Keynote Speaker and Best-Selling Author Ann Handley

So good morning. Love you. Thank you for showing up here. I was so worried that, you know, kickoff day two, 8 a.m. I was like, what? Who's going to show up? When I speak, I know immediately if I'm connecting with an audience. So I felt like I had to bribe people a little bit. I was a little worried about this 8 a.m. start time, which is why I titled the talk today, Challenger Marketing Assumptions and Get a Free Puppy in Intervention. Humor is a very important... part of that. People absorb information way better when they're having fun and marketers are just that. People. I think in marketing we have this notion that we want to try to get as many people into like the top of the funnel so to speak as possible. We want to get as many people but maybe that's not the best approach. Maybe you'll spend a lot of time sort of nurturing relationships that really aren't going to be a great fit ultimately. Most of us are terrified. of standing out to step off this well-traveled path to try something new but that's where the magic happens i do think that the biggest missed opportunity in marketing in general is playing it too safe we marketers need to get away from being order takers and instead own the narrative and we need to own the customer relationships here's how they describe themselves infusing life style and functionality into a drink insulator established in 2011 freaker usa quickly grew to be the global leader of preventing moist handshakes free beverages they're giving you an invitation to their party a starter kit for a new lifestyle the freaker is the background music to a never-ending journey doesn't this sound different it's a canned It's a drink insulator, but it doesn't sound like that. And when we are brave enough to take a stand, to put ourselves out there, people notice. I do think that tone of voice is your gutsiest, bravest asset. But essentially what it means is it's not about grammar, right? It's actually about something different. It's about what you're like to deal with, not just, you know, what you do and who you are, but what you're actually like to deal with. I inspire business leaders. to rethink their marketing, to create marketing that doesn't feel like marketing. And I empower marketers to become the best versions of themselves. Marketing is part art and part science. Marketing is art plus intent. Could this be the beginning of love forever? I don't know what to do with my hands when I'm here. I don't know what to do. Best versions of ourselves. Hello. I'm glad we put that off. She waited until the very end, I think. Oh, hello. I don't know. Have you been here all day? Well, the sinus is the one thing I just put on. I just put on.

Keynote speaker and best-selling author Ann Handley inspires marketers to create marketing magic that gets real-world results. She is the world's first Chief Content Officer and one of the best-known (and loved!) experts on digital marketing.