The Bit Boss

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs

A: Yes. I head up content at MarketingProfs, a resource that offers actionable know-how to help people market their products and services both smarter and better. Oops — does that sound like a commercial? (lol) We have about 321,000 entrepreneurs, small-business owners and marketers as subscribers. As head of content, that means I manage a team that produces content for our Web site, newsletters, conferences, seminars, blog, and so on.

Our contributors come from all walks of life — from the largest corporations to the small companies to solo consultants. They are usually folks that are on my radar in one way or another… because they tend to be leaders in their fields, or writers, or speakers, or content producers in their own right before they meet up with ‘Profs.

Q: Our twitter guest question comes from @adambrault, who asks “What’s the most creative and effective ‘guerilla’ marketing methods you’ve seen?”

A: Wow — that’s a tough one. I guess I’d have to say that most guerilla marketing tactics I hear about impress me less than viral marketing tactics — the difference being that guerrilla marketing ambushes the viewer when he or she least expects it, while viral marketing is content that someone opts to pass around their network because it’s interesting, or cool, or intriguing in some way. Am I pulling a Sarah Palin by answering a different question than the one that was asked…? ; )

Seriously, there are some guerilla marketing tactics that I think are clever. Here in Boston, the Cartoon Network’s late night Adult Swim animated television series “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” got some attention a while ago when their magnetic light displays in and around the city were mistaken for possible explosive devices. That was clever — if a little irresponsible in a post 9-11 world — but it definitely got attention. Viral stuff — things that folks willingly pass around to each other — seems a better approach to me, however.

Q: Over at your personal blog, AnnHandley.com, you have titled the blog A n n a r c h y because of the “general state of disorder and occasional (yes!) chaos” in your life. Do you have long term goals for what you hope to accomplish with your blog? Do you see an end to the chaos?

A: I started A n n a r c h y almost a year ago because I wanted a place to write about stuff I wanted to write about — all the non-marketing flotsam, the non-business jetsam, the real stuff that’s under the hood, the underbelly, the chaos inside. All that stuff that had been bouncing around inside of me — and inside a lot of us — but I had never really written down. It’s a little scary to write about sometimes, but I felt compelled.

I started it with no particular goal beyond that. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the way people relate to it. I love writing there — mostly, aside from the occasional fear I still have — but I love the comments almost more, and community of people who have become regular readers. That’s pretty cool, and I’m grateful for every one of them.

And no, the chaos is ongoing. At least, I hope so. Life would be boring without an underbelly.

Q: The Huffington Post is quite the gig! Tell us about about how you got chosen to contribute!

A: I asked. Seriously… it wasn’t any more difficult than that. HuffPo is a great publication, and Arianna Huffington is one of my personal inspirations for what she’s accomplished. What’s great about the publication is that it is inclusive of all kinds of voices.

Q: What does Ann like to do for fun when she isn’t blogging or sharing her wisdom on Twitter?

A: Well, I just finished beating both of my kids at Wii tennis. I just love to make them cry….

Seriously, I do work a lot, and when I’m not working, I’m usually taxiing the kids someplace. But when I’m not doing either, I love hanging with my two kids, walking my lovable and silly dogs, sharing a bottle of wine with my longtime boyfriend, or reading a really good book on the beach in southern Maine, which is probably my most favorite place on earth. Don’t tell anyone — but I’m kinda boring.

Tags: 5 questions, ann handley, conferences, craig sutton, marketing strategies, marketingprofs

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 10:51 pm and is filed under 5 Questions With.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.