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THE PASSION CONVERSATION | Sept. 3

I’ve long been into word of mouth marketing. Sparked it. Studied it. Lived it. Done it. Talked it. And written about it in countless blog posts. All of that has led to this.

I’ve long been into word of mouth marketing. Sparked it. Studied it. Lived it. Done it. Talked it. And written about it in countless blog posts. All of that has led to this…

THE PASSION CONVERSATION: Understanding, Sparking, Sustaining Word of Mouth Marketing

In early September, THE PASSION CONVERSATION will be published by Wiley. It’s a co-authored project with Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church, and myself all contributing to the book.

Much more will be shared about the book on the Brand Autopsy blog and over on the Brains on Fire blog. (Yeah yeah yeah, we’ll also be tweeting about it and sharing other tidbits on Facebook. Pre-orders? Yep, more here.)

How did THE PASSION CONVERSATION book come about? Read on…


Origins of THE PASSION CONVERSATION

Last spring I took my word of mouth marketing studies up a few notches with Geno Church of Brains on Fire.

Geno got wind of a smarty-pants academic research paper about what sparks people to talk. We scrubbed the academic paper free from its rigorous scholarly language and distilled its findings into much easier to understands words. We also dug up more research papers and scrubbed those as well.

Together, we crafted a presentation that Geno delivered at conference in May of 2012. That one presentation got a lot of play at the conference and has been seen over 90,000 times since on Slideshare.

We got to thinking all this scrubbed academic research coupled with our real world marketing experiences would make for a great book about understanding, sparking, and sustaining word of mouth conversations.

Robbin Phillips picked up the ball and together we wrote a book proposal that serves as a sequel of sorts to their first book, BRAINS ON FIRE: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements.

One of the lines from the first BRAINS ON FIRE book is the starting point for this book.


“It’s not about the product conversation;
it’s about the passion conversation.”


If you think you are in the marketing business, think again. You’re in the people business, and THE PASSION CONVERSATION will teach you how to get people to fall passionately and madly in love with your organization or cause.

Yes, we mash-up the latest in wonky academic research. But the practical, real-world stories we share shows how any business can spark long-lasting word of mouth. You’ll learn how loving your customers results in not just building a thriving community, but also driving meaningful conversations, ultimately impacting the financial success of a business.

We truly believe this book will change your perspective on marketing by:

  • Explaining the motivations for why people talk about businesses and causes
  • Detailing how every marketing problem is a people problem in disguise
  • Giving heartfelt evidence that marketing materials are now conversation tools
  • Showing how customer communities sustain word of mouth while also sparking financial impact
  • Helping your business apply these marketing lessons through a series of workbook exercises called “Passion Explorations.”
  • The time is now for marketers and businesses to go beyond the product conversation to understanding, sparking and sustaining THE PASSION CONVERSATION for why your business is in business.