50+ Good Business Podcast Topics for a Great Show

Roadmap

First we will briefly define what mean when we say ‘podcast topic.’ 🧑‍🏫

Then we will cover the typical goals of podcasts in the B2B environment, so you have a specific context for developing a great podcast topic.

Next we will walk you through four key features that your podcast topic should have. 🗝️

After that, we will show you podcast topic groups and formats that B2B podcast generally use.

Then, we will give you a list of 50 specific topic ideas to get your creative, strategic juices following– and feel free to go ahead and use any of them! You will also find topic ideas sprinkled throughout this blog post as we use some as examples to explain concepts. 🔍

Ready to take the next big step in your podcast journey? Let’s begin!

What is a Podcast Topic

A podcast topic is what your entire podcast is about. 📕

It is not the same as a podcast title or name (read this blog post for podcast name ideas). It is also not the same an episode topic. Episode topics should fall under the umbrella of the podcast topic.

People can get these terms confused with each other so we just wanted to clarify the definition before we dive into the substance of this blog post. 🏊

Ok, now let’s really get started. Always start with the end in mind– defined your goals.

Goals of a B2B Podcast

Good podcast topics empower a podcast’s goals. 🏆

There are tons of great podcasts out there with admirable goals. There educational podcasts, therapeutic podcasts, and podcasts that a simply a fun hobby for the podcasters. Many podcasts are made to draw in and retain a target audience for advertisers.

To keep things simple, we are just going to focus on B2B (business to business) podcasts in this blog post. Here are their typical goals:

Lead Generation

Lead generation is critical for businesses, and podcasts are a great tool for it. 😄

The idea is that by creating podcast episodes that reach thousands of listeners, you are casting out a wide net for potential clients without investing too many resources. Your strategic content and calls to action will lead to individual potential clients reaching out to you, rather than you tracking down each one.

Network Growth

Making podcast episodes is a great excuse to reach out to industry leaders, peers, and client’s networks. 🤝

In the research stage, you can ask people for their stories and opinions, forming a stronger relationship with them.

Many individuals are happy to be a podcast guest— they get great branding content without having to do any of the work! 😎

Podcasts and podcast episodes are easy to recommend and share. People already in your network can organically grow your network for you simply by sharing your podcast.

Customer Development

Customers do not always know what they want. They may not realize your product even exists. 😱

Often decision makers in businesses do not have the technical know-how to know a high quality service from a poor one.

A podcast is a great way to develop your customer base through industry education, tips, and analysis of common problems. 🧱

Branding

The final goal we will cover is branding. A podcast offers a powerful canvas for branding. 🧑‍🎨

In terms of media, you can develop an audio brand and a visual brand, even including video.

Branding also includes the tone of your podcast— formal vs informal, classic vs cutting edge,etc.

You can both elevate your brand and make it more accessible through a podcast. 🎙️

New episodes keep your brand top of mind for potential customers. They also strengthen your brand by framing you as an expert who knows everything that is relevant in the field.

Now that we have a pretty clear picture of typical B2B podcasting goals, we know what we are creating good podcast topics for. To get more specific, let’s look at the features your podcast topic should have. 👇

Features of Good Podcast Topics

Below are the four main features of good podcast topic. Use these when developing or evaluating your podcast topic options.

1. Made for Your Target Audience

Every podcast should have a target audience. That is the only way you know how frame what you want to get across. 🎯

B2B Target Audience

For B2B podcasts, generally it is best if your target audience is business decision makers, people who inform those decision makers, and people who can recommend you to those business decision makers. 🏢

Business decision makers may include: Chief Executive Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Operations Officers, startup founders, partners (in large firms), department heads, etc.

People who inform decision makers may include: Highly technically skill employees (example: IT), middle level managers, young professionals, quality assurance officers, risk management officers, senior staff, etc.

People who can recommend your business to decision makers: Thought leaders, consultants, industry journalists, decision makers’ social peers, etc

Engaging Content for Audience

Not only do you need to identify your target audience, but you need to think about what topic would attract them as listeners. Think about what they want to learn, what would they find engaging, what would they see value in. 🤩

2. Niche, but not too Niche

The next feature of a good podcast topic is that it covers just the right amount of a field– not too broad, but not too narrow. ➡️ ⬅️

For example, a podcast topic like “Marketing in Business” would be way too broad. On the other hand, something like “Location Targeted Advertising for Surf Instructors” is too narrow. Somewhere in the nice middle might be “Newest Tools in Digital Marketing.”

Tip: Research Other Podcasts

As you decide what your podcast topic will be, check out what B2B podcasts already exist. Although it is okay to have the same podcast topic as a show that already exists, it is not ideal. Try to be unique in at least one way from a show that already exists. 👩‍🎤

Also, you can draw inspiration from other podcasts. For example, if you looking to make a podcast for your IT management business, check out podcasts from law firms who seem to have the same target audience as you. See how they have narrowed their topic down, what unique angle they are taking.

3. Positions You as an Expert

Good podcast topics are ones that make B2B podcasters look like experts. 👩‍💼

Pick a topic that you are an expert in. You can always research and learn more during episode production, but overall you should have a pretty strong grasp of the foundational subject matter. Not only will this position you as an expert, but it will also make creating podcast episodes a lot easier, more enjoyable, and more sustainable.

Pick Your Best Format

Some folks are great interviewers and some are not. Some are great at having unscripted conversations and some are not. That’s is okay. These are certainly skills that you can practice and improve on if needed, but it is far easier to pick a format you are naturally talented at. 🕺

For example, you might be an expert on global facilities management, but if you struggle to have a flowing conversation about it with your podcast co-host, you probably will not come across as an expert. Even if you do, people are going to stop listening because it is hard to listen to.

Pick a format that you can really shine it. ✨

4. Made for Strategic Growth

The podcast topic you choose should fit well with your overall growth strategy and tactics. Think about what topic would result in content that listeners want to share on social media. Consider what topic would prompt listeners to sign up for your email list or even contact you directly. 📩

Every B2B’s growth strategy and tactics is different, based a ton of different factors like past experiences, contact management capacity, etc. So pick a topic that lends itself to your businesses unique plan.

Focus on Calls to Action

A Call to Action (CTA) is when you ask your listener to take some kind of action. This the heart of effective growth marketing. 🫀

For example, lets say one of your goals is to build your email list. If your podcast topic is “Interviewing authors of newly released management books,” you may do a CTA in your episode outros asking people to sign up for your email list to access more content. However, if you podcast topic is “Advice from authors of newly released management books,” your CTA could be for listeners to email in their questions. That is much more attractive CTA than simply asking them to join an email list, and is likely to result in gathering more email addresses.

Now that you have an understanding of the four key features of good podcast topics, we can take a look at the common types of good podcast topics. 👇

Common Types of Good Podcast Topics

There are six common types of good podcast topics for B2B shows. This is not to say that your show will not be successful if it does not fall into one of these. These are just the ones that appear to work for many other podcasters.

Keep in mind that you could combine two or more of these for your topic. You could have a segment on news and a smaller advice segment. Just make sure they make sense together as one big overall podcast topic. ☂️

As you will see, there are pros and cons to each type.

1. News

It is powerful to be the source that business leaders turn to for their industry news. 💪

This does not mean you need to be a journalist and produce your own news. You can just collect key news pieces from national and local media and summarize them for your audience. Of course be sure to cite the articles you use and provide links in the show notes.

The value you are providing is sorting through all the news and picking the most relevant and important information for your listeners. 📰

For example, your podcast topic could be “Top weekly news stories in 3D printing.” 🤖

Pros

One advantage to this kind of podcast topic is that listeners will be likely to subscribe because they want to make sure they get the weekly update.

You are also positioning yourself as someone who has the most cutting-edge knowledge of current events in the field. But make sure to include a few comments so that listeners see you as an expert, not just a parrot. 🦜

Cons

A disadvantage to this kind of podcast topic is that does not lead to much interaction between you and your listeners. You can tag them on social posts if they are in the news (if it is positive news), but that is about it.

2. Analysis

Analysis is where you provide your take on something. It can be your take on news pieces, current events in the industry, or even reviews of latest products in that field. 🎙️

The value you are providing is digesting information, breaking it down more so that it is meaningful and applicable to listeners.

Avoid just giving your opinion. Rather, go through the details of your analysis– what you are thinking and why. 📊

Pros

Providing analysis is a great way to position yourself as an expert. Not only do you know what is going on in the industry, but you can actively apply it for your listeners.

This type of podcast does provide content that listeners are likely to share. If your take is original and engaging, listeners will organically help grow your reach. 🌱

Cons

Providing analysis instead of just plain news is a little more risky. Someone may tune into your podcast one time, disagree with your analysis on that episode, and then not ever listen again.

Also, if you are not careful, your analysis may creep outside the scope of your podcast topic. For example, your carefully chosen podcast topic might be “New pharmaceuticals on the market” but you find yourself giving too much analysis on health insurance pharmaceutical policies. 🧑‍🔬

3. Advice

Advice podcasts are where the podcast host(s) tries to help their listeners with problems they may be facing. 💆

The host may address specific questions sent in by listeners. On the other hand, they may develop questions and scenarios themselves that they think are widely applicable for their audience.

Of course the questions need to fall under the podcast topic.

Pros

Advice podcasts really position you as an expert. You are not just expressing your opinion, but you are showing how you would problem solve for potential clients. 👷

Also, by inviting your listeners to send in their questions, you are getting their email addresses at the same time you are building a relationship with them.

Cons

Some listeners may not find the advice relevant to them and stop listening. This can especially happen if you are answering somewhat basic questions for some listeners while other listeners are far more advanced than them in their knowledge. 🧑‍🎓

4. Educational

An educational podcast focuses on teaching listeners about the topic. For example your podcast topic might be “Basics of artificial intelligence for business leaders.” Then your podcast would be a limited series, like a school course, on the basic science of artificial intelligence, particularly as it might be used in business. 🧑‍🏫

The value you are providing is efficient teaching of a field to business folks who need to quickly apply this knowledge to important decisions they are facing.

Pros

You will not only show that you are an expert on the topic, but that you are a great consultant– identifying your client’s gaps and providing exactly what they need. 👈

Cons

It can be tricky to figure out what your target audience needs education on. Also, while this is helpful evergreen content, you miss out on the opportunity to hook into super current events.

5. Interviews

Interviews with leaders in the field is common for B2B shows. They usually do not require a lot of prep work by the podcaster– they are almost as easy as just a casual conversation. ☕

The value you are providing listeners is a kind of networking— learning who the major players in the field are and how they talk about the field. There is also a bit of entertainment value if the interviews are interesting or fun.

Pros

This is a great networking tool for podcasters. It gives you an excuse to connect with leaders in the industry. Plus, then they will turn around and share the episode that they are featured in. 📲

Cons

Depending how you position yourself as the interviewer, you may not come across as the expert on the show. You might just be seen as a great interviewer. On the other hand, if you emphasize your expertise, it could come off as being an annoying interviewer who is hard to listen to. Striking the right balance in an interview can be tricky.

6. Storytelling

The human brain is wired to love storytelling. A story is a great way to hook in and retain listeners! 🧠

Of course the stories need to be about the chosen topic. They may be success stories. They may be funny stories that the target audience would especially get a kick out of. Depending on how much a production budget you have, you can create some really compelling content.

Pros

Stories are great at causing positive feelings, and positive feelings are often more impactful in decision-making than the cold hard facts. They can really build your brand and a sense of community. 🥰

Cons

This approach can turn off listeners who just want as much data and raw information crammed into a podcast as possible.

The most important thing out of all these common types of podcast topics, and their pros and cons, is finding the right fit for you. With that in mind, it is finally time to show you our list of 50 good podcast topics for great shows!

Good Podcast Topics: Examples

Here are the examples we promised! To develop them, we put ourselves in the shoes of a B2B business (law firm, IT management provider, etc.). 👞

If you see a topic that would fit your podcast goals, go for it! If not, use this list as a jumping off point.

Good Podcast Topics: Law Firm 🧑‍⚖️

Employment Law: History and Current Events

Current Civil Cases to Watch

Work Life Balance and Well-Being in Family Law

Entertainment Law: Top Industry Stories

Good Podcast Topics: HR Consultant Firm 🧍

Tips for HR Challenges in Big Corporations

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace: Interviews and Advice

HR for Startups

Human Resources and New Technology

HR and the Shift to Remote Day Work

Top News and Current Events in the Human Resources Industry

New Research in Management Studies

Workplace Health

Advice for Young Professionals in HR

Inspirational HR Success Stories

Good Podcast Topics: Veterinarian Supplies Company 🩺

Tips for Health and Well-Being for Veterinarians

Managing a Small Vet Business

Latest in Animal Science

New Trends in Pet Health and Nutrition

Caring for Therapy Animals

Trends in Vet Tech

History of Animal Surgery

Advice for Communicating with Pet Owners

Funniest Stories from Vet Clinics

Pain Management for Pets

Good Podcast Topics: IT Management Provider 💻

Managing Workplace Privacy

Latest Business Cyberthreats

The Tech Challenges and Solutions to Remote Work

Tips on Communicating with Non-Tech Leadership

Interviews with Top Industry CTOs

Corporate Hardware Trends

Ecommerce Security

Software Integration Advice

Success Stories in Data Management

Worker Pipeline: Recruiting, Vetting, and Managing Today’s Tech Talent

Good Podcast Topics: Accountancy Firm 🔢

Breaking Down Current Events through a Tax Lens

Corporation Accounting 101

Interviews with Top CFOs

5min Tips for Finance Management

Review of Changes in the Tax Code in All Countries

Final Word

To wrap up this post, we just need to note one last thing: Yes, it is ok if your podcast topic changes some. It is not ideal, but it is not the end of the world. If you feel like you need to make a change, just be transparent with your listeners. After all, you are probably making this decision based on the data showing what your audience seems to like better. 👍

Stay focused on your topic while creating sub-topics for your episodes. Our free podcast planner can help.

That is all for us today! We know you are going to do a great job picking your podcast topic! 💜