The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1911-09-27
The Amount You Must Spend on Ad-
YertiSing.

yertising.
1t may not occur to the average re-
tail merchant that the proportion of
his income being spent on advertising
is SO small that the effect Is like try
ing to paint big house with a ten
cent can Of paint. All this advertis-
ing is, Of course, good for. even though
it bring no results, 1t shows that the
merchant has an open mind in the
matter and Is subject to reason. Re-
tail advertising, or indeed, any adver-
tising, no matter how small, to get
scientific plan that hns guided similar
campaigns to success. The most i'm
portant item in such a campaign is the
minimum amount to be spent on it.
If 900 out of every 1000 retail ad-
vertisers will go into the question OF
their advertising, / believe they will
find that it is not costing them one
per cent per annum Of their incomes
In most cases it will be found to cost
them much less.
How they expect to get results from
that extraordinary percentage is
known to themselves alone. Only in
very exceptional cases will an ex-
penditure like this even return the ac-
tual gross amount spent on the cam
paign.
The most successful retail stores
in the world are the large New York
Philadelphia and Chicago department
stores. These concerns are known all
over the world, and particularly so to
the men, women and children in this
country. If any class of retailers
could dispense with advertising it is
they. Yet they spend from to 10
per cent of their yearly incomes in ad-
vertising their goods They are not
spending that portion of'their incomes
on advertising as a mere matter of
fun, you may be certain. Every red
cent of outgoing is iealously watched.
If one hundredth part of one per cent
can be saved, it is saved The ex-
penditure is the result of careful eX-
pertinent in all possible ways, and un-
der all possible conditions and it has
been found necessary to spend that
amount Of their enormous incomes to
get the results that they now obtain
The local retailer may learn les
son from this. If great organizations
like these stores have to spend such
percentage Of their incomes to get
results-large sums like that get pro-
portionately greater results than small
sums what must the small merchant
spend to get sure results from his ad-
vertising?
When next you consider advertis-
ing, Mr.. Retail Merchant, figure out
how much you are going to spend. If
1t is less than per cent, sit down
and think the matter over carefully
and If you cannot persuade yourself
to spend at least per cent on a scien-
tific plan that has brought success to
others, get mirror and have a good
look at bad merchant.
There is one other important thing
about retail advertising.
After you have made up your mind
to the amount you are going to spend
on it, see that you put craftsmanship
into the space you buy. Salesmanship
is just as necessary in your advertis-
ing as it is in your store. With It in
both your store and ADVERTISING. sue
cess is certain, for your sales organi-
zation will be so strong that only bad
goods or insufficient capital can kill
it.
There are four principles to all
craftsmanship, whether in your store
or in your newspaper: First-you
must attract attention; second-you
must secure the interest of the nos
sible customer; third-you must Gre
ate desire to buy and, fourth, but by
no means least, you must induce the
actual process of buying.
All these requirements in adyertis-
ments necessitate close study and
much experience of successful adyer-
tising before they can be blended to-
gether to make perfect advertise
ment. The average retailer is not an
expert at advertisement construction.
any more than the ordinary grocer is
an accomplished physician. How then
Is the retailer to get advertising that
brings results or as 1t may be call
ed, salesmanship on paper?
There are on the market now a num-
nf f0h H.