The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1907-11-01
GOOD ADVERTISING
WHAT 1T MEANS TO THE LOCAL
MERCHANT.
BUSINESS NECESSITY TO-DAY.
Competition Has Forced the Bust
Death Without Publicity.

The purpose of advertising is. of
course, publicity,
But publicity for what:
1t depends very much upon what is
being advertised as to what the m
swer to this query would be.
| The manufacturer of any certain
! brand of merchandise advertises in
order to make the name of his goods a
household word: to so impress it upon
the minds Of the buying public that
they unconsciously ask for them at
where the goods are sold, or necces-
sarily at what price they are sold.
He creates a demand from the general
public FOR a certain line of merchan-
disc. and the advertising forces the
merchants to carry his line of goods.
Such advertising is known as the
general publicity, and upon this form
of publicity millions of dollars are
being spent by manufacturers each
| year with profit to themselves,
To the local merchant, selling q
general line of merchandise, in a
local community, general, publicity
is of little value when compared with
the possible results to be obtained
from the form OF advertising best fitted
to his needs.
John Smith is running Il general
merchandise store in A. He has been
born and raised in A. Every man,
woman and child in the county knows
him, and knows he is running a gen
eral store. Now John Smith will not
reap the greatest value from his ad-
vertising expenditures when he simply
keeps repeating week after week. day
after day, "John Smith, dealer in
general merchandise"
In other words John Smith is not
seeking, and does not need to seek
general publicity for John Smith.
He wants specific advertising, and
the right kind of advertising will
bring to him greater results than it is
possible for the general advertising
to bring for the manufacturer.
Advertising is life and vitality to
the local merchant even in a greater
degree than it is to the manufacturer.
The right kind of advertising means
growth. an increase in sales: the Sc
curing of new customers and the re-
tanning of old ones. 1t means that
home business will remain at home:
it means the spending of home dollars
in the home town: it means the meet
ing and conquering of competition.
Have you ever seen ii town in which
there was one live, enterprising mer-
chant who stood out prominently be-
yond and above all other merchants?
Who uses newspaper advertising
space extensively and inteligently?
| Who was afraid neither of the cost Of
printers ink nor the trouble of pre-
pairing copy? Who studied adver-
Using methods quite as diligently as
he studied the buying of merchandise?
| have, | remember one case of
that kind in particular. The mer-
chant was located in q town of not
over 700 people, with a rich agricui-
tural community surrounding it.
There we're five general stores in the
town. and his was last established.
There was one weekly newspaper
published in the place, and no issue
of that paper went to press without at
least a half page of advertising
modern, upto date, specific advertis-
ing-from his store. But a weekly
newspaper was not speedy enough
for this modern merchant. In addi-
ton to p~atronizing the local publish
er's advertising columns he also
patronized his job presses, and half
a dozen boys would distribute two or
three times each week the handbills
he had printed to each house in town
and the surrounding country. One
day it would be an added pound to
the dollars worth of sugar: another
it would be a new consignment OF
dress goods just arrived.
This merchant was advertising his
stock He vas not playing for gen
eral results. but was working along
specific lines. He did not find it ne
cessary to tell the public week after
week that he was dealing il general
merchandise. They knew that, but
knowing it did not bring them to his
store in preference to some other store
| or the mail order catalogue. 1t was
the extra pound of sugar, the n cent
off the price of calico, the new line
of dress goods that brought them,
and once there they found it eonven-
lent to make all their purchases at
the one place, and the extra pound
of sugar sank into insigniti-
canoe besides the profits on the gen
eral bill.