YOUTILITY

Why Smart Marketing Is About Help, Not Hype

The difference between helping and selling is just two letters. But those two letters are critically important to your company’s success.

You’re not competing for attention only against other, similar products. You’re competing for attention against everything. To win in this hyper-competitive environment, you must ask “How can we help?”

If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life. This is Youtility.

Includes interviews with dozens of companies practicing Youtility, and provides 6 blueprints for building Youtility in your company.

Available for pre-order soon (get up to 7 exclusive bonuses) at http://YoutilityBook.com
The Now Revolution 19  |  Add Yours

75 Winners of The NOW Revolution Blogger Promotion

After making a list, and checking it twice we’re delighted to announce the 75 winners of The NOW Revolution blogger promotion. These kind folks will each receive 2 copies of the book, and will write and post a (honest) review on their blog. Then, they’ll give away the second book to one of their readers [...]

Continue Reading
Blogging and Content Creation 114  |  Add Yours

4 Ways Bloggers Differ From Reporters

You have to pitch bloggers differently than reporters. The marvelous Dave Fleet writes a lot about this topic, and Chris Brogan produced a terrific, straightforward post about blogger pitching recently. Here’s my thoughts on some advanced blogger pitching ideas and the key differences between bloggers and reporters. Influence is Made Not Born Guess how many [...]

Continue Reading
Blogging and Content Creation 440  |  Add Yours

11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger

First in a three post series this week about social media case studies. 11 Must Dos For The Serious Blogger  View more documents from Jason Baer. If your blog is essentially a post-modern diary where you share your deepest, personal feelings about life in a cathartic way, this is not the post for you. However, [...]

Continue Reading
Guest Posts 8  |  Add Yours

9 Things to Do When I’m Gone

This morning, I’m leaving with the family on a 2-week vacation of Denmark and Norway. We’re doing a home exchange, and a lovely family from Aalborg, Denmark will be inhabiting Convince & Convert global headquarters in Flagstaff. (We’ve done the exchange thing a few times via homeexchange.com and really enjoy it. If you have any [...]

Continue Reading
Blogging and Content Creation 33  |  Add Yours

Why Blogs Will Kill Dissent

While newspapers and magazines make increasingly Draconian decisions to try to escape their inexorable spiral of decline, the very future of publishing comes into question. Will life as we know it stop once the Grey Lady and her sisters cease to exist in their historical form? No. Even without papers and mags, Britney will still [...]

Continue Reading
PR 2.0 64  |  Add Yours

My Mom Thinks Chris Brogan Plays Hockey

I saw my mom the other day. She’s a pretty hip lady for 64. She was a high school teacher for about 30 years, and was always a student fave. Stylish. Knew the music. Knew the scene. Thought Patrick Swayze was hot.  Now, in her semi-retirement, she’s the editor for an online-only newspaper. She takes [...]

Continue Reading
Social Media Marketing 9  |  Add Yours

The Paradox of Social Media Control

As discussed recently in “Why Are We So Scared of Our Customers?” and “Presto, How Social Media Makes Bad News Good” I’m seeing the fear of negativity preventing more companies from embracing social media.  The typical social media objection is that if the company has a conversation with consumers in a public forum, the company [...]

Continue Reading
social crm 12  |  Add Yours

Presto! How Social Media Makes Bad News Good

In corporate conference rooms, a major complaint about social media is that it forces companies to get involved with dissatisfied customers in a public forum. The historic imperative has been to ignore complaints publicly, and deal with them privately via form letters and an occasional telephone call from a customer service representative. The rule of [...]

Continue Reading
Social Media Marketing 33  |  Add Yours

Why Twitter Is the Anchor of the Social Media Team

Because of its simplicity and immediacy, Twitter enables brands to win the 1:1 battle with customers and potential customers in ways that even other social media constructs cannot. The density of Eureka! moments on Twitter is quite high, and if brands use it right, it’s the ultimate weapon for turning lemons into lemonade. Let’s examine [...]

Continue Reading
PR 2.0 66  |  Add Yours

The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media

As part of my panel on social media at the Worldcom PR conference in Montreal recently (see post below), I created these “7 Deadly Sins of Social Media.” Are you willing to admit your sins in the comments? 1. Deafness Actively listening to what’s being said about your brand is at the core of social [...]

Continue Reading