Staying Relevant with Utilitarian Marketing

In order to stay relevant in today’s market, brands are required to deliver bigger and better products and services every single day. Consumers have never had more options, making it increasingly difficult for unestablished brands to gain and maintain loyalty. With all the advertising clutter that’s competing for consumer attention, how can companies small and large break through?

One of the most effective strategies circulating in the marketing world today is utilitarian marketing. The concept is simple yet effective—create marketing content that is actually useful to its recipients; something that has a real-world, practical application. In author Jay Baer’s book series “Youtility,” he lays out three different methods of providing utility to your consumer base.

Self-Service Information

This type of utility is achieved by outlining information individuals can actively seek out for themselves. This method is typically most effective when the given information leads an individual to realizing that your product is the solution to the problem they’re trying to solve . This could be as simple as writing a blog post (similar to this one), or as impactful as starting your own podcast.

Radical Transparency

Radical Transparency  helps provide companies or brands with answers to any and all questions that a prospective or current customer may ask , even the ones they haven’t thought of.

Real-time Relevancy

The ability to deliver solutions to consumers in real-time is one of the best ways you can create utility.  A frequently used example is the Meijer Find-It app, which allows individuals to streamline their shopping experience by mapping out every SKU in a store. A more easily employable form of real-time relevancy is hyper-communication with consumers. Companies will often use online forums and/or Twitter as a platform to quickly and effectively communicate in real-time with their consumers.

Using these methods in your organization’s marketing strategy, either individually or as a whole, has the potential to convert prospects to customers and customers to passionate brand advocates. While these strategies are new ground for many enterprises, those who choose to adopt them  are likely to see notable gains in the strength and dedication of their fans.