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1. Be useful.
Facebooking, Snapchatting excitement, we failed to realize
it is not the content that is king, but it is—and always has Not long after the concept of “online information overload”
been—the brand itself that is most important. was identified, Jay Baer—one of the earliest digital market-
ing strategists and content marketing prophesiers—identified
the critical difference between “helping” and “selling” in
S TR ATE G I E S F O R TH E marketing. He wrote a book called Youtility whose premise
P O S T- C O N T E N T E R A is that the most successful brands are those whose marketing
focuses on providing utility to its customers. People like
Our post-content marketing era realization that content people who are helpful. They feel the same about brands that
isn’t a substitute for branding has brought about a renewed are helpful.
focus for brands that are winning. Sure, marketing is still KLM Airlines began adopting the “youtility” approach
about generating demand for your product, but it has to marketing in the earliest days of their digital efforts. They
ceased to be about what you say to generate that demand. coined their strategy “small sympathy” and set about making
Today there are simply too many brands, saying too many small efforts to help their customers with everyday challeng-
things via too many channels, for this approach to work. es. One such example is their “Must See Map” (https://www.
Savvy brands are figuring out that today it is about what youtube.com/watch?v=dosrsAy4ENY).
you stand for. Because many people wanting to travel abroad often
With this shift in focus, we went about trying to seek recommendations and advice on vacation planning
determine what is setting these successful brands apart in from family, friends, and acquaintances, KLM collected
their marketing. We identified four post-content marketing the best travel tips from their customers’ contacts through
era strategies that have emerged, and examples of brands social networks, then used geolocation on Good Maps to
applying them successfully. identify those recommendations. The company aggregated

KLM Airlines provides customers a personalized vacation map with recommendations compiled from their social media contacts.
KLM prints the map on a card so customers can carry it with them and avoid data consumption fees.

46 | NSAA JOURNAL | SUMMER 2017