Six Exciting Small Business Podcast Topic Ideas

Having a podcast is the thing to do nowadays. However, podcasts have turned into more than a simple trend, as many companies now use them as dynamic content marketing platforms. Businesses start podcasts in order to tell their story, share industry expertise, and research findings, and also to discuss complex and sometimes abstract topics related to their niche. They allow brands to connect with their audience while exposing them to new ones as well, ultimately helping boost brand awareness and establishing the company as a thought leader.

The more marketers become immersed in podcasts, the more they gain popularity among consumers. In fact, podcast audiences have been steadily growing at a rate of about 10-20% each year. As there are so many new podcasts now, it can be extremely challenging to gain loyal listeners. What’s even more, it can be difficult to maintain a constant flow of interesting and exciting topics.

In this article, we will be sharing some thoughtful small business podcast topic ideas that will help you gain a larger audience and increase interest in your podcasts.

Interview Your Company’s CEO

One of the quickest ways to draw an audience to your podcast is by inviting members of the c-suite, especially your CEO, and interviewing them. A well-thought-out conversation, where you ask them about their experiences, difficulties, and journeys, and expose their insights into the business world will surely make people more interested in tuning into your small business podcasts.

If you don’t know how to begin, you can start by asking them how they started their company, what failures they faced and how they overcame them, what they want the future of their business to look like, what they predict for the entire industry for the next few years, etc. This type of podcast is an effective way to make your CEO look more human and to give your brand a voice people will want to listen to.

Ask the Expert

While getting exposure for your CEO is vital, it’s also key that you give voice to other team members in less managerial positions. If you have a few teams within your organization, it’s good to leverage their expertise and provide more in-depth insight into the kind of topics your listeners are interested in. A podcast that has different narrators and a variety of episodes will surely captivate audiences. This dynamic style ensures that your podcast will provide many perspectives from various employees, thus giving your listeners a more holistic experience with information from every key team member.

Do Q&A-Style Episodes

Q&A-style podcast episodes are always fun. They’re dynamic, lively, sometimes funny, and a great way to make sure your message resonates with your target audience members. The best way to conduct a Q&A kind of podcast episode is by letting your listeners ask the questions. Let them become the hosts of the show for a day, by sending their input via mail or social media.

Once you’ve gathered enough questions, you can start interviewing your expert and pushing him to give his best answers. It’s a good idea here to push the expert until he’s given an in-depth answer to each inquiry – that way the audience will be certain that your podcast is there to be a helpful resource.

Interview a Client: Why Did They Choose Us?

For small businesses, podcasts are a terrific way to share feedback and stories, and is there a better story than one about success? Bring a client with whom you’ve had a great partnership into the office and ask him whether he’d like to participate in a podcast episode. Once he agrees, you can invite him to record a show, where you talk about your relationship, what the client’s experience was like, what he loved about collaborating with you, etc. This kind of discussion will give your audience an authentic, real-time experience of what your company is like, both its good and bad sides.

However, you shouldn’t forget that the goal of this kind of episode is to get your client excited about the partnership. You should pay attention and ensure the client exposes the success your partnership has brought, while also validating the achievements of your brand.

Cover Major Industry Events

Bringing major events together with podcasts can create an immersive experience for audiences. To achieve this, have a team member attend an industry event and do a live commentary on what he’s seeing and hearing. When there are breaks, the host can share his own thoughts and feedback on topics being covered and what insights he thinks the audience will find useful. By providing event coverage, you will give the audience an educational experience, while providing them with your company’s point of view, establishing your brand as a thought leader.

One Story, Every Minute

Thanks to social media, the internet, and mobile phones, we’re now more distracted than ever before. There are constant streams of information everywhere, there’s constantly a notification we need to check or a song we need to listen to, and thus, capturing someone’s attention has become impossible, especially if you want to have it for 30 or 40 minutes. One of the best ways to keep the audience engaged is by having shorter episodes. Either tell stories quickly or just dive into a topic with snippets of useful information. This will make people want to listen, as they know they’re not making a lengthy commitment. Instead, they can listen for a few minutes and then move on with their day.

Stay Consistent

As with any other type of content marketing, consistency here is key as well. Even if you don’t get a ton of listeners at the start, you need to remember that podcasts are an incredible way to give your brand a voice, humanize your brand, and share stories that your customers will relate to.