Hoover Adams was the editor for a small local newspaper in the rural community of Dunn North Carolina. This newspaper was called the Daily Record. What makes the Daily Record unique is while other newspapers were struggling to maintain readership, the Daily Record led the nation in circulation penetration. In fact, the Daily Record was selling more newspapers to their primary market than there were homes. To be more specific, their penetration rate was 117 percent.
“Names, Names, Names”
How could a small local paper buck the national trend and actually sell more than one paper per household? The answer lies in the content. Hoover had one clear message for his staff: “Names, Names, Names” The Daily Record only published stories about the people in the local community. There were no national news and no state-level news. There were only stories that had something to do with local citizens whose names were plastered throughout each edition because, as he said, everyone loves to see their name in print.
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Businesses can learn a lot from Hoover Adams and the Daily Record. Recognizing a person by including their names wherever and whenever you can build loyalty. As Dale Carnegie said, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Do you include other people’s names in conversations and in print wherever you can?
