The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-19
HOW TO ADVERTISE.
john Wanama Views on This I'M
portant subject.
From printers Ink

DOfCahG SUBJECT.
From printers Ink.'l
John Wanamaker is said to have been
the first advertiser to handle a general
business in liberal way in the news
papers.
He'll go broke" said the croakers,
when columns, double columns, half
pages and full pages began TO appear;
1.-THE business won't stand it." Wouldn't
ii? Don'tit?
The best possible answer is the marvel
Gus growth of the Wanamaker store
started in 1877; long since the largest re-
tail establishment in the world almost
fifteen acres of floor space. and still
growing thriftily.
Another answer: Other general stores
in Philadelphia slowly swung into line.
There was evolution and revolution.
Advertising in the city dailies doubled
aud trebled; il is now five or six times as
the stores have proSpered. The Wan
amaker way has helped the merchants,
helped the newspapers, helped the city.
There is nothing mysterious about the
Nan2inaker system. Three principles
underlie the business all liberal all
vital:
Liberal stocks.
Liberal dealing
Liberal advertising.
ing-nothing can be more iliberal than
lying.
No odds what the size of business may
be, our experience has proved that gen.
erous advertising Will bring a crop OF
sales as surely as generous culture Will
bring a crop of grain. There is no guess
work about it. There is just one condi-
tion-the advertised thing must be worth
the attention of buyers.
For a general business l believe there
is but one perfectly satisfactory adyertis-
ing medium
THE DAILY NEWSPAPER.
No matter what the nature of COM
munity is, ifa daily paper has chance
at the people it sorts them out as certainly
as II they were put through mental
sieve.
The progressive, enterprising. wide
awake, money-spending, life-enjoying
citizen, wherever he is, is always hungry
in the nead-he wants daily paper; he'll
get one If he can.
The pinch-penny, lowgoing, yester-
day man; the too poor or the too mean to
buy, are never in the daily newspaper
procession.
Put an advertisement before the read
ers of a daily paper and you take the
cream Of any population. You go straight
home to the people who can buy and who
are ready to buy.
| That's one side Of it.
The other side is the merchants side.
| He, too. must be wide-awake. There's
no use in Juggling a hide-bound business
IN moss-grown way before such con-
| Stituency.
The truth is-and 1 cannot put it toe
strongly-the daily paper reading public
respond with marvellous promptness and
unanimity to any deserving advertise
ment. Even if it is crude III form, awk-
ward in expression, ragged in get up, sc
there's a streak of honest thought and
! good intent running through it, all else
| is overlooked.
! An advertisement needs to be bic
enough and prominent enough to catch
the readers casual glance. In general
way that is all you can get from size Oh
! cOnSpicuOuSneSS. The cost beyond that
while perhaps not entirely money wasted
is not far from it, in many instances.
Whether big or little, the advertise
ment should be persistent. Every day is
changed every day. Hold up one phase
or another of it all the time. Make the
readers look to your announcements as
they look TO news. Don't expect them to
always carefully read what you say.
They skip half the locals and kilograms,
maybe-all but the headlines. You can
be sure Of glance at least-if you deserve
IL. III tllS duNSftlSouleuL 50 lLl1 Ol
| hooks that the glancer is likely to get
caught.
And work for the women. That's the
secret of the greatest possible success in
general merchandising.
: There are fields that the big newspaper
| does not reach, and, perhaps, never will
reach. The local weekly covers them
The glory Of the big city weeklies
think is passing away. 4 rehash Of colo
victuals from the daily table will satisfy
fewer and fewer as the years go by.
But after all, mere circulation is not
what counts most. l think more adver-
Users go wrong on the character of circu-
| lation than any one thing. 1t takes 8
nicer sense on the part of the advertiser
to diagnose this side Of the case properly
than to say how much the average pub
| Usher or canYasSer has lied to him about
! the count.
WHAT AN ADVERTISER SAYS.
i AS an advertiser my experience has
| been that large advertising pays far bet
ter, in proportion for the capital ex-
| pended, than small-sized announcements
thoroughly believe in keeping ''ever-
! lastingly at it," but not with small shot
/ Occasionally a broadside should be inter
/ spersed with small shot if the capital is
! limited; but l prefer the broadside all the
| time. If the capital is limited the field
| should be contracted; but whatever the
| size of the field, it should be thoroughly
cultivated. A weak and timid ADVERTISE
cannot hope for success; it takes certain
amount OF nerve TO face an apparent los:
at first outlay, but a determination to set
the campaign through to the end is abso
! lutely necessary for success. If the ad