Hi, Reader.

This week on Podcasting in Professional Services, I'm going to share with you a story not even Hollywood could come up with. In 2020, I was first introduced to Rhondalynn Korolak as a guest on The Visible Expert podcast, hosted by Kelly Waffle and myself.

I reached out to Rhondalynn a few months ago only to learn that a rogue podcaster had stolen her trademarked brand name! Grab your popcorn, because I'm sure you'll enjoy this one...

Fighting for Financial Foreplay®

As entrepreneurs, our brands become our babies. We nurture them from mere ideas into thriving businesses. So what happens when someone tries to steal our brainchild?

Rhondalynn Korolak lived this nightmare when a copycat podcaster hijacked her Financial Foreplay® brand name. But Rhondalynn didn't take it lying down. Through admirable perseverance (and FOUR cease and desist letters), she emerged victorious after a years-long legal fight. Her story exemplifies the importance of protecting your intellectual property.

In 2009, Rhondalynn came up with the Financial Foreplay® brand and used it as the title of a book, speaking engagements, and other means of marketing her expertise and financial services. The name was catchy, intimate and embodied her vision. So Rhondalynn trademarked it.

“It's a little bit of a shocking title for people," said Rhondalynn. "But the reason I wrote it is because I know that people either hate talking about money, or are terrified to talk about their money. So I used what I know about brain-friendly learning and coaching techniques to make stuff that's scary and intimidating, fun, memorable and interesting. To me, it's not just a book title. It's a whole philosophy of how I do things differently.”

In 2020, Instagram and YouTube influencer Canna Campbell (aka SugarMamma), brazenly launched a competing show under the same name. Rhondalynn swiftly sent cease and desist letters asserting her rights. But the copycat podcaster insisted she had equal claim to the name.

Podcast Naming Statistics

Since we're on the topic of podcast names, like Financial Foreplay, I thought this week's research should include some stats about podcast names. After all, the name of your show should be memorable and convey the premise of your show.

Recently, Podcastle analyzed the top 100 podcasts, according to Spotify and Podcast Insights. They found the average length of a podcast name to be 3.9 words or 22.4 characters.

If you think that's too small of a sample size, let's zoom out.

Dan Misener of Pacific Content analyzed metadata from 658,957 podcasts to understand the average length of a podcast title. He found some interesting nuggets:

• Half of all podcast titles are between 14 and 29 characters
• The most popular title length is 16 characters
• The mean average show title is 23.9 characters
• The median show title is 20 characters

Below is a visual of podcast titles by length:

Coming up with a name for your podcast can be challenging. If you're stuck on what your podcast name should be, I recently wrote about 6 different frameworks for naming a podcast. Maybe you'll find some inspiration! Also, if you'd like to bounce ideas, reply to this email to start a conversation.

Podcasting Challenge: Check if your podcast name is trademarked

Each week, I offer a small, actionable challenge to help push yourself and grow your show. This week's challenge will take you less than 5 minutes.

1. Check with TESS. Check the United States Patents & Trademark Office using their Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) to see if the podcast name you've selected is protected under a trademark.

Podcasts can take a long time to build credibility and awareness in the marketplace. A small act like trademarking your podcast name can protect your intellectual property down the line.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Podcasting in Professional Services. Thank you so much for reading. If you have any questions or feedback, please reply to this email.

Cheers,
- John

P.S.—Need help marketing your podcast? Book some time with me to see how we can grow your show together.