Filling a Niche by Focusing on a Specific Area of Interest

Deciding what topics you can talk about is an important step, but it’s time for the application of what we like to call Jurassic Park logic. JP logic requires you to ask yourself this question: You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether you could, but have you figured out whether you should?

While we’re not trying to put you into tidy boxes or for an instant suggest that adding your voice to a busy conversation is a waste of time, we are suggesting that you strive to introduce a new topic to the podosphere, or find an underserved audience. Yes, you could create yet another music podcast featuring an eclectic mix of podsafe music artists. But realize that you will be competing with the dozens — perhaps hundreds — of shows out there doing basically the same thing.

You’ll best serve the current and future audience of podcast listeners by selecting a niche topic. This stands in stark contrast to traditional broadcast media, where the idea is to select broad-reaching topics to maximize the coverage area. That’s fine in a world where only so many stations fit on a radio dial, but that’s not where we live. Go for the small and focused. It’s where you’ll find the most loyal audience just waiting for you to start talking.

Determining whether you’ll have enough to talk about

One of the perils of going niche is making sure you have enough material with which you can create new episodes. A show centered around the intricacies of reattaching lost buttons to ladies’ blouses might limit your options in the future. However, that might make an excellent episode of a podcast about tailoring or seamstressing (is that a word?).

Our advice is to write down the topics and subtopics that come to mind. Don’t worry — you’re not planning out your show production schedule for the next six months. If you can list ten items of interest with only a few minutes of thought, you’ll probably be fine.

Helpful Hint

You never know when show topics will hit you, so figure out a system for jotting down the inspirations when they strike. One of your authors uses a portable Moleskine notebook (overpriced notebook, claims the second); the other keeps an outliner application at the ready (though the first wonders why inspiration only strikes at the keyboard). Figure out what system works best for you. Heck, sticky notes are a great way to start. Anything that allows you to collect ideas as they come is good to have.

Considering whether anyone will listen

Once you know you have enough to get started on your first five to ten episodes, you’ll want to do a final sanity check: Is there anybody out there waiting to listen? We hesitated before putting this section out there and remain torn as of this writing. But in the end, practicality won out. You can have exceptional diction, excellent production values, and extraordinary content — but someone other than you and your mom needs to care.

Luckily, this shouldn’t be a problem for you; more (sometimes way more) than one person always seems to be interested in the most obscure things out there. Keep in mind, however, that audience size and podcast topic are intimately related. If a large audience is your goal (and we’re not saying it should be), then select a topic that appeals to many.