Six Steps to Successful Syndication

Step Five: Sign Up Stations

A syndicated show is only as good as its list of affiliates. Syndication Networks' Affiliate Relations experts have decades of experience in this challenging and rewarding field. Our skilled staff has the proven ability to sign up radio stations to carry all forms of syndicated programming.

Affiliate relations is by far the most difficult part of syndication. If you decide to try it on your own, be prepared for a real challenge.

If your marketing is effective, stations may be calling for your demo. You then follow up by phone with these "warm leads".

Major market stations may be reluctant to sign up. They require persistence and a personal touch. Your calls to larger stations might end up in voice mail jail, but some will return your calls. Be positive and friendly, but persistent. Ask them to consider your show for their next opening.

You may enjoy the challenge of getting stations to add your show. A few may sign up without a moment's hesitation. Others will seem to take forever to decide, and just when you're about to give up on them, they'll surprise you by signing up. Still others will tell you they have absolutely no interest in your show, or refuse to take your calls.

In Affiliate Relations, rejection is part of the game. Logic says not every station will want your show. There are about 10,000 commercial stations in America. You must get past the uninterested stations, and find the ones that want your show. For example, our in-house staff places calls to hundreds upon hundreds of station executives every single week. After trying several dozen calls on your own, you may decide a professional firm such as ours would get better results for you.

Here are several reasons to consider a firm such as ours for your Affiliate Relations needs. First, knowing it's your show, program directors might hesitate to be candid with you. They may not feel comfortable wheeling and dealing directly with the host of the show. Second, companies such as ours have extensive industry contacts and station relationships to draw upon for fast results. Third, professional syndication companies have proprietary syndication and marketing tools, developed through years of trial and error.

Fourth, Syndication Networks also owns and operates a highly sophisticated and professional Internet Talk Radio Network, TalkZone.com. If your show is talk-based, we can immediately place it in syndication as part of an established, credible online network -- something that can be difficult to do on your own.

This gives established companies such as ours a tremendous edge over those who attempt affiliate relations on their own.

We will be happy to sign up affiliates for you. Check our Consulting Services.

We advise you to shop carefully before choosing a company to handle affiliate relations. Among the limited number of independent U.S. syndication firms, some are "one man bands". These firms have one or perhaps two employees, working from the proverbial kitchen table. The risk of using a "one man band"? Your show may come across as small-time or unprofessional to the radio industry -- and such impressions tend to be remembered by station executives.

Some syndication companies use interns or work-at-home people to call radio stations on your behalf, which can sound amateurish at best. Our fulltime affiliate relations staff makes all calls direct from our offices, and we have a toll-free 800 number to encourage station callbacks.

Some syndication companies may insist upon owning a piece of your show before they will work with you. They will tell you this gives them an incentive, but you end up losing a valuable chunk of equity in your show with little to show for it. Our company does not require equity ownership.

Still other firms may require you to sign an ironclad deal with them for affiliate relations -- often for two years at a time, and up to five years. If things don't work out, you can be locked in for a long time. Our client agreement is far more flexible. We want clients to stay with us because they want to, not because they have to! Contact us for prompt, confidential details.

If you wish to attempt affiliate relations by yourself, make it fun. Celebrate every new station you get. Put a graph on the wall and chart your upward progress. Mail out a press release if you are lucky enough to sign an important affiliate. As you keep adding stations, your show can grow into a real winner.

Go to Step Six

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