Sheridan built the method from saving his own struggling pool company by answering, in detail and in public, the exact questions customers were too embarrassed or too afraid to ask competitors — including price. The result is a content strategy grounded in genuine helpfulness rather than sales pressure, and a well-documented case study of it working.
Key lessons
- Answer the questions your industry avoids — especially price, problems and comparisons — before your competitors do.
- The 'Big 5' content topics (cost, problems, comparisons, best-of lists, reviews) drive disproportionate traffic and trust.
- Genuine transparency, including publishing pricing information, builds trust faster than most businesses expect.
- Content built to actually help buyers make a decision outperforms content built purely to promote the business.
The businesses winning content marketing aren't the cleverest — they're the ones honestly answering the exact questions their buyers are actually asking, including the uncomfortable ones.
What’s aged well
The core method remains genuinely well-tested and widely adopted since publication, with a strong track record.
What feels outdated
Nothing significant; the method is platform-agnostic and still directly applicable.
The Business Stuff verdict
One of the most practically actionable marketing books on this list, backed by a real, well-documented case study.
Three things to actually do after reading it
- Write down the five questions customers ask most often before buying, including the uncomfortable ones about price.
- Publish honest content answering your industry's most-avoided question, even if competitors won't.
- Check whether your pricing is genuinely accessible to a prospective buyer researching you online.
If you liked this, read next
Five similar books
- This Is Marketing (Seth Godin)
- Building a StoryBrand (Donald Miller)
- Contagious (Jonah Berger)
- Purple Cow (Seth Godin)
- Made to Stick (Chip & Dan Heath)