How to come up with podcast names

Choosing a podcast name isn’t always the easiest thing to do. There’s usually a lot of pressure involved especially since it can feel like you’re making a do-or-die decision. And so today, we’re going to talk about how you can pick the perfect name for your podcast.

Newsflash! There is no such thing as a perfect name. 

People just get so caught up in that first act of choosing a name for brands or businesses and this makes it much harder to focus on other important things like figuring out how to broaden their audience. So to save you from all that stress, we are going to discuss the following methods that you can use when trying to come up with podcast names.

1. Create a sub-brand 
2. Be Subtle but creative
3. Search for Inspirations

But before we do that, think about brand names in general, Facebook, Nike, or Adidas. You probably felt some form of emotion or recognition right away from seeing those brands, right?

Compare the names “Michael John” and “Michael Jordan”. You obviously know which one of those you are more accustomed to hearing and so you can tell that something feels different when you hear the two of them side by side.

There’s a simple reason for that and conventional brand marketing calls that Consistency. 

Consistency

When it comes to brand consistency, it is very important that you continually communicate with your audience in a voice that depicts the mission and values of your brand. What this means is that the brand name you eventually pick is actually not as important as you making the decision to stick to that name and keep promoting your podcast until it becomes a household name. Most of the brands that we now know and love also had to start from the beginning where no one knew them and/or recognized their names. Anyone who has a powerful brand reputation would tell you that one of the important things to do is to stick with the name you’ve chosen and continue to build the brand with a long-term view.

So, if you’re one of those who has been obsessing over choosing a name, I hope knowing this will help to alleviate a lot of the pressures you have about picking the so-called perfect podcast name. If you don’t believe me, think about your favorite podcasts, the ones that you absolutely love and cannot do without. Is the name really a factor in the success of the show or is it the actual content that matters to you and other listeners?

Now that we’ve gotten rid of the idea that your brand name has to be perfect, let’s talk about how to actually pick a podcast name for your business. 

Create a sub-brand 

If you already have a company and you’re starting a podcast, you can always use this as an opportunity to create a sub-brand. For instance, the name of our company is tribetactics and when we wanted to start our podcast show, we started from a spare room in our apartment and called it “spareroom talks”, a tribetactics original series because we loved the reference and the fact that it made the show seem like a series, you know the kind you watch on Netflix. So, when you think about your podcast show name, think about the fact that you could always have a name that would be categorized under your company name.

Be subtle but creative 

When you think of the actual podcast name itself, it could help to go with something that is nuanced, that is a name that is subtle and not so obvious. The key to doing this is trying to find something that isn’t super-descriptive and can pique people’s interest right away. In other words, names that are playful, entertaining, and very thought-provoking. In our case, we used “spareroom talks” and our hope was that people would find this interesting and relatable because well, almost everyone has a spareroom and so we figured that it would at least spark an interest for people to want to know what it is that we’re talking about in our spare room. So again, this was the hypothesis that we were working with so you can always apply that to your own business.

You could decide to use an inside term for your industry that would be familiar to those in that specific industry. Some people outside the industry might not get the term at first glance but there are those in your same space who will definitely get it and relate to whichever term you plan to use.

Or you could go with a bold but unexpected choice that many people know but would not expect to be the name of a podcast show. So, seeing that you actually went ahead and did something bold like that is definitely going to be an attention-grabbing factor that can be beneficial for your podcast in the long run.

Search for Inspirations 

One of the things you could also do is look for inspiration on some platforms. For example, on Spotify, you can actually search for different keywords to see the titles of the various shows that come up and how other people are naming their shows. This exercise is not for you to copy the format of their show name but rather to have a look at the thought process behind the names that other authors are giving their shows and possibly try to get the answers to other questions like- how long a podcast should be. For example, if someone is doing a show about marketing, you could try to understand their reasons for naming the show the way they did. Did they call it “The Marketing Show” and if not, did they use a name that’s a bit more innovative or nuanced?

And Spotify isn’t the only platform where you can do this, you can also check for podcast names on Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, and many others that will give you an idea of what other podcast authors are naming their shows. This is a great opportunity to see names that you could restructure and add your own flavor to so as to come up with something that would appeal to the interests of your audience. 

Consistency is Key

As you can see, there are different approaches to picking a podcast name. Whatever name you pick, try to remember that it's all about consistency. Ensure that the name is something that grabs attention and resonates with your audience. Also, don’t forget that the name has to add value to your brand as you probably wouldn’t want to pick a name that isn’t relevant to your business and what you stand for.