So I really just wanted the opportunity to to correct some of those things and to augment some of those things. So that’s what I’m working on.
Ann on how to produce quality content at scale with limited resources
I have literally never met a marketer who has worked at even a massive, massive enterprise organization who has said, “I have all the resources I need. I have the cash money to do whatever I want!” Like, that doesn’t exist. That person does not exist. And so I think we’re all struggling with limited resources. I think the most important thing to do, like if I were you, I would focus on your email newsletter. Because in my mind, the email newsletter is the one asset you can 100 percent own. You are not dependent on algorithms to try to break through. You own that list. You can produce it at scale. I would focus on that, and that’s what’s going to ultimately allow you to build a relationship with one person at one time.
Revenue Rockstars is for marketing agencies and SMB owners looking to help their sales and marketing teams work together to better focus on revenue instead of vanity metrics. If you want to grow your revenue, we invite you to register for our series and add the dates to your calendar to attend the live streams and Q&As.
Check out past sessions
Marketing industry guru Jay Baer helped us launch our Revenue Rockstars Series with a live kickoff, you can watch the event here.
If you missed Mickey Locey’s session, “Beyond the Pitch: Rock Star Moves to Not Only Win Business But Deliver on Your Promise,” you can watch it here.
Check out Karl Sakas’ session, “What CMOs Say When You’re Not In the Room… and How It Can Help You Grow Your Agency,” here.
Check out the SharpSpring Agency Partner Panel session, “From a Seat at the Table to Running the Table: How Modern Marketers Are Winning Revenue,” here.
If you missed Matt Koeppel and Todd Lebo’s session “New Research: Why Your Results are Lacking & 3 Key Strategies for Success,” you can find it here.
Watch Ann Handley’s full session “Writing for Response and Revenue” here.
