MarketingProfs' Ann Handley on content marketing - The Intercom Blog

Summary

Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, was an early practitioner of content marketing to engage customers. She emphasizes empathy, thinking from the customer’s point of view rather than the company’s. For B2B marketers, she advises telling a bigger story beyond the product, citing Slack’s podcast about work culture and innovation. She recommends measuring content quality by whether customers would thank you for it, a simple test that clarifies value. Handley also highlights writing with personality and the label-off test, where stripping branding reveals if content sounds distinctive, and her book “Everybody Writes” inspires companies to use words better as ambassadors for their brand. The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing and should be content people want or enjoy.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Empathy in content marketing means thinking from the customer’s point of view and creating content that feels useful, not like marketing.

2. 2

   For B2B marketers, telling a bigger story beyond the product (e.g., Slack’s podcast about work culture) can engage audiences more effectively than product-focused content.

3. 3

   The ‘label-off test’ asks whether your content would be recognizable as yours without branding, encouraging a distinctive voice and personality.

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