Check out this fun interview I did with Jim about the basics of word of mouth. You’ll get plenty of great stories and examples.

Listen here.

Jim will also be giving away a few copies of my new book.  Watch this video to learn how to enter:

Thanks, Jim!

There was a great little op-ed in the New York Times by Mark Mellman talking about "how word of mouth beat TV advertising in Iowa."    My big take-aways:

• 69% of voters trust information from friends; only 38% trust information from TV ads.
• Politicians that turned talkers into "advocates" did much better: 23% of Republicans were advocates for Huckabee vs. 16% for Edwards.
• It’s not about money.  Campaigns that spend more on grassroots outreach didn’t succeed in creating more advocates.

But here’s what’s most interesting to me. I first read about the article in Paul Rand’s blog — but my 93-year-old grandfather cut the article out of the newspaper and mailed it to me (envelope, stamp, and all).  When I got it, I called a friend about it. And handed the clip to my wife. Who will probably email someone.

The lesson:  Word of mouth is not an internet thing.  It’s a conversation thing. It dips in and out of offline and online.  Read it in the newspaper, post it to the web, tell someone on the phone, send it in the mail, send it in the email. 

Conversations are not constrained to a single medium.