We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Annie Schiffmann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Annie below.
Annie, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I was supposed to perform an improv comedy show five times a week. I say supposed to because the producers would cancel performances so often that I wound up only getting on stage about 40% of the time. The reason the shows were cancelled? Not enough audience. There was a policy that if there were more people onstage than in the audience the producers would cancel the show. And more often than not, the producers couldn’t get more than 5 people to the audience. It felt demoralizing. When there was a show, there weren’t that many people in the crowd.
Here I was doing really funny, inspired work. Work that I was proud of. But not that many people saw it.
It felt demoralizing.
I thought, this work is good. It deserves to be seen.
And that is what propelled me into marketing. To get more people first to the shows that I was performing in, then to shows that other people were performing in, and then finally to build audiences in many different fields.
Because your work deserves to be seen.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I know how hard it is to keep up with your content. So I work with companies to figure out what to create and how to deliver it sustainably so that they can have a presence without the pressure.
In the work, we focus on social media and email marketing. Those pieces of content that get delivered to audiences day in and day out.
It’s gratifying to point CEOs in a certain direction. And to tell them, “You don’t have to focus on TikTok right now. Let’s create this automated email sequence first so it works in the background while you build your company.”
The relief that they feel when they realize they don’t have to do it all at once. There is a strategy, and a method, and a plan that will get them results without burning them or their marketing team out.
It’s the basis for the book that I wrote, Simple Social Media. So that you can have a social media presence without it being your entire life.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I am a big fan of curiosity, agility, and theatricality.
Curiosity has helped me so much with new platforms, trends, and software. What is it? How does it work? How will it help me? How will it help my clients? Why is that trend heading in that direction? It’s fueled me to keep learning and growing.
Agility has helped me adapt to new circumstances quickly. Things change so quickly in the marketing space – you could wake up and a platform is gone – and you have to be ready to move in a new direction swiftly.
Theatricality is how people truly know that I’ve been involved in something. If you are attending a Simple Social Media webinar, or you are a member of my StoryBrand Marketing Livestream, you are going to not only learn, but there will be a bit of polish and theatricality that you don’t usually see in a Zoom call. I do that on purpose to elevate the experience of the client.
For people who are early on in their journey, the most important thing that I have to say is, “Walk the walk and talk the talk.” If you advise people to do something and they can see you don’t do it yourselves, that will cost you not only new audience members, but the trust of your current audience.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My biggest challenge is realizing that I only have so many hours in a day, given all of the ideas that I have. And I can’t execute them all at the same time – as much as I wish that I could.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.downstage.media
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annieschiffmann
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annieschiffmann/
