The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1915-08-12
ADVERTISING

man has been taxed to devise ways
and means of informing the populace
that men had things to sell or trade
and efforts have been made to induce
men to buy and exchange.
Ever since the time men began to
do business it has been conducted on
the principles that buyers were priv
lodged class and it was necessary tc
coax, trick or cajole them into buy
ing. 1t often happens that the seller
conveys as much of favor in selling
upon the purchaser as the purchaser
does in buying, but this principle is
seldom, if ever, recognized in the
world of bargain and sale.
The success or failure of business
depends largely upon the volume of
business transacted. An advertise
ment is simply an invitation to come
and do business with the advertiser
and the wider the invitation is extend
ed the greater number will respond.
1t is a trade impossibility to do bus
mess without advertising of some
character. If it were impossible for
man to keep the fact that he wanted
to do business a profound secret, no
one would ever know he was in bust
ness and he would never have any to
perform.
When a person occupies building
and puts wares on his shelves to sell
he advertises the goods and the goods
themselves are an invitation to come
and buy, but. this invitation only
reaches those who enter his building
or pass his door, and word-of-mouth
message that he is on earth.
Business rentals, everywhere, are
based on the number of people that
pass a given location in a specified
time. If twice as many people pass
on one side of a street as do on an
other, realty values and business rent
ais are twice as high on the busy side,
and business men willingly pay the
enhanced price in order to receive the
benefit of the location" advertise
ment, although, nine times out of ten,
it never occurred to them that they
are paying for advertising. Men will
lingly pay ten, twenty-five, fifty and
even one hundred dollars a month for
"location" advertising that would drop
dead at the mere suggestion of pay
ing one-quarter of that sum for any
other kind, and yet, location" adver-
Using is of much less value than any
other kind, especially in the smaller
towns and cities. If the quality is
there the bargains are offered and the
people are informed of the fact, they
will come no matter where the loca-
ton. Even in the large cities the most
prosperous business institutions do
not always occupy the most desirable
situations. A location" can be Gre
ated by printers ink. Only takers are
absolutely dependent on location.
A reliable history of advertising
would form very interesting volume.
Before the days of printing hawkers
were employed to shout bargains on
the streets, and of this primitive form
of advertising the "hawker" and the
"bally-hoo" man are still in existence,
but are chiefly employed by takers
and frauds to entrap the ignorant and
unwary. The next method was hand
bills and posters and other "eye-
glance" ways of attracting attention
While this was an improvement on the
"hawker" and "bally-hoo" method, it
is an inadequate form of advertising,
because cusory glance at a poster
or hand-bill leaves little mind i'm
preston; there is no responsibility
back of the hand-bill or a poster and
large percentage of the people al
ready possess the information they
convey.
The modern, up-to-date business
man has long since discovered that
the most profitable form of advertis-
ing is intelligent newspaper advertis-
ing.
1t must be admitted, however, that
much newspaper advertising is not in
telligent.
In most cases they are written from
the sellers and not the buyers stand
point, giving reasons why ne wants to
sell instead Of reasons why persons
should buy.
An advertisement should be orig
inal, interesting and readable. Few
can write that kind; it is an art it
self. Every word of advertising that
is not read is wasted expense. Half
the advertising is wasted through a
neglect to recognize this principle. 1t
should be regular. The only way a
lasting impression can be created is
by constant association. The most
familiar thing in the world is a mo-
Tiers face, but if we had seen it once
it would be no more familiar to us
than that of the lady book agent If
you would have the public familiar
with your business, keep a word pic
ture of it staring them in the face
from a printed newspaper page.
Advertising should be constant but
it should be used most extensively
when trade begins to slack. 1t is fool
ish to water garden when it is rain
ing. The tendency of the business