The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-04-28
THE ADVANTAGES OF ADVERTISING.

A leading American humorst has
remarked that doing business without
advertising is like a man winking at
"a pretty girl in the dark, he knows he
SIS doing it, but no one else does =
That there is more truth than poetry in
this, no one will deny; yet how many
merchants there are in our midst, day
by day, carrying on this selt-same game
of " winking in the dark Merchants,
both of the East and West, have long
ago ceased to he satisfied with sim
pie sign-board above their store or a
display of goods in the window as a
means of attracting customers but by
liberal and judicious advertising through
the medium of their local newspapers
seek out the possible customer and ac,
quaint him with the commodities they
have for sale
In this county we have two hundred
and fittv-four merchants, large and small.
Of this number, not more than twelfth
part seem to appreciate the advantages
OF advertising as a means of reaching
the public, and consequently eleven
twelfths of them are unknown beyond
their immediate neighbors. The custo-
mer will naturally seek the energetic.
pushing, business man who, by liberal
advertising, brings to their notice his
wares, for Of him they are most likely
to buy cheapest. The Philadelphia,
" Inquier," of late date, has very
seasonable and sensible article upon
this subject We quote from it:
" No greater mistake could be made than
that of supposing that it is the customer
who pays the cost of advertising the mer-
chants goods. Take, for instance, the
case of A. T. Steward, the famous New
FORK dry goods merchant. He was, and
his successors still are, the largest abvertis
efSoi the goods they have to sell in he United
States, and it is a fact well known to every
one who has purchased goods at that store
that they can be bought cheaper there than
at any other dry goods store IN New York.
The cost of advertising is paid by the adj
vertlser, who is enabled to ply it by reason
OF the larger sales he makes by it, Instead
of selling one thousand dollars worth OF
goods per day he sells five thousand worth,
for he, by means of making his wares
known, their quality and cheapness, at
tracts customers not only from the most
81 # hn oft L,,t a..
surrounding hamlets, villages and towns.
The value of goods sold by single New
York dry goods house alone entirely
through the mail amounts to over million |
of dollars annually, and every dollar of |
this trade is secured through, ,judcous-
which means Notwithstanding. The |
time, in fact, has quite gone by when |
merchant can hope to succeed by painting
his name up over his door, as is to be |
proved by the experience of some of our
old Chestnut street house, who once had a |
gread reputation, and whose trade has |
gone to active advertisers, and is certain to |
stay there until they learn that depending |
on Old customers and hanging out "a sign |
Will not do. What the public wants to |
know before 1t starts out of a morning is |
where it can buy the best goods of the sort |
it desires at the lowest price. The public |
uoes hoL "dHI W oe running ABOUT IRON |
store to store, losing time and making
trouble, in order to find what it wants at |
low price and it gets it's want through |
the advertisements in the newspaper while |
it eats its breakfast. The man who adver
tises most can sell the cheapest, because he
secures the largest sales and because, sell |
ing much, he can buy cheaper by buying
the large quantities of goods it is necessary |
for him to have on hand. The truth is |
that the business man who concludes that |
he will stop advertising may as well CON
clude to quit business also, for the competi.
ton is so great and the advertiser has so
many advantages over him that it is only a |
question of time as to when he will be |
forced to drop out of the unequal race"