TA #66: 🐝 Why Imposter Syndrome Can Be Your BFF; Not All Buzzwords Are Lousy

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This week's image, #66: Buzzfeed/Kristin Chirico

Welcome to the 66th issue of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, content, marketing, life. New milestone this week: This newsletter is now 30K strong! 💥 💥 💥 THANK YOU for being here. P.S. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe right here.

Boston, Sunday, August 2, 2020

Brunch bunch: Hi.

Why do so many smart, accomplished people feel like they're sometimes faking it?

That question came up during a meeting last week at the MarketingProfs World Headquarters + House of Pancakes. We'd been looking at some data that seemed to suggest that marketers in particular suffer from it.

Writers suffer from it, too, because we create art in public. There's a vulnerability in wearing your insides on the outside. The soft bits tend to bruise.

"Impostor syndrome" is a feeling that—despite earning high-fives, gold stars, LinkedIn endorsements, a blue check on your Twitter profile... and whatever money, glory, success accompanies all that—you nonetheless feel like you're tricking everyone and you're actually not very good at anything and ugh what's the point.

The best description I've seen of it is the story told in those 2 charts at the top of this newsletter.

At the start of my career, I had a chronic, festering case of imposter syndrome.

Maybe you, too?

Technically I *was* an imposter then: I had just started working as a news reporter in a busy newsroom. But I was literally just pretending to be a news reporter: I had no idea what I was doing.

So I faked it all day, every day. I faked it the way a preschooler with a pile of blocks plays civil engineer. But an anxious one—a preschooler who actually thinks she'd be held responsible if her Lego suspension bridge were to collapse under the weight of a minivan.

Eventually I caught on. I felt competent.

Years and years later I felt like something of a master. I got it. I get it.

That pattern has repeated itself throughout everything in life: in journalism, in publishing, in marketing, in running a business, in parenting.

(Leaving the hospital with my first child, I couldn't believe the staff was sending him home with us—completely *unsupervised*?! I was terrified. I sobbed all the way home. #dramatic)

Every once in a while, I still feel the creep of imposter-doubt. Yeah, even now. And right now—with so many of us bending under Covid-inspired uncertainty—that doubt can feel crippling.

So this feels like a good time to reframe Imposter-doubt as less of a handicap and more of a good thing. Why:

There is always something new to learn. There is always a new creative challenge. The fun is venturing into what you don't know. If you don't think you're ever out of your depth, you aren't pushing yourself far enough.
You won't be an arrogant know-it-all. To quote philosopher Bertrand Russell: "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."
It's a useful divining rod for choosing a path.

Sometimes I'll start out in a new direction or with a new idea, and I get really excited (see #1). Yet, when I can't settle into the role—when the bridge really does collapse and the people in the minivan all die a fiery, murderous death—then I know it's time to shift course.

(Related: This is why my career as a professional tennis player didn't work out. I really did suck.)

Oh, I just thought of one more thing for all of us writers. The vulnerability is necessary to the craft itself: If you aren't a little scared when you hit PUBLISH... you're playing it too safe.

P.S. I talk to Mark Schaefer about this issue in his book Known. If you're looking to build an advantage in your field, check it out.

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Here are a few things worth knowing this week.

Under the Influence

You could call yourself a good parent or a world-class marketer or an empathetic friend... but any of those descriptors would carry more weight coming from your child, customer, or BFF.

So it is with integrating influencers in your marketing: It's a direct line to building trust and customer confidence.

TopRank Marketing surveyed more than 300 B2B marketers to uncover what truly makes for a successful influencer marketing program. There's good stuff in there, like how B2B companies are using influencers and how to hire influencers for your own brand.

TopRank found that 63% integrate influencer marketing with other marketing efforts (PR, SEO, content, social), and they asked me to comment on that. This is what I said:

Partnering with well-matched influencers is a handy way to infuse your brand with creative energy and inspiration. The best influencers act almost as a creative agency of one: devising innovative ways to tell a story that ultimately benefits a brand, its prospects/customers, and the influencer. (I'm resisting the use of "authentic" here. But it's basically that.)

Read the highlight reel in this blog post.Or download the full 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report. (The interactive version is gorgeous, BTW.)

Writing Tip of the Week: Are Buzzwords Bad?

Jargon is like cholesterol: There's a good kind and there's a bad kind.

The good kind is a shorthand used in many industries that signals you speak the language of your customers. The bad kind is often used when the speaker isn't creative or smart enough to find better words.

Four tips to find better words:

Keep it simple. Simple and straightforward bests complex and long-winded. "Use" not "utilize."
Avoid words with additives like "-ize" or "-ism" or "-istic," when possible. Like food additives, they make the result less nourishing and contribute to content obesity: Words become fat, bloated versions of themselves.
Avoid "weblish." Tech words applied to people. ("Bandwidth" #no)
Say it, sistah. Read your copy or content out loud. Does it sound like you?

QUICKIES

▶️ How to Kill Passive-Aggressive Popups and Other Acts of Marketing Self-Sabotage. Just don't: "I'm a mealy brained moron and want to pass up this deal because I don't know what's good for me."

▶️ How to Read More Books. My tip: Set a tiny reading goal. My own is to read one page a day. (I always read more.)*

* Well, usually always. Some days are just ridiculous.

▶️ 5 Places You Can Use More Metaphors in Your Writing. Brian Clark with 5 quick tips on my favorite writing device.

RESOURCES 📺
A trio of recent talks, available on-demand

How to Write Your Face Off: Writing for Non-Writers (MarketingProfs).

Content Marketing in the Age of Uncertainty (SAS). Wilson Raj (Global Director of Customer Intelligence at SAS) and I discuss how to respond to current needs, recover revenue, reinvent your brand for resiliency. We use a lot of Rs in this conversation.

Moneyball for Marketing: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (MarketingProfs). I didn't present this one; I co-moderated it with MarketingProfs CEO Joe Terry. It's a great discussion with Billy Beane of the Oakland A's. [Note: This is a paid event.]

TOOLS

How to Write About Race. The AP Stylebook functions as the default style guide in many organizations that haven't developed their own. This summer's updated guidelines on writing about race is another acknowledgment that words matter.

Go deeper 👉 👉 👉 The Diversity Style Guide

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

The pandemic inspires a side hustle for Little Free Libraries. Some are now becoming food pantries:

(h/t Book Riot)

LOVE LETTERS
Shouts from around the Internet.

💌 Erica Martell quotes me in her [groovy] piece in New York Women in Communications.
💌 Peter Gruber at Nexoya gives me a shout as one of 14 influencers to follow.
💌 Chris Herbert shows Everybody Writes some love as one of the Email Marketing Book GOATs.

💌 Nicole Schuman quotes me in her piece on jargon in PR News.
💌 Keenan Charles at InboxReads gives my piece on 17 Things Your Newsletter Needs some love.

💌 The incredible Josh Spector includes this newsletter in his recommended list.

* * *

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

Stay safe. Stay sane. Wear a mask.

I'll be back on August 16.

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

📅 August 18-20: Healthcare Marketing + Physical Strategies Virtual Summit

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

📅 October 20: OptIn Live 2020

📅 November 3-6: MarketingProfs B2B Forum. Code ANNLIKESME saves you $.

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

📅 Your Date Here: Book me to speak

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