How to Define Your Podcast Niche and Target Audience: Beginner’s Guide

It can be a challenge.

There are thousands of podcasts out there. How do you start your own?

What niche should you pick? Who should you be your audience?

You’ll have these questions swirling in your brain as you think about creating a podcast.

Don’t worry.

This guide will show you exactly the steps you need to take to define your niche and target audience.

Let’s begin.

What is a Podcast Niche?

A niche is a specific theme or topic that your podcast can focus on. You can have a niche based on your background, interest, or passion. Some examples of a niche are fitness, gardening, software, outdoors, fashion, and beauty.

Choosing a podcast niche can help you differentiate yourself from the thousands of other podcasts that people are listening to.

Benefits of Having a Niche

1. You can create focused content

Once you know your niche, it becomes simple to create content around that niche. You can plan and create episodes tailored around specific topics.

2. You can establish authority and expertise

You may already have knowledge and experience in the niche. Or you can learn and build your knowledge and experience in the niche. This helps you establish yourself as an expert in the chosen field.

3. You can develop a loyal audience

When you focus on a particular niche and create content around it, you will attract listeners with the same interest. They will be those who are passionate about the topic, increasing engagement and retention.

Steps to Define Your Podcast Niche

It can be a challenge to figure out your podcast niche. Podcasters say it can be one of the hardest things to do to pick a niche. But follow these steps and you’ll find it a lot easier.

1. Identify Your Interests and Passions

Make a list of topics that you are already interested in or passionate about. One of these could be your potential niche because it will keep you motivated to create engaging content.

List your hobbies, skills, and professional expertise. Look for common themes or areas where you have a lot to say.

2. Research Market Demand

If there are already many podcasts on a particular topic, it’s a sign that the topic is popular.

You can use tools like Google Trends, Ahrefs, SemRush, or AnswerThePublic to look at what topics people are interested in.

Check out podcast directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify to see what podcasts already exist and are popular. Analyze popular podcasts in various categories to identify gaps in the market where your podcast could fit.

Check out places where your audience hangs out, such as social media on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. See what kinds of topics get the most engagement on these platforms.

3. Evaluate Your Expertise

Consider your knowledge and experience in the chosen niche. List your qualifications, experiences, and unique insights that you can bring to the table.

You’ll have to create a ton of podcast episodes if you want to make your podcast popular. That’s why you should at least have an idea that you can consistently produce informative content on the topic.

4. Narrow Down Your Focus

The more you can narrow down the niche, the lower your competition becomes. But be careful not to go too narrow where there are no listeners.

Start with a broad topic and narrow it down to a specific angle. For example, instead of a general “health and wellness” podcast, you could focus on “mental health for entrepreneurs.”

You want to have a unique angle to your podcast. Think about what unique perspective or twist you can bring to the topic.

5. Validate Your Niche

Once you have a few niche ideas, you can validate them with friends, family, or online communities. Get their feedback on what they think about the topic.

You can create a pilot episode or short series and send it for feedback. This can be one of the best ways to know what topic has the potential to work as a podcast.

Steps to Identify Your Target Audience

Once you know your niche, you can target a particular audience to focus on. This will help you create content that can be super engaging and build your audience fast.

1. Create Listener Personas

You want to create a profile of your ideal listener. You can ask yourself questions like

Where is your listener from?
What is his age, gender, occupation, and location?
What are his interests and hobbies?
What are the challenges they face?
How about the lifestyle they follow?

The idea is to build a persona of your target listener so you can focus on creating content for them.

2. Analyze Competitors’ Audiences

It’s great to have competition in the niche because you can research and analyze your competitors. Study popular podcasts within your niche to understand their audience demographics.

Look at the engagement on their social media pages, read the comments, and listen to what their listeners are saying. Identify what works for them and what doesn’t, and look for gaps you can fill.

3. Conduct Audience Research

You’ll find one of the best ways to know your audience is to use surveys and polls. You’ll need to do this in social media, communities, and forums where you can reach your audience.

Use surveys and polls to gather information about your potential audience’s preferences and pain points.

Conclusion

Picking your podcast niche and target audience does not need to be difficult.

Follow the steps in this post and you’ll narrow it down in no time.

The next thing you should do is make a list of all the topics you have knowledge, experience, and interest in. You will use this master list to shortlist the niche you’ll start with.

Looking forward to listening to your awesome podcast.

Table of Contents