The terrific performance of the certificates is thanks to business owners' participation and continued marketing to employers and individuals. Major purchasers late in 2000 and 2001 are noted in the article below.

FBID has ordered another printing of 1000 $20-dollar certificates and will look at budgeting for new $10's in the next fiscal year ($20's have been more popular).

This Fall and Winter has seen a great cross section of major purchases from Fortuna groups and businesses. We'd like to thank all those who have made certificate buys this year. The most recent purchasers are listed below:

FBID has been the North Coast media’s source for business and event news for ten years. Now Fortuna business concerns and successes are getting a greater voice through two regular columns produced by the FBID office.

New businesses, long-time businesses, happenings, events and advice are all featured in the two articles, monthly in the Beacon and every other month in the Times-Standard.

The 18 columns a year will be added to the 65-70 press releases and media advisories that FBID produces annually.

Please send suggestions for column topics to fbid1@excite.com.

Two coupon guides, one for out-of town guests and one for visitors from our own back yard will premiere this spring. The two books will take the place of the Fortuna Welcome Bags and will be dubbed the "Welcome to Fortuna" coupon guides. The booklets will be used to greet meeting and convention participants at River Lodge, will be given to families at sports tournaments, and distributed to groups that come to Fortuna from other areas of the North Coast as well as Eel Valley residents.

One of the guides is meant as a way for professionals and service businesses to catch some of the people visiting Fortuna from other parts of the county, through many local River Lodge events, local sports events and other distribution possibilities.

The other guide will take the place of the Welcome Bag program that was becoming too expensive and time consuming for many retail, restaurant and other businesses to participate in.

FBID will pay for the layout and pre-production of the coupon books and any non-coupon pages. Businesses wishing to advertise themselves can pay a one time fee for every 5,000 books printed. Coupons will need to have a shelf life of about a year.

The "Friendly Fortuna" television campaign hit the airwaves in December of 2000 showing the North Coast that Fortuna has a wide variety of retail stores and services, a strong professional community and restaurants and entertainment possibilities. The spot has been getting good reviews and will now start showing to new audiences as 2001 opens. The commercial is scheduled to run on broadcast TV until June of 2001.

The "generic" ad will air on two broadcast network stations over the next five months.

Now the REAL fun starts! FBID has worked out deals with three broadcast television stations and the local cable supplier to put forward a special Fortuna Business Package. Using FBID's non-profit status and the group buying power of the businesses of Fortuna, we've been able to bring ad and production rates within the reach of almost everyone. The majority of Fortuna businesses can advertise themselves for $110 a month.
"Well, that's nice," you say, "but what do I get?" OR "I've never done a TV ad, is that worth it?"
Here's what you'll get:

-Your business will be featured between 29 and 35 times a month. That works out to about $3.70 per commercial.

-You will hit several distinct audiences, as the ads will run on Fox television, NBC and CBS and concentrated monthly runs on several cable networks.

-Your business will share a "donut" ad (a commercial with the same opening and closing but different insides) with two other businesses. You will be able to team up with neighbors or industry cluster businesses that you share customers with to maximize the ads effectiveness.

-The "donut" will feature the opening and closing welcome sign image from the "Friendly Fortuna" ads to enforce the idea of Fortuna businesses as a brand.

-The $110 per month price includes a video shot of your storefront (or equivalent) and production costs involved in placing on-screen graphics. (You can get a more involved shoot with more production for an additional cost).

-We ask that you try committing to two months at least. This is for a few reasons: first, your production cost is amortized assuming everyone will do two or three months of advertising, do one month and your actual cost is more like $150. Second ALL advertising works based on frequency, the perfect customer can miss every one of those 29 ads, but on number 30 you may get them.

"O.K., sounds good, how do I start?"