Once you decide that you want to start a podcast, it can be difficult deciding exactly what topic you want to talk about. Maybe you want to do a podcast to cement your personal brand or spread awareness about your business. Maybe you have a general idea of what you’d like to focus on in your podcast, but you aren’t really sure what the overall theme should be or where to start. Many people think running a podcast is simply talking for a certain amount of time about something, but fail to realize how much work actually goes into a podcast. The first step to beginning a podcast is choosing what topic you’re going to build it around, so here are some tips on how to achieve that goal.
What’s your goal for a podcast?
Your first step when deciding to begin a podcast is to think about what your ultimate goal is. Why do you want to start a podcast? What are you hoping to accomplish? You need to form a deeper goal than simply making more money or advertising your business; think of something specific and attainable. Write down different goals you may have, even unrelated to the podcast, and then see if there’s a way running a podcast can achieve those goals or if they can be combined into one goal related to the podcast.
Who’s your target audience?
Once you’ve decided what you want to achieve with your podcast, it’s time to think about your target audience. You’re most likely going to have a specific group of people you want to influence. Whether you’re looking for more people to patronize your company or you want to impart knowledge about a specific topic, not everyone is going to be interested in whatever you’re discussing. Once you visualize your target audience, you’ll have a better idea of what to talk about.
What are you knowledgeable about?
As you think about what your topic will be, consider what topics you know a lot about, what you have experience with, or what you’d like to learn more about. No matter what you choose to focus on with your podcast, it needs to be something you can talk about at length. The last thing you want to occur is that your podcast only lasts for a few episodes.
What will engage people?
You might know an incredible amount of information about a single, obscure topic, but you need to be honest and ask yourself whether or not people will truly be interested in that topic. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are about something if there are only a handful of other people who are interested in it. Think about your goal and what topic is related to it. Try to make the theme of your podcast more general, so you have a variety of possibilities to talk about over the course of your podcast.