Ever think about starting your own TV show? It may not be as hard as you think. Though the ROI is likely to be more qualitative than quantitative, it can still be a unique and creative way to build relationships with referral sources and end users of your services. And best of all, it can easily fit into any budget as it is virtually free.
Things to consider before you begin
• Do you have a community television station willing to help you make this happen?
• Does your community support the local programming and actually watch the local station?
• If so, who is your audience? For example, we are in an area that is 70% Medicare and viewership from that population is high. That tends to make topics and guests easier to target.
• Do you have a strong pool of volunteers willing to learn something new?
• Do you have someone in the marketing department who is comfortable on camera speaking to a variety of guests (physicians, CEOs, public health officials, etc).
If you’ve answered yes to all the above, it might be worth investigating.
Benefits
• Guests feel honored to be asked to be on the show and remember you when making their next referral.
• As word gets out, potential guests will call you, asking to be on the show (this is the best that can happen).
• You control the programming so can choose topics of interest that direct viewers to your facility through education. (oncologists can speak to the disease as well as how they use your services, public health officials can speak to how you work together on communicable diseases, American Heart Association rep can tie into your cardiac programs, etc)
• You build memorable relationships with potential referral sources.
• You can engage your employees in the programming, asking for topic recommendations and viewer input while inspiring them to be marketers of the organization.
• Viewers remember you as the program that educated them on current health issues (and people will actually stop you on the street to tell you they saw you on TV).
If you’re still interested, here’s a tool kit you can begin with.
• Contact your community television station for a discussion of what you’d like to make happen (a 30-minute health education talk show). They may be able to help you recruit volunteers for the show.
• The most important volunteer position for the show is your director/producer. This person oversees the control room, cameras, lights, audio, recording equipment, etc. Most stations offer a class or training for this role. You may be lucky enough to find a professional who believes enough in your organization to volunteer a few hours a month to help make this happen. It can also be a way to engage younger volunteers.
• You need a few camera people, though this is a simple training from the station.
• Find your “in-house” personality who is willing to be the on-camera host of the show.
• Once your staffing is nailed down, next step is to develop the programming fit for your audience.
• You’ll need an in-house person (can be the host) to contact interested parties to be guests on the show. For the most part, people love to talk about what they do and what they know so this can be a fairly easy step.
• Once you find the guests and chosen topics, have them send you 20-25 questions regarding their topic. This way, you are able to create a script to use as a guideline for the interview. It enables you to control the timing to fit into a 30-minute segment. It also lets the guest speak to what they know best, rather than you spending a lot of time doing research on a topic you may know little about.
• Ideally, it’s best to tape more than one show at time. Once you have the studio at the station reserved and your crew together, it’s much more efficient to nail down a few shows at once.
• It is easiest to tape “live” rather than record and edit later. Strangely enough, this is relatively simple because of the scripting in advance. Over time. the host will develop a sense of timing that makes the 30-minute target natural to hit.
• Once the show is taped, the editor/director can make copies for distribution to other community stations in your service area. You will need to contact these stations in advance to request time for your program. Stations vary on necessary paperwork but in general, are happy to have new programming.
• You then mail copies of the show to the stations with a request for broadcasting established in your initial contract. Multiple shows can be sent at once with a suggested broadcast schedule for weeks at time. For example, if you tape two shows in an afternoon, these can be broadcast once a week for the next month or two. This allows you to schedule your tapings to once a month or once every other month, depending on broadcast requirements.
• Don’t forget your guests. It is best to provide them with a schedule of different broadcast times at each station so they can tune in. It is also a good idea to send them a thank-you and token of your appreciation (something with your logo on it works great).
There are always things that can go wrong (guests are late, volunteers don’t show, equipment glitches) but they are rare. It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you’ve produced a few shows, things fall into place and it can work systematically and efficiently. Happy hosting!