I'm No Longer Podcasting. Here's Why...

Last week I announced that I would no longer be recording new episodes of my Internet marketing podcast, Marketing Martini.

My podcast?

I realize that some of my loyal blog readers may not have even known I had a podcast since it was a pilot project that I never heavily promoted. (In case you are curious, you can check out the archive of Marketing Martini episodes.)

I thought it would therefore be a good idea to clarify why I made my decision to stop podcasting.

The one thing I want to make perfectly clear is that I am still a big believer in the power and potential of podcasting as a medium in general. What I am no longer interested in, however, is producing my own podcast.

Here's the scoop:

When I launched my Marketing Martini podcast in January 2007, I had a number of goals.

First and foremost, I wanted to better understand the medium of podcasting, and the only way I could do that was to get my hands dirty and produce my own podcast. I certainly ended up learning more than I ever wanted to know about the technical nitty gritty of producing a podcast, and this knowledge proved very helpful to me when I was working at 'The Big Ad Agency'. In fact, I was able to directly apply that knowledge during the production of the podcast the agency produced for General Motors of Canada, "Aesthetic Intent". I was, and still am, very proud of how that turned out.

Second, I wanted to experiment with communicating my knowledge of Internet Marketing through a new medium, which is somewhat ironic since I started my career working in radio over 25 years ago. I discovered that I enjoyed using the spoken word (again) and had fun exploring some of the potential of the medium.

There were also a few other more private goals I had in mind when I launched the Marketing Martini podcast. I should add, however, than none of these goals had anything to do with generating revenue from my podcast; that was never one of my goals.

So why am I hanging up my podcaster's mike?

Quite simply, I achieved the goals I had set out for myself, even my private ones.

Once I realized this, I took a hard look at the time I was spending to produce my podcast. It soon became apparent that (for me, at least) this was a pretty time-consuming endeavor (compared to, for instance, blogging), and was - quite frankly - getting in the way of me pursuing other things, including writing for this blog.

I didn't want to find myself resenting doing my podcast because it was stopping me from launching other projects, so that's why I decided to stop podcasting.

I'd like to thank my listeners - who, interestingly, hail from all around the world - for their loyalty, support and encouragement. Nothing gave me more pleasure than hearing from a listener in a far off place.

Thanks to Mitch Joel and Michael Seaton for inspiring me to begin podcasting in the first place. Keep on podcasting, guys!

And very special thanks to podcasting expert Leesa Barnes who provided some invaluable advice and support during the initial setup of my podcast. I truly couldn't have launched Marketing Martini without her input.

I am already hard at work on my next project, which I will be launching soon, and you, loyal blog reader, will be among the first to hear about it. All I will reveal at this point in time is that it has something to do with domain names. Stay tuned...

P.S. Here are some links to some excellent podcasts that inspired me to become a podcaster:

• Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter
• Inside PR
• Managing the Gray
• Six Pixels of Separation
• The Client Side Podcast
• Trafcom News Podcast

Enjoy!

Comments

[Julie Power]

I love the idea of listening to podcasts and watching business videos, but when push comes to shove ... and that's often enough ... I go for the fast option, reading and skimming. To my mind, unless you have an audience that does a lot of commuting, podcasting is not the most efficient way of reaching people. Did you find that?

[Bill Sweetman]

Hi Julie, I think that people like, and consume information, in different formats, depending on their own personal preferences. I, personally, am a reader/skimmer vs. a 'listener', but I know lots of people who prefer radio, audio books, and podcasts. So I think podcasting can be a very efficient way to reach those folks, and I certainly reached many people that way with my podcast. That's why I am still a huge believer in podcasting as a medium, even though I am no longer active as a podcaster.