The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-02-27
TALKS ON ADVERTISING. ,

If a good customer enters store,
Why will the proprietor rush forward
and insist upon doing the selling him
self? Does he not feel that he is
more competent or better qualified TO
| talk up his goods than the CLERK in
his employ? He certainly does. Why,
then, does he not meet all his custo-
mers and do all the selling himself?
simply because he can't. But along
comes the. newspaper man with his
sign hanging out, For Sale-A Chance
to Talk, and the proprietor who buys
space is given the opportunity to talk
to the whole world about his goods,
in his own way, in his own words, just
as q insists upon doing when import
ant cutomers enter his store. What
is physically impossible for him to do
in person becomes easy in a news
paper ad.
This same merchant has often told
his friends that he is not afraid to
meet catalogue house competition.
Chicago department store competi-
ton or any other competition if the
customers will only give him chance.
What he means to say is that if every
intending purchaser would come into
his store before buying, he feels
confident of landing the sale by his
ability to show that his goods are
better bargain than those offered by
any other competitor. In many cases
this is undoubtedly true, but the
trouble is the fool customer is likely to
go about his business and buy where
he pleases without hunting up all the
merchants who would like a chance
to talk to him. Here it is again,
that the newspaper man comes along
with his sign. For Sale-A Chance to
Talk and the merchant who buys
space is able to reach the ears Of the
whole community with his argument
without even knowing what man or
how many in thousand are thinking
about buying. The chance to talk, the
getting to him with the argument and
the picture is what does the business
for hhe catalogue house, without any
goods even being in sight.
How often has woman entered
dry goods store for a spool Of thread
and become attracted to a pretty
dress pattern which eventually created
the need Of new dress! How COM
NOR, it is for men to buy things they
see in a store when they did not even
know that they needed them before
they saw them!. What do you sup
pose people did for breakfast foods
20 years ago, before the easy millions
in the newspaper mans chance to talk
were discovered? The display of the
goods in the window or on the shelves
created a new demand in the single
customer. The description and the ar
gument in an advertisers talk Great
ed new and unheard-of demanl
among millions.
II is with advertising, which has
now become the largest single indus
try in the commercial world. The ad7
vertiser buys chance to talk and the
newspapers bring him an audience of
more thousands than he ever saw be-
fore, and Of more attentiveness than
any lecturer was ever favored. For
instance let a newspaper carrier boy
| miss subscriber for single copy
and what a kick is raised. Would
that same subscriber make half the
fuss if. he missed the sermon on Sun
day morning? He has paid for the
privilege Of reading his paper and he
wants it. The newspaper habit has
become confirmed among the An1eri-
can people until hundreds Of thous-
ands never read anything else. With
an audience many times greater than
| that of all the preachers in town
| together, and so attentive that not
one can be shut out without a row,
is it any wonder that the newspaper
mans chance to talk has brought
colossal fortunes to the big stores
which have bought the chance and
used it. The countless millions which
have come to general advertisers have
merely demonstrated the value Of
such a chance to talk to the merchant
who is not afraid to talk.-Marshall-
town (IowO Times-Republican.
*Use a little Kodol after your meals