The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-11
PRINTERS INK AS
SALESMAN.
Liberal Use Of Advertising Space the
Way to Reach General Public.

THE question was once asked me.
who is the greatest travelling
salesman" and 1 had no hes
itancy in making reply: Printers
ink" a business represented by print
ers' ink is one that lasts. Printers ink
works while you work and while you
! sleep. 1t is salesman who never tires
! and never quits: one of whom your
competitor cannot rob you; printers
ink is the one great artery of CONNER
/ cial activity. 1t is the medium through
| which the world is made TO know what
you know and profess about your inGi-
| Vidual business 1t is even possible
by the aid Of printers ink to force the
sale of an article without merit. but
such prosperity necessarily is short
| lived.
There are two kinds of advertising,
| the kind that pays and that which does
not. Still. there are many businesses
which survive in spite of the latter,
which tends TO make the subject of ad-
Vertising such a complex problem. No
great national commercial success,
| however, has been achieved without
printers ink. A prerequisite of good
] advertising is absolute honesty in
| every statement Furthermore, to
/ shoot over the heads of your readers is
| money and space wasted. To tell all
you know in a single announcement is
/ like firing at a grizzly bear with scat
/ tering charge of bird-shOt. while the
| same load in one bullet, properly aimed,
| will bring down the bear. By this is
| meant that one cannot advertise. eff
fectively, overcoats and shoes, for in
stance in the same breath. The argu-
ment will be no stronger than its weak
est point, no matter how much time or
| thought may have been bestowed upon
! its production.
Professional ''Ad" Men.
The proper person to build a house
is the architect the proper person TO
make pair of shoes is the shoemaker,
and the proper person to make clothes
is the tailor. When it comes to adver-
Using. however, almost anyone about
/ the place is considered capable of at
tending to the job. Sometimes it is the
boOkkeeper or a clerk; more frequent
" it is the head of the house." al
ready overburdened with detail work;
or it may be the dress paNade member
of the firm, who may devote couple
of hours a week to the subject. Adver-
| Using is becoming more and more
science, and in order to compete sue
ceSsfully in the great marts of trade
the bookkeeper, the clerk, the boss
and the dress parade partner must give
place to some quiet individual who has
time to think, untrammeled by the care
of accounts and other duties foreign to
the one subject, advertising.
Advertising is simply telling the story
in the most convincing manner. Some
times an illustration helps, and, again,
by the same token, il detractS from
the force of the "ad.'' To say the pro-
per thing at the proper time and before
the proper audience, is the fundamental
principle of all good successful adyer-
Using But to do this requires an ex-
perience more varied than one imagines
at first thought. The advertising man
must not only have a knowledge of me-
dfums. but must be in thorough touch
with every element and detail of the
business he proposes to tell others
about. He must also have knowledge
OF human nature, that he may know IN
what manner to present to his prospec-
tive clients the goods he desires to sell. |
Time Table Conservatism.
There are, TO my mind, many fields
OF advertising yet untouched. The most
prominent, l think, is the railroad, al
though a few leading lines are begin
ming to show some promise of a better
day. If the Dry goods store advertises
to create trade, why not the railroad? !
Is the conventional railroad announce
ment likely to cause Il man to rush /
down TO the ticket Office to secure ac- !
Communications? If you go TO the carni-
val city of the south il is because OF |
something in the climate which attracts /
during a certain season of the year,
or the festivities offered in the Mardi !
GraS. not because, but in spite of, adj /
vertising which may have emanated
from the railroads. They had il in |
their power TO make the Buffalo exhibit
ton a success, but they relied on the !
Taf a hi nd
trusted to luck. AS a consequence, a |
really clever exposition closed a fnan- |
cial failure. A little publicity on the !
part of the railroads would have re-
suited in hauling the crowds in box |
cars so great would have been the |
desire to see the wonderfully adver- |
tiSed show. I was at Madison Squa re
Garden in New York April 3, where |
Sells Forepaug were exhibiting, and
although l arrived an hour before open |
ing time, the capacity of the great |
building had been sold and the box Of |
flee closed. II was advertising that ]
made it &ossible for the treasurer to |
deposit three bushels of silver in the |
bank the next day. There win always |
be a certain amount of travel, but how
many more people would visit the |
Grand canyon Of the Colorado if they
were told about il in the enthusia site !
manner of the circus manager who filed |
Madison square Garuen ana turned
away good money besides?
SIT Was a Dream"
I had dream the other night which
it may not be out of place to relate
here 1 thought 1 had been made pres
ident OF the New York Central railroad
and one of the first things that hap
pened was the adjustment of the title
general passenger and ticket agent"
and the creation of ticket agent
whose duty il was to attend to all matt
tiers pertaining thereto. This place was
department, who is really the man do
ing the work now. But the passing of
the title, general passenger agent"
created such a fuss that / was almost
awakened by the howl which went up
all along the line. The friends of George
H Daniels, both in and out Of the rail-
way service. were, however, quickly
placated by the announcement that l. !
wide and all wool, and that a new po-
sition had been created for him, with |
Offices on the executive floor. His title !
would be master of publicity" with
power to select his own lieutenant. and
his only duty being TO keep the coaches
full of passengers the year round. At
this point l met the dawn of a new
day. and realized that 1 was not a rail-
road president, that Daniels was not
the director of publicity, and that rail-
roads We've still trading advertising
mileage books for timetable space
A Fitting Epitaph.