Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1919-12-18

move ! Ist;ssl th;s inss,ba adiss shlt
~ sxpactad - move Is October and
November, We use exactly the same
method. And, BY the way, ali during
that epidemic Of the flu we sent sym
pathetic letters to all our customers
telling them how to handle it. IN our
town they had no means Of being TAX
en- care Of. We had two large hos
pitfalls in the city. Medical authors
ties took over two stories in the ho-
tells. We advertised that fact through
the country, telling them that il they
were i'll to let US know the ambu-
lance would come at once, and we
gathered people from the surround
ing country and had one doctor to
take care Of all these people during
this time. Then after it was over we
talked about the flu being over and
how fortunate we were tn get thu
with small death loss and told them
we had expected to sell this merchan-
disc and wanted to nsDve,r an,twould
put price on it attractive to them.
Then four page ad cane out-an an
nouncement- and where we couldn't
reach them that way we mailed it to
them, and the first day Of the sale
our sales were $500, and during the
seven days we sold little over
$50, 900 worth Of merchandise. That
is the drawing power Of that little
paper.
When we have fall opening out in
that little town we have live models
We have the best orchestra in town.
We serve coffee and cookies and try
to have it pleasant for them. 1t is
quite little novelty, and we have q
fashion film. When that film is rur
we display the same garments on the
live models. That seems like rather
far fetched for small town, but We
are trying it out.
4 How far can you go on advertising
How much can you spend? fine
there is no limit, even if you cut on
some stuff that don't bring returns
On our twenty fourth anniversary
said to an ad man of the newspaper
II want to get out good ad; going t,
have an anniversary sale on certain
date. and l want to make it goo,
one"
"Why don't you make it a goo
one?" he said.
"Well, all right. Show me how
is DONE"
"Why don't you get ont a specia
edition to the people, a IL or IA pag
paper"
"All right How will you go abou
it"
"You write all the firms you hay
been doing business with for the pas
10 or IL years and tell them 20
would like them to take some spac
, in the paper. Have them pay for it.
u That was the outside Of that De
per. We got out the IA page advel
tisement. It made a wonderful &C
!, vertisement and brought great de,
OF business and established us mo,
firmly in the eyes Of the consumer
1 ! have been doing a great deal {
v work with the jobbers and manufa,
Y turers and retailers. About one-thi,
I of the business of North Dakota VIZ
3 going to mail order houses. Sc,
J, out man, DR.. Carr, to investigat
' I hired him because he is running
!. magazine advocating "Trade
Home" When we found mail ord,
}. houses doing business at home we b
t came interested in mail order bus
{ ness in North Dakota. Seventy-tv
], solid car loads of catalogues fro
Il mail order houses were delivered
j. North Dakota at that time. | hir,
two men and sent them out over Il
e state. They went and interview,
o merchants. had little sheet ma,
! out for them to fill out asking abo
e advertising. Well, I found that :
Y per cent of them didn't believe in a
r vertising. Then knew at once VIII
n was the trouble to great extent.
t estimated that over million dolla
% was being spent in that state by ms
a order houses. I found that $3.50
Ii 900 were being spent in the. Unit,
). States by mail order houses and tn
e million went to the state of Nor
/ Dakota. To those consumers eve
single day almost came catalogues
e pamphlets Of some kind and the
r tallers of that state absolutely n
IS making an appeal to the consume
t. for their business. l went to the 10
= bers and manufacturers. They did,
5. know what was going on. It new
n entered their head that they were Ii
e ing rs per cent of the business in th
n state. / told them, "You ought to !
e allze the retailer is your agent, al
d When ne is gone you won't have a,
it one to distribute your merchandise
e have been in Chicago, in Marsha
l. tleids and Carson Prize Scott. TIL
# have been interested along that liz
is ! said to these jobbers. II want v
o to do something for the retail me
n chant along these lines" 1 found
It talking to these men they do not u