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May 25, 2007
Why we stopped podcasting
Eager to explore the emerging new medium of podcasting, we launched our own podcast in February 2005. Our goal was to produce thoughtful and interesting shows about customer evangelism and word of mouth.
It was fun for about 10 episodes but exhausted by the work, we stopped. For the NPR-sounding quality we sought, the production was time-consuming and laborious. We usually spent 8-10 hours editing a 30-40 minute show.
We were in "the dip," as Seth Godin describes in his terrific new book, "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)." Seth says that yes, winners do quit, and quitters do win. The key is know when you are stuck in the dip, a low-point when things aren't fun any more, whether you should push through or just stop.
The time spent working on the podcast was distracting from writing another book, keeping up with blog posts, and preparing for speaking engagements. It was hard to quit when people were saying that they loved the podcasts; emails plead with us to keep going (..."Please please please don't give it up!")
After reading Seth's book, I realized we made the right choice. As a lab experiment, podcasting taught us much about the democratization of media, but quitting freed us to focus on the work that mattered the most to us.
BONUS: I attended Seth's book tour stop in Chicago last week and His Baldness signed 5 copies of "The Dip" for me to give away. If you want one of the five signed copies, post a comment below by May 26 at noon CDT COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED and I will randomly draw 5 winners. I'll email the winners to get their snail mail addresses. (Sorry, U.S. addresses only!)
UPDATE: The winners of the Seth Godin-autographed copies of The Dip are Matt McKee, Neil Simon, Scott Barnett, Chris Ray and Clint Schaff. Congrats!
Other blogs that reference Why we stopped podcasting:
Seth is the man! I'm an IdeaVirus victim.
I've blogged on him so many times, it should be its own tag.
see here: http://blogs.msdn.com/maamktg/search.aspx?q=seth+godin&p=1
and
http://jer979.blogspot.com/search?q=seth+godin
Time is the key. In a past life I volunteered to do a facility newsletter- everyone loved it- but the time to put it together for once a month distribution was way out of proportion. I could have made it less of a burden by reducing the quality- but decided not to. We ended it before I had to go to HR to justify a new hcount.
A good learning experience
I think it's a good decision as well. I watched ZeFrank religiously but I can understand why he wanted to be done as well. It just gets to a point where the time spent isn't justifying the results anymore and honestly, your blog is GREAT and takes far less time - the more info you distribute this way the better! :)
(Here's to hoping to win! I love Seth's stuff and sub his blog too)
Matt
I'd love one of those books!
Love the blog, and I've become hooked on the concepts of social media and customer evangelism.
Keep up the great work.
Why not expand your team to include others who share your views - have them do the podcast, while you just drop in as a guest with some ad-hoc commentary on a weekly basis.
You can have your cake and eat it, too.
Good call guys. Podcasting is very time-consuming when done well and while I enjoyed listening to the banter, you're both such great writers that I'd prefer (selfishly I admit) to have you focusing on books, blogs, and public speaking.
I'd love a signed copy BTW - have already devoured the book but a Seth-o-graph would be a welcome addition to the library.
Why not turn the podcast and corporate knowledge into an audio cd? Working on a one-time project would be less demanding and potentially profitable!
Currently reading "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris...great time saving methods are outlined.
Pretty much anything Seth writes is golden. Love the audiobook versions...I listen to them when traveling!
I like cake and books. I'd appreciate a free copy.
I need The Dip!!!
Young Go Getter would love a signed copy of The Dip :)
Such a good reminder that it's okay to quit something when it's not working for you...why are people so afraid to do that?
Love your blog - as a resident of Chicagoland, I always hope I'll run into one of you someday =)
Yes please!
I miss your podcasts- but completely understand why you stopped. Thanks for offering Seth's new book.
Yes, yes, yes!
I was going to do the same thing, and even got an evaluation copy of some sophisticated audio editing software. After a half hour of playing with it, it was evident that this was going to be an all-consuming, major time sink.
Thank God I found out before I got started.
Pick me! Pick me!
I'd love a book, if only because I quit podcasting as well.
;-)
I remember the quality of the Maker's Mark podcast in particular. It was so good, I even marveled "Where do they find the time?" It all makes sense now.
Congrats on a successful book tour as well!
I too miss the podcast, but understand.
We'll always have your books and the blog!
Jackie and Ben - Congratulations on quitting the podcast and putting the energy into the book tour. Based on your latest post, it looks like it paid off. And count me in for The Dip drawing. Thanks.
Is video the next podcast, the next experiment, the next medium. The dip would be helpful though.
As a consultant/webmaster for a company that likes to get in over its head, I appreciate hearing a realistic idea of how much time it takes to produce a quality podcast. This will help me tremendously the next time they say, "Hey, let's do a podcast. It will be fun and easy!"
Thanks!
With all of the new tools available, chosing the appropriate venue for delivering your message is imperative. Is it fair to assume that podcasting requires more editorial strategy then a blog? I would think it does. There are already enough people yammering on for too long and encouraging a download or 5-10 minute listening commitment from the audience is a monumental challenge. I believe podcasting requires fresh, new, entertaining content where as a blog post can be a little off topic and requires less of a commitment from the reader and the blogger.
Dip...Dip...Dip...
You should be ashamed of yourselves for using such blatant comment bait.
Saying that won't disqualify me from the drawing, will it?
I have worked with clients in the past who were dying to setup a podcast and 9 out of 10 times they have died out for the same reason... We need to remember that the media is not always the message...
