Your company’s podcast doesn’t have to be a series of back & forth interviews.
There are a lot of ways to share stories. And there are quite a few formats you can use to connect with your audience.
But when you’re trying to plan out your podcast recordings, where do you go to get inspiration for the actual topics for each of your podcast episodes?
In this article, we’ll cover:
The most important things to consider when identifying topics for your podcast episodes
Where to get inspiration for your company’s podcast episodes
What should your marketing team consider when identifying topics for your podcast episodes?
When it comes to producing a podcast for your company, there are two major areas you need to focus on:
Ideal customers
Guides
Your company’s podcast must help your ideal customers
If you want your company’s show to have an impact on your business, you need to build the episode topics around the needs of your customers.
You want to make sure the topics you cover are things that will be interesting and helpful to your target audience.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help come up with initial ideas for topics that would be helpful to your audience:
What are some common questions your audience asks you?
What are some problems they regularly face with their specific role?
What kind of content do they consume within your industry?
What resources do they turn to for inspiration at work?
What are some things they’re passionate about (trends in the industry, innovation, etc.)?
Effective podcast episodes stem from the challenges your customers face every day. When you have this mindset in place, your marketing team creates every podcast episode with a clear objective.
Your company’s show needs a guide to explore issues and resolutions
Most businesses make the mistake of thinking their company’s podcast has to be a series of back-and-forth interviews.
This is a missed opportunity.
Your company’s podcast can be used to explore the issues and resolutions your customers face.
To do this, you need someone who can guide the conversation and go on a journey with your listeners.
This person is your host. And your podcast doesn’t need to have all of the answers.
The exciting part of podcasting is when you go on a journey to find solutions to your customers’ biggest problems.
Your podcast host should be the voice of reason in each episode — someone who can explore the topic with your guests and push the conversation forward.
Or, your podcast host can also lead a solo podcast format and share relatable stories with your audience.
In any case, when you come up with podcast episode topics to explore, you have to consider who will be the guide to go on a journey with your listener/viewer.
Where can your marketing team get inspiration for podcast episode topics?
The answer is simple: Topics for your company’s podcast episodes can come from everywhere.
Your marketing team should constantly be on the lookout for inspiration, whether it’s online, offline, or through interactions with customers and employees.
Here are some specific places you can look to get topic ideas for your company’s podcast episodes:
Identify blog posts with significant organic traffic
Does your company have a high-performing post? Is there a post that drives a lot of signups or conversions?
Then maybe it’s time to give this post a little bit of life in an audio/video format. Use a narrator to share the content in the post & weave in personal stories to add more context.
Your company’s podcast can be used as a way to drive traffic back to your website through these types of blog post “repurposing” episodes.
And if you want to take this a step further, you can always invite the original author on as a guest to talk more about the post and pull in more specific examples.
Dig into podcast episodes with strong download numbers
What have been the best-performing episodes recorded in the past? What specific segments in those episodes stand out to you & your listeners?
Create an episode where you pull in previous quotes from these impactful episodes and provide a new perspective. Collaborate with an internal subject matter expert to provide an additional layer.
Is there a topic in one of these past episodes that was lightly covered but could be explored in more depth?
This is a great opportunity to go back and do a follow-up episode with new insights.
You can also invite the original guests back on to see how their perspective might have changed after some time has passed.
“If you’re not famous, you don’t have leverage. So the leverage is then speaking to specific people with a specific problem.”
Jacob Miller
Marketing and Brand Manager
Headway
Review other podcast appearances
Do you have your leadership appearing on other podcasts? If you had a great appearance on another show, then create an episode that includes segments from the interview.
But instead of just cross-posting the episode, add a custom intro and perhaps additional narration throughout to break it up specifically for your company’s audience.
In this episode of Recorded Content, I shared segments from my appearance on Kickoff Sessions, a podcast hosted by Darren Lee. And rather than just posting the same episode on our feed, I actually took a different approach.
I narrowed in on a specific segment of the Kickoff Sessions podcast episode and built out a brand new episode for Recorded Content. I used clips from my appearance on Darren’s show and provided additional commentary in a follow-up episode.
Pinpoint key changes in the industry that impact customers
Has your industry faced a big challenge recently? Is there some new regulation that will create a big impact on your customers?
If so, bring on someone internally to react to a new challenge or industry trend.
Your customers will always be looking for new perspectives when it comes to change.
So give them what they want and be one of the first to provide valuable commentary on a specific change in your industry.
This type of episode demonstrates your company’s expertise and establishes your company as a thought leader.
Want to see how other B2B marketers get the most from their podcasts?
Recorded Content is a show for small, scrappy marketing teams who are looking to launch & grow a successful B2B podcast. In each episode, we provide stories on how to overcome the challenges of launching, running and growing a show. We tackle issues with technology, content marketing, distribution and more. We help you become a B2B podcasting hero with an amazing show.
Uncover the rationale behind specific product releases (problems, features & benefits)
There’s a reason your company’s product evolves. Your customers face new challenges and your product continues to help in different ways.
So showcase perspectives from your product team. Identify new obstacles faced by customers and discuss how your product overcomes them. Pinpoint why your company prioritized certain features and outline the benefits to customers.
Your audience will appreciate the level of transparency and it will give your product team a platform to share their work with the world.
Explore challenges faced by your sales team
Your sales team interacts with customers every day. They know the challenges and objections customers have when they’re considering your product.
These challenges make for great podcast episode topics.
Spotlight a specific sales challenge in an episode and explore a range of perspectives — whether it’s from your sales team or customers.
Then, the next time your sales team faces a similar objection, they’ll have a podcast episode to share during the sales process.
Go through your customer success mailbag
Your company’s podcast isn’t always for attracting new customers. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is forgetting their show can help existing customers, too.
Your customer success team fields a lot of questions. So maybe it’d help to answer some of those questions in audio & video format using your company’s show.
By bringing on a customer success representative, you involve your internal team and provide more education to customers.
Analyze a LinkedIn post & comments
Did you see a LinkedIn post go “viral” in your industry? Why did it strike a chord? What were the different perspectives shared in the comments?
A valuable LinkedIn post is a great way to spark a topic for a podcast episode. Build a story around the post & capture feedback from your company’s leadership or other team members during an episode of your company’s podcast.
Keep your eyes & ears open to find interesting podcast episode topics
Your company’s podcast provides a valuable platform to share your perspectives.
But a lot of people get stuck trying to come up with topics that are “interesting” enough to share.
Once you realize a podcast episode topic can stem from a lot of different places, you’ll soon have a long list of ideas. You’ll understand that inspiration can strike at any point in time.
And you’ll realize it’s more about the journey of helping your customers than crafting interview questions every week.
Written by Tristan Pelligrino
Tristan Pelligrino is the Co-Founder of Motion. He’s a serial entrepreneur who started his career as a consultant with large IT companies such as PwC, IBM and Oracle. After getting his MBA, he started and grew one of the fastest video production companies in the country – which was listed on the Inc. 5000. Tristan now enjoys leading the content marketing strategies of some of the most innovative B2B technology companies in the country. You can find him on LinkedIn and Facebook.
