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I recently launched our new podcasts. Originally I planned to do one episode every Sunday, nothing big, 10 minutes each time. Everyone is doing Podcasts these days, and I just thought I’d give it a try.

I also wasn’t going to invest a lot in it – I still won’t, at least for now. No expensive shiny mics, no mixer – just me and my headset.

I launched it last Sunday.

Doing the first episode felt… weird. I felt weird. After all, I’m more of a writer anyway. Writing comes so much easier for me – I can sit down and let the thoughts flow.

But then after launching the first show something clicked in me. The excitement of launching something new. The feeling of doing something I had never done before. The adrenaline rush you get when you just stepped out on a stage having to perform something you have never performed before – that you haven’t perfected yet.

The first show wasn’t perfect. Far from it. But I promoted it anyway – expecting the full force of the audience to hit me with critique.

But that didn’t happen – instead, the feedback was mildly positive.

This made me decide to go in full force – I think I’m getting the hang of it. I already launched the second episode – which already felt a lot easier – and I want to master that thing called podcasting now.

Nice Story… But How Does It Relate to Marketing?

Good question.

Whenever you are marketing anything, especially when you are doing this online, you will be tempted to walk the path you already know.

If you are a blogger, you are going to use blogs for client projects. When you are a Facebook advertising expert – that is what you are going to do. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as you are open to new ideas as well.

The marketing world has shifted – and that is not even news anymore. But it didn’t just shift into the new fixed state of happening primarily online. Marketing shifted into a dynamic, always changing and always improving state.

Today, marketing is won by those who don’t just constantly adapt but who constantly try out new ideas, are not afraid to fail and who are even willing to risk failure sometimes.

Online Marketing doesn’t allow you to rest in peace for achievements of the past. When you don’t try new stuff all the time, you will become irrelevant at some point.

And to try new stuff you have to leave your comfort zone. Just like I did on Sunday.

Of course, our podcast is marketing related – and, of course, doing a podcast is not anything spectacular anymore. Trying new things often just means you need to try what is new for you.

Do you remember the feeling you had when you hit “publish” on your first blog post? Your first Tweet? Status update?

That was the same feeling that made me feel weird when I recorded my first podcast. And I realized something about myself: I’m only more of a writer because I started writing a lot earlier in my life. I have practice in writing.

In the online marketing world, the only way of getting good at anything is doing it.

Online Marketing Is About Creativity

This experience allowed me to see something very clearly: Online marketing is about creativity. Not just about trying new things, but also to be creative with the things you already do. If you are writing a blog, you should switch your point of view from time to time. If you are a Google Adwords expert, you always have to imagine yourself being the person who is searching for something.

And if you are active in any online marketing field, you are never exclusively active in just one field. As a blogger, you are not just a blogger – you are a social media marketer, you are active in SEO, you might try podcasting one day.

Be creative.

Do you want to leave your comfort zone and learn something new? Check out our ebook “The Social Traffic Code!” You will learn how to grow a targeted audience on social media and how to turn that audience into free social traffic!

What Success Online Really Means

My guess is that no one is falling for the myth that success online is easy anymore. Ok, maybe you do – but then: get the hell away from this blog – because then it is not for you.

The path that led me to the place I am in today led me to believe that success online comes down to the following criteria:

• Never give up. Keep walking, the path in front of you might be paved with Google Updates, but it leads to the top.
• Be creative (or in other words: neither wear white nor black hats). Never back down from anything just because it hasn’t been done before. Online, ideas still count. And every little idea could make a big difference (Most ideas won’t but the ones that do are worth it).
• Be broad. Never specialize on just one thing – all things online are interconnected. No strategy online can just focus on one area. There is no such thing as a Social Media Strategy without a general online strategy.

A lot of people will disagree on these points, and they are my idea of how to approach the online world. But this is what I currently believe to be most important.

Back to the Story…

As said before, feeling weird didn’t stop me from going in full force.

Instead of one show per week, I’m now going for 2 – 3 shows per week. I already released episode 2 and guess what – it’s starting to be fun. I felt far less weird the second time, and it took me far less time.

And I began to see benefits from it already, at least, I hope so. In a month, I will write an article reviewing my success (or failure) – and I am looking forward to it.

But whether I will declare it a huge success or a failure – I already became a better marketer from the experience.

Leaving my comfort zone made me feel so much better in the end.

Oh, and Please Listen to the Podcast:

If you haven’t had too much of me already, here are the two already published episodes of the podcast:

The Traffic Generation Podcast by the Social Ms (Episode 1)

Why You Still Need a Blog in 2015

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