Believe it or not, naming might be the most important yet most daunting part of starting a B2B podcast or a podcast for internal communications. It’s easy and even fun coming up with a list of names. But finding one that’s concise, catchy, and that conveys what the podcast is about, not to mention getting everyone on your team to agree on it? That ain’t so easy.
Below are some best practices for choosing a podcast name.
Short and Sweet
No one wants to search for a whole sentence when deciding what podcast to listen to. Most podcast titles are 30 characters or less, so it’s best practice to stay within that range. Be mindful of how it may appear in a search return–titles that are too long are often clipped to fit a certain length. Get your point across in as few characters as possible.
Keyword Stuffing (don’t do it!)
It would be easy to just generate a bunch of keywords and use those for your title. Unfortunately, many podcast hosting services scan for those keywords and automatically remove any that may seem like spam. Instead, incorporate one or two keywords into your title. This increases SEO without getting the pod removed from the platform. Business-oriented podcasts are very competitive when it comes to search rankings. Choose your keywords wisely in order to emphasize uniqueness and come out on top.
Avoid Ambiguity
Mysterious titles can definitely work for established companies, but first-time B2B podcasters should focus on keeping titles relevant to the subject matter. Creativity is still great, but make sure it connects to your topic in some way. Podcasts are also often spread through word-of-mouth, so try saying your title out loud! Make sure it’s easy to say and doesn’t include words that have multiple spellings (ex: street vs st, hertz vs hz, etc.).
Allow Room for Growth
As your audience grows, so too should your podcast. For a popular podcast, expanding the range of topics is inevitable. Make sure to account for this in your name by not boxing yourself into one specific thing. For example, a listener would assume a podcast named “All Things Cars” would be just that–all about cars. While there are a wide range of cars to talk about, you’ll run out of material much quicker than if your podcast was named “Transportation Station”.
Research
When you’ve got your initial name, Google “[name] podcast”. It may sound simple, but you want to make sure there isn’t a pre-existing podcast with the same name. LinkedIn and Slack both have separate podcasts titled “Work in Progress”, which can be very confusing if a friend were to recommend it to you. If the podcast name exists but hasn’t posted an episode in years, dig a little deeper. It’s tempting to just jump the gun and take the name, but if past listeners of the old show hear about your show, it might confuse them. Reach out to the previous owner and see if they are willing to give/sell the name to you.
After following these tips, you’ll have yourself a great name for your B2B podcast!