The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-01-09
ABOUT ADVERTISING-NO, 10
The Man Who Retreats
Before His Defeat!
By Herbert Kaufman.

Advertising isn't magic. There is no element OF
the black art about it. In its best and highest form
it is plain talk, sane talk-seliHg talk. Its results are
in proportion to the merit of the subject advertised
and the ability with which the advertising is done.
There are two great enemies to advertising
profit, and both Of them are caused by ignorance of the
real functions and workings Of publicity.
The one is to advertise promises which will not be
fulfilled, because all that advertising can do when it
~accomplishes most is to influence the reader of your
copy to Investigate your claims.
# you promise the earth and deliver the moon 3D.
vertis;ng odl not pay yon
If YOU draw men and women to your store on
bretense and fail to make good, advertising will have
harmed YOU because it has only drawn attention to the
fact that YOU are to be avoided.
1t is as anjust to charge advertising with %fafltye
under these conditions as it would be for your Hetghbor
to rob a bank and find yourself indicted for his misdeed.
In brief, Advertised dishonesty is eUen more ProfhesS
than nnexfotted deception.
The other great error in advertising is to expect
more ont of advertising than there is in it.
Advertising is seed (Which a merchant plants in the
confidence OF the community. He must allow time for
it to qrow. Every successful advertiser has to be
patient. The time that it takes to arrive at results
rests entirely with the ability and determination you
display in the effort. But you cannot turn back when
you nave Travelled nal way ana declare THAT the pun
is wrong.
You can't advertise for a Neek and because your
store isn't crowded say it hasn't paid you. 1t takes a
certain period to attract the attention of readers.
Everybody doesn't see what you print the first time
it appears. More will notice your copy the second day,
a great many more at the end of a month.
You cannot expect to win the confidence of the
community to the same degree that other men have
obtained it without taking pretty much the same
length of time that they did. But you can cut short
the period between your introduction to your reader
and his introduction to your counters by spending more
effort in preparing your copy and displaying a greater
amount Of CONTINGENCIES.
You mustn't act like the little girl who planted
a garden and came out the next day expecting to find
it in full bloom. Her father had to explain to her that
plans require roots and that, although she could not
see what was going on, the seeds 1Uere doing their most
important work just before the fowers shoued above
ground.
So advertising is doing its most important work
before the big results e%ventuate, and to abandon the
money which has been invested just before results
arrive is not only foolish but childish. 1t Would be
iMst as logical for a farmer to abandon his fields because
he could not harvest his corn a week after he planted 1T.
Advertising does not require faiA-merely COM
mon sense. If it is begun in Doubt and deserted before
normal results can be reasonably looked for, the fault
does not lie with the newspaper or with publicity
it rests entirely upon the head of the coward who
retreated before he WdS defeated.
Copyright, 1908. by Tribune Company. chcagO)