The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-10-18
A FEW WORDS ABOUT ADvERT1s1NG

The history OF the world demonstrates
that very few merchants or manufactur-
ers have ever attained to any considerable
degree of success, without judicious and
persistent advertising. One of the most
successful business men our country has
ever produced has said that two things are
necessary to success in any business:
First, you must have for sale something
that is good, and second, you must let the
public know by advertising that you have
ii, and we know no business can succeed
without complying with both these rules.
In every part of the country are to be
found merchants, manufacturers, and in
ventors, who have failed to achieve any
measure of success, though they are prob
ably just as good in their lines as their
neighbors, who have grown rich; but
they can never "get along" and are al
ways grumbling about their "Iuck."
Now, the shrewd business man knows
very well that in such case as this luck
has nothing to do with it, but the failure
is attributable solely to want of adver
tising-for it does a man no good to have
a first-class article of merchandise, or tai
ent for sale, unless this fact is made
known to those who want to buy, and
how are they to be made aware of it if
you do not advertise? The merchant who
economies by refusing to advertise, be-
cause, he says, ait costs so much" dis
plays the same kind of business sagacity
as the farmer who sends his cattle and
hogs to market in a lean and starved con-
dition, in order to save the corn that
would be required to put them in good
order; what he saves in grain he looses
ten times over in the sale of his stock
But we would not be understood as adj
vocating the policy of advertising in ev-
erything that is presented. There must
be some judgment displayed in advertis-
ing, as in everything else. A man who
exercises no discretion can throw away a
fortune in useless advertising-in hotel
registers, in depot sign boards, and the
various lodges of one kind or another
which are never seen by those whose pat
ronage is sought, and which are of no ben
them up. Advertising, to be profitable
must be done in regular publications, and
among these the advertiser must bring
his judgment to bear upon the question
as to which will be of the most benefit to
him. Any man who will give the sub
ject moments thought cannot but see
that an advertisement will do him far
more good in neat, handsome, tastefully
printed publication, which people carry
home with them, and which is read and
preserved, than in cheaply printed pa
per, whicha man merely glances at and
then throws it aside. The latter publ
cation may have ten times as many sub
scribers as the former, and yet not be as
good an advertising medium, for if your
advertisement is crowded in with hun
dred others, and the person who takes up
the paper merely looks it over hurriedly
to see the news, and then throws it under
the counter, you are not benefited in the
least; but if it is a nicely gotten up pub
LEGATION, which he folds up and takes
home with him, it is read by all the fam
lily, and the advertisements in every part
of it are seen. It is not the number of
subscribers that paper has that makes
it valuable as an advertising medium, but
the number Of readers, and the advertis-
er must judge for himself, by the general
character and style of a publication,
whether it viii be read and taken care
of, or merely looked at and thrown aside.
And, again, care must be exercised in Sc
lecting p;.pe r iii:it circulatcs among the
people you Wa.li 10 reach. 1t would not
be judicious IOr a prize fighter to pub
lish his challenge in a Sunday school pa
per, nor for dealer in agricultural i'm
plements to advertise in paper read on
ly In the city. In either of these cases the
advertisement might be seen by very
large number Of people, and yet would do
the advertiser no good because those who
see it are not such as will patronize him.
Hence we see two things are absolutely
necessary to profitable and judicious adj
vertising: First, to put your advertise
ment where it viii be seen, and second, to
put it where it viii be seen by the people
whose patronage you seek We hope our
business men viii reflect upon these sug-
gestions.