The Artistic Marketer: Shannon Sankey’s Unique Path

In the ever-evolving realm of digital marketing, innovators and creative minds are shaping the future of how we connect with audiences.

Today, we’re thrilled to sit down with Shannon Sankey, a distinguished Digital Marketing Strategist at Carney and the driving force behind the successful Daily Carnage newsletter.

With a unique blend of literary prowess and digital acumen, Shannon brings a fresh perspective to content creation and marketing strategies.

Join us as we explore Shannon’s journey and the intersections of poetry, marketing, and the art of engaging communication.

Shannon, could you share the moment or experience that drew you into marketing, particularly in the digital space?

I started in 2012 when we were still working hard to prove the value of social media marketing to brands and still taking campaign photos on our iPhone 5s. Marketers were finding new ways to hack the canvas and break the noise daily.

Your background in poetry is fascinating. How has this influenced your approach to digital marketing and content creation?

I studied poetry in undergraduate and graduate school concurrently to full-time work as a copywriter and digital strategist. I could move fluidly between the two worlds because both hinge on concision.

Working on The Daily Carnage newsletter must be quite an experience. Can you tell us about the project’s inception and your role in its growth?

Carney developed the project in 2017 to differentiate itself, generate leads, and keep the team sharp. Agencies often have a difficult time allocating resources and time to internal projects. You see many outdated blogs and abandoned social properties. Producing a high-quality industry newsletter every day of the workweek is impressive.

Content and copywriting are at the heart of digital marketing. What key elements make for compelling content in today’s digital landscape?

Voice will be even more critical as the landscape becomes flooded with AI-generated writing. It’s never been easier to get information to satisfy your search intent. Storytelling, nuance, allusion, and humor help people understand and connect with your message.

The digital marketing field is known for its fast pace and constant evolution. How do you stay ahead of the curve and keep your strategies fresh and relevant?

Producing The Daily Carnage inherently becomes a practice of professional development. To that end, I recommend curating an information diet for yourself via social feeds, newsletters, blogs, and channels to keep the pulse.

When you read a combination of peer-reviewed reports in journals, thought leadership in blogs, and opinions on your LinkedIn feed, you get a well-rounded sense of the moment.

Collaboration often plays a significant role in marketing projects. Could you describe a memorable collaborative experience and what it taught you about teamwork in the digital marketing context?

I can’t think of one moment in my career where a team hasn’t supported me. It’s essential to what we do to elevate the product and verify that our strategy or messaging or creative is equitable, sensitive, aware of context, etc. Communicating at this moment requires more than one perspective and voice. It’s a dangerous thing to think in a silo.

Let’s talk about tools and software. What are your go-to platforms or applications that help you excel in your content, copywriting, email marketing, and newsletter production tasks?

We love Notion. Documentation and reporting are essential to newsletter writing and are my favorite tasks. Notion has been a dynamic tool for helping us build an archive with flexible data dashboards.

Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies in digital marketing are you most excited about exploring further?

I’m excited about the challenge of marketing in a post-cookie world. Mostly, I’m excited to live in a different, more private age of the Internet. Relying on zero and first-party data will breed creative solutions and necessitate more value for the customer.

Finally, for those aspiring to carve out a career in digital marketing, particularly in content and email marketing, what advice would you offer to help them get started and succeed in this dynamic field?

At this moment, I can imagine entry-level marketers would be concerned about AI eliminating some of the work many of us cut our teeth on—batches of social content, ad copy variations, etc.

My advice is to know your nemesis. Experiment with AI, become an expert on prompts, be a subject matter expert, and demonstrate your tool mastery. There’s real value in hiring someone who has intelligent opinions about AI right now, including how not to use it.