Anyone who knows anything about Dolly Parton will know that as well as being a singer she has also starred in movies (some vastly better than others), had her own TV show and written a number of books. She may not have done all of them well all the time but she has never been afraid to try new media for expressing herself.
As a business person you should be prepared to use different media to communicate to your customers. Different people like to consume information in different ways. Some of us prefer the written word, some like video and some like audio. Others like to mix it up a bit and enjoy the variety.
The beauty of living in this era is that all these different media are readily available to us. Imagine 20 years ago trying to make a video, and then publishing it to hundreds or thousands of people. The costs would be astronomical and the process long-winded…and you wouldn’t have even come close to the quality you can get from one of today’s $200 HD handheld cameras.
Writing and self-publishing a book used to cost thousands of dollars and it was difficult to find anyone to distribute the book. Yet, today you can write a blog that will be read by hundreds of people every week, or you can publish a book on a digital platform and start selling it immediately.
When I started out in radio, creating any piece of original audio like this podcast would have taken hours of blood, sweat and tears and would have been heard only in the local area. Today this podcast might take an hour or 2 from writing through recording and editing to uploading and publishing online for people all over the world to listen to.
If you are feeling comfortable with writing, maybe it’s time to try some video. If you are happy recording podcasts, then maybe you should try publishing something you have written instead. Take up the challenge to learn a new skill and communicate with a different group of people.
Like Dolly, you will always (and should always) be REALLY good in one medium, but that shouldn’t stop you experimenting and becoming competent (even exceptional) at communicating in other ways.
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