Whether you’re just starting to podcast or you’ve been doing it for a while, you may need some episode ideas.
After all, podcasts are a huge opportunity to reach your market.
With most of America on-board the podcast bandwagon, this medium is a great place to reach your target audience.
However, figuring out what you should do with your podcast episodes takes creativity.
Sometimes you run out of ideas.
That’s why I put a list of podcast episode ideas together.
And you can steal them for your podcast.
Contents
These Podcast Episode Ideas Will Help Your Show Entertain
One of the most important things a podcast episode can do is entertain the audience.
Yes, it should inform them.
It needs to help convert them to leads and sales.
But it can’t do anything if nobody is listening.
The only way they’re going to listen is if you entertain them.
Thankfully, these ideas have “interesting” built into their very premise.
They’re tested by many podcast formats and proven to be successful.
Hold A Q&A Session
Your audience has questions for you.
Might as well send some answers their way.
Q&A podcast episodes are an idea that is exactly that.
You collect questions from your listeners via social media, then answer them on your podcast.
If you don’t have a listener base yet, you can take to social media and find the most commonly asked questions that relate to your business.
The cool part about this strategy is that it has more than one benefit.
There is the obvious fact that it gives you something for your episode.
But it’s also going to increase your listener base.
How will that happen?
For starters, your audience will tell their friends that their question got answered.
That’s going to boost your audience by a small amount.
The bigger boost, however, comes from the social media attention that your podcast will get.
By asking your audience to tag you and use a specific hashtag in their questions – especially on Twitter – your podcast’s social media page will see greater visibility.
You’re also likely to get questions from people who haven’t listened before.
All of that brings more attention to your podcast and, ultimately, your brand.
Hold Convention Interviews
Every industry has conventions and trade shows.
There is a ton to learn while you’re there.
So much that anyone is going to have trouble picking up all of it.
This leaves you two great ideas for your podcast episode.
Call it a two-for-one.
First, you can interview attendees of the convention.
Find out what talks they went to and get their biggest takeaways.
Keep each attendee interview down to a few short questions so you don’t cause them to miss anything.
Compile several interviews into either a podcast series or a single episode, allowing your interviewees to recap the entire show for you.
Cover the convention details on your podcast episode. Click To TweetYour second option is to recap the event yourself.
At many conventions, this can be difficult to do without a team.
However, at plenty of trade shows, all the speakers and special events take place on the same stage.
That means you should be able to take notes and make a few recordings from everything.
Then, when you return to your studio (or wherever you record from) you can go over your notes and recap what happened.
Your audience, especially the ones who couldn’t attend, would love the valuable information you can bring from the show to them.
Industry Profile Series
Who has had the biggest historical impact in your industry?
These industry revolutionaries are all a part of the reason your brand exists.
Their stories are interwoven with your audience’s buyer journey.
Why not let your audience know about them?
Educating your audience on the history makers who helped shape your industry is a great way to teach them about what you do and why you do it.
The cool thing about this podcast episode idea is that it can lead to several episodes.
You could choose to do the following:
- First episode: cover who they are and why they’re important.
- Second episode: dig into the background of the person and how they got into the industry.
- Third episode: what was the person’s driving reason for changing the industry.
- Fourth episode: what was their historical contribution to your industry.
- Fifth episode: Answer audience questions and feedback.
This also works great, with minor changes, to introduce your audience to your team.
If you go that route, however, you may want to condense all the topics into one episode, turning it into a series about who your team is.
Repurpose An Old Blog Post
Hopefully, you spend a lot of time creating your blog and other long-form content.
If you do, you likely would like to get more out of it.
I know I do.
One of my favorite podcast episode ideas is to repurpose old blog articles.
I record them in the same way an author might make an e-book.
There are different twists in the podcast episodes that don’t show up on the blog, too.
That way they are always more valuable than if I had simply read them like a script.
What’s great about recording podcasts like this is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
You’ve done the research, organized the thoughts, and added your own spin already.
Now you just need a slight shift to make it fit an audio format.
While, over the long term, this isn’t a total podcast strategy, it is a great way to get your podcast started or fill in the weeks where you’re not feeling creative.
It’s also a great way to spend less time without sacrificing quality or value.
Something that comes in handy when you’ve got a full schedule ahead.
Invite A Guest
You know others in your industry.
These people are experts, influencers, and other people with knowledge and experience.
They’re the kind of people you can “talk shop” with for hours.
Your colleagues know plenty, and they often have something new to teach you.
Guests like these can bring huge value to your audience.
A great podcast episode idea is to bring these guests in so you can interview them about your industry.
Ask them for unique insights and tips they’ve learned along the way.
Or simply talk shop with them the same way you would without the microphone.
Conversations about your industry hold tons of hidden value. Click To TweetThey’ll bring a whole new perspective to the table that will provide a ton of help to your audience.
Along with that perspective, they’ll bring their audience.
You’ll tap into a whole new market that you otherwise might not have been exposed to.
Not only is that a boost to your reputation, but it’s also a boost to your rankings.
When that happens, you’ll also earn new listeners just because the episode sees a spike in popularity.
If your podcast is always full of great content, those new listeners will stick around.
It’s likely they’ll subscribe.
And that’s more opportunity in the future.
Brand Education
Shouldn’t your audience know what your brand stands for?
That is, after all, what most consumers want from the brands they purchase from.
It’s a good idea to produce a podcast episode – or series if you’re feeling spry – that elaborates on the values that your brand represents.
Tell the story of how your brand came about.
What inspired you to build your company?
Was there a compelling reason you took on your mission?
Share the details with your audience.
Make sure you elaborate on the most emotional parts of the story.
Really demonstrate what you’re passionate about.
Give them something to relate to and get behind.
Build a connection to your audience through this passion.
When they feel it, they’ll develop an unshakable loyalty to your brand.
But that’s not the only benefit.
Doing a podcast episode like this has a huge chance of rekindling your passion.
That’s going to renew your energy and help you steer your company clearer.
Passion always connects to the right people.
Tapping into it always reignites your flame.
The combination will help you explode your podcast and your brand.
Give Your Top Ten List
People are obsessed with top ten lists.
You can pick the top ten anything and people are going to stop by just to see what you put in the number 1 spot.
They’re often emotional, creating just enough controversy to get people talking.
However, they aren’t controversial enough to cause damage to your brand reputation.
They’re a great podcast episode idea to get your audience engaged and to flex your industry experience.
Select the top ten of something unique to your industry.
Examples might include:
- Tools you use
- Programs your industry needs
- Best products on the market in your industry
- Companies related to your industry
- Manufacturer products you sell
- Worst problems your customer could have
- Common mistakes in your industry
The list could go on forever.
What’s important here is that you provide reviews of the items on your list.
Share the pros and cons.
Let your audience know your reason for ranking them higher or lower than others on the list.
Review how it works, what it does, what it is, and anything else that makes sense based on your list.
Lists like this give your audience both a peek into what you do and valuable insight into the way your brand prioritizes its values.
Market Interviews
Want to know what your audience thinks about your industry?
Ask.
That’s right.
With this podcast episode idea, you collect a segment of your target market and ask them questions about your industry.
What you’ll find that people don’t know about you and what you do is amazing.
Collect anywhere from 5 to 50 interviews of anyone that makes up your target demographic.
Ask them all the same questions and record their answers.
You can choose to leave the interviewees anonymous or add their names.
But, by grouping their answers together with each question, you can let your audience see if their familiarity with your industry is normal.
Show your audience that their knowledge of your industry isn't uncommon. Click To TweetThis will set a lot of people at ease.
Most people have the same confusions about your industry.
To find out that they aren’t alone is comforting.
They’ll also open themselves to inquiring about your business.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a second benefit.
You get to learn about and address the most common questions, myths, and misconceptions about your business.
Find out exactly what topics you should be covering straight from the consumers.
No better form of market research exists, and your content is going to benefit enormously.
Cover Important Industry News
Sometimes things happen that change your industry.
They might be minor and local things, like a new ordinance or program.
Sometimes they’re major things that affect an entire country or the internet at large.
When you catch wind of these major news stories, you’ve got to address them.
These ideas belong in a podcast episode.
Share the details about what’s going on with your audience.
Is this a positive, making your industry better for the client?
Or is it a negative, making it more difficult to achieve the client’s desired results.
Perhaps it’s neither, but still causes a major shift in the way the industry works.
Regardless of the case, try to put it in the context of its effect on your client base.
Cover as much information as you can, making sure that all the pertinent details are included.
When you can identify the things that your audience needs to know while simultaneously making sure they know about them, you build trust.
They know that you have your ear to the ground in your industry.
For them, someone who is paying that much attention must be at the head of the pack.
That kind of reputation can only make gaining clients that much easier.
These Ideas Will Help You Make Your Next Podcast Episode
Take any and all these podcast episode ideas and put them to use.
Even if all you did from here was repeat these formats in rotation, you’d have no problem coming up with new material for your show.
The most important thing is that you keep creating new podcast episodes for your audience to tune into.
Consistency and quality are the keys that remain.
And, of course, entertainment.
That’s what’s going to help you build your brand through podcasts.
