Podcasts and podcasting are all the rage nowadays.
But I won’t be starting one, even though I have been requested to do so by subscribers to my YouTube channel.
One of the big advantages of podcasting is the ease with which you can set one up. At a minimum you could actually create one with just your mobile phone.
You could, of course, set up a more high end, sophisticated home or office studio and invest heavily in equipment to ensure quality sound, production values, editing, and so on. But starting one is easy.
Distributing your podcast is easy, too, with many online platforms such as Spotify, Apple’s iTunes and Soundcloud to name just three of the biggest online platforms.
However, I am a firm believer in not spreading my marketing efforts too thinly across a multitude of platforms. The obvious concern is being all over the place with a scattergun approach but with no real loyal audience.
It’s far better to concentrate my efforts on a smaller number of platforms, ones from which I get a good return on a consistent basis.
So, my efforts are on my own websites, email marketing, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Video plays a huge role in my marketing and creating a blog post, then a video, then slicing and dicing that video for use on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram is effective and efficient.
Blogging on my own sites, BusinessAndLegal.ie and EmploymentRightsIreland.com, and video, especially YouTube video, are tremendous tools in search engine marketing and ranking well in Google search results.
Podcasting is no good for Google search results or search engine optimisation and does not generate inbound enquiries and leads the way my YouTube channel does.
It would be easy for me to create a podcast, too, because many of my YouTube videos would be suitable to have the soundtrack stripped out and used to make a podcast. But I am not going to spend my time doing that when I can spend it making more videos, writing more blog posts, or creating good quality content on Instagram or Facebook.
You can say what you like about Mark Zuckerberg but any small business owner like me who fails to recognise the power and effectiveness of Instagram and Facebook in marketing his or her business is making a serious mistake.
Conclusion
No podcast for me.
More blog posts, more videos on my YouTube channel, more subscribers to my email lists, more fans/followers on Instagram and Facebook.
In other words, more of the same with a laser focus on what works and avoiding wasting time on what doesn’t.