Breaking the Marketing Mold: Marisa Corcoran Of The Copy Confidence Society On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Create Your Own Stage — don’t wait for people to invite you into their space or stage. You create the room where it happens. I mentioned summits as my top way to do this but you can also host your own live class (I mentioned our live webinar above) or open house.
Traditional marketing methods are no longer sufficient in today’s dynamic and fast-evolving market. To truly engage and captivate audiences, businesses need to think outside the box and adopt innovative and non-traditional marketing strategies. What are these strategies, and how can they transform audience engagement? I had the pleasure of interviewing Marisa Corcoran.
Former Harvard trained actor turned marketing and copy mentor, Marisa Corcoran supports online coaches and small business owners to craft their “uncopyable” message and the personality-filled copy that dazzles inside her signature course and community, The Copy Confidence Society. She’s also the creator of the wildly popular summit, The Copy Chat which has raised $130K+ for organizations like Soul Fire Farm, The Headstrong Project, and Sage USA.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! To start, could you share when and how you got started in marketing?
I always say that Winnie The Pooh broke me. I’ll never forget standing in the kitchen after the call. These words playing in my head, “We no longer need you to come in for the audition today. Thank you.”
I received my MFA in Acting from Harvard. I wrote copy for private clients as a “side gig” while I auditioned for acting roles. Booking a role at one of the most well-known regional theaters in America was a foot in the door for bigger acting projects so I was excited for the opportunity.
Also, my ideas for the character of Rabbit were kind of genius. A sassy cross between comedian Sebastian Maniscalco and Marisa Tomei (in My Cousin Vinny).
But something changed in me that day. In that moment, I decided to never again put my worth (or fate) in the hands of someone else. Leaving acting behind, I went full-time in my copywriting business. I created my own stage with my signature summit called The Copy Chat. It showcased the “actor’s guide” to copy I’d been doing for my private writing clients.
In 3 years, I went from $50K to $1M. Today, we’ve supported close to 1,000 business owners — all without paid advertising. Not only did I transform my own financial paradigm, we’ve also supported business owners to stand out in their niche and call in their dream clients with personality-filled copy that dazzles.
What has been the biggest shift in the marketing industry and can you give us an example of how it impacted you?
Interactive marketing has been a big shift we’ve embraced. Think a quiz, poll, assessment, etc. The way that we’ve chosen to focus on this is with a live webinar. It isn’t pre-recorded. Potential buyers get to ask me questions and they’re always surprised I’m actually live with them. It’s refreshing and builds trust with our audience and potential buyers. To give you an example, our last webinar converted at 17%. We had 88 folks live with me and 15 people bought our program at the end of the webinar.
Can you explain why it’s essential for businesses to break away from traditional marketing and embrace new strategies?
Right now, people are hesitant to buy. Folks feel burned by past investments. The focus on “AI-ifying” everything and scaling also feels exhausting for potential buyers. They feel disconnected and the trust is gone. They’re craving connection and pay attention to those who are descaling and going back to basics — it builds trust and stands out.
Could you share and briefly explain the first major change you made to break the trend of traditional marketing that was not so common?
When I created The Copy Chat (my signature summit), the focus for summits was on growing your email list. There was no one talking about the importance of creating quality content for the summit. No one talking about the relationship with your speakers. Or how to create intimacy with your listeners. The sole focus was on list building.
But The Copy Chat was different.
After 2 seasons, I shifted the traditional model. We decided to only have 10 speakers (21+ was typical for most summits). The fear here was that you’d lose the list build. But I knew that if you focus on relationships first — if you focus on quality first — the audience growth would still be there.
This allowed us to create actionable, intentional content for listeners. It allowed me to promote my speakers and creating lasting relationships with them. This became a memorable summit experience for the speakers and the listeners. One that they continue to rave about.
It’s also a framework (The Signature Summit System™) I now teach to business owners.
What specific results did you see after implementing this change?
I’ll give you the best result of all…
In the summer of 2022, I received a breast cancer diagnosis and wasn’t able to host The Copy Chat. As it’s our main lead generation event, I worried about selling into our copy course that Fall. But when I shared my diagnosis with colleagues, many of them wanted to support me. They were happy to share about the program with their email lists and on social media.
As a guest on The Copy Chat, they had such a memorable experience, they were happy to support me in this way.
That’s the power of focusing on relationships first. Even when life hits (because it will), if you’re doing it right, people step up to the plate to support you.
Additionally, each season of The Copy Chat brings in 2,000+ leads. It’s also helped us donate $130K+ to incredible organizations.
How do you ensure that these new marketing strategies resonate with your target audience?
After each season of The Copy Chat, we send out an email. We ask for listener feedback. I also host a live recap each season. On the recap, listeners share what’s standing out for them. They also share what they’d love to see more of for future seasons. After each launch of The Copy Confidence Society and the live webinar, we send out a survey. This helps us ensure that future launches resonate with our audience.
Can you share an example of something you tried that didn’t deliver expected results or ended up ended up becoming a financial burden, and what you learned from that experience?
In the past, I’ve tried to offer a more self-study version of The Copy Confidence Society. It never sells well. Ever. What I learned is that people want direct support. They want to be able to ask questions, accountability, and community. We have those things inside The Copy Confidence Society. Instead of trying to have this “product suite” everyone talks about, I put focus back into the single thing I know works. The thing that delivers massive results for our members. And that’s the full Copy Confidence Society.
Great. Now, let’s dive into the heart of our interview. Could you list “5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before”?
1. Create Your Own Stage — don’t wait for people to invite you into their space or stage. You create the room where it happens. I mentioned summits as my top way to do this but you can also host your own live class (I mentioned our live webinar above) or open house.
2. Relationships First — focus on simple, intentional steps. Reply to a newsletter or social post with a thoughtful insight. Even better? Reshare that newsletter, social post, or article with your audience. It’s likely that person will respond back to you, see that you’ve reshared, and from there you can create a genuine connection with someone you admire, a potential referral partner, or buyer.
3. Get Intimate — when selling, you need to make people feel seen and heard. For example, we use VideoAsk during our launches. Potential buyers can directly ask me their top questions. I personally respond back. This leads to higher engagement, understanding what our ideal customer is needing now, and conversions.
4. Utilize Themes — as more and more email marketing feels created by a robot (because it was), being a human goes a long way. A great way to do this is to find a theme for a given season or time. For example, every October, we send out The Spooktacular Series. Each newsletter takes classic ghoulish movies (think Ghostbusters, Addams Family, Beetlejuice, etc). and compares them to copywriting and marketing. Our audience raves about the series. It’s also incredible for responses/engagement and email deliverability!
5. Cut Out Your Next CTA — most email marketing teaches how to get your email readers to do more (click a link, go to a longer blog post, article, survey, series of questions, etc.). This is known as a call-to-action. I want my audience to do less. I focus on getting them to reply back and create that intimacy with them. Other times, I don’t include a CTA. I let the content speak for itself. Sure enough, when it comes time to buy, someone will who I’ve never seen or heard from before buys. When we ask them what made them say yes to the program, they’ll say, “Oh, I’ve read every email and knew I wanted in!”
What challenges might companies face when transitioning away from traditional marketing strategies, and how can they overcome them?
First off, I want to acknowledge the transition can feel a bit messy and that’s ok. When making this transition, one main thing is clear — your brand needs personality. One of the first things business owners do inside of The Copy Confidence Society is focus here. A simple way to do this is to create your Word Closet. A list of your go-to words and phrases which allows you to sub out generic words and clichéd statements. This helps you create copy that feels like a real person and keeps people reading.
How do you measure the success and ROI of these new marketing strategies?
Look at and focus on the data that’s important to you. For our company, we focus on a few things. Replies to emails is at the top. Audience growth from our summit and live webinar. Retention is also important. For us, you’ll notice social media isn’t something that we focus on as much.
Looking forward, how do you see the role of innovative marketing evolving in the next 5–10 years?
The battle between AI and human interaction will keep evolving. Companies that will stand out are those who keep human interaction and human creation as a focus.
What advice would you give to business leaders who are hesitant to move away from traditional marketing methods?
Look at your current data and see what’s working. If something is still working for you, continue to use it as long as it’s in alignment with your values. But, if you notice things aren’t working, it’s time to shift. You have to be willing to do what most people won’t which is embracing this back-to-basics, human-to-human approach.
Can you share any upcoming initiatives or plans you have for further innovating your marketing strategies?
The Copy Chat Season 9 drops in early 2025 and I feel called to create a live event around The Copy Chat bringing business owners together to get their copy done and dusted in real time (updating the words on your website, planning out email marketing for the next quarter, practicing stronger messaging, etc.).
How can our readers follow your work and learn more about your approaches to modern marketing?
I’m most active on Instagram @MToni.
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us. Thank you!!!!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur and Thought Leader with over 25 years of business experience. He has founded, operated, and exited multiple companies and now builds into a handful of high impact CEOs. Chad has launched multiple online communities, including a recent leadership development platform, and also serves as a strategic advisor for Authority Magazine’s thought-leader incubator program.
To learn more and connect with Chad visit: chadsilverstein.io
Breaking the Marketing Mold: Marisa Corcoran Of The Copy Confidence Society On 5 Innovative & Non… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.