Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-02-16
", When and Where to Advertise.
Council Bluffs Nonpareil.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil.
The business man of average pru-
dence is but little attracted by the
narration of how fabulous fortunes
have been made by particular men
in advertising, and how for every
thousand dollars spent a hundred
thousand have been gathered in.
His reply will be that in all cases
where these fortunes were rapidly
accumulated, the margins of profit
on the articles placed upon the mar
ket was very great, and that regular
business does not admit of extrava-
giant expenditures in any direction.
We admit very freely that money
may be, and often is, thrown away
in advertising, partly because the Of
fee of advertising is Inexperienced
and partly because not sufficient
brain work is invested.
The Office of an advertisement is
not to sell goods, but to attract the
notice of purchasers. If by fam
ing advertisement you have drawn a
customer to yonr store, you must
have the articles to correspond, and
must please the customer in hand.
Large advertisements and great
promises with no corresponding
stock or price, will soon result in in
jury. But while this is the case, the
custom of the regular advertiser, all
other things being equal, will steadi-
ly increase.
In the worst of times, advertising
is Of the greatest necessity. The
smaller the aggregate business the
fewer men will control 1t, while the
balance will 60 to the wall. The
tighter the times the farther a man
will 60 out of his way to purchase,
if he becomes convinced that he can
save few cents.
Every year each. business firm
should lay out its plans, and set
apart certain fixed sum for adver-
Using. Having done so-having es-
timated tor it precisely as it does for
light and fuel, let it consider how
and where the most can be got for
the money.
After a trial of a hundred systems
it has been found that advertising in
a newspaper is the cheapest and
most remunerative.
A card, circular or handbill is
quickly thrown away, but newspa-
per enters the family circle. 1t is its
own distributor. But the value of
an advertisement must not alone be
measured by the relative circulation
OF any two papers, but also by the
character of its subscribers. A sport
ing paper might have a circulation
of 10000, yet it would IS an adver-
Using medium of a new hymn book
be less valuable than religious pa
per with only one-fitth that number.
But if the merchant has made up
his mind to spend 5000 in the. COM
ing year, let him see to 1t that he
gets the full value for his money
Let him secure permanent card at
tractively written, and nicely dis
played standing advertisement for
800 per annum, and let the balance
be held in reserve for "locals" to suit
the season. Thus a millinery estab-
lishment might with propriety spend
$50 within a month of the fall and
spring openings.
There is another great use which
advertising has, which is generally
overlooked. 1t builds up an entire
town. Chicago owes its rapid growth
to the extraordinary liberality of its
merchants at an early day. The
merchant who attracts purchaser
for piano, may also sell a set of
furniture for his neighbor, and the
dry goods man a bill of groceries.
Every city, town and village has
a disputed piece of territory, where
other places come in competition
The science of the increase of trade
is how to enlarge the circle. If we
can bring customers from Omaha
we have made great stride in ad-
vance. If Omaha can secure trade
east of the Missouri, it is because we
have been remiss In our duty.
Every business man, moreover,
should take great pride in his city or
village paper. 1t is the life of the
place, and continues the criterion by
which the town is judged abroad.
But it is we'll known that no news
paper can be talented, wideawake
and influential without large adver-
Using support.