How the Writer's Strike Can Hurt Your Business and What You Need to Do About It

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There are a lot of discussions surrounding the recent writer’s strike in Hollywood. The writer’s strike began due to a labor-related dispute between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which has led to the longest ongoing interruption in American television production since 2019.

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A few of the central points of the dispute have to do with writers’ income, royalties, residuals from streaming media, and the role of artificial intelligence in the writing of scripts and plots.

How the Writer’s Strike Affects Your Business

The first question that probably arises for any businessperson who learns about this dispute is, “How does this affect my business?” Even if you are not in the entertainment industry, it can affect you in various ways, and here we will outline them for you and show you what you can do about it. 

1. Higher Marketing Costs

Content creation is one of the most influential and used strategies for small and medium companies to build brand awareness and market their products. Still, the writer’s strike can potentially make it harder for smaller businesses to afford it.

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The writer’s strike is leading to higher costs for hiring writers and nearly any employees with creative skills, resulting in higher costs for content creation and marketing.

2. AI Tools Regulations

One of the goals of the writer’s strike is to impose regulations on AI tools, which are one of the most cost-efficient methods to create all types of content, from images to text, and are being used by many businesses to increase the efficiency of their marketing efforts.

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If these regulations come to fruition, they will not just limit your ability to use writing tools such as ChatGPT but all manner of artificial intelligence tools and applications.

What You Can Do About the New Conditions

If the writer’s strike succeeds at making the costs of creative production higher for companies, there are various methods you can employ to adapt to the new conditions. Still, perhaps the easiest and most efficient one at this moment is to adopt more cost-efficient formats of content production.

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One very concrete example of a highly cost-efficient content format is podcasts.

Leverage the Power of Podcasting

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Podcasting presents itself as a highly cost-efficient alternative to other forms of content creation amid the writer's strike. As businesses face higher costs for hiring writers and creative employees and the potential for increased regulations on AI tools, turning to podcasts can be a strategic move to adapt to the new conditions.

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Some of the benefits of podcasting as a cost-efficient content format include:

Minimal Production Costs

Unlike traditional video content or scripted material, podcasting requires relatively minimal production costs. You only need a good-quality microphone, recording software, and quiet recording space. This makes it an accessible option for businesses of all sizes, including smaller companies with tighter budgets.

No Need for Scripted Content 

Podcasts offer a more conversational and spontaneous format. Without the reliance on scripted content, businesses can create engaging and informative episodes without the added expense of hiring professional writers.

Showcase Expertise

Podcasts provide a platform to showcase your industry expertise and knowledge. You can share insights, tips, and valuable information with your audience, positioning your business as an authority in the field. This helps build brand credibility and trust with your listeners.

Wider Reach and Accessibility 

Podcasts are easily accessible to a global audience, and listeners can tune in conveniently. Unlike video content, podcasts do not require constant visual attention, allowing audiences to multitask while listening, making them more likely to consume your content regularly.

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Repurposing Content

Podcast episodes can be repurposed into other forms of content, such as blog posts, social media snippets, or newsletters. This maximizes the value of your content and saves time and effort in creating additional materials.

Bottom Line

Although the writer’s strike could seem to affect only Hollywood and the creative industry, the truth is that it will impact all types of businesses, notably smaller and medium ones, that rely on content creation as one of their main marketing strategies.

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Luckily, there is an opportunity to adapt to these new conditions by leveraging the power of podcasting in a highly cost-efficient format of content creation, which provides many benefits that other marketing strategies don’t.

Learn more about how to use podcasting as an effective strategy for networking, monetizing, marketing, and building brand awareness.