Reading List: Youtility

How can I help my customer? You need to ask yourself that question if you want to draw attention to your product, service or brand, and make your company seem more exciting online, says content marketing and social media consultant Jay Baer. In Youtility, Baer suggests three actions to make your company stand out and to create brand loyalty: Give your customer useful information on your website, respond quickly to questions and concerns posted on social media, and offer suggestions that are helpful to your existing and potential audiences. One impressive example of the success of this give-to-get principle is a unique phone app co-created by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Named CoachSmart, the app is designed to help coaches keep young football players safe. In addition to real-time tracking of temperature, humidity and the heat index to prevent heat exhaustion, the app alerts the coach to any nearby lightning strikes and advises on appropriate action. Baer says the app is being used by hundreds of sports leagues nationwide and two professional teams. For the hospitals, the marketing goal was simple: to engender trust that will ultimately bring more patients to the hospitals. Baer soundly, effectively and skillfully proves that gratitude and good will are powerful incentives to lure new customers and keep them coming back.

by Jay Baer

June

Portfolio/Penguin; $24.95