The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-08-21
ADVERTISE ALL THE
TIME,

There are two ways of looking at ad-
vertising, both of them right. Ad-
vertisiug should be done during the
dull time for the purpose ofstarting up
trade at that time, and also for the
sake of the benifit which will come
from being continuously before the pub
lies eve. A man should just a. quick
ly think of stopping his advertising IN
the summer IS he should think OF
closing up his store for several months
in the the year, and keeping it open
only when trade would keep him busy
There are probably many houses in
the country that could shut up for
four months in the summer and be
ahead in casi, at the end of that four
months. But at the end of the next
four, the gain would not be apparent.
1t does not take people very long
to forget things, and if the store were
cl osed four months, or the advertls'
ing stopped four months, q great many
people would have f~orgottenthat the
store was In existence.
The other view of advertising Is
that it ought to be pushed duri g
the busy time when people are ready
to buy. Advertising cannot be ex-
pected to sell goods when people DO
not want them, and it will naturally
be most effective when it gives publ
city to some desirable article at just
the right time. ,
I should think that If a merchant
carried a space of four riches single
column ali the veal round, he ought
to double the space for the busy
months, and occasionally during that
time he can make large spaces very
profitable.
In business, as in all other affairs
of life, everything com es at once.
| When a business man is 30 busy
with trade and with buying and re-
ceiving his goods that he has no time
to eat or sleep. just at that time his
advertising demands the most careful
attention. Just at that time his adj
ADVERTISING is the most important
part of his business, and usually 1t
is the most neglected part.
In every store somebody has change
of the window display. That seems
to be an established rule. The win
dow display is an important part of
advertising q store. 90,
Theirs are places where, I think, with
a good window carefully dressed. such
advertising will he all that the store
will need. These places are few and
far between, however.
Now, if the work of preparing copy
for newspaper advertising were turned
over to some employe, and a little pre-
MUM offered him for good word In
this line, the result would be a great
deal better advertising than is gener-
ally done. OF course. all copy should
be examined and o. KID by the prop
rietor before it appeared in the paper
He will also, af course. decide on
what the advertisement was to be about,
but this would not take a minute Of
his time.
If there Is no clerk in the store who
seems to have an aptitude for this
sort of thing, there are a great many
professional advertisement writer's who
coulb be made nse oftogood advantage
Some of them are good, some in
different. and some bad, but most OF
them will be able to write better ad.
vertisements than the merchant can
himself, and they will be worth more
than they cost in every instance.
The advertisements ought to be
changed in every issue of the paper.
There are lots of new goods coming In,
and each line furnishes material for
an excellent advertisement. Publish
the ads as il they were news; and tell
about the new goods as they come out.
If anything comes which seems to be
especially desirable, give it particular
prominence, and in almost every case
1t would be a good idea to mention the
price.
Whatever you do, do not deal in
glittering generalities. Do not put
an ad into the paper and say: "John
Smith, dealer in watches, diamonds,
|iewelry and silverware. Repairing a
specially. Come here for holiday
presents" There is nothing to be
gained by such advertising. 1t
probably isn't worth what it cost. but
the same space used in an intelligent,
thoughtful manner will bring returns
every time. =,
Ali stores in a given line keep pretty
much the same things. The difference
between them are made by quantity,
or both. People know the generalities
without being told. The thing that
will attract them is something special
and new.