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Podcasting 411 Recommended reading, flix Cool Deals/Free Stuff HC bio, airchecks: [WPRO 1977] [WBIG 2001]
Over the next 10 years, the number of 50+ consumers will increase at a rate of 9 times faster than the growth of their children's and grandchildren's generations.
Every day in the USA, 10,000 people turn 50.
Local direct advertisers want to meet them.
“Some little garage operation can only take away, say, .001 percent of market share from one of these monster companies. However, a hundred thousand garage operations can take it all – and given the new business dynamics the Internet brings to bear, this can happen overnight.”
THAT'S what I say when I'm asked if podcasting is a threat to broadcasting.
But I’m only quoting the four smart guys who wrote “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” SEVEN YEARS AGO, years before the word podcasting was coined. This prescient book is MUST reading...and you’re not late. What you'll read is still ahead-of-the-curve to most of radio.
Seen your web stats lately?
Are visitors bailing?
Is your site intuitive? Or an obstacle course?
Usability design is one of the most important -- yet often least attractive -- tasks for a Web developer. Steve Krug offers excellent, to-the-point examples.
Need more income from your site?
<<< Click the cover to read two chapters FREE.
Commercial and promo copy writers: Sell to “the old brain.”
Christophe Morin recommends that ad messages target the most primitive part of the brain, what he calls “the old brain.” He identifies six stimuli that connect with this part of the brain:
Focus on THEM. “The message should be centered on the customer, not the company, product or solution.”
Emphasize the before and after. Because the primitive brain responds to contrast, “the consumer must quickly understand the difference between the ‘now’ without the product or service and the ‘tomorrow’ with the product or service. No contrast, no decision.”
Keep messages clear and concise. “Words don’t have much impact on the old brain unless they are simple, repeated and supported by images.”
Make it visual. Incorporate compelling images in your copy.
Focus on the intro and conclusion. “The old brain pays attention at the beginning of an interaction and at the end. So it’s essential to provide a strong introduction and a strong conclusion.”
Emphasize emotions. But you already knew that, right?
"You're spamming listeners..."
...according to NAB Radio Show keynoter Seth Godin. "With the web and satellite radio and WiMax, radio's not going to be one-way communication any more. It's going to be two- or three-way," he told spellbound attendees.
Godin is author of:
The ground-breaking "Permission Marketing," [Read a chapter FREE]
"Unleashing The Ideavirus" [Download entire book, FREE] (PDF)
"99 Cows" [Download entire book FREE] (PDF)
"Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable"
[Read a chapter FREE]
"Free Prize Inside : The Next Big Marketing Idea" [Read a chapter FREE]
And his new best-seller: "All Marketers Are Liars : The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World"

How-To Make Money With How-To Shows:
FREE: the 24-page Sales Manual I wrote for my client The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show.
Beyond the Home Improvement category, this document will suggest a strategy for selling all your "how to" shows.
Click here (PDF).

"Radio had abandoned the idea of providing variety to listeners and instead concentrated on putting just a few well-tested songs on 'heavy rotation...'
Who would tolerate such unimaginative programming when there were iPods?"
<<< Read this book.
Even before I myself read it -- and based only on its Wall Street Journal review -- I bought a pile of copies, and sent 'em to clients. Have a look.

“Make a brand SOMEBODY hates!”
“Rather than making a brand people love,” B.J. Bueno observes that “companies prefer to make a brand nobody hates. Your brand has to have a point of view. Otherwise, you’re just playing music.”

Bueno, author of the best seller “The Power of Cult Branding,” spoke at Dan O’Day’s PD Grad School. His clients include Apple, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Miller, and other brands you know and patronize.

“Does your brand and your radio station embrace and personify a clearly defined lifestyle?” Do this right, and “they will listen to your station as a consequence of being-in-love-with your brand.”

But, to Bueno’s ear, many stations fail.

Quoting the late psychologist Margaret Singer, he characterized listeners as people “overwhelmed by confusion and apparent coldness in society.” Then, a baritone voice growls that you’re listening to “...A CLEAR CHANNEL STATION!” “Who gives a shit???” Bueno asks, recommending instead “cute-and-cuddly vs. cold-and-corporate.”

Successful brands “convey an understanding of” their patrons. Examples: Oprah, VW, Star Trek, WWE wrestling, Jimmy Buffett, iPod, Harley Davidson, and Ikea.

“In attempting to be ‘mass appeal,’ brands become easily replaced,” he warned. Citing the super-success of iPod, he declared that his client Apple “rendered every other MP3 player irrelevant.”

“True loyalty is a co-authored experience, between you and your audience.” Do EVERYTHING you can to know listeners as people, not as demographics. Know their passions, and stand-for-that like crazy. “You’re never going to build loyalty via demographics. If you like the open road and freedom, you’re the right age for a Harley.”

Because Arbitron measures recall, branding means plenty in radio. Bueno said “if you only read the first chapter of my book, you’ll get it.”

Suddenly your newscasts are better.
THE -- repeat, THE -- best book on the subject, period. Follow Mervin Block's nuts-and-bolts tips, and your newscasts WILL be more interesting and relevant.
CLICK HERE to read more about this book.
Read excerpts
Emmy award-winning NBC News correspondent Bob Dotson shares actual scripts, and tips that WILL make your news copy more sharper and more interesting...even when you're working on hellish deadlines.
CLICK HERE to read more about Bob's book.

Got Buzz?
Newsweek called buzz "infectious chatter; genuine street-level excitement." 
Want some?
In his book The Anatomy of Buzz, Emanuel Rosen offers
6 Rules About Ads and Buzz:
  1. Keep it simple. "Short, straightforward messages based on current beliefs have a better chance of replicating."
  2. Tell us what's new. "Fluff doesn't travel well."
  3. Don't make claims you can't support.
  4. Ask your customers to articulate what's special about your product or service.
    Sure, you're pumped. But "your customers need to feel the difference."
  5. Start measuring buzz.
    "Once you have data over a period of time, you'll be able to tell which of your strategies created the most positive buzz."
  6. Listen to the buzz. "What are the product attributes being discussed?"
Click here to read an excerpt, or to purchase at a discount from Amazon.com.
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