The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-07-23
WHAT NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING
HAS DONE FOR MY BUSINESS
BY Geo. M. Brown, President, General
Roofing Manufacturing Co.

One of the best proofs that advertis-
ing has helped our business and has
made us known, lies in the fact that
! am invited to talk to this big Adver-
Using organization. We were SO little
known when we began advertising,
and have become so well known every
where, that there is no doubt in the
minds of any of our organization that
advertising is doing all for us that we
could expect it to do. AS further proof
that this is true, 1914 was the most
successful year in the history of our
company, in spite of the general bust
ness depression, and SO far this year
we are ahead of the like period for
1914 in every way. In some ways we
are very much ahead.
In order that you may fully under
stand our position in some of these
matters, it will be advisable to give a
short outline of our early experiences
before we began to advertise. We be-
gan by selling goods with statesmen
to dealers. There was real demand
for some such product, and it was
wanted at reasonable price. SINH
lar products had been slightly intro
duced but always at very firm prices,
and by building mills which could turn
out substantial volume and do all
the work of manufacturing from start
to finish, we were able to offer goods
Of good quality at lower prices The
demand kept growing and the jobbing
trade began to sit up and take notice,
and we soon got to selling the great
bulk of our business through jobbng
ri, hn inh
Der as a necessary part of modern
up-to date, economical business We
thought he could give service, distri-
button and credit which were neces-
sary for the most up-todate results
In the beginning we were successful
In this, because of the better bargain
which was offered, but competitors
in our lines found that by sending
clever talkers-men who were better
informed in our specialties, direct to
the dealer or large consuming trade,
they could outsell our jobbers' sales
men who had hundreds of thousands
of articles to sell, who was generally
not well informed on our specialties,
etc.
+ We realized that we must give some
further aid to the selling plans, and
that goods when shipped from our
mills to the jobber or dealer were not
really sold. We learned that people
want to know or feel that people want
know, or feel that they know, some
thing about what they are buying,
and in case they do not have this feel
ing a very clever talker will get the
order, with q less favorable PROPOSE
ton than al ordinary presentation
would get with the very best PROPOSE
ton. We had the mill facilities and
the organization to carry on m1cO
larger business, so we took up the
plan of general advertising. We adop-
ted coined words ERTAIN-
TEED," as our trade mark and began
to tell the story of what it meant when
placed upon a roll of roofing, or roll
OF building paper, or insulation paper.
we wanted the buying public to
know that 1t meant responsibility and
guaranteed satisfaction when goods
carried this label. We have always
claimed that the man is not living
who can tell the life of a piece of
roofing by looking at it or making
chemical analysis, but the manufac-
turer who knows what he puts in it
and who then stands behind the goods
that he puts out as his best. and all
backed by ample responsibility, is Of
fering something which the public can
afford to buy. The public cannot af-
ford to guess. Such has been our
general condition and general plan for
Improvement
We began by advertising id farm
papers principally, but later extended
TO various publications and finally
shtered into the general newspaper
tleid' FOR our big campaign.
LII travelling this road we, "a course
met With many bumps and maSy I'M
expected experiences. We found, for
instance tnat we spent over SAC, 900 id
one year Tor space and booklets, etc n
10 answer direct, Inquiries, although
after we got their we found that d.
rect Inquiries We're tba' thing we least
While such infanfries NAV be
a guide as to the putting power or
effectiveness of advertising, they do |
not suit our goods. Then we began to
earn that what was good for. one line
u business might be very Sad for
another and because one concern had
made big success along one he of
'A' iAol at all SlSUlfN Mai
'uch methods would be good for err.
fAIN -TEED Roofing. In short, we he
san to study the situation properly.
ma 10 put every man from those in
ne most advanced points of the firing
Inc back to those in the mill, making
observation, offering suggestions and /,
yeas, etc. We found that out of 1OO.-
w people, or 10000 heads of
amllles, there are a great many who
ever buy roofing. We found that
mohg those who buy the purchasing
most lnfreQuent, outside of some :
extractor or builder, and among the !.
ctual buyers the average is probably J
OF more than three or four purchases ;;
urlng lifetime We realized thar /,
e could not have salesman. and :
either could our jobbers have sales 3
len at these few points at remote per- q
'ds at the proper time to get the !,
rder, and reasoned exactly the on :
oslte way from what we did before :
at which early time we =
included that advertising would NOT E