I have a customer who has a great model for print advertising reinforcement and I wanted to share it. It's a wonderful and effective way to get the most out of your print advertising. Dan Taylor of A Advanced Hearing Care, is a great example on how to reinforce advertising while building credibility and brand. Every month I come up with ads for AAHC, which includes a catchy headline, art and his business information, all usual stuff. And Dan comes up with the reinforcement. The thing that is so special about him is that Dan is not only a audiologist, he is a writer. So, for each of his print ads, he writes a story to accompany it somewhere in the periodical as well as in his blog. He's not selling hearing aids in the articles. He writes about hearing aids, care and general information. So he is selling without selling.

With the articles, it helps keep the site ranked high for original content as well as adding to the credibility of both Dan and the business. Not to mention the fact that the articles are filled with helpful information for the hearing impaired, family of the hearing impaired, as well as other hearing professionals in the industry. He has a good following, making his advertising even more effective.

Below is the ad we chose for the month of September.

To read more about Dan or A Advanced hearing care, please click here.

These three terms, are extremely important to every advertiser. Even if you do not handle your own advertisements, you need to understand the importance of each and what they mean. In this blog, I am going to briefly touch on each term, which I will later explain in further detail in another post. 

Reach
Reach is a percentage that measures the accumulation of audience exposure over time. Basically, the total number of people exposed to your communication. It counts the unique percentage of people exposed.

GRP—Gross Rating Points
Gross Rating Points measure the total amount of exposure of your communication. An example would be if 24% of househols had a particular baseball game on and you ran your ad three times during that game, you would multiply 3x22, giving you a GRP of 66%. GRP measures the total exposure.

Frequency
Frequency is the ratio of GRP over reach. Frequency measures the repetition. The formula for Frequency is:

Frequency= Gross Rating Points/Reach

What is the 5 mile rule? It is a rule that says you should not spend advertising dollars in any market outside your 5 mile radius.

The 5 mile rule applies to many types of businesses. Why? Because people want to purchase locally. They don't want to drive 2o miles for insurance when there is an insurance company 2 miles down the road. 

If you were to plot your customers on a map, you will find that at least 85% of your customers do not travel more than 5 miles to get to your business. So, why would you spend advertising dollars over 5 miles away? You shouldn't. You should advertise locally and make sure that you're not wasting dollars on trying to get people to travel to your business.

I use this rule in my own advertising and when I advertise for my customers. This is a great advertising "rule of thumb" because it will save advertising dollars. If you think of the distance that you would normally go to the bank or other retail shops that you frequent, chances are, nothing is over the 5 mile mark. 

There are a few exceptions, but not many. It really depends on the type of business you have and whether you can talk your customers into traveling.

Everyone who starts a business should know the value of a ribbon cutting. It's an opportunity that should be relished and fertilized so it will make your business grow. It is an occasion that you actually get to talk one on one with people. There is not better platform to talk about your business.

There are a few things to think about when preparing for one. Below is some basic information for how to prepare and what to do to make it a success.

1. Give yourself plenty of time to promote it. The suggestion is 6 to 8 weeks out. This will give you plenty of time to have stuff printed and organized for your event.

2. Scheduling can determine how many people actually show up. Try to schedule your event Monday through Friday and right at the end of the day. That way people can hit it on the way home from work. Also check your local city schedules and the local chamber groups to see if there are any other events scheduled on that day. You don't want to schedule your event in conflict with another event.

3. Happy Hour is always an attractive after work offer. Many people like wine or beer after work and what there is no better way to get people to stay a little longer. Also, it's called "happy" hour for a reason and you want your business to be associated with "happy." There are some exceptions. There are some businesses that would show bad etiquette for serving alcohol, so use your best judgement.

4. Food. Have food, any kind of food. Small bites, sandwiches, a dish or snacks. It doesn't matter. People want to eat with their happy hour.

5. Invite everyone & know who's there. Invite your friends, family, co-workers, competition, all the businesses around you, people you know, people you don't know....invite everyone. This is an event that will be more successful with more participants. Make sure you have a sign in sheet so that you know who attended. After the ribbon cutting you will want to thank everyone for coming.

6. Have giveaways. People want to be entertained. Give them something they can talk about. Give away something you offer. Have other businesses give away stuff so that they also get exposure. Partner with a non-profit and do a 50/50 raffle.

7. Have helpers. Make sure when you are inviting people you have you key spots filled. Who's going to bartend, who's going to handle the 50/50 drawing, who's going to make sure the food in replenished. Your job is to get to know everyone in a one on one environment. Don't waste it by not being available because you have to get more wine.

8. Make your business clear. Make sure you have signage and that people know what the name of your business is. Have samples of what you do or a way of presenting what you do.

9. Take pictures. Have someone take a few pictures. Make notes of who are in the pictures. That way when you send in your press release, you have pictures to accompany it. The articles submitted for publishing with pictures have more of a chance to get published than stories without.

10. Market your event. You can advertise your ribbon cutting in a print ad or on the radio. Also, print invitations and give them to everyone. People will only know to show up if you invite them.