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I read the book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and while the book didn't do a ton for me, it did provide me with one question that can help me build my audience. It provided a question that can help inspire word of mouth. Here it is:

What is the topic you are covering in your podcast that will inspire your audience to tell one of their friends?

So I paid attention to myself this week to see what information I told friends about. I had two. One from episode 39 of Profitcast (a podcast dedicated to examining ways to monetize your podcast), and the MoneyPlan Show (help you pay attention - not interest).

This week was walking around a Holiday Inn in Lavonia Michigan listening to Profitcast. Brian came on and explained how a podcast can be

Good
Quick
Cheap

The kicker is you can only pick two. It can be good and quick, but it won't be cheap. John Lee Dumas had sponsors six months after launching his Entrepreneur on Fire podcast (6 months is quick). His show is great (I'm a fan). It wasn't cheap. He spent $3000 on a mentor, and John had six figures in the bank when he started (hear about this on the MoneyPlan SOS podcast). So it was expensive to start. If you want your show to be quick and cheap, it's probably not going to be good. If your show is going to be good and cheap, it's going to take a while to build that audience (but maybe not using the question above). You can hear Brian dig deeper into the good, quick, cheap discussion on Profitcastuniverse.com I like Brian. I've had him on this show and he co-hosted one week on Ask the Podcast Coach. He's a good guy. So there I was walking around the hotel and his episode just made me think, and then I wanted to shout AMEN! That was such a cool way of explaining a person's podcast. I IMMEDIATELY stopped what I was doing, clicked on the image in the podcasts app and prayed he put contact information in his show notes (he did). He had a link to speakpipe, which then launched the app on my phone and there I was telling Brian how his content just blew me out of the water. WOW. Later that week (now in Toled0) I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Sueberling from the Podcasters Group Therapy podcast (and inside the jungle) and I told him about this "Good, Quick, Cheap" theory. Nick had heard it used in business. This is a great example of things you know that you think EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT (but obviously not - as I didn't). Later I posted it in School of Podcasting Private Facebook group (that you get access to when you are a member). Bill Conrad checked it out and later reposted about the show. He called his "Binge of the week." Later in the week I was listening to Steve Stewart talk about Bitcoin on episode 179 of the MoneyPlan Sos show, and then he throws in this BOMB of a subject that just blew me away. It tells the story (stories ALWAYS work) of Joe Legal, Jose Illegal. As Steve explains both of these men do construction. Joe Legal makes quite a bit more money than Hosea Illegal. Steve continues on and you hear that Joe pays taxes, insurance, health care, and other costs that in the end leave him having to get a part time gig to make ends meet. Hosea Illegal doesn't pay taxes or for school lunches, health benefits, and other items. It was VERY interesting and done in a "Just the facts" fashion (not really taking sides). The minute my wife got in the car, I had to play it for her. It was a great conversation starter. What topics are you tossing to your audience? Are the conversation starters? The #1 way people find about about podcasts is through word of mouth. Sure we all use Twitter, facebook, etc, but a TON of the word of mouth about podcasts happens face to face. In the immortal words of Bonnie Raitt "Let's give them something to talk about."

How Are You Standing Out?

I was thinking about the news. Every day (sadly) someone gets shot, a politician lies, a new business opens, and a beloved institution closes. A sports guy screams into the camera about a bunch of millionaires who run around and sweat for our amusement. You have a cuddly friendly weather person who secretly knows that they are being replaced by an app on your phone. The news anchor who went to school to be a journalist now gets to read headlines about B list celebrities on reality shows. The sky traffic report from a helicopter doesn't really matter because by the time you get in the car they will have that wreck cleared. This too is being replaced by an app (Waze app) To me its all the same thing. I rarely tell someone about anything I heard about on your typical newscast. I do talk about things on the New Agenda Show (that should be on the evening news). Every Newscast in America Parody (18:30)

Word of Mouth Book

I listened to this book as an Audio book (from Audible - Get a Free Book When You Sign Up). I found it "meh." If you are absolutely brand new to marketing it would be great (tips like "Be nice to people" and "start a blog" I think I have down).

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