Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-02-19
EFFECTIVE MEANS
The Opinion Of An Expert That Is
Worth While Considering
Carefully.
carefully.

Carefully.
John Sparrow, welEknovn In adyer-
Using circles, believes that newspa-
per advertising lis the highest and the
most effective form of publicity and
that the advertising columns of a
newspaper create public spirit and
sustain confidence just as effectively
as do the editorial columns, says
Newspaperdom. All newspapers adver-
tisements, whether large or small, in
Mr.. S%parrow's opinion, make for OPP
ticism and enterprise.
my reason" he said, recently. "for
valulng the newspaper advertisement
more highly than other forms Of pub
licity, is not because 1t is unquestion-
ably the least expensive method Of
reaching the customer, all things con
sidered, but because it is the most
natural, and, therefore, the most ef-
fectfve.
And newspaper advertisements are
read. They are live news, as much
so as the stories which sprinkle the
other columns. For real human inter-
est the want page easily leads all
others, and the display ads, by their
contrast with solid matter, are res
full to the eye. as 1t is also attrac-
i've. Just fancy a newspaper without
a line of display in It. But that would
| be impossible-it wouldn't be a news
paper, for no matter how much good
reading 1t carried it would fail to
reflect the life of the town.
while everybody admits that wo-
men read the advertisements in the
papers-almost religiously as it were
occasionally some skepticism as to
! the men is expressed. This Is an
erroneous idea. | firmly believe that
men are approached more easily
through the newspaper ad than by
booklet or circular, or even by person
al letter, unless that is exceptionally
well written. Man is aggressive and
%combatiye by nature, and dislikes to
have things thrust upon him. But you
| can toll him on all right, as his wife
will tell you. The newspaper ad
doesn't chase him down or rub him
the wrong way. 1t stands and invites
him when he is in the mood to be in
vited.
81 do not NEAR to decry any of the
other schemes Of publicity. They are
all effective in proportion to the clev-
erness of their get up but their re-
lation to newspaper advertising is the
same which the artillery and cavalry
hold to the infantry of an army. The
infantry is depended upon to do the
hard fighting. 1t is a good idea to
think of advertising in military terms
for advertising is campaigning or 1t
is nothing.
"The enemy is the composite pub
lie mind, and the grand point of at
tack is its memory, which is uncertain
and elusive. An impression may be
made, but it will not hold unless ham
mered in. The minute you cease to
hammer the public begins to forget
The newspaper, published every day,
is the only logical arm of assault. 1t
may be good tactics to shell the
woods occasionally and to keep the
cavalry scouting, but the works Will
have to be carried, after all, by those
bristling b%ayonets, the pointed lines
in the daily paper.
"The value of newspaper advertis-
ing is not confined to the benefits re-
ceived by the advertisers. Economi-
cally, it is much more important than
that. The advertising columns of a
newspaper create public spirit and
sustain confidence just as effectively
as the editorial columns do, though in
a different manner. The page ads
make the town boom up . They feed
our civic pride; they give us a touch
of the metropolitan feeling, And
all the ads, whether large or small,
make for optimism and enterprise
Things can't be bad says the reader
to himself, when merchants are us
ing so much printers ink"