TA #138: 🍺 Why Clear Beats Clever; Slow Moments; AI for Content Creators [new program]

You're doing great. [Click here to read this on the web](. [Ann Handley's biweekly/fortnightly newsletter, "Total Annarchy"]( ?awt_a=8LvK&awt_l=OZZuR&awt_m=3c4gAwSugtUyQvK Source: [Getty]( Welcome to the 138th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, marketing, living your best life. I'm glad you're here. Was this email forwarded to you? Get yours: [Subscribe here.]( Boston, Sunday, May 21, 2023 It's me... hi! (And Happy Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium Weekend to all who celebrate.) While in Maine last week, I notice a new, free magazine in a local grocery store. The title: [Beer & Weed](. The subject: Well... beer. And weed (which is legal in Maine). To be clear, I'm not the target audience for the magazine. I am part of neither the craft beer nor the cannabis dispensary communities—in Maine or anywhere. But something about the mashup delights me. Also there is the cover story: A Mother's Day feature about moms who brew craft beer and moms who own cannabis dispensaries. The cover reads, "Mom's the Boss," subtitled "Having and Raising Children while Brewing and Growing." It features a photo of a Mom with her two adorable babies. (You can see the issue [here]( [May '23 cover of Beer & Weed]( While I am hunting in the aisles of the grocery store (unfamiliar layout—always a bit of an adventure), I have time to think of a better headline. Maybe instead of "Mom's the Boss" we go with "Whine, Women, and Bong." So I applied for the job of Beer & Weed's Head of Content. And I work there now. * * * Just kidding about that last part. * * * Now I'm waiting to check out. The store is packed. I eyeball the shortest line and the shoppers who have the fewest items. And who don't look like they'll be trouble. I'm 6 carts away from the register. What is it exactly that delights me about this particular magazine? ➡️ EXTREME FOCUS IS OUR FRIEND. Beer. Weed. Full stop. No bourbon. No whiskey. No cigars. Zero vaping. The name of the magazine gives away its sole focus. Tell your audience exactly what your product or service is... and what it's not. We tend to go too broad in Marketing. We want to attract as big an audience as we can get, when really we should delight the smallest audience. We should aim to tell the smallest stories. >> Saying no is an underused skill: What don't you talk about? is as important a question to answer as what you do talk about. I'm inching closer to the cash register. ➡️ A CLEAR NICHE. Wouldn't it be extreme-er focus if Beer & Weed focused on one or the other? Just beer? Just weed? No. The mashup is what creates the specificity—and the smaller audience. It turns out that the craft beer and cannabis communities share a kind of fan-DNA: Fans of one are often fans of the other. (And the hops in beer is a genetic cousin of cannabis.) In the age of content abundance and AI, tap into a spin/angle/point of view that others can't replicate in quite the same way. I am close enough to observe the check-out person. I'm grateful he doesn't appear to be overly chatty. I'm in a hurry. ➡️ CLEAR BESTS CLEVER. I love wordplay. I live for clever. But don't sacrifice clarity—especially in big, at-a-glance places: Titles. Navigation bars. Calls to action. Landing pages. >> Ditch the abstract and artful in the places where you need to convey a quick hit of information. I just realized I'm in the 10 items on less line. Ugh. It's too late to bail. ➡️ WRITING IS RHYTHM. Repetition creates rhythm. The repetition of that double ee in beer and weed is subtle but solid. It doesn't rhyme. But it has a kind of percussion. Great writing has beats, notes, pauses, full stops. Words are sounds you hear in your head. Sentences thrum and vibrate to make the paragraph; the paragraphs make the whole page sing. A writer hears that music in their head. A writer chooses to put this phrase before that one to make the melody just so. I turn over that double ee in beer and weed in my head. It's simple. It's nice. Craft & Cannabis wouldn't make music; it sounds like something AI would write when you prompt it to include alliteration. I'm at the checkout. Welp, might as well own it. "I have 17 items," I blurt out to the cashier. I hate people like me. Turns out **I** am the problem. "It's OK," he says. Unfazed. The bagger tosses the free magazine in with my groceries. He doesn't give it a second thought. Unlike me. And now, I hope, you. 😃 * * * EVERYBODY WRITES TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT This week's action item: Audit the language you use to describe your products, your company, your value. You're looking to find places where you use abstract concepts instead of concrete specifics. Root them out on your landing pages, product pages, the pages of your conversion funnels, email signups—anywhere where you want a customer or prospect to be able to clearly visualize ***exactly*** how you make their lives better. Pull them out. Stand them against the wall. Ditch the abstract. Replace anything that you can't visualize immediately with something concrete and specific. "Get a quote" ▶️ "Start saving now" "Ready-to-use sauces" ▶️ "Meet your new pantry staple" Sell the experience. Show how you deliver, not just the what you deliver. "Great cars at the best prices" ▶️ "We treat customers like adults not like idiots" "New lower price" ▶️ "Pay less than you thought you would" Replace I or we with you. I or we is about the company; you is about the customer. "Our latest product updates" ▶️ "These new product updates will help you sell globally" "New lower price" ▶️ "Pay less than you expected 10 minutes ago" HOW TO CREATE LASTING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES [NEW GUIDE] [Ann and Sitecore]( ✨ Wanna know the best collaboration of 2023? ✨ It's not Taylor Swift + Lana Del Ray... It's Sitecore + me! Team Sitecore + I collabed on a brand new how-to guide to help marketers create exceptional, lasting customer experiences. Let's face it... whether we are buying shoes or software or T-Swift at Gillette concert tickets (I'm going tonight!), we are often not recognized, respected, served, or truly seen for who we are: People who matter to the business. Why is that? My hot take: It's because the brands themselves have not slowed down to walk through the experience they're delivering. We haven't paused to align 4 important elements. 👉 Because sometimes slower is faster. (More on this in a second.) What are those 4 important elements? How do we align them? It's here in this stylish guide. The guide is loaded like a loaded baked potato with great insights and advice, and packed with specific how-tos from established brands truly **killing it** at digital engagement. Oh, and I wrote the foreword. So you know it's a fun read. [Download the Smart Mover Guide here](. (Reg. required; worth it.) SLOW MOMENTS Copy/content writer Carol Hillegas messages me to say she's been reading [Everybody Writes 2]( slowly, "so I can really digest and internalize it." "My default is GOGOGO GETITDONE with most things," Carol says, "and I've been realizing that I need to slow down and really focus." Relatable, Carol. That's my default, too. I'm wired for speed. It's a struggle to slow down. But I've been thinking a lot about this idea lately: those critical moments when slowing down actually delivers results faster. When we're: >Taking in new information. >Internalizing ideas to make them our own. Pushing to go faster isn't always the best approach. Do you agree? Hit reply and tell me. Related: Slow Marketing Moment: [A Snack Mix Story from 30,000 Feet]( DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS [If copywriting did a music festival](. (h/t the excellent Dave Harland) SELECT EVENTS [Event: AI for Content Creators]( 📅 JUNE 13-14: [THE ON24 EXPERIENCE]( [free, virtual] 📅 JUNE 21-AUG 8: [AI for Content Creators]( [8 weekly sessions, virtual] 📅 OCT 4-6: [MarketingProfs B2B Forum]( [EARLY BIRD ENDS SOON!] * * * Thanks for reading this far. Thanks for your kindness and generosity. Stay sane. Stay healthy. See you again on June 4. [Ann Handley]( P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, there are 4 WAYS THIS WEEK! PICK ONE right now before you forget: 1) [buy the new book](. 2) Forward this newsletter to a friend with an invitation to subscribe right here: [www.annhandley.com/newsletter](. 3) Hit reply and say hello. 4) [Hire me to speak](. SPECIAL THANKS to [AWeber]( being the provider of choice for Total Annarchy. 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