The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-28
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING RATES.
The Great Value of Making a Schedule of
Prices for Advertising and Sticking to 1t.

Ind. By George G. Hit, ESD. business Of
the Indianapolis Journal and published by request OF
the association. He said.
have Deen asked to say something to this
| meeting about making Advertising Rates and
| Sticking to Them" To present anything new
to You on the subject of advertising is ont OF
| the question Every phase of fhe matter has
been talked and written about by all of you
until you familiar with it as the high
school scholar is with the multiplication table.
Yet l will venture to thresh some Of the old
straw hoping that a grain or two OF wheat may
be found
In the first place. how is publisher to fix a
schedule of advertising ratess Exactly he
fixes subscription rate, hotel man fixes
hotel charges: by making an arbitrary price.
and thon saying to the public, That Is what IL
is worth to me-try it and If it is worth that
much to you" The public soon tests the matter,
and if it pays the price. gets its moneys worth
and comes again, that is good rate for paper
or hotcl To stand by
After having made an arbitrary schedule Of
rates. the publisher should Determine certain
specified amounts of advertising. in order
put himself in harmony with other lines of bus
mess. IN which much of anything is always sold
for less, In proportion, than a little. In making
these arbitrary rates and discounts he should
take into account all the circumstances and sur
rouEdings of his newspaper. and use the best OF
business judgmen: in determining the value
of his advertising space. Then he should give
them a fair trial. and If they be too high and
drive away customers. cut them down; if too
low, and there be good ground for increasing
them, do it and be firm about 1t.
l have personally no faith in these elaborate
plans for determining rate per line per thou
sand. whatever may be the opinion of this
ISOLATION. They are unsatisfactory as the
country grocers pricelist on eggs. which reads,
Strictly Fresh Eggs, % cents; Fresh Eggs. 20
or the Chicago Tribune is worth FIVE times
much thousand circulation of Keoknk pa
per, for instance; and why try to make a rate
that will fit both in proportion to circulation
onlyf One il in every sense q newspaper, is
great in it's influence, and each copy is read by
many persons; the other is the opposite of all
these things.
Again. when papers are put in classes. and
attempt is made to grade the rate per line per
thousand. the same difficulty meets us. namely,
no two papers have like characteristics. and no
rule viii work with all of them.
There many things to be taken into
consideration. such as the typographical appear
ance OF a paper the kind for advertising 1t ac-
cepts, the class OF people among whom it circu-
lates. the ielc it has, it's standing and influence
therein, Its politics. etc.. ETC., that it 10 mani
circulation alone Yet this 10 what most adver-
tisers do. and the advertising agents have edu-
Gated them up to it. They apply their rigid rule
without considering the circumstances connected
with the publication Of many papers. For in
stance. it cost more to place an advertisement in
a far Western paper than in one in the Eastern
lation, for the that everything
entering into the making of paper in
ting West is done at an increased
his rate will be high impaired with the Eastern
paper; and to the advertiser, who looks into one
of the many books gotten out by the philan-
throphic agents to guide his inexperienced feet
in the rocky paths that lead to publishers Offices,
it will appear IS if he were asked too much for
his work by the man In tho West. who dosent
believe in making his rates conform to theory
of the agents who have wrought out a rate per
line or inch, per thousand for the purpose of
using it As club to knock down the prices of
advertising. But he would doubtless have got
ten tho worth of his money more fully if he had
sDe mt it with the Western publisher and not
taken the advice of the man who 10 circulation
crazy. and put his work IN some paper without
any other valuable quality bat circulation.
The members Of this association, sinely and as
q body, can do much to counterfeit this infiu-
ence which is the principal stock IL trade OF
most advertising agents; and advertisers and
agents can be taught that papers reputable, and
strong and old enough to belong to this aseoca-
ton have business sense sufficient to establish
good features. including circulation, and that
they have the courage to adhere to them.
Having fixed rate, believe in sticking to 1T
Let it be known that a paper is inf1exible this
matter, and one-haf the work of attending to
its business is done away with. Not a dollar of
loss will follow. Advertisers respect a paper
that respects itself, and will gladly pay more to
such paper than TO one known TO take what
ever it can get for its space. 1t will stop all
agents; and, unless they change their methods
of business. think, ultimately, it will do away
with them entirely. For l confess have no
respect for agents as t 1,sss
whom I regard highly; but, = class,
they are not helpful to . newspaper. inasmuch
prices. representative agency in New YORK
boldly says The real strength OF the advertis- |
ing bureau lies in its ability to obtain the great
est concessions from the publishers rates."
And again: ''The advertisers interests are the |
only ones we have at heart We are |
the agents of the advertiser" This avowed |
spirit ID the reason for my dislike of agents as
class, and for my nope that because tho papers |
in this organization stick to rates. they eventu-
ally will be compelled to retire from the field |
where they have long labored assduously for |
the advertiser and have been paid for 1t hand |
somely in commissions by the newspapers
Often they have stood between the two, with
gathered In tribute from the advertiser and the |
paper The great advertisers of the country
have seen this and getting away from
agencies as fast as possible and doing their bust
ness direct with the papers. The agents are 20
longer the mighty men they once were, and
their field is constantly growing smaller instead
of larger. There less than dozen with
whom any newspaper wants to keep an account
Many Of the employees of the city agencies.
hungry for a slice of the advertising cake, and
re m~mbering that their employers once waxed
fat at the business, have started up agencies of
their own. Every one of these misguided per-
sons thinks his particular agency is bound to be
Of stationery, with lots of red in the letter head.
makes first payment, on the installment plan,
on a secondhand type writer, and sits down
which he says at the top was Dictated by A.
B. NJ. to Stenocrapher No. Z" and states that
be has opened the Universal Advertising
Bureau aud Printers Supply Depot. for the
transaction Of general advertising business.
After requesting several copies of advertis
ing rates for his rate books he pro-
seeds: ITO extend my lines of business
am preparing the Universal Advertising Bu-
reaus Ready Reference List. which wish to
ssue at an early date. To bring your paper
before the advertiser, / will Slve
you space for fifteen to fifty lines of reading |
matter. directly under the name of your paper
in the list for you to sat forth the special merits
Of your paper This reading matter will put
n red--bound to have it rsd-and will charge |
n your paper on future order" Hs also has
some display advertising which he will dispose
IF at $50 per page; intimatss that if you haven't
The ability to prepare the copy for tho advertise
mont one Of his intelligent hireliugs will do it
or you; and in postscript. offers TO sell You
printers ink at 10 cents pound, which you
could contract for with any reputable ink house