The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-06-17
WHEN ADVERTISING PAIs.
Goods Must Not Only Sell, But
be Worth the Sale.

Ink as follows: There is question OF
ten asked that you can answer both
afirmatively and negatively. Does
advertising pay?'' The truth of the
matter is that it does, and it does not.
To advertise with profitable results re-
quires as much preparation as it does
to 90 to war, or to enter college, or to
do any one of a score or more OF I'M
portant things.
It is no very extraordinary trick to
tell an advertising story that will
bring many answers, but Of what
avail is it If you have been careless In
keeping up your stock or, IN order to
do so have reduced it's quality? In
the first instance you exasperate or
cool off your would-be customer, who
will 90 somewhere else to make his
purchase, and, in the second, you
make 8 sale perhaps-but it is sale
that does not satisfy and will there
fore dismiss patron. These two per-
sons-the one who was not supplied
and the one who got a poor bargain
will be sure to tell their experience
and Will tell it in such a way as will
:aallify the most seductive advertising
that can be produced. Their talk will
90 fast and far, and create in very
short order for the advertiser dam
aging reputation. His Advertisement
may have been the most attractive one
that appeared the week on which it
was offered but the trouble was the
advertisers failure to back it up. All
such advertising, it hardly needs to
be said, is mach worse than not to ad-
yertise at all. In some otherwise good
stores and trading places the social
atmosphere and manners encountered
are not of the inviting but Of the re-
pellent kind, it is a great mistake,
and one hardly to be surpassed to
forget that poliseness and suavity are
real business assets. A merchant may
have good goods, and deliver them
promptly, and tell no lie about them,
but If he and his clerks dlfuse an
atmosphere Of coldness, and lack
cordially, they substrac5 nearly all the
benefits good advertising. has to ot1er.
In other words. they trip themselves
up by not backing the advertising sent
out.
1t is no doubt fact often noticeable
that there are persons in trade who
mean well, who are thoroughly
honest, and who do not deli hberately
intend to make a bad impression on
the public whose temperament and
address are unfortunately not attrac-
tive. It is pity that they should be
the direct intermediate Of trade when
they might do admirably as bookkeep-
ers, and perhaps fairly well as whole
sale buyers Or discovereys Of bargains.
Perhaps they might even write adver-
tisements that they don't know how to
live up to. It is a curious circumstance
that many men can enunciate the pro-
foundest business maxims who can
not parctice them or go one step fur
ther than to theerize. These people
have some place probably in business
plant, but they should not be selected
to back up the stores advertising. AS
all advertising that ultimately pays
must be born Of the truth and bear
criticism, there is some advantage in
avoiding too many superlatives and
relying mainly upon 1nder state
ments. For these can more easily be
warranted and followed. If the Gus
toner finds himself better pleased than
he was told he would be, the effect Of
the advertising will be immeasurably
enhanced. If he is assured of the i'm
possible, there is something lost to
the advertiser through his boasts that
could not be fulfilled. There is one
Scriptural text in particular that a
business man should hold to with
special regard-one that advises max
ing friendship with the ''mammon of
unrighteousness. !" Every customer,
whether his pocket book contains one
dollar or one hundred, is the person
the dealer needs to cultivate and con-
slider. He comes with his money and
he is entitled to his whims and even
to his absurd expectations. The main
object should be not simply to corral
his money but to leave him pleased
whether he purchases or not. If his
manners are rude, and his demands are
unreasonable, the Dealers should be
placating and unrufHed. For any Gus
toner thus met will be customer to-
morrow and will feel that the adver-
bo q