The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-11-24

its general appearance strikes you at a
glance. and If this Is agreeable you are
likely TO peruse the matter. Your adver-
tisement Is your salesman. You would not
send a salesman around, who wore red
checked trousers and a watch chain as
big as a cable. and four diamond studs in
his shirt front. You do not want a sales
man that looks like a bartender, or the
funny man in a low comedy. or a corner
policeman. You don't want a salesman
that is loud. nor do you want one that looks
like a tramp and goes around unkempt
and unlaundered. The appearance of your
salesman Is a very important matter.
and il should be so with your advertising.
Don't get up garish looking ads. in thir-
teen kinds of type. 1 have counted that
number in a little four-inch single column
advertisement. Cultivate the elegance Of
simplicity. Did Horace preached it two
thousand years ago. and it holds good to-
day. The handsomest advertisements that
1 run across are those that use very few
kinds OF type. A good conspicuous type for
a catch line. a good reading type-long
primer or plea, for the story, and then a
fairly prominent type for the name. while
on the subject OF names. 1t is a great mis-
take 10 hide your name IN agate type, as
some experts will tell you to do. Don't waste
space with II, but have it always notice.
able) Al advertisement set in all the kinds
OF type the composing room affords, with
all the ornaments that can be crowded in,
IS unartistic and especially ill-bred.
In regard TO the matter, chat should be
brief. concise. pleasant, without essaying
too much familiarity, simple. direct and
should always have the ring of genuineness.
Steer clear OF bombast. Don't say much
about tremendous sacrifices" cyclones"
and "slaughters'-in fact, avoid all this
hyper-superlative style. this superbo-manifi-
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES sort of advertising.
IL no longer goes. To be sure, there is an
occasional high-salaried advertising expert
who uses it. I ran across this choice evoIu-
ton a few days ago in a New York paper
the work, 1 am told. of an expert who
receives some $4,000 a year. Here it is:
IT'S A SILK CYCLONE.
Prices battered and scattered, as we
never saw them before. Down the long
store street. under the clear soft light, in
that grandest or selling and show space, is
mounta.ned silk values that will be memoir
able Tor years to come"
That last line where the s.Silk values IL
mountained' is particularly good.
Don't go in for bombast, buncombe and
oosh. Don't pretend that you are giving
your goods away Nobody expects you TO
be a perennial Santa Claus: they know YOU
intend 10 make something. Don't try to
make them think that you don't.
Having prepared the right sort Of an ad-
vertisement, there comes the question OF
the medium. / suppose there is more wild.
wasteful extravaganza in advertising than
In any other branch of business. To buy
newspaper space where it is offered at the
lowest prices is very much like buying oil
painting by the square foot.
1 am told that Mr.. Joseph Fl. Choate was
paid 100000 for his argument against the
income tax before the Supreme Court. I do
not vouch for the accuracy Of these figures.
but / know he must have been paid a very
snug and considerable sum, and 1 should
not at all wonder if il were 500. 900. Now.
there are plenty or lawyers sitting around
New York offices twirling their thumbs who
would have been very glad to take that case
for $50 or SIS. The difference is, however
that Mr.. Choate won his case.
The advertising space which costs The
least is very often the most expensive. 7
remember discussing this subject with an
advertiser one day. lie was telling me how
cheap he got his advertising. He paid onIy
10 cents a line for it I'm a weekly paper
while a big daily paper that had been
recommending TO him charged % cents a
line; ne looked upon that as pretty good
economy, but 1 did a little figuring on the
back OF a blotter and showed him that he
was paying just one hundred times as much
for his advertising as he would have paid
IL he had gone into the big daily, for the
Dig daily at % cents a line had a paid cir
cuiation of 100. 600; the little weekly I'm which
ne was carrying his ad. at 10 cents a line
had a paid circulation of four hundred
copies. You will see, if you figure this out.
that L was right in telling him that his
advertisement cost him just one hundred
times what 1t ought. There are a good
many people like my friend, who think
they are doing economical advertising.
when they are really paying from twenty
10 one hundred times the market rate.
The first question in considering the
medium is, has IL any circulation? III it
hasn't. drop IT. The second question is (as-
Stunning that it has circulation) has il lust
the circulation that is adapted to your
needs? Does it reach the right class Of
people? For there is a great difference i'm
the advertising value OF different news
papers. which may have the same circula-
ton IL. for instance. you have some cheap
article. which will appeal TO people with
very limited means. go into the low-priced
fcfSiS- 4hCy II very apt 10 nave a large
circulation, and they are taken very
largely by the cheaper class of people. If
you have good things at fair prices for the
better class OF people. take the papers of
a better grade that are read by the better
class OF people. Any intelligent man can
easily classify the papers Of his city. and
tell just what sort OF people each appeals
to.
If you are advertising for men. the
paper that goes deeply into politics is pre-
eminently a mans paper. II you are CO.
Ing to catch the woman's eye, a paper that
Is all politics will not do the work. The
paper with general news and a woman's
page. and particularly a paper with a
literary flavor. will best appeal to them.
lf you are advertising Juvenile things. the
same applies-steer for papers that appeal
to women.
The essentials 10 consider at the start are:
is the article You offer the right thing?
DO people want Ii? Are your advertise
ments attractive and convincing? And are
they In the newspapers that are read by
the people you are after?
JOHN p. LYONS.
Copyright. 1896. by C. O.. Burton.)