How to Choose the Most Relevant Topics for Your Trade Association Podcast

Choosing topics for your podcast is one of the many decisions you will need to make with great confidence - especially as a trade association with so much knowledge to offer. Not only is it important for your team but for your audience as well. Every podcast episode should resonate with your audience in a way that will make them come back for more. We’re discussing how to choose those compelling and relevant topics for your podcast as a trade association.

Think like your audience:

By assessing data regarding who your podcast audience is, you can really get a feel for who you should cater your content to. People are only going to continue to listen if it’s relevant to them and they can gain knowledge or insights from it. So before you decide on episode topics, take into consideration your audience and what they would want to hear from your trade association. This could also be a perfect opportunity to poll your listeners via email or social media asking them what topics they’d like to hear you cover on the next episode. Don’t be afraid to ask people what they want - in today’s media landscape being direct is key.

Assess what resources you can provide:

Another important thing to keep in mind when choosing podcast topics is that you have the proper resources to fully discuss them. If you’re a trade association that focuses on wildlife, for example, be sure you have proper statistics, media assets, and the latest news on the wildlife field in order to report with full confidence on the topic. If you and your team are not fully educated on a certain topic this could be an opportunity to bring in an expert to alleviate some of the knowledge gaps you and your team have without your audience ever knowing. On the other hand, if you have an overwhelming amount of resources on one certain topic that is definitely something your podcast should latch onto. 

Do your research:

Going back to thinking like your audience, it’s also crucial to see what is popular in your field of work. What are people reading about in your industry? What do people often ask about or want to know more about? What are some common misconceptions about your industry? Take the time to really do some research in order to see if that topic is something people interested in your industry actually want to hear more about. Checking for negative PR stories related to your topic is another thing to do before you solidify your choice. If a certain topic or story is controversial or causing a lot of negative feedback - it should definitely be avoided on your podcast. 

Look at the competition:

While some people might not like doing a competitor analysis, it’s always important to keep up with your peers in order to stay fresh in your industry. If everyone is talking about a certain topic, you should be too. Don’t forget to observe the competition that isn’t doing well also - a lot can be learned from assessing others not performing as well. Also, take note of the topics they are executing as well as how your trade association can have a unique insight that others might not have - giving you even more of an edge to your audience. Finding those little opportunities to make your association stand out is a simple way to appeal to your audience and even boost your reputation in the industry.

While selecting podcast topics can be daunting and stressful, as long as you have the proper resources and data available you can really use them as a tool to reach your audience the right way. Once you have established your topics, we’re ready to help with all your production needs in order to create the perfect podcast for your listeners!