Youtility

1. Youtility: Marketing so useful, people would pay for it

If you sell something, you make a customer today. If you help someone, you may create a customer for life.

Youtility defined. Youtility is a marketing strategy that focuses on being genuinely helpful to customers without expecting an immediate return. It's about creating marketing so valuable that people would be willing to pay for it. This approach stands in contrast to traditional interruption-based marketing or attempts to be "amazing."

Why it works. In today's crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with marketing messages, being useful cuts through the noise. Youtility builds trust and long-term relationships by providing real value to customers. Examples include:

• Geek Squad's YouTube channel with free tech support videos
• Charmin's Sit or Squat app for finding clean public restrooms
• Columbia Sportswear's knot-tying app for outdoor enthusiasts

2. The decline of traditional marketing and the rise of useful content

Companies of all sizes and types can and should take steps to buttress their trustworthiness.

Trust matters. Traditional marketing strategies like top-of-mind awareness are losing effectiveness due to media fragmentation and consumer distrust of businesses. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer:

• Only 58% of global consumers trust businesses
• When a company is distrusted, 57% of people believe negative information after hearing it just once or twice

Information is the new currency. To combat this, companies must shift from solely promoting products to providing valuable information. This builds trust and loyalty over time. Key trends driving this shift:

• Consumers need more information before purchasing (5.3 sources in 2010 vs. 10.4 in 2011)
• B2B customers complete 60% of the purchasing decision before contacting a sales rep
• Search engines are becoming less dominant in website discovery (83% in 2004 vs. 61% in 2012)

3. Self-serve information: Empowering customers with knowledge

We've always tried to build loyalty with people, and now we must build loyalty with information.

The passive-aggressive consumer. Today's always-connected consumers prefer to find information on their own rather than interacting directly with companies. This shift is evident in:

• Decreasing phone usage (12% drop in voice minutes for women from 2009-2011)
• Increasing text messaging (35% increase for women in the same period)
• 71% of UK residents aged 16-24 search online before contacting a company

Adapting to self-serve preferences. Companies are responding by creating robust self-service information resources:

• Life Technologies' interactive product selection guide using YouTube annotations
• Clorox's myStain app for on-the-go stain removal advice
• Angie's List's comprehensive database of service provider reviews

These tools allow customers to research and make decisions at their own pace, building trust and loyalty in the process.

4. Radical transparency: Answering every customer question

If you don't supply the information your prospects need to choose your company over the competition, they'll get that data somewhere else, and the outcome might not be as favorable for you.

Comprehensive information provision. Companies are embracing radical transparency by anticipating and answering every conceivable customer question. This approach:

• Builds trust through openness
• Differentiates brands in crowded markets
• Addresses customer needs at various stages of the buying process

Examples of radical transparency:

• McDonald's Canada's "Our Food, Your Questions" program, answering tough questions about their food
• Holiday World amusement park's detailed ride descriptions and statistics
• River Pools and Spas' comprehensive blog answering every swimming pool question

Impact on lead generation: Companies with 101-200 website pages generate 2.5 times more leads than those with 50 or fewer pages. Blogging 15+ times per month results in 5 times more traffic.

5. Real-time relevancy: Being useful at the right moment

Youtility today may not be Youtility tomorrow.

Context is king. Real-time relevancy means providing useful information or services based on:

1. Customer location
2. Customer situation
3. Seasonality or external factors

Mobile-first approach. The shift towards mobile devices amplifies the importance of real-time relevancy:

• By 2014, mobile Internet users will outnumber desktop users
• 45% of American social media users research products on smartphones multiple times weekly
• There are 2.9 billion mobile subscriptions in Asia-Pacific vs. 969 million in the Americas

Examples of real-time relevancy:

• Meijer's Find-It app for in-store product location
• Vanderbilt's CoachSmart app providing real-time safety information for sports coaches
• Scotts Miracle-Gro's region-specific lawn care advice

These tools provide value precisely when and where customers need it most, strengthening brand relationships.

6. Insourcing Youtility: Leveraging employee knowledge

Company experts are trusted by 66 percent of people; regular employees are trusted by 50 percent; and CEOs are trusted by 38 percent.

Employees as information assets. Insourcing Youtility means tapping into the collective knowledge of employees to create useful content. This approach:

• Increases the volume and diversity of helpful information
• Leverages employee expertise and credibility
• Aligns with consumer trust in company experts and regular employees

Four models of insourcing:

1. Circumstantial: Involving employees as needed (e.g., McDonald's Canada)
2. Voluntary: Encouraging employee participation (e.g., SAP's Business Innovation blog)
3. Assisted: Providing support and training (e.g., IBM's Social Eminence Program)
4. Mandatory: Making content creation part of job responsibilities (e.g., OpenView Venture Partners)

By involving employees in content creation, companies can scale their Youtility efforts and provide more authentic, expert-driven information to customers.

7. Measuring and sustaining Youtility as an ongoing process

Youtility is a marathon, not a sprint.

Continuous improvement. Youtility is not a one-time project but an ongoing process requiring constant refinement. This is necessary because:

1. Customer needs change over time
2. New technologies create opportunities for different types of usefulness
3. Better ideas for being helpful emerge through experience

Measuring success. To justify and improve Youtility efforts, companies should track four types of metrics:

1. Consumption metrics (e.g., downloads, page views)
2. Sharing metrics (e.g., social media shares, reviews)
3. Lead generation metrics
4. Sales metrics

ROI calculation. While some Youtility efforts have easily calculable ROI, others require longer-term correlation analysis. The key is to focus on both short-term gains and long-term relationship building.

Commitment to usefulness. Successful Youtility practitioners understand that becoming truly helpful takes time and persistence. As Freezer Burns creator Greg Ng notes, his return in the first year was just "twenty-three cents an hour," but his goal was to own the niche through consistent, useful content creation.

Last updated: September 29, 2024