Times are tough for many people. Even in good times, people need help navigating through life. Viewers face decisions regarding money, health, kids, work, etc. daily.
Why not give them a helping hand and stamp yourself as a station involved with its audience? Seize the opportunity to give them relevant information and showcase your web savvy at the same time.
Here’s the idea. I call it A Better Life.
Three families are profiled and followed over a 3-4 month period as they get specialized help from a team of experts. These people work in concert with each other as they give families sound, practical advice to meet life’s challenges head on.
Viewers can apply the lessons and advice to their own situation. The families help personalize the concepts. They also create a bonding opportunity for the audience. It’s likely each family will create a following among different subgroups in your audience.
You can migrate the information to a special page on your website that provides videos, workbooks and interactive blogs to get viewers further involved. The web component adds heft to the project. It also drives more traffic to your website.
A Better Life gives the station a consistent and highly promotable feature. It gives viewers a reason to tune in and follow along. The right mix of families creates an ongoing story arc for your station. One that viewers will follow to its completion.
Best of all, its sales friendly.
Find sponsors to help with off channel promotion and the collateral provided to viewers. Make the project pay for itself and more.
Create A Team of Experts
Assemble a team of experts. Include a financial planner, family practice doctor, nutritionist, technologist, psychologist, and career counselor.
These experts will provide advice on money, health, diet, technology (how to use and buy it), interpersonal issues, and work/career concerns. These topics represent key areas of concern for both the families and your audience.
The experts can also help you choose the families. They’ll add insight and a different perspective to the selection process.
Choose Three Families
Select three families to profile. Choose families that provide diversity in terms of children (ages) and occupations.
At least two families should have children. It’s best that one have younger kids while the other should have at least one in high school. The age range adds more variety to potential topics.
Check your market profile. If your market has a large percentage of childless households, pick one as your third profile. Otherwise, you can select a third family with kids.
Develop The On-Air Product
Plan on producing three packages each week. Each family will be showcased in one of their own reports. Because their situations are different, viewers will see more than one expert at work during the week. They’ll also see them deal with a range of issues (including ones pertinent to their situation).
The experts meet with each family to assess their situation and lend advice. The goal? Provide a game plan that gives recipients a feeling of confidence and control.
Families are given projects to complete. Timelines to gauge progress are created.
Viewers can judge their success as the weeks roll on. They’ll notice the changes taking place – both good and bad.
Integrate The Web
On-air engages the audience. The web deepens the involvement. It provides an interactive platform for letting viewers take part in the project.
Use the web to reinforce key concepts and give viewers hands-on opportunities that promote deeper meaning.
Here’s how:
- Archive video for catching up on missed episodes and repeat viewing
- Provide PDF transcripts for those wanting to review concepts in print
- Create a slide show of any graphics or charts used in the episodes
- Provide PDF workbooks of key exercises used in the episodes
- Have each family create a blog detailing their progress during the week
- Have experts provide more detail, when appropriate, via blog or PDF
- Provide outtakes that add more information and/or color
- Provide a short video conversation with family members during the week
- Provide bios of each family and experts
Recognize The Sales Potential
This project lends itself to sponsorship. It provides a positive, feel good environment.
Its duration will keep a sponsor’s name in front of viewers for a good period of time. All collateral material (slides, workbooks, etc.) can include sponsor identification, extending visibility off-channel after the project ends.
Talk to sales.
Recognize The Value
Ambitious? Yes.
A Better Life requires a great deal of planning, follow-through, and commitment. My guess is those requirements will scare away many stations.
You’re different. You want highly promotable and relevant material in your newscast. You want to engage your audience. You see the value in projects that marry on-air with an internet component.
Go do it.
