Categories: Articles

Don't Blog. Don't Podcast. Don't Try Second Life

I’ve spent the past few days listening to my usual slew of Podcasts – Across The Sound, Inside PR, For Immediate Release, Managing The Gray, Daily Source Code, American Copywriter, New Comm Road and many more. I’ve also been paying close attention to the comments that these Podcasts get.
People don’t get it.
There was an audio comment on For Immediate Release from someone giving a handful of reasons as to why you will not find them in Second Life. On Across The Sound, there was a segment on what a person thought about Podcasting, and how unimportant it truly is (in their opinion). There are always people asking me why they should Blog, as they think it’s a huge waste of time.
I’m tired of this.
I heard these exact same arguments (don’t have the time, too busy, the technology is quirky, it won’t catch on with everybody) every time something new gets introduced.
I’m really sick and tired.
I could list out all of the reasons people give as to why they don’t Blog, Podcast or try out Second Life, and we can compare it to the reasons people gave years ago when they first tried stuff like a web browser (“who has time to surf through all this?”), instant messenger (“why would anyone want to communicate like this?”) and email (“it makes no sense when you can just fax them.”).
As Marketers, we have a duty to understand every channel of communication that people are using. When we make statements like “my schedule is too busy to add another appointment, like meeting in Second Life,” what you’re actually saying is, “I’m closed minded.” Our roles are to help our clients understand the world of new marketing and social media. Like it or not, it is greatly impacting how consumers live with brands and there’s no stopping it.
So go ahead, ignore Second Life. Assume that Blogs are all about lonely people talking about their cats. Podcasting is just some wannabe blabbing into a microphone. For every person that continues to think like that, more and more marketing opportunities open up for those that are not taking their eyes off the ball and want to have a real conversation about their brand to the consumers who care the most.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.