The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-03-09
HARDWARE ADVERTISING.
| Interesting Paper Read at Hardware Con-
VentfOn in Duluth,

interesting Iaper ltedO at hardware Con-
vention in Duluth.
At the meeting of the State hardware
dealers at Duluth last week c.. II.
Casey of Jordan read an interesting
paper on "Advertising a Hardware
Store in a Country Town. Mr..
Casey evidently entertains some up
to-date views about the true value of
advertising space in country news
paper. What he says about advertis-
ing will apply to most all country
merchants. He says:
"This subject Of advertising is, I
believe, one of the most important of
all matters which business man must
consider, for in many ways it in
wolves the vital interests of his bust
ness. It is a selling agency, and in
a retail business it is probably the
most important of all the selling
agencies of your business.
1.-THE first question is. does it pay
to advertise in small towns The
answer to this may be found in the
methods of the mail order houses.
They do not advertise in the large
cities, they strike the small towns.
They describe their goods, not to the
city people; but to the people in the
small towns and country, and they get
results. If the retail hardware man
will take his cue from this and go at
the people right, mean business in ad-
vertising, and make q business of it
they will succeed. When the city graft
houses stop advertising through the
territory covered by your home paper,
you may conclude that advertising in
a small town don't pay, but SO long
as they are getting business right out
from under your nose, getting cash
for goods not as good as you sell on
time, you cannot say that advertising
does not pay, The same people who
are willing to follow their ads. will
read yours if you give them something
worth reading. Put in something that
means something, keep it fresh, and
the results will justify the statement
that advertising does pay in towns
large or small.
"There is. however, vast differ
ence in the style Of writing an adver-
tisement for a large concern in a large
town and the local dealer in a coun-
try town. The man living in a town
Of 5000 inhabitants, or less, talks in
his advertising to people he knows
personally, and to people who know
him personally. The large retailer
in Chicago or New York talks imper-
sOnally to some hundreds of thou
sands of people whom he does not
know, and who do not know him per-
sonally. In this case it's the 'business'
that is addressing the public, but in
your case it is the man. that is the
chief factor. Too many merchants, it
seems to me, make the mistake Of at
tempting to follow the impersonal
methods of the big city advertiser.
They realize that these big retailers
are very successful, and that it is
their advertising that is making them
SO very largely, and they try to follow
their advertising methods, which do
not fit or apply to the small locality
at all.
My belief is. and always has been,
that if a thing is worth doing at all it
is worth doing we'll, and I believe that
this applies as directly to the adver-
Using of your store and your business
as anything one could think Of IF
you are going to spend money at all,
spend enough and apply it in a way
that will attract attention. or what
you do spend will be practically q
waste. Some people advertise as
though they felt they ought to help the
printer support his family, but as a
rule these merchants don't help him
much and are very much dissatisfied
with the results themselves. Advertise
ing space in a newspaper is just like
plate glass, only different. When you
buy a large plate of glass you pay
more per square foot for it than you
do if you buy a small one. When you
buy large advertising space you
perhaps get it a little less per square
inch than if you bought a small space,
but it is worth much more per inch to
you; that is ten inches will probably
be worth to the advertiser three or
four times as much as a fve-inch
space.
''To start right in advertising re-
quires certain amount of sand. ,
To put out a goodly quantity of your
hard-earned dollars, that are already
safe in your pocket, or in bank, and
seek in exchange what might be called
an unknown quantity, takes grit and
faith, both in your ability to write
convincing, pulling ads and in the re-
c,1tc in dollars and coptc uoro Sc