The Cornerstone of Success: Youtility

Let me begin this review of Jay Baer‘s recently-released business book “Youtility” by stating that the core message – the best way to succeed in business is to actually be helpful – is hardly novel or original.

It’s just rarely practiced – which makes this a very important volume for anyone seeking to launch or grow a business!

And, in an increasingly digital age, the opportunities we now have to be helpful to customers are evolving rapidly. Hence, the need for “Youtility.”

You can find all kinds of summaries of the content of Youtility on the web, especially here at its mothership site (and, of course, at Amazon). For my part, I’m going to focus on two things that struck me most as I read the book.

1. This is one of the best-written (and by that, I also mean best-edited) business books that I’ve seen in quite some time. The writing “voice” is engaging. The content does not drag, it flows nicely. There is an excellent interplay between principles and examples, with some very helpful case studies. Some of the books I’ve read and reviewed over the past years have had reasonably good content masked by….how do we put this diplomatically?….sub-standard execution. By contrast, Youtility was a pleasure to read.

2. Youtility is one of the best explanations of the advantages of content marketing that I’ve yet seen. Especially “sticky” is the story of Marcus Sheridan, who transformed the experience of buying pools through skillfully-composed and helpful on-line content. This case study, by itself, is worth the price of the book. But it is only one of many illustrative examples Jay brings forward to show that companies seeking to help their customers, not just hype themselves, are more likely to win in the long run.

While there is a lot of good stuff in Youtility about digital/social marketing, the message of the book transcends on-line networking hype. And that is why it is easy to recommend this book for anyone in business. Digital networks are becoming a utility. But the right attitude and practice toward customers – that’s Youtility.

Highly recommended. And, if you want to follow Jay on-line through his value-packed site Convince and Convert – just go here. You can sign up for Jay’s e-newsletter there as well.

And, btw, if you haven’t subscribed yet, you may find my brief-but-helpful Clarity Blend weekly e-newsletter a try – check it out here.

(Disclaimer: I have received no financial benefit for this review, although I did receive a free review copy of the book from Jay, and that little link up there is an Amazon affiliate link – which means that I might be able to buy a donut if you purchase a book by clicking on it!)