Tip #3 : Know Your Demographics!

In my last 2 posts, I’ve explained the first 2 steps I think need to be taken, in order to start an effective, media ministry.

Those two are: Budget & Broadcast Market.

Remember this regarding your budget: It is always best to know how many discretionary funds you have available to use, in order to move forward. No matter how small or large you think that number is, it’s always best to know without a doubt, how much you can definitely count on to be available for your new multimedia outreach investment.

Regarding Broadcast Market, keep this in mind: When you first go on the air, the first broadcast market you air in, doesn’t necessarily HAVE to be the city in which you live, especially if you or the ministry has a strong following in another market that may be a bit more inexpensive to air your broadcast in.

Part of doing your research for broadcast TV purposes means determining what kind of audience you would like to reach as you take advantage of multimedia evangelism over the airwaves. In short, this is called determining your DEMOGRAPHICS.
Dictionary.com gives this definition:

Demographics: The characteristics of human populations and population segments, especially when used to identify consumer markets: The demographics of the Southwest indicate a growing population of older consumers.


Here’s how I would use this information, if I know that God would have me evangelize to senior saints. I would strategically pick out 5 cities within the Southwest (where I know Senior Saints tend to migrate) and determine which local TV stations in those particular markets best fit my budget.

Just as, if I know I’m called to the city of Omaha, Nebraska the 76th largest broadcast market in the country, to particularly reach marketplace professionals, then I would make sure that my broadcast airs at a time when I know marketplace professionals are most likely watching the TV or a specific channel.

So this means, I would probably try to air my broadcast early in the morning when I know they are getting dressed and NOT necessarily on Sunday afternoons, the “typical” times most ministries try to air their broadcast to reach the “churched” or those people we know already attend church regularly.

Again, remember determining your demographic audience is about determining who God has called you or the ministry to focus on at this particular point in your Vision.

Ask yourself these questions as you prepare to determine WHO your demographic audience is:

1. Who has God called me to minister to?
2. What do I know about when they are “watching TV”?
3. What channels do they watch?

Let’s do a more specific example:

If I’m called to minister to young people, depending on the age, there is a strong possibility that they are watching TV during the late afternoon hours right after school and possibly Saturday mornings.

Statistics also show that they tend to watch networks like WB (now CW) and other cable channels and not necessarily the standard affiliate stations that are seen in every metropolitan city. (ie: ABC, NBC, CBS)

Once you know who you are called to minister to via TV it becomes much easier to have a productive conversation with your broadcast agency representative as you begin to plan your media evangelism outreach.


Dwann
877-595-9117 ext 3