Book Recommendation – Youtility by Jay Baer

Youtility Book Cover by Jay Baer

The last time I bought a car, I went through a number of steps before going to the car lot. I decided the type of car, availability, pricing, checked Carfax info, and researched car negotiation tactics all online. By the time I went, I knew what car I wanted and how much I was willing to pay. This is how most purchases are now made, so how can companies gain an edge? There are two ways. By always being amazing (see Oreo, although they’re starting to show how hard that is to do) or with Youtility!

What is Youtility? In Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help not Hype, Jay Baer explains “Youtility” as marketing so useful that people would be happy to pay for it. It’s more viable to be useful by offering information that customers seek at the places where they are. The point is to not be promotional the majority of the time.

Jay Baer

Baer gives examples of companies using Youtility (including RunPee which may be my favorite new app!) He explains how to find what your customers need and where they go for their information. There are examples of sources of where to get useful information (hint: utilize your employees!). He also explains how to use social media to promote your information. His popular quote is “Content is fire, and social media is gasoline”. Finally, the book wouldn’t be complete without explaining how to measure your results (hint #2: there is no magic bullet).

This book is insightful and a great example of Youtility in its own right. It makes so much sense, you’ll wonder why no one else has written this book yet. Baer makes the concepts relatable and easy to understand. You’ll walk away with the concepts you need to apply to your company’s content marketing strategy. Thanks for reading!

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