Honing a Great Podcast Topic: Making it Uniquely Yours in 5 Steps

You know what you want to podcast about, but what makes audiences tap the follow button and come back for more? Whether you’re podcasting for money, community, or creativity, a topic with a specific and personally motivating purpose is more enjoyable and easier to sustain than anything else.  Let me show you how to polish your podcast idea to a rare shine in five steps. 

1. Start With Your Why 

All podcasts, whether for a corporation, a hobby, or something else, must be intrinsically motivating. If your podcast topic isn’t enjoyable, you won’t be able to sustain it for long. 

First, take a moment to consider which part of your podcast topic piques your curiosity, invites you to use your creativity, or inspires joy. Excitement is contagious; when you showcase the aspects of your podcast topic that lift your spirits, your ideal audience will catch on. 

But, it can’t be all about you all the time. Particularly if you’re podcasting for business, choose topics that serve your audience, not necessarily your industry.  

For example, Hercules Candies is a family-owned business that has run a YouTube channel since 2017. Today, their channel has over a million subscribers. And, they also produce a second channel, of ASMR videos demonstrating the satisfying sounds, colors and visual textures of traditional candymaking. Their video showing how they make strawberry lemonade hard candy has over 1.5 million views, and comments like, “The air bubbles popping when he folds it after pulling it was especially nice. Bark & brittle are gonna sound so good.”

When your podcast shows what it is about your topic that’s worth caring about, the audience will want more, and tell their friends. 

2. The Layering System 

Visualize your podcast’s topic in three layers. You might think of this a bit like a cake.

First, consider your base layer. This is the category your podcast falls under in directories, such as fitness, business, or true crime.

For the next layer, ask yourself who specifically your podcast is meant to serve. Is your fitness podcast for new mothers or senior citizens?  Is your business podcast for military veterans, or Gen Z? 

Think about how your ideal audience feels, and what your podcast can do for people who feel that way. Perhaps your fitness podcast can help new moms learn to cope with depression or offer seniors strategies to beat isolation. Two podcasts in the same category can serve different audiences, but the thoughts and feelings of their listeners vary. 

This is where you ask yourself, “Does it have legs?” or, does your blue-sky thinking have aspects that reach the ground? When your podcast topic resonates with a particular audience for a specific reason, it has “legs.” It’s stable information they can use. 

Let’s go back to the Hercules Candies example. Candy-making has unique sounds and visual textures, which can help some people relax and fall asleep. The audience may watch other kinds of ASMR videos too, but they come back to Hercules Candy’s ASMR videos for the connotations of a family business making classic candy recipes.  When you demonstrate why your podcast topic excites you, your ideal audience can't help but share those feelings. 

And, your topic can evolve as your podcast and audience grow. Hercules Candies launched their ASMR channel a year ago, in response to audience requests. What delighted the audience most (candy-making excellence) resonated enough to justify a separate content stream. 

In the final layer, think about how you’ll present your ideas. This part of your podcast topic has three ingredients: format, frequency, and immediacy. Think about each aspect separately before combining them. For example: 

1. What format best showcases your ideas? Interviews? Solo reporting? Chat with a co-host? Immersive narrative documentary?  
2. How frequently will you publish episodes? Think about how much time you need to produce each episode. 
3. Is your topic time-sensitive, or evergreen? Podcasts tied to current events may require a frequent release schedule. Evergreen content, on the other hand, might not, because the relevancy has a longer shelf life.  

Now, combine format, frequency, and immediacy. Can you share your ideas in your preferred format as frequently as you want? For example, can you produce a daily podcast featuring interviews with Eurovision contestants with disabilities? Will you enjoy recording and editing an hour-long documentary of the Canadian Burrowing Owl’s dietary habits for 52 weeks a year? 

Whatever combination of format, schedule, and relevance helps you consistently produce a show you’re proud of and connect with your audience is the right choice. 

3. The Niche-Down Formula 

The third step helps you stand out in a specific niche of the Internet, rather than competing with thousands. 

A marketing podcast isn't unique. Adding your ideal audience, i.e., “marketing for family-owned restaurants,” clarifies what kind of podcast to expect. And, you can improve on that distinction.

Narrowing the podcast’s emphasis further not only reveals the type of podcast you produce but also shapes your podcast strategy. To continue the example, “digital marketing for family-owned restaurants that aren’t comfortable with the internet" can spark ideas for titles, episodes, sponsorship, and audience engagement. 

For example, maybe Grandma doesn’t want her marinara recipe splashed all over the Internet. But your podcast can show Grandma how to use short Instagram videos to tell stories of how she first learned to cook in Naples back in the 1940s. And, your podcast can show her how these videos can entice people to visit the restaurant. 

The more specific your podcast’s emphasis, the more the audience will value your ideas, because you show the audience that your podcast is meant for people just like them. 

4. Content Organization 

Some podcasters grind out new episodes in an endless marathon. That kind of treadmill is exhausting. 

The seasonal approach, however, helps you plan effective episodes and set clear expectations for your audience. When your ideas build upon each other, your audience remembers your concepts and feels a sense of accomplishment. Plus, you can repurpose each season into courses, books, or downloadable materials to monetize your podcast. 

Again, visualize your project in layers. Start with your overall show theme. Then, consider a sub-topic for each season. Within each season, plan the episode outlines in advance. Eight to twelve episodes per season can satisfy the audience without causing podcaster burnout. 

Let’s revisit the previous example, a podcast about digital marketing for family-owned restaurants:

• Your first season could show them social media marketing. Individual episodes could demonstrate the benefits of different platforms to them.
• Your second season could introduce them to online communities, with individual episodes about Discord or Reddit. Eight to ten episodes per season is enough to satisfy your audience without exhausting your team. 

Seasonal content organization provides a straightforward, rewarding experience that your audience will share with their friends and support. This content plan’s specificity makes monetization and promotion campaigns simpler to plan, too.  

Best of all, you can intentionally schedule a well-earned break between seasons. 

5. Validation Questions 

Before committing to your podcast strategy, ask yourself:  

Can I talk about this topic for 50 or more episodes? It’s no fun to start a podcast that you don’t enjoy. And, faking enthusiasm for a topic will alienate your audience. 

Is there a specific audience that’s hungry for this? When there’s a particular problem in the larger community, people affected by that problem will seek out your podcast. 

What's my unique angle that doesn't exist yet? Carve your own path, but make sure it’s one you can walk repeatedly. Interviewing guests while tasting hot sauce can be a unique experience that leads to brand partnerships. Interviewing guests while skydiving may be thrilling, but expensive and dangerous in the long run. 

Does this serve my larger goals? How many hours a week can you devote to podcasting? Will this podcast plan detract from parenting, your job, or other life events? Hercules Candies’ channel has posted videos showing the need to take a break and get caught up with their business demands. If your podcast serves your needs and is fun, great. When it doesn’t help you do what you really need to do, take a break and come back to it. 

The answers will show you whether you’re setting yourself up for a rewarding experience or not. 

Know your Podcast’s Why, How, and For Whom

Podcasting’s effectiveness lies in its ability to reach a particular subset of people who need it most. That need has to include happiness. To make sure your podcast engages your ideal audience, craft your topic, niche, and unique presentation style into a podcast that you’ll enjoy creating and that they’ll want to experience. This requires more risk and attention to detail, but we all know it’s better to dominate a small niche than disappear in a crowded market.

If you need help determining the format, release frequency, or ideal audience that best suits your podcast ideas, try our Alitu Showplanner. This system helps you shape your podcast’s topic into a clear, engaging format that connects with your audience and showcases your ideas. And what's more, it's absolutely free!