Business owners who are looking to broaden their brand or expand their online presence have several options to choose from when it comes to marketing. In addition to posting on social media platforms and websites, starting a blog or a podcast is also an option to enhance their content.
Podcasts and blogs have both been used successfully to launch new businesses, so the question is not whether to start a podcast or a blog; it’s which is better for you and that of your business.
Podcast vs. Blog
Podcast:
- A podcast is a digital audio file made available for download on the internet. Like this podcast, the Delaware Blogger Podcast
- A blog is an educational, informative, or entertaining website where new pieces of content or blog posts are consistently published, like DelBlogger.com
Podcasting & Blogging Pros and Cons
Podcasting Pros:
- It’s a newer medium: the first podcast was created in 2004 versus the first blog in 1994.
- It showcases your personality and establishes a deeper connection with your audience.
- It’s popular with younger audiences: 70 percent of listeners are 18 to 54 years old,
- The number of podcast listeners is growing, 100 million+
Podcasting Cons:
- It’s more technically complicated and expensive to create than blog posts. You can start free using just your Smartphone and Anchor.FM for hosting, but at some point you will want to upgrade your equipment and hosting platform like Buzzsprout.
- It’s more of a time commitment, for example a one-hour podcast can take three-five hours to produce. You will not simply be writing and adding images, you will be recording, editing, and heavily promoting.
Blogging Pros:
- It’s less of a time commitment; an average blog post takes three-and-half hours to write, edit and schedule/publish.
- Blogs require less technical expertise and fewer tools to create than a podcast. So if you aren’t tech savvy, this may be a challenge for you.
- Because it’s text-based, it may offer more robust search engine optimization (SEO) benefits for your website.
- Blogs take less time for your target audience to consume, typically a post can be read in 3 to 10 minutes compared to 30 minutes or more to listen to a podcast.
- According to stats, nearly 47 percent of internet users 18-29 years old read blogs at least once a week.
Blogging Cons:
- You’ll need to have good writing skills and of course love to write on a regular basis.
- You may need to learn a new publishing platform to start blogging and with the constant changes it can be challenging.
Podcast or Blog: Which is best for you?
Every business is different and so is every business owner. In trying to determine whether a podcast or a blog is the best choice to help establish your business’s online presence, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are your natural talents and personality traits? Are you introverted and shy? Are you a good writer? Do you like to think through things and write them out rather than talking? If so, a blog is a better match. Do you have the “gift of gab”? Do you struggle at sitting down to write? If so, a podcast is a better match.
- Who is your target market audience? Are you trying to be light, funny, or thought-provoking content that your audience can consume on the go during their busy schedules like walking the dog or doing dishes? If so, then a podcast is ideal. If you’re providing detailed instructions and educational information that requires more detailed attention, plus you need to add visual aids, including pictures, infographics, gifs and memes, videos, then a blog is a better choice.
Why Not Choose Both?
You can also choose to have both a podcast and a blog. In fact, you can cross-promote and repurpose your blog content with a podcast to get more bang for your buck, however, it will take more time. You can promote both on your social media platforms and website. I do it here on DelBlogger and The Delaware Blogger Podcast.
Just be aware of the investment of time, money, and resources required to do both is higher than just doing one or the other.
Regardless of which medium you choose, make sure it’s what works for you and your business or brand. If you wish to schedule a 15-min Discovery Call, send an email to met at [email protected] and if you need a resource guide to get you started, check our mine:
