TA #63: 🍋 How to Find a Job Right Now; Making Hard Lemonade Out of Lemons

Hey, you. You're doing great. .

Welcome to the 63rd issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, content, marketing, life. Thank You for being here on this Juneteenth weekend. I see you. 👀 I appreciate you. P.S. Was this email forwarded to you? You need your own!

Boston, Sunday, June 21, 2020

Hi, friend.

Millions of new college grads are now vaulting into adulthood and trying to stick the landing on a mat slippery with uncertainty.

Here's the data: Three in four college students who had secured internships or post-graduation work have had those plans skid sideways thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to a College Reaction poll.

So today I'm sharing a special edition of TA, with two things on deck for newly-minted marketers (or anyone looking for their next gig).

First up: How to find work.
Second: How to work.

I. How to Find Work

The ideas here are curated from my friend Peep Laja and used with his permission. I edited/added to them. Peep's full post is here; I encourage you to read the whole thing.

First rule of marketing: Realize that a marketer markets. Show people what you can do; don't just tell them.
Glow up your LinkedIn profile. Your profile should sell—not document your activity like a court stenographer.
Actually use LinkedIn: Start posting daily. Share your ideas. It'll feel awkward at first. Like no one is listening. So? Keep going.
Build a landing page about yourself, centered on your expertise. "If you wanna get a job in DTC, design it like an ecommerce product page. If it's SaaS, make it a SaaS features page." —Peep

👉 My friend Stephan Hovnanian got a job that way. See his.
👉 Not sure how to create a landing page? Unbounce is a good place to start.

Tell a Results story. Talk up obstacles. Say what you effed up. Show how you eventually triumphed, and ultimately how the business won. (How the business won is worth repeating. Make sure you include that.)
Get testimonials from past managers and peers. A video testimonial is all the better: Video gives testimonials a heartbeat.
Final rule of Marketing: Relationships and trust are everything in marketing (and in life). Ask for introductions to get interviews. Demonstrate you can use your network to open doors. "This is proof you can build relationships, and people trust you." —Peep

II. How to Work

My first job out of college was at a business newspaper in Boston called Banker & Tradesman. I was a baby reporter covering banking and real estate.

I was an English major writing about the Federal Reserve and mortgage rates. I knew jack about either. To this day I remember the moment I finally understood what "the economy" referred to: That's how much of a dumb-dumb I was. (Embarrassing.)

One day the editor walked up to my desk and said, gruffly: "I like you. You put a stamp on the envelope and you mail it."

He spoke in a voice rough-paved with the 40 cigarettes he smoked each day. And in the five years that I worked there, that's the only thing I recall his ever saying directly to me.

I had no idea what that meant. Stamps? Envelopes? Wut. My job as a reporter did not involve mailing anything. What does "you put a stamp on the envelope" actually mean?

You'd think that that as an English major I would've recognized the compliment for what it was: a metaphor.

The editor meant that I took ownership of a job and did what it took to complete it. I wrote the letter. I put a stamp on it. I mailed it off. Metaphorically.

That line ("Always put the stamp on the envelope") became the first item on my How to Work list—now, decades later, rewritten many times and currently tacked onto the wall in my Tiny House-Office.

Here are all five:

Always put the stamp on the envelope. Take ownership of the whole job, start to finish. Don't leave parts undone for someone else to do for you.
Don't put a monkey on someone else's back. Every organization has problems. Be a part of the solution: Offer ideas and solutions, don't just point out issues and obstacles.
Always pick up at the airport. VIP coming to town? Volunteer to pick up him/her at the airport; you'll make a valuable connection. This works metaphorically, too: Go out of our way to connect with a person—not just forge a business connection. Offer value first. Get value later.
Poke your nose out. Raise your hand. Join. Take a seat. Try. Launch. Fail. Try again. Advocate for yourself, because no one is going to invite you.
Don't get too good at answering the phone. Train for the job you want, not the one you have.

Side note: As much as that's a how-to list, it's also a reminder not to be a jerk at work.

* * *

Writing Tip of the Week

"Look at the last sentence you type in your story. Often that sentence is what will lead you to the best headline." —Tim Denning

(It's incredible how often this is true.)

Pro Voice

Ahava Leibtag has lots of advice/tricks around finding your brand voice, during a time of crisis and always:

On brand voice: "Pick a celebrity you think embodies your brand, and channel him or her." (But do not choose Michelle Obama or Tom Hanks, because everyone picks them.)
On communicating in a time of crisis: "Identify a spokesperson." Not PR, but the CEO or a trusted name within the company. "Filter through that person. Be empathetic [and] straightforward. And don't overpromise." Because you can't know what's going to happen.

Article and podcast here.

Go deeper 👉 👉 👉 Brand voice in a time of social crisis.

Hair of the Dog

Personalization in marketing is powerful when done right. Creepy when done badly. And cringey when it goes wrong. Know what I mean, {name}?

The alcohol delivery service Drizly made Hard Lemonade out of lemons when its personalized email campaign went terribly wrong... and Drizly did what any self-respecting marketer would do: blamed the dog.

[h/t Dan Oshinky + my daughter Caroline]

Related 👉 Most of us offer an Amazon gift card or similar as incentive for participating in a survey. Not the marketers at Drizly: they served up a photo of the SEO guy's dog in exchange for taking a survey it sent to its list this Friday.

Why it matters: The cornerstone of a strong brand? When you don't sound or behave like everyone else. And you sweat the small stuff. Like for a survey.

QUICKIES

Does Your Newsletter Need to Be More Chatty? I'm a fan of newsletters that have a personality. (More letter, less news.) But what if your organization is more traditional and buttoned up?

What Does the Actual Research Say About Marketing During a Recession? "There are few things more proven in the world of marketing than the power of advertising in a recession."

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

Father's Day Edition

This Dad is spending quarantine writing a Dad joke of the day on a dry-erase board in his front yard. He's using his "platform" to raise money for the DC nonprofit Martha's Table.

LOVE LETTERS

💌 To Marissa Willits at Lonna.co for trying out my time-zoning method and living to tell about it.

💌 To Marisa Jentz at B2B Marketing Exchange for the shout in her experts to follow for pandemic-focused guidance.
💌 To Lane Ellis at TopRank Marketing for including me in his entertaining piece on email lessons from 26 years of Spam.
💌 To Gregory Welch for including this newsletter in his deep dive on next-level email newsletters.
💌 To the incredible Dan Oshinsky at NotaNewsletter/Inbox Collective for naming this newsletter as one of his faves alongside some strong voices.

💌 To Sheilamary Koch for the love in her piece on brand strategy.
💌 To InsightBrief for including me in its whitepaper on marketing during these crazy times.
💌 To my favorite outdoorsman, Adam Buchanan, for interviewing me about brand trust on his fantastic podcast.
💌To Luca Tagliaferro for including me in Trends, Websites, Influencers Powering Digital Marketing in 2020.

Thanks for reading this far. Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

I'll be back on July 5.

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, buy a book. Or forward this newsletter to a friend with an invitation to subscribe right here: www.annhandley.com/newsletter.

SELECT PUBLIC EVENTS
NOTE: Many dates have changed; some events are now online only. Here's what I've confirmed so far. More to come.

📅 July 29: Content Marketing in the Age of Uncertainty [SAS webinar, FREE]

📅 September 15-18: UBA Trends Day, Brussels, Belgium [now online]

📅 November 3-6: MarketingProfs B2B Forum is back in SF! Get in on early-bird pricing; code ANNLIKESME saves you $ (risk-free money-back guarantee)

📅 November 30-December 2: Digital Sales and Marketing World, Hartford, CT

📅 Your Date Here: Book me to speak

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Ann Handley is the author of Everybody Writes and other books.
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Ann Handley
9 Bartlett St., #313, Andover, MA 01810

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TA #63: 🍋 How to Find a Job Right Now; Making Hard Lemonade Out of Lemons

Older messages

TA #62: 🗣️ Brand Voice in a Time of Social Crisis; the One Brand That Schooled the Rest

TA #61: ✍️ A Masterclass in Empathy from an 11-Year-Old Writer; Social Media Pandemic Trends from 60+ Networks

TA #60: 👉 Market Like the NY Times, 17 Non-Obvious Copywriting Tips, Why Zoom Is Exhausting

TA #59: 🦄 A New Abnormal; 2 Free Writing + Storytelling Events

TA #58: 🐰 14 Life-Changing Habits for a Post-Covid World; Rewriting the CDC Guidelines

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