TA #64: 🐿️ A Marketing Parable, the ROI of Empathy

A modern CX story from an unlikely place. .

This week's image, #64: Alex Lauzon on Unsplash

Welcome to the 64th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, content, marketing, life. On this July 4th weekend, I'm sharing an abbreviated issue with a Maine-inspired marketing parable. 📖 THANK YOU for being here. P.S. Was this email forwarded to you? You need your own!

Boston, Sunday, July 5, 2020

Hi, friend!

The woman was fiddling with something on the back of her bicycle by the creek head. She turned, startled, when she heard me. She was securing a wire animal trap, it turns out. Now empty.

She'd trapped a chipmunk in a Have-a-Heart trap in her yard and she had let him out here on the opposite end of town. She explained all this quickly and matter-of fact, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world she'd done: deposited a live chipmunk on this rocky creek head by a Maine beach.

The woman had covered the trap with a dishtowel. But why? To conceal what she smuggled on the back of her bike from people she passed? Or to cloak the route for the kidnapped chipmunk himself? To disorient him. Fake him out. So he wouldn't be able to find his way back?

"Better here than in my yard," she'd shouted behind her as she peddled away, the dishtowel flapping behind her.

Better here than in my yard.

Well... maybe for her. But what about the chipmunk?

Not for him, I thought, looking down at him now, his tiny furry toes doing their best to grip the rough ledge of the rock he was on. You think of chipmunks as scamps—scurrying to and fro, relentless as a Roomba. You rarely see them still and silent, like this one rooted on the rock.

I stared into his seed-sized eye with its black eyeliner and white eyeshadow, as perfectly applied as a drag queen's, and I could sense a small brain trying to make sense of what had just happened.

There he was—yes, he had been scurrying then on his Saturday afternoon errands in the copse of trees he called home. And there suddenly before him was a prize... something... a PEANUT?! Out here in his own woods? Impossible! But ooooh it smelled so delicious!

He inches closer to inspect and BAM! ... the trap door shuts behind him and oh no he's trapped. Scared. And alone.

Well, alone with the peanut. At least he has the peanut. He consoles himself with that. No sense having both a heart full of fear and a belly full of nothing. He eats it all up.

And now he's here, on the rocks. He'd chuckle at the irony of that phrase—were he not so freaked out.

And that's where I find him. He takes a few tentative steps, sniffs, trying to get a feel for the land. Where is this, he wonders: The moon?

He looked small, not like a wizened chipmunk who would know that this wasn't the moon. Not experienced enough to know that with one deep sniff he'd catch a whiff just down the street of the start of a Maine forest: Of tall pines and damp, punky leaves molting into the soil; the floor spongy and rotting.

Paradise, really, for a chipmunk.

But he was not wizened. He was a baby lured by the promise of an improbable Maine peanut, who now found himself in a strange landscape, airless and alone.

Why had his captor chosen that spot to release him? Why not the woods across the street? Why had she looked embarrassed when I saw her. And why had she peddled away so quickly? Was this the first chipmunk she'd abandoned?

What in his heart would make him decide which direction to follow, finally? Would he find others, just like him, complaining about their treatment in some private Facebook group? (LOL)

We'll never know. When I passed by again, 30 minutes later, he was gone.

* * *

I've thought of this crazy chipmunk story a hundred times since I witnessed the scene last week. And because I think of everything through a marketing lens (I know!), I've come to think of it as a powerful metaphor for the modern customer experience. (Stay with me on this.)

Powerful because it helps us rethink the relationship our businesses have with our customers—and not just the parts we think we control. And why it's important for Marketing to lead that charge.

🐿️ The chipmunk = Our customer.
🌰 The peanut = What we've promised—what our customer wants.
🌪️ The trap = The Marketing/Sales funnel.
🚴 The woman on the bike = the marketer or salesperson or ______ (any role, really), peddling away, convinced her job here is done.
🌚 The moon = Where our customers feel left—when you don't think through the post-peanut experience. ;)
🌲 The woods = Where our customers could land! In paradise. With a peanut. If we just went the extra mile.

At least, that's how I read it. You?

* * *

Here are a few things worth sharing this week.

How to Not Be a Jerk at Work

Last week I wrote about the importance of 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.

It was meant to be advice on How Not to Be a Jerk at Work. But it easily applies to modern marketing. And chipmunk relocation. ;)

Writing Tip of the Week
It's apt that we use the word "home" to refer to the main page of a website, because "home" invokes warmth and belonging. That's exactly the mindset you need when you are writing and designing your own business's home page.

One shortcut to signaling belonging:

Use you promiscuously. Count how many times you use you on the home page. Then count the number of time you use us or we. Do the math. Make sure the yous are not just winning the game but sweeping the series.

Dive deeper 👉👉👉 The Best 16 Home Pages + Why They Work. Sumo peeped a bunch of home pages (including mine) and figured out what works, what doesn't—in the copy, calls to action, design, and more.

Dive even deeper 👉👉👉 Next issue! The best home page I've ever seen and why I love it. (Teaser: It's from a government agency.) <--Legit.

SPECIAL EVENT: ASK ME ANYTHING, JULY 22

Join me on July 22 for an intimate Tiny House Writing AMA. Details.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

If you haven't built relationships with your customers, you're not marketing effectively. If you don't understand their needs, wants, and goals, if you haven't been making efforts to build trust, you're not going to reach your business goals. —Michael Brenner, writing in MarketingProfs

Related 👉 The ROI of Empathy: How Marketers Use Customer Empathy as a Business Differentiator and Empathy and the Future of Marketing: B2B Success Stories. A two-part event on empathy in B2B marketing, featuring Michael Brenner. Cost: Free. (Also: Priceless.) Register.

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

All websites really do tend to look and behave the same. Except this one. (Let it go to "sleep" and revel in the nostalgia!)

LOVE LETTERS

💌 To Ahava Leibtag at Aha Media Group for featuring me in her video series with marketing leaders on What Did You Learn from Covid Because It Better Be Something After All This. (Title paraphrased.)
💌 To Douglas Burdett for featuring me as the final episode in his podcast, Authors in Quarantine Getting Cocktails.
💌 To Max Bransteter / HippoDirect for the feature in the milestone Episode 100 (WOOT!) of his excellent Wild Business Growth Podcast.
💌 To Jason Dempsey for hoisting Everybody Writes on his shoulders and carrying it around the Internet Town Square as his Chief Support Book in his piece on how he became a writer.

💌 To Heidi Cohen for including me (and my dad!) in her piece on what our dads taught us about marketing and business. (Mine: I inherited my dad's love of office supplies.)
💌 To Brandon Andersen of Ceralytics for the group hug for newsletters, and snuggling this newsletter fiercely.

💌 To Josiah Goff for inviting me on his podcast to chat about marketing and why I believe so strongly in... wait for it... newsletters.
💌 To Stephen Shaw, who interviewed me in the Before Times (last August!) and just now published his piece from our far-ranging conversation about content, writing, marketing.

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

Stay safe. Stay sane. Wear a mask.

I'll be back on July 19.

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 14: How to Create Leads and Attention with Research and Reports [webinar with Jay Baer and me, FREE]

📅 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

➡️ ➡️ ➡️ Not into this? No problem: Unsubscribe right here.

SPECIAL THANKS to AWeber for being the provider of choice for Total Annarchy. If you are looking to up your email game, give them a shout.

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 #64: 🐿️ A Marketing Parable, the ROI of Empathy

Older messages

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

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

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