Synopses & Reviews
The case for being useful to customers first and foremost, before trying to sell anything
utility: n. Being useful or beneficial.
youtility: n. A revolutionary marketing strategy for the era of information overload that creates devoted customers by providing something genuinely and inherently useful.
Since the first caveman sold a rock to another caveman, companies have acquired customers in pretty much the same way. Weve got great products, buy them!” shout marketers, hoping customers will listen.
But those days are over. The era of self-serve information is upon usmany people will research your offerings online, without talking to a human being. And you can no longer survive by shouting the loudest and relying on anachronistic interruption marketing. You cant proclaim every day is the biggest sale ever or simply rewrite your Web site in the hope that Google will funnel customers to you.
Consultant and blogger Jay Baer defines a better alternative with examples of many smart companies that are already building their marketing approach around Youtility. His bottom line: If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you help someone, you might create a customer for life.
Review
“In todays always-on, hyper-saturated marketplace, product messages no longer break through like they used to. Providing helpful information to customers does. In this important book, Baer calls the art of being deeply valued by your customers Youtility. I call it smart.”
—DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR
“What does it actually mean to create ‘engaging content? This book delivers both a broader vision and a specific road map to creating content your customers will thank you for.”
—ANN HANDLEY chief content officer, MarketingProfs and coauthor of Content Rules
“Useful is the stuff you reach for when you really have a need—this book is the encyclopedia of useful!”
—JOHN JANTSCH author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine
Synopsis
The difference between helping and selling is just two letters
If youre wondering how to make your products seem more exciting online, youre asking the wrong question. Youre not competing for attention only against other similar products. Youre competing against your customers friends and family and viral videos and cute puppies. To win attention these days you must ask a different question: How can we help?”
Jay Baers Youtility offers a new approach that cuts through the clutter: marketing that is truly, inherently useful. If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life.
Drawing from real examples of companies who are practicing Youtility as well as his experience helping more than seven hundred brands improve their marketing strategy, Baer provides a groundbreaking plan for using information and helpfulness to transform the relationship between companies and customers.
About the Author
Jay Baer is a content marketing and social media consultant and blogger. He speaks to tens of thousands of marketers annually at conferences and conventions, has founded five companies, and has worked with more than seven hundred brands, including Sony, Columbia Sportswear, Nike, Petco, WalMart, and California tourism, among others. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.
Visit convinceandconvert.com