Podcasting

How to Start Your Own Podcast: 7 Keys to Finding Your Niche

todayMay 17, 2021 42

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Before you start learning how to start your own podcast, you think it’s easy. You just need to buy a cheap mic, start talking, plop it onto some radio website, then you’re raking in the big bucks. But is that actually how it’s done? No, not really.

One of the keys to creating a successful podcast is finding a niche that people are interested in. There’s more to it than that, too: you need passion, you need to be interesting, and you need to do things right. Otherwise, you’ll never find your niche or grab that success that you’re aiming for.

How to Start Your Own Podcast: 7 Keys to Finding Your Niche

1. Be Passionate

You might think you can talk about a topic for hours, and it’s true. You could, once or twice, but the ability to talk about something a lot won’t help you with a podcast. You need to actually enjoy the topic so you’re motivated to dive deep, get entertaining, and keep doing this for months or potentially years to come.

Let’s say you’re a programmer by trade. That’s great, and you have a lot to talk about. You can do a few shows, bring on a few guests. Every so often you have something cool you learned that you’d like to share … but it’s just a job to you. In your off time, you prefer to watch history documentaries and you babble about history to strangers every chance you get. That is your niche, not programming. You may know programming, but you adore history.

2. Have the Right Co-Host

Can you start a successful podcast alone? Absolutely. But sometimes you’re busy or you don’t have as much to say on a topic, so you need a co-host to help. If you’re going in that direction, however, you have to be careful. You could choose your best friend in the world to be your co-host, but your best friend could have zero stage presence and a dull voice. You could choose an enthusiast like yourself and end up having no chemistry with them.

You need to choose a co-host who can help you delve further into your niche, help you talk about it in ways that will interest listeners; and of course, it has to be someone you have chemistry with. Once you find your co-host, find that topic you could discuss for hours. That can help you determine your niche easily, or at least get you off to a great start.

3. Experiment

Not every piece of media has a clear single niche from the start. Some people start blogging about being a parent, then one day they mention going to the gym after having a child. Suddenly they realize they prefer that topic, and now they’re a fitness blogger. The same thing can happen with podcasts. You start with one niche, mention a different one, then you do one episode on the other niche. But the other niche keeps coming back, and you prefer it.

So, play around. Explore different but similar niches. Explore different topics and formats within a niche. Do a few episodes on different niches with guest co-hosts. Discover which niche you prefer talking about, find which one grabs the audience, and play around until you find something that works the best. You should also never be afraid to experiment even once you’re established because that’s how you evolve and grow.


4. Go Broad

There are some niches with so many microniches that there are no podcasts encompassing the entire topic. Oh, you want to listen to a history podcast? Tough luck: you have to listen to one about the Founding Fathers, or Victorian England, or the history of a certain industry or establishment. But with your podcast, you might want to grab generalists. Listeners without a special interest in a certain historical topic.

So, go broad. Create a format that lets you bounce around the microniches while you target the entire niche as a whole. Maybe going broad will make you realize you love a specific microniche and you want to talk about that from now on. That’s fine – you’re finding your niche for now​​​​, not choosing one you have to stick with for the rest of your life. There’s nothing wrong with going broad and ending up narrow.

5. Go Narrow

If going broad scares you, though, then go narrow from the start. Are you interested in fitness but fear you wouldn’t be a credible source for all things yoga and wellness? That’s fine. Dive in deeper and start your podcast on strength and resistance training. If you evolve in your own fitness journey you could touch on other areas of fitness, like running and swimming. You may even end up in the yoga and wellness microniche at some point.

The point is, you can start extremely narrow and build an audience in that niche – then you can expand as you find your feet. You may also never graduate from your highly specific microniche, and that’s fine. There’s a large audience for it and they’ll keep listening. Just be sure to keep them on their toes and appeal to their other interests once in a while. Again, that’s how you find your audience via your chosen niche.

6. Consider Why

If you’re still having trouble finding a niche for your podcast, ask yourself this: why do I want to start a podcast in the first place? If you want fame or fortune, then it’s not going to work. The real reason you should start a podcast is for fun, or for passion, or because you’re bursting with information and you need to share it with the world.

Start a podcast because you want to entertain people, make connections, and explore your interests in a new and fun way. If the “why” isn’t right then you’ll never find a niche. You won’t care about the niche, only about the outcome of being a podcaster.

7. Consider Who

Something else you want to consider with a podcast is your target audience. Okay, so you’re starting a podcast for passion, you have the perfect co-host, and you have your narrow niche ready to go – but who are you talking to? Are you talking to beginner fitness-lovers or seasoned gym rats? Deep, expert history buffs, or people who just want some mild entertainment and think the past is cool?

You need to consider interest level, age range, gender, and more. This can help you find your branding, discover what to talk about within your niche, and it can even influence your tone. You’d talk to a gym-going, muscle-seeking dudebro differently than you’d talk to the young person who’s interested in fitness for weight loss purposes, wouldn’t you? Determine who you’re talking to so you keep them interested and comfortable. Tailor your niche to them.

With those tips and that information in mind, now you can start looking for somewhere to host your podcast. Need help with that? Contact us at Helium Radio Network. Using our platform for your podcast will get your show into thousands of more ears quickly and efficiently!

Written by: #HeliumRadio

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