Tag: Podcastreporter.com

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507- What you may want to know about Podcast-ads

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an earlier post from buzzsprout.com that gave an overview of podcast ads in many ways. We think that this would be good education for new and aspiring podcasters. The article is located at https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/podcast-ads.

This article does not go into technical detail (as maybe some of the more professional podcasters may want — i.e., those who have been podcasting for over 15 years). Instead, it goes into topics that consist of content in the form of an OVERVIEW nature, which can be consumed in about 15 minutes or so.

Now, the topics that are covered are broken up into major sections, and then broken up again into smaller topics with a paragraph or two for discussion.

As you will hear in this audio episode, we deliver the list of the topics with some opinion and experiences about podcast ads and their education for the new or aspiring podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and buzzsprout.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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506- Censorship in Podcasting — dangers to podcasters

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we observe that there is an oncoming movement from various groups that want to put censorship into Podcasting. One such group is AP (Associated Press). And there have been others that have echoed the mandate to put censorship into podcasts — very much like the censorship and lack of free speech and shutting down voices and messages and passionate themes of the social media by the billionaire oligarchs from Silicon Valley.

Even though Adam Curry of the podcast No Agenda has told us in his show that it is difficult and almost impossible to censor a protocol, as opposed to censoring a userid or posts from a social media platform or sites like google, YouTube, facebook, twitter, etc., the movement is still trying to influence the advertisers and others in charge of tools and companies that provide services to podcasters.

For this podcaster, podcasting was a method to convey your message and get your content published to the world without any censorship or interference from other resources like the FCC and other censoring organizations. That is what I really liked.

And, if you did not like the content, then you don’t have to listen, consume or subscribe to any podcast show. It was always the choice of the listener to discover, to obtain (either by downloading an episode or by streaming the audio) and to be influenced by the content of the chosen episode. The content was never forced upon a listener.

However, the ability of the podcasting environment to allow me, as a listener, to choose what I want to consume still is paramount in my mind. And I refuse to accept any censorship that gives anyone else the right to block my content or tell me what I can or cannot say or record or publish. Well, this does not include the determination either by the author of the episode and show to label the content as “explicit” or “safe” (or any other label) — which has been done since the beginning of the podosphere.

So, I hope and anticipate that podcasting in 2021 will NOT be subject to the post-election PURGE of persecution, censorship and prevention of publishing your content (i.e., free speech in podcasting). It is this hope that will allow me, as a podcaster, to continue to publish my content. As most podcasters publish their episodes with passion for their content, I also look forward to receiving content from others with whom I share a passion for the subject matter — whether it be podcast shows about podcasting, or podcast shows about tech, or podcast shows about entrpreneurs or any other topic.

Thus, I openly agree with Adam Curry that you cannot ban or censor a protocol. And I hope that podcasting can be the final frontier of free speech for content, and one that will allow us as podcasters to promote and publish content of which we find passion (regardless of the topic).

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Adam Curry . All rights reserved.

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541- Success in Podcast show guests — Tom Schwab

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter,  we discuss the success of an entrepreneur who did not initially want to be a podcaster — instead, he found success in being a podcast guest. We speak of Tom Schwab, with his small business of InterviewValet.com

As you may recall, we have had Tom in an interview in this podcast series since 2015 and 2017. And we discussed with him then his ideas of finding business success in being a podcast GUEST, not a podcaster — success in being interviewed, not in interviewing others.

As a matter of fact, here is one of the latest episodes that was published earlier in this series, as the subject was industry exhibitor at podcast conferences:

And also, we presented Tom Schwab as the “disruption entrepreneur” for the podosphere:

And we also presented the topic of Tom Schwab’s ideas and promotion of his success in “reversing the model” for podcasting:

 

Well, this episode was inspired by the announcement of a video presentation from PodcastMovement University

I signed up for this interview to get a better idea of the status of Tom in the podosphere, and to see what further words of wisdom I could get in podcasting from him.

The slides from his presentation can be obtained from the from the PM University site for events.

Podcast guesting is the term for what Tom has promoted. During the presentation, Tom had mentioned the presentations that stated that “podcast interviews convert 25 times better than blogs” for those who want to monetize their podcasts and create revenue streams for their business. In fact, Tom also mentioned his own book called “Podcast Guest Profits.”

Tom set his goals for his presentation as the following:

  • Build brand recognition to be the category king of your topic;
  • Educate and entertain your audience;
  • Increase listeners, loyal subscribers, avid fans and profitable customers;
  • Grow your podcast, brand and business;
  • Introduction to a new person or idea (for it can possibly change the world).

Tom emphasized a podcaster’s ability to pick the best podcasts for yourself to be a guest, and thus increase your visibility and factors for more success for your business. These included key success factors (like downloads, social media, email lists, brand affinity and quality factors that can tune your audience for your reach).

And one of the great results for you to grow your business may be to  “increase the lifetime value of a relationship.”

Moreover, Tom did provide time to promote some tools and resources for you to use in becoming more successful in picking the best podcast guests in which you can be a guest — and vice-versa. An example of this is the slide titled “ListenNotes” (along with the audio that describes a good usage of this tool), as well as “Podchaser.”

Tom described some books (including his own) that could help you, as well. These FREE resources are at the site of InterviewValet.com/PMU

At this point, this webinar presentation is very informative as an update for the resources in the podosphere that can possibly help you (especially some for free). I would certainly recommend it for your continuing education. I hope you can learn from this and add to your gems toward your business and podcasting success.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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538- The case for podcasters producing their own podcasts

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In this episode, we comment on a recent article from Ben Krueger and cashflowpodcasting.com that had the title of “Should you produce your own podcast?”

The argument can go in favor of those aspiring podcasters who want to be their own podcast production house. Although the rise of podcast production companies and facilities is on the rise, sometimes the cost of giving away the responsibility of producing the podcast (including, in some cases, the moderation of the content that can lead to censorship or extreme bias by the radical left employees) may be too high for the independent podcaster — especially when the value at stake is much more than financial, as it could be the loss of control and the threat of being subjected to the woke community of employees that seem to be violating their own management just because of their ideologies. Now, for the older podcasters who have had a good track record in podcast production on their own, this may seem to be a road they will avoid — as they have total CONTROL of the content, the audience and the production processes that they have developed successfully over time.

So, in this article, Ben goes into detail of the points he makes in producing your own podcast.

Ben Krueger

We strongly recommend that you consume this article, for it does give you an idea of the current thinking of some of the newer podcasters who feel that they do not want to do all the WORK associated with content management, content production and follow-up content activities (like marketing, promotion, etc.).

The main points that are delivered by Ben are the following:

  • The cost of podcast production;
  • How much money can you make by producing your own podcast?
  • The profitability of podcasting — some key thoughts; and, oh, by the way, you may want to reference a recent book by 16-year podcaster and coach Davd Jackson called Profit from your podcast)
  • Examples of some podcast platforms and making money (in one case, he uses the Anchor example);
  • Can you make a podcast by yourself?
  • Do podcast guests get paid? (Ben advises against this at the outset of starting your own podcast — and he tells why)

And also, in this article, Ben delivers a link to his own program where he encourages people to become podcasters at Start a Podcast. He certainly can promote his program and benefit from the aspiring podcaster who wishes to be his own podcaster.

And there is nothing wrong with that. I have known Ben since 2014 and have followed his blog at cashflowpodcasting.com and have seen him deliver many gems in podcasting in the form of free pdf documents to podcasters.

As Ben summarizes in his post, he focuses on the key element of starting your own podcast, owning it, continuing it and developing it into a successful show:  “Nothing is stopping you from making a podcast by yourself and publishing it across all the various streaming platforms. The question is, do you have the time?”

However, Ben assumes that you probably will be desiring to deal with the content and focus on audience and promotion elements of your show than the day-to-day tasks needed for production (both pre-production and post-production from the audio recording). So he states that “With more production services on the market than ever before, there has never been a better time to start looking for a podcast production partner. From offering basic editing services to a comprehensive end-to-end solution, you can find a partner that will meet your requirements.”

So we hope that if you are an aspiring podcaster, you create for yourself a cost-benefit analysis where you can look at the costs (and most of them not being financial) of creating, recording, editing, posting, publishing, promoting, marketing, controlling, selling and monetizing your business podcasts by yourself vs the costs and benefits of delegating those tasks (or most of them) to a third party podcast production house.

Then you can successfully move into the area of either being a true independent professional podcaster or farm it out to a third party (with whom you may later disagree with their practices, their ideologies, or potential bias that may cause you irreparable damage to your podcast and your brand and your business).

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Krueger. All rights reserved.

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podcast

503- Podcasting simplicity for content creators and entrepreneurs

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent article that tried to describe resources that would make podcasting simple and easy for entrepreneurs (and content creators). The headline for this article from podnews.net is “Caproni: Podcast Publishing for entrepreneurs.”

So, investigating the content of this article, we find the claims that these resources (Caproni) would render “delightfully simple podcast publishing…” for a series of audiences (i.e., rebels, entrepreneurs, etc.) who have no time to learn and manage any tools,  and so growing and publishing a podcast can be done with “one easy use tool.”

Now, for this podcaster, I tend to be more skeptical, because for the past 15 years, I have seen announcements and press releases that have been claiming to be the “one-stop-easy-shop” for doing this. And every time I examined the tool, I was not only disappointed, but many times the tools left a sour taste in my mouth (and the claims were just marketing hype).

So, with this article in podnews.net, you can actually go to the link to get more information and a demo and actually sign up for a trial of the resources. The trial will last for 5 months or your fifth episode, which seems to be a reasonable time for testing.

The article not only lists some of the podcasts hosted on this platform, but also makes other claims with the section called “Batteries included podcast publishing” and the sub-section called “Sell ebooks, pdfs and digital goodies marketed via your podcast… because you get to keep all of what you make.”

How can this be? you may wonder.

Well, the article claims that “everything you need” is available to you, including:

  • “Publishing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts & more!
  •  Website on your own domain
  •  Analytics
  •  Unlimited podcasts
  •  Multiple login accounts
  •  Grow with referrals: Feature landing on Spring
  •  Publishing on YouTube: Feature landing on Spring
  •  Automated transcripts: Feature landing on Summer
  •  Full control via API Private Beta”

Of course, like all marketing promotions, the testimonials follow from their customers. And as for the pricing, you can choose to sign up for either $18 USD per month or $48 USD per month after your trial. And the quote that they have about acquiring the tools is: “If you love it, keep it. If not, we can migrate your podcast to the platform of your choice.”

Now, I myself would not have tried this, as I am not a journalist employee of a publishing company that does reviews for compensation nor do I have a column in either a hardcopy or electronic magazine.

However, for an aspiring or new podcaster, this may attract the eye of someone who desires simple, easy and powerful tools to assist in getting podcast shows up and running in the podosphere. And with a free trial of 5 episodes, you really do have enough time to see if the time savings for learning other tools is a great benefit for your own show.

However, for the seasoned podcaster who has his own workflow that really works well for today (and planning for improvements for tomorrow), this may be something to be investigated whenever there may be some free time available in the future — but possibly not a priority today, as there are other projects besides publishing (like planning, marketing, promotion, sales, development of new products and offerings and social media activities).

So I do applaud the creativity of the developers of these tools, but again, I strongly recommend that you check out some of the podcasters who give their testimonials on the site and see exactly where they are in their skills curve and determine for yourself if this is a good investment for you — because the most valuable and costly investment is that of YOUR TIME to acquire, install, learn, exercise and use the tools and then analyze the results in a cost-benefit analysis.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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502- Celebrating 500 episodes — a second comeback

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we report that we had just celebrated (2 episodes ago) our 500th episode of this podcast show.

For myself, this is a great accomplishment for one show. Now, this is not the only podcast show in which I had completed 500 episodes — I actually had a show that did this from 2007 to 2013, and although it had podfaded, it was called The Struggling Entrepreneur.

But for now, this current show is a COMEBACK for me to the longevity of the podosphere and its episodes. By publishing this, and by seeing the resulting statistics of downloads, etc., I am very much pleased by the acceptance of the themes and relevance to our audiences — both for audio and video (as well as written show notes).

What does this mean for myself?

It means that podcasting has grown and that I myself predict that it will be here for a very long time — either until the podosphere shuts down (which is unlikely, since this is today one way of getting your message out without being shouted down by a censoring media and social media oligarchical world), or until we run out of themes, topics and passion for publishing our message in the world (and that will never happen, for the message will be created and distributed in one way or another).

As I contemplate the success of my current 3 shows, as well as the success of my prior 15 podcast shows during my 15 years as a podcaster, I have seen the podosphere evolve into a wondrous avenue of communication and publication.

I remember when I was a CORPORATE podcaster, with my own show about the technologies and offers and offerings from my firm (a fortune 500 company), and how that incorporated into an integrated strategy for blogs, podcasts, videos, pdf files with whitepapers, as well as interviews and promotions. This was a great success in the early days of 2006.

Also, I have seen the podcast conferences bloom — since the very first conference of the Podcast and Portable Media Expo since 2005, to the tech that allows a much easier way to create your show and episodes and then publish them with better quality and less tech knowledge than before — and then from the virtual tickets and telesummits on podcasting to the webinars and the online courses about podcasting.

And I had seen the growth of podcast shows — from amounts of 4-digits of shows in the early years of the podosphere to the current number today of over 1 million shows (almost 1.5 million), with just about every theme possible. I have also seen the proliferation of tools — both electronic and hard copy — to help the aspiring and new podcasters be able to plan, create, publish and launch a podcast show within a matter of days or even hours.

So we recently posted episode 500 (and sometimes not even counting the BONUS episodes that had no number), and we look forward to continue on the journey of podcasting into the future with new listeners, new audiences, new devices, new technologies and new themes and topics. All you have to do is examine the success of the blogosphere to see how many millions of blogs exist, and the rate of increase in blogs after their popularity was exploited — these should give you an idea of how blogs, video, audio and other technologies can affect the success of communicating our messages with our passions (and our attempts at monetization) can help us continue our journey.

So, if you are a new or aspiring podcaster, we hope that you, too, can join us for a great ride in the podosphere and have the success that you can plan for, as well as experience, with your podcast shows and episodes.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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501- Strategies for being a speaker in a podcast event

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver an updated version of an earlier episode that has been mostly repurposed. It deals with listing some strategies for you to become a speaker or presenter or demonstrator in the exhibit hall or “virtual exhibit area” at a podcasting event or conference.

If you have attended New Media conferences or other podcast events (such as those mentioned, above), and if you have never been a speaker at such an event, perhaps you are wondering if you should throw your name in the ring and be a speaker or panelist at one of these events.

If you are relatively new into podcasting — or if you have been a podcaster for a time, but have been reluctant to apply as a speaker to an event — you may want to consider the strategies dealing with the commitment of being a speaker and participate in these events.

In this episode, we will quickly try to examine in an overview format both the benefits, as well as the detriments, of being part of a key event as a podcaster.

So what is my own background as a speaker in Podcasting (2006 to 2021)?

This Podcast Reporter has been involved as a speaker and presenter in podcasting events since 2006. In San Francisco, I began as a speaker at the 3rd Podcamp. After that, I had been a speaker at multiple Podcamps in San Antonio, Texas, and other locations nationwide. Also, I had spoken at the New Media Expo (in 2011), as well as The New Media Expo podcasting tract until 2015 (the last NMX show). I also shared the stage with Jay Ehret of the Marketing Spot podcast show at a ProductCamp, as well.  I was also a session speaker since the very first  Podcast Movement conference, etc. And then my product line advanced into not only podcasting, but screencasting and video content creation and marketing.

In addition, I had been an instructor in multiple locations and taught the course of Podcasting 101 to various audiences (both public sector and private sector). And I have been a podcasting consultant and video training screencaster for the last 9 years.

Thus, I would like to review the attractive benefits — as well as some possible detriments — for you as a podcaster in becoming a new speaker at these events.

A Key Strategy: Review Events and pick the one(s) best for you

Since conferences are money-making events for those who plan and stage and produce and hold them, there is usually a lot of confusion and hype in reviewing a show or conference. You have to go through the exaggeration and hype to get to the real matter and content of the conference to see what audiences can benefit and what you can get out of it for your business or podcast.

BENEFITS: Why be a speaker or panelist participant

  • Recognition as a subject matter expert–
  • Opportunity to grow your audiences and subscriptions–
  • Obtain skills to improve your public speaking and training —
  • Enjoyment of educating and training others —
  • Benefit of conference costs: the admittance to the event and a possible virtual ticket —
  • Face-to-face meeting with key podcasters and others (for live in-person events) —
  • Possible education and training in podcasting —
  • Striking up joint ventures or other business relationships —

Launch or Pre-launch activities or venue for your offerings —

  • Promotion of your podcast, products, offerings or services —
  • Possible success in sales of your offerings or services —
  • Leads for future profitable ventures or sales —
  • The enjoyment of educating and helping others —
  • Enjoy the in-person or virtual community with other podcasters —
  • Possible “Sneak-peek” at offerings in an exhibit area or demonstration arena, either in-person or virtual —
  • Create content in a “podcast” booth or “pavilion” booth or setting
  • Gain credibility in getting interviews as a speaker or bumpers

Possible Detriments: Just be content as an attendee

  •  Commitment of costs i.e., funding travel, lodging and other expenses (for in-person events)–
  • Time away from your business (a hidden cost, but one that could be very critical in both virtual and in-person settings)–
  • The internal fear of not living up to your expectations — “fear”–
  • Perception of the reception of your presentation from your audiences–
  • Perhaps the inability to promote or sell your offerings —
  • Bad timing prior to your launch or pre-launch —
  • Family life or personal life or business commitments are not right —

Get content from interviews with podcasters or bumpers

Alternative: Do not attend in person — Only get the Virtual Ticket

  • The Virtual Ticket (if offered) – benefits
  • The Virtual Ticket — missing the Q/A, in-person buzz and exhibits —
  • Perhaps the best value for your budget, time and business —

What is your strategy for you and your business in Podcasting?

As you can see, there are several conferences available, and they seem to grow in number (even the virtual events) every year.

You have to determine if you want to have the notoriety of being a speaker, the ability to place this on your resume or CV, and enjoy the benefits of presenting or participating as a panelist in an event or not.

For myself, if my health would allow me, I would still both attend the in-person sessions and/or  speak at a podcast show or event. As a podcaster, I would still embrace all the benefits — because it would be right for me and my business.

However, YOUR business strategy and podcasting strategy will help you to review your options and determine which is best for you.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

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535- Podcasting from facebook will only mean more censorship

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the horrid idea as reported on podnews.net of facebook going into podcasting. With their horrible past performance of censorship, this will mean the beginning of censorship and attempted de-platforming of content (as well as podcasters) in the podosphere. And if twitter tries this, also, then the podosphere will become infested with this malignant growth called censorship, deplatforming, woke and cancel culture. This will probably ruin the environment of free speech that now is the podosphere, and it will also begin to ruin the environment of the podosphere.

As of the reports from the podnews newsletter and podcast episode for April of 2021, there is not much detail about the infiltration of facebag into podcasting. There is much more to be aware of.

We shall be following this type of information about this attack on content in the podosphere from facebag, and we will freely speak and comment about our views on these happenings.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and podnews.net and michaelandmike.com . All rights reserved.

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534- Searching for the truth in Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we reflect on a podcast episode delivered on 19April2021 by podcaster Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting. The title of the episode was “Podcasting Can Give Your Audience Something They Are Dying To Hear: The Truth”.

For a few brief moments, I delivered my own opinion on how podcasting can be the last medium where you can hear both sides of the story and seek the truth, so that you can then form your own viewpoint and opinion from your own critical thinking and freedom.

However, you have to find shows that do give both sides of the story and are not restricted to spilling out a narrative with one bias and political ideology that condemns anyone who doesn’t follow it to the cancel culture punishment.

So, in this short episode, I applaud Dave for delivering this message to us, and I refer to episode 533 of this podcastreporter.com series (coming in the near future) that deals with the idea that podcasting can be a vehicle to tell the truth and your own story and give out your message without being censored (as are all the other platforms in the social media, lame-stream media and politicians).

We hope that you will also reflect on Dave’s words, as well as this episode, and that you (as a podcaster) will continue an uncensored march to deliver your message without fear, intimidation or cancel culture punishment.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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500- The daily episode podcast show — a possible return

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver an updated and repurposed episode that deals with the theme of daily episodes in a podcast show.

As you will hear in this audio episode, we refer to a common show since 2013 called Entrepreneur on Fire. This was successful not only in downloads, but in financial success for its podcaster. As many of the subsequent shows tried to copy the format, the themes, the daily publishing of entrepreneur interviews, they did not equal the financial success, and thus they podfaded.

However, since I had been podcasting six years prior to that show with my own entrepreneur interview show called The Struggling Entrepreneur, I realized that the format of the copied show (which was a “cookie-cutter” approach asking the same questions with each small business owner) was not anything that I would do. I did plan my shows to allow for spontaneity and personalize each episode interview to the guest so that my audience could receive individual VALUE from each interview.

Now, in this episode, we mention that daily episode shows are not new. In fact, I mention three different shows as cases-in-point:

  • The One-minute “how-to” podcast show;
  • The 60-second marketing tips; and
  • The One-minute manager.

So, if you are an aspiring or new podcaster, you may be contemplating creating a podcast show that will publish daily episodes (however long or short they may be, and for whatever topic you may have). If so, please be advised that this will be a great commitment and it will incur a lot of work.

And if you do decide to launch your daily show, I wish you well in your endeavor and I hope that your show will be successful when you deliver your unique VALUE and your individual competitive differential advantage with your content to your audiences.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.