Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson

Life HACK! 🛑 This Feels Awkward…But It Works! 👊 How talking more and typing less can change your career!

11 min
Apr 24, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Jay Schwedelson shares practical tactics for using voice communication instead of typing to accelerate career growth and build stronger professional relationships. He advocates for voice memos, dictation tools, and voice messaging on platforms like LinkedIn and WhatsApp as game-changing alternatives to text-based communication.

Insights
  • Voice communication conveys thoughts 4x faster than typing and creates stronger emotional connections through human tone
  • Voice memos on messaging platforms provide reliable read receipts when the message disappears after being heard
  • Intentional use of voice communication builds deeper professional relationships than emoji reactions and text-based communication
  • Device-free future is approaching with AR/VR devices from major tech companies, making voice-first communication increasingly relevant
  • Dictation and voice-to-text tools are underutilized by professionals despite significant time-saving and thought-capture benefits
Trends
Shift from text-based to voice-first communication in professional settingsRise of asynchronous voice messaging as alternative to synchronous callsIntegration of voice features across messaging platforms (LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Slack)Growing adoption of dictation and AI transcription tools for productivityMovement toward device-free interaction with AR/VR wearables replacing screen-based communicationDisconnect between digital connectivity and actual relationship building in remote work environmentsVoice memo usage as competitive advantage in relationship building and business development
Topics
Voice communication tactics for career growthVoice memos vs. text messagingDictation tools and AI transcriptionLinkedIn voice messaging featuresWhatsApp voice communication strategiesAsynchronous communication best practicesProfessional relationship buildingRead receipts and message delivery confirmationDevice-free future and AR/VR adoptionSlack and Teams communication alternativesLoom and video messaging toolsMarketing automation platform limitationsEmail and landing page designStress management and work-life balanceSocial media usage and personal branding
Companies
OpenAI
Developing device-free AI technology that users will wear instead of looking at screens
Meta
Creating AR sunglasses as part of the shift toward device-free interaction
Apple
Working on devices that eliminate the need to look at screens
Stanford University
Conducted study showing voice communication is 4x faster than typing
Science Daily
Published research on human connection and emotional tone in voice communication
Whisperflow
Dictation tool recommended for converting speech to text
Otter AI
AI-powered transcription and dictation tool for capturing thoughts
ChatGPT
AI tool with dictation capabilities for productivity
Loom
Video messaging tool for sending voiceover videos instead of written messages
V Foundation for Cancer Research
Recipient of net author proceeds from Jay Schwedelson's upcoming book
People
Jay Schwedelson
Host sharing personal tactics and experiences using voice communication in business
Quotes
"When you speak, you're able to get your thoughts across four times faster than if you type."
Jay SchwedelsonEarly in episode
"When you actually hear someone's voice and what they're saying, you connect with them radically higher amounts because you feel the human tone."
Jay SchwedelsonEarly in episode
"If you're not a voice memo first person, you should try it. It is a game changer."
Jay SchwedelsonMid-episode
"We are in the strangest world. We're in the most connected world, but we're totally disconnected."
Jay SchwedelsonMid-episode
"Everybody gets stressed. If you're a human being, you get stressed."
Jay SchwedelsonEnd segment
Full Transcript
Welcome to Do This, Not That, the podcast for marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for Do This, Not That. Sometimes the simplest things have the biggest impact on your life and on your career. And I want to talk about using your voice. And I am not talking about when I say use your voice, I'm not telling you to go out there and share your opinion about stuff on social media. No, I'm not talking about that kind of voice. I'm literally talking about your voice. So I'm going to give you specific tactics that I do that have had a radical impact on my business and my career. And they're so easy. So first off, Stanford came out with a study and said, when you speak, okay, you're able to get your thoughts across four times faster than if you type. And Science Daily came out with a study that says when you actually hear someone's voice and what they're saying, okay, you connect with them radically higher amounts because you feel the human tone. And we are moving towards a device-free world in the next few years. Open AI is coming out with their device that we're all going to be wearing that's not going to be us looking at our screens. Meta's got their sunglasses. Apple's working on devices that we don't have to look at our screens, which is great. Screw our screens, okay? but who even cares if we're still looking at our screens let me tell you what i'm doing specifically and why it helps me so much so first off voice memos instead of texting so what i do with anybody that i'm doing work with like if i'm doing um they're a partner of mine they're a client of mine i'll say them let's be let's be text buddies uh let's exchange whatsapp uh numbers or whatever and first off that gives you a whole nother level of connection and if you're not doing this with people that you're doing a lot of work with, you are failing because this is how we connect. All right. And what I do though, is I don't text these people. I voice memo them on my phone in the same text chain. I'll voice memo them. And what I'll do is I'll leave them these voice memos that are about two to three minutes long. And I'll get out everything I want to say. And then they'll voice memo me back when they have time. There are people that I do business with, significant business with that I have not spoken to live in months, but I am so tied with them. We are so connected. And here's a secret sauce thing that nobody knows about. Okay. When you voice memo somebody on text and then you send it to them, if the voice memo disappears and you don see it anymore it means the other person heard it If you go on your text and it still there it means they haven heard it It one of the few things on the planet that is a reliable like read receipt type things You actually will know for a fact if the person has heard what you had to say. And I'm telling you, if you're not a voice memo first person, you should try it. It is a game changer. People make fun of you, but I don't care. The other thing is dictation. Everything you do should be dictated. I mean, everything that you do should be dictated. You are sleeping on some of these tools that are just amazing. So you have things like Whisperflow and Otter AI and ChatGPT dictation. Whatever you're doing, you should be dictating it and getting all your thoughts out. It is so easy and it saves you so much time. And if you're not using dictation with all the AI tools, you are wasting everything. You're not getting your deep thoughts out. Now, the other area that I think everybody is sleeping on is LinkedIn. All right. I love LinkedIn. I love connecting with people on LinkedIn, but there's something on LinkedIn that people aren't doing. So if you go on LinkedIn, okay, and then you open up a message on your cell phone, you open up the app, okay, you open up a message, whoever you want a message. On the bottom right-hand corner, right, there is a little microphone. If you hold down that microphone, you can record voice memos to people. They only allow you to do it 60 seconds at a time. So I'll record like two or three, and then you let go and it sends it to them. I am telling you, if you want to build a relationship with somebody, you voice memo them on LinkedIn, you get out what you want to say, it is so much more powerful than just typing stuff. And we all are moving so, so fast, right? And we don't have the time. So instead of just writing these, you know, Slack novels to people, download something like a Loom. I don't care. I'm not promoting Loom or whatever, you know, but one of these things where you could do a little voiceover video and send it to people. We are in the strangest world. We're in the most connected world, but we're totally disconnected, right? Because what do we do? Somebody will text us something. We'll give them back an emoji or we'll give them back a reaction. We'll give them back a reaction on Slack or Teams. We're not actually communicating. We're not actually building relationships. And just by being intentional about using your voice, it will change the relationships you have with your friends, your family, the people you don't want to talk to on the phone, but you want to have that relationship. Voice memo is gold The same thing on LinkedIn the same thing within your own company Why do I get so worked up about this I don know It just too easy And I love it I love it So you could voice memo me drop me voice memos on LinkedIn I love it Or text me or whatever All right before we get into the ridiculous portion of this podcast, which is totally ridiculous, I want you to know that this podcast is sponsored by Knack. Okay. Knack is awesome. K-N-A-K. Here's the situation. Now, yes, Knack, you can use it to design all your emails and landing pages, but it does so much more. And here's the fail by all marketers. You're out there, you have a marketing automation platform that you use, but you're using it for everything. Okay. You're using it to build out your emails and your workflows and do all the reviews of your emails. And it's garbage. It's not working for you. It's like trying to do your full grocery shopping at a gas station. You went there for gas. They happen to have food. You don't do your grocery shopping there. That's why you got to check out Knack. It is the thing, okay, for all of it, for your design, for your AI marketing needs to organize it all. Go to knack.com slash demo. It is incredible. And check it out, knack.com slash demo. All right, let's get into since you didn't ask. I don't know what's wrong with me. And it's probably the same reason why I don't call people on the phone, but everybody annoys me. Why does everybody annoy me? I don't know. So me and my wife went out to dinner with this other couple. And, you know, it was my wife's friends, not mine. I mean, the wife person. And then I just had to talk to the husband all night. So the dude, okay, was bragging to me. He was like, I was like, so what, you know, what TV shows you watch or whatever? And he started bragging, I don't watch TV. Like it's a flex that he doesn't watch TV. I'm like, oh, yeah, what's up with that? He goes, no, no, no. I don't even look at it. It's a thing. I don't look at TV. I can't believe you make time for TV. It is not a flex to not watch TV. And if you don't want to watch TV, amazing. Good for you, but it's not a flex. You know what else is not a flex? This happened the other day. I was ordering lunch in my office and I see somebody, I go, what are you doing for lunch? I'm intermittent fasting. Yeah, it's a big part of my life now. Who cares? Who cares? I don't care. And good. If it makes you healthy, amazing, but these are not flexes. Okay. I have a buddy of mine who's not on social media. He doesn't use social media, which is great. I probably shouldn't use social media. I do. What do you want me to tell you But I would say on a monthly basis he lets us all know that he not on social media and we should get off social media why are people trying to impose their uh whatever i don care nobody cares and the worst one the one that i just won't accept is uh i was out to dinner with somebody else a relative of mine and i was asked him at work whatever i'm like do you ever get like does this stress you out and he literally said to me, I never get stressed. No stress. I have no stress. I was like, really? You don't get stressed about anything related to work? He goes, nope. And he went on a whole rant about how everyone needs to live a stress-free life. You know what I think? I think he's full of hot garbage. Okay? Everybody gets stressed. If you're a human being, you get stressed. I get stressed when the wind blows in the wrong direction. I don't know. Everybody's got to stop with these flexes. Okay. Watch TV. Don't intermittent fast. And if you do, don't tell me about it. Use social media and you have stress. That's what I don't know. That's terrible. I sound like a horrible, horrible person. Listen, you know what I appreciate? If you get anything useful out of these podcasts, which you probably don't, can you leave it a review? It really helps to circulate the algorithm or leave a comment. If you use Spotify really, really helps circulate this in the algorithm. And then go to jschwedelson.com and there's a button that says partner. I want to work with your company. Why don't you want to work with me? I'm not that annoying. I don't brag about not being on social media. Anyway, go to jschwedelson.com. Check out the button that says partner. We'll see you at the next one. Later. Wait, I have two huge things to share with you. First, I have a book coming out. Stupider People Have Done It. It's coming out the first week of June and all net author proceeds are going to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. This book might be terrible, but who cares? When you buy this thing on Amazon or anywhere else, you are going to be helping to kick cancer's butt. Let's do that together. The second thing is you can go to jschwedelson.com. On the upper right-hand corner, there's this thing that says partner. My agency wants to help you. If you're a business marketer, consumer marketer, it doesn't make a difference. I want to help you drive net new sales, registrations, growth, change the design, all the stuff that you are doing. Hit me up there. Also, if you want to do brand collabs, I want to know about your brand. I want to help you amplify that message. Go to jschwedelson.com, click on partner. Let's do stuff together. And the last thing is leave this show a review. If it wasn't the absolute worst podcast you've ever heard. And you're awesome for being here. Later. Thank you.