Proposing an antidote to an industry besotted with intrusive marketing, Pratt’s debut urges teams to earn their attention from audiences by “resisting the urge to interrupt [them] with annoyances [and] choosing to blow their minds.” Arguing that contemporary marketers possess a golden opportunity to build willing audiences by producing high-quality content, like podcasts and social media spectacles, Pratt pulls from his own podcast agency experience with notables such as Ford and Audible to lay bare the secrets behind creating content that stands on its own. “The world’s most valuable commodity is attention,” he writes, and this refreshing guide shows readers several ways to harness that resource.

Replete with catchy visuals and down-to-earth writing, Earn It is unconventionally appealing. Pratt advises readers to “Do the Opposite” of the norm, offering an original framework that covers mindset, strategy, creation, and audience development, all with the idea that bucking the status quo will net the best results. Rather than falling back on what he calls “selfish” marketing instincts, such as urgency and interruption, Pratt helps readers focus instead on generosity, patience, and spotlighting the greater good. By shifting to content that is a desirable gift versus a distracting disturbance, he asserts that teams will see greater financial success as well as more positive views of their brand.

Though Earn It’s methods may feel more anecdotal than carefully measured, Pratt addresses crucial marketing concepts in a refreshing way while offering readers handy how-to pointers, including usable idea-generating exercises, strategies to make advertising content unique, tips to build a niche audience, and more. His real-world examples, from Red Bull to Shopify, illustrate the guide’s concepts in understandable ways, and he sprinkles advice from marketing experts (Ann Handley and Jonah Berger, among others) throughout his writing, closing with a timely—and uplifting—reminder to “Stay Creatively Brave and Committed.”

Takeaway: Down-to-earth guide on shifting from interruption marketing to high-end, creative content.

Comparable Titles: Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg’s Friction, Meera Kothand’s One Hour Content Plan.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A