– Create ridiculously good content with Ann Handley
On air:
16 December 2014
Click to download the interview
“If we value words more, ultimately we will be better off collectively.”
Ann Handley is the author of Everybody Writes – The Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.
In this interview with Ann about her book Everybody Writes – The Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content, she explains that written text is the glue that holds the company message together. And yet, despite the wealth of different media available to communicate with customers, businesses have become reliant on generic and often boring prose.
Ann Handley believes that good writing is an under-utilised tool that can differentiate businesses from their competitors and can ultimately drive sales.
Listen to this herBusiness interview with Ann Handley to learn:
- Practical dos and don’ts of good writing
- How to differentiate your voice from your competitors
- A guide to the content readers really want
- How to ‘tell true stories well’ rather than just ‘storytelling’
- How to avoid condescending language
- How to write content that drives sales
Ann believes that many marketers shy away from the written word and lack the confidence to write engaging content. Recognising a culture of writer anxiety, she argues that good writing is a skill that everyone can learn, and that – as with exercise – improvement comes with practise.
Ann is also the author of Content Rules and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post.
This post was co-authored by Poppy Johnston. Poppy is currently completing a journalism internship at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She is studying Media and Communications at The University of Sydney.
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About the guest(s)
Ann Handley
Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a rich and trusted resource that helps businesses market their products and services smarter and better. Entrepreneurs, small-business owners and marketers in the world’s largest corporations make up its 361,000 subscribers, making it the largest in its category. (Does that sound like marketing-speak? It’s not; it’s just true.) She is an 12-year veteran of creating and managing digital content to build relationships for organizations and individuals. Also, she’s a writer who blogs at her personal blog, A n n a r c h y, as well as American Express OPEN Forum, Mashable, and The Huffington Post. Previously, Ann was the co-founder of ClickZ, one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary. She lives near Boston in a slightly creaky, comfortable house with 2 kids, 4 dogs, good coffee in the kitchen, decent wine in the cellar, a stack of New Yorkers by the bed, and an occasional field mouse in the laundry room.
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