Last November I received an e-mail from a nice lady named Ann, asking that I add her site to an aggregator I had created. I gladly obliged after the exchange of a few e-mails, not realizing the networking and journalistic aficionado I was conversing with. After being interviewed by her, I promised to return the favour, possibly on another site I helped run (YGG) and would get right back to her.
Much like a healthy baby, this interview finally came to life, nine months later. (Entirely my fault.)
So, without further ado, a long overdue interview with a brilliant individual from MarketingProfs, Ann Handley.
Having a journalistic background, what made you initially pursue such a career and guided you down the marketing path?
I could tell you that I encountered the Internet and something inside me clicked about the enormous potential for publishing and for the way we do business. But that’s not quite right….
Here’s the boring truth: I was a business journalist in Boston. On the side, I freelanced as a daily reporter for community newspapers as well as, eventually, The Boston Globe. I realized that the daily newspaper business was pretty intense and wouldn’t afford me the balance I wanted in my work and family life, so I sought out opportunities that gave me more flexibility, were intellectually interesting, and put some cash in my pocket. Yeah, pretty much in that order.
While we might debate whether Twitter is a appropriate content vehicle, tons of people out there are just starting to understand what in God’s name a blog is!
In the late 1990s, with a 3-month-old baby on my hip, I co-founded ClickZ from my home office to develop its editorial. In 1997, the concept of doing business on the Internet was a rapidly emerging thing. Businesses were just beginning to embrace the potential of buying, selling, and marketing themselves on the web, and there wasn’t a lot of B2B information on how to do that.
Pretty soon, I realized that I had a knack for finding and nurturing good writers. I enjoyed directing a publication’s general editorial voice, perspective, and mission… in shaping what was becoming known as “content.” I loved web publishing.
We sold ClickZ after 3 years, in 2000, and when my noncompete expired, I dropped a line to Allen Weiss. Allen, a professor at USC and contributor to Upside, had launched an up and coming site called MarketingProfs. In a sweet bit of irony, I had unknowingly rejected Allen as a columnist for ClickZ several years before — when I was on my way out — but he didn’t hold it against me. I volunteered (literally!) to take the content off his hands. Allen didn’t argue, and we became a team of two.
Five years later, MarketingProfs has more than 260,000 subscribers, 20 employees, and more products and services than you probably want to read about here!
You are the Chief Content Officer. Quite the fancy title if I may say so. What exactly does such a position entail? What’s your routine on most days?
Actually, I don’t view my title as “fancy.” I see it as pretty accurate. Content is the cornerstone of a publication, and particularly of the business of MarketingProfs, so it makes sense that its caretaker — the one who oversees the creation and management of it — resides in the C-suite.
Essentially, I am responsible for all the content that MarketingProfs produces — from research and reports to case studies to its newsletters to online seminars to the blog, among other things. Obviously, I don’t go it alone… we have an editorial team of 7 or 8 highly competent and very smart people who are simply great at what they do — particularly Editorial Director Val Frazee, who with me shoulders a lot of the burden.
I can’t say I have a typical daily routine — unlike in my daily reporter years when your schedule is defined by that daily deadline. But I spend most of my day online and on the phone — because MarketingProfs is a virtual company, I spend a lot of time talking to colleagues. I probably spend 90 percent of my work hours online. Actually — make that 99.
You’ve put together a roster of some the biggest names in the world of marketing who regularly contribute to the Daily Fix. How do you approach and convince these writers and what’s in it for them?
I use the usual tools to convince bloggers — or any writer — to write for us: Pestering. Badgering. Stalking, when all else fails.
Kidding.
…for a community to grow, there has to be someone — or several someones — on staff who enjoy(s) nurturing it. The garden needs someone to care for it and feed it… otherwise it withers.
I can’t say I’ve had to do the hard sell with any of them. I can’t say that the reason is the same for every author, but because MarketingProfs has assembled some of the sharpest minds in marketing, it’s a kick to be included in such a lineup. And because the MarketingProfs site and blog has such great reach, writers and bloggers get exposure to a broader and more varied audience than they might otherwise. It helps them to grow their reputation, their “brand,” and elevate their profile among marketers.
One more thing- we have really strong safeguards against self-promotion. We don’t let authors use MarketingProfs as a platform to promote themselves — and by that I mean, getting a byline — without giving something back to the audience they are serving. In other words, we respect the audience. I mention it here because this is another reason authors tell me they want to write for MarketingProfs: because our editorial products are viewed as reputable and trustworthy, which furthers elevates their stature. In terms of direct promotion — I always tell authors, “Less is more.”
When you have such an extensive group of contributors who each live in different parts of the World and have other jobs and commitments, how do you generate ideas for articles with them and manage their editorial process?
It’s a collaborative process. Sometimes ideas come from me — sparked by some reading or conversation or whatever — but more often than not, ideas come from the authors themselves. Our authors are people who are in the trenches — who have the business of marketing in their blood. They get fired up about an idea or a passion — and they want to write about it.
Occasionally I get an inquiry from a prospective author that asks something like, “So what do you want me to write about?” I’d rather hear what’s interesting to them, rather than tell them what’s interesting to me, because that’s the where the best content comes from.
Much of the mass media seems to be slowly shifting from talking at people to talking with, enabling something as simple as comments. Why do you think they’re so hesitant and took so long to allow some form of immediate feedback from their readers?
Yes — I love that the media is embracing “the conversation” by enabling comments, adding blogging beats, incorporating user-generated content, and the like. They are increasingly giving a voice to the communities and audience they serve, which only strengthens the media companies themselves.
I appreciate that it’s a pretty scary thing — because it means losing some control on your turf. Media companies — like all companies — feel very proprietary about their products, and the best ones obviously invest a lot of time and money in to finding the best writers and editors to produce and manage it. Opening up the doors widely is a little like having a giant open house: What if that jerk from Apt. 4C dominates conversation in the living room? What if there’s someone whispering behind my back? What if someone comes just to case the joint..? So I understand the fear, but I’m glad it’s starting to change.
In some cases, particularly with print media, it’s taken a while for the technology to be embraced by their audiences. Many newspaper readers, for example, aren’t exactly on the cutting edge of technology. Increasingly, though, people who used to rely on the morning newspaper to thud on their doorstep are getting their news online, so it’s a natural extension for the newspapers themselves to start finding ways to engage their audiences there. (Often, of course, they are being forced to pursue those alternatives by their competition.)
As an aside, it’s good for people like us to remember that there is huge audience out there only now embracing social media online. Here’s what I mean: While we might debate whether Twitter is a appropriate content vehicle, tons of people out there are just starting to understand what in God’s name a blog is!
With over 288,000 members at Marketing Profs, what are some of the key ways you’ve been able to acquire such a staggering count and foster the community?
That 288,000 number refers to the number of newsletter subscribers, which has as much to do with the nuts and bolts of growing a Web site — optimizing the site for search, for example, along with newsletter co-registration, partnerships and other marketing — as it does with the content, which obviously plays a huge role. That being said, we’ve been fostering a sense of community here before it was considered a business strategy. Four years ago, we launched the MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange forum — essentially, a community of marketers who offer advice and answers to thorny business problems. Since then, we added the blog and added the ability for attendees to our virtual seminars to interact with each other during a seminar.
For a publication — or any company, for that matter — to excel at building community, there needs to be someone high up in management who “gets it.” There has to be someone who supports the notion that community is worth pursuing, even without a clear path to sales, because at some point, someone in management is going to ask that question, “Yeah, but what’s the ROI?” At MarketingProfs, there are a few of us here in leadership roles who really believe in the power of community.
What if that jerk from Apt. 4C dominates conversation in the living room? What if there’s someone whispering behind my back? What if someone comes just to case the joint..?
At the same time you need someone on the management side, by the way, you also need those who are willing to do the hard work of engaging with the community, day in and day out. Someone has to walk the walk, in other words. Someone has to “own” it. And it doesn’t always have to be a single person — actually, I think it’s better if it’s not. For example: I own it in the blog and MarketingProfs Today newsletter. (And I’m experimenting with it in Twitter and on Facebook.) Editorial Director Val Frazee plays it in the Know-How Exchange and with the small business newsletter and readership. Virtual Seminar “Mission Control” Officer Shelley Ryan heads it up in the seminar area and with our paid “Premium” members, and MP President Roy Young owns it on the conference circuit. (I’m oversimplifying by some degree — there’s more overlap and collaboration among staff — but that’s generally the way it shakes out.)
To clairfy: I’m not suggesting that certain staff people “own” it as a business in full. I’m just saying that certain people on staff seem to gravitate — either by design or default — to “owning” the growth of certain MarketingProfs communities. I’m saying that for a community to grow, there has to be someone — or several someones — on staff who enjoy(s) nurturing it. The garden needs someone to care for it and feed it… otherwise it withers.
In both your business and personal life, what are some of your favourite sources of inspiration?
Well, lots of different kinds of writing inspires me — both personally and on a business level. There are probably too many writers for me to list here — but I read a lot of books, magazines, news sites, blogs and other web sites. Like a lot of editorial types I know, I have a giant appetite for words; I can browse a library or bookstore for hours and come away feeling full.
The development of social media and social networking tools inspires me. I can’t claim to have figured out the full potential for all of it, but I think there is something very cool about the connectivity, transparency, and capacity to build community among like-minded people, personally and professionally, that I find really interesting.
There’s a few women I really admire, too, who inspire me because they forged their own path: Arianna Huffington, for one. (And I’m not just saying that because I write for her site.) Musician Patty Larkin, for two.
And more than anything else, of course: My crazy kids. My crazy dogs. My decidedly sane boyfriend.
Schmaltzy, I know. But nothing is more truly inspiring for me than them.
You’ve written for the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and plenty of other publications. You’re a highly respected authority in the marketing biz. What’s left to do?
What I really want to do is direct. : )
Seriously — there’s plenty left for me to do. Just what — well, I’m not sure. Life has a funny way of serving up opportunities when you’re ready for them.
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