Gunnison news-champion., 1924-09-12
Does Newspaper
Advertising Pay!

AsmpAih Tenn. August $eth)
A Ssv vsehs be1srs my fsstiesh
biFsAday, which vas several yes!s a9e,
ny vie hanasd me- good-xiEed
b1neA e lsttssB ooo morning. The
DstteRs bsing aAdEoaseA end Stamped
s1egsseed that I drop them q the
naiI beg a ny way = tie o6ice. ]
wore NY Haineoot that morning. ~ It
happsnsd b ~ raining. % ! slipped
the 1oetess Into the poeeet Of the coat
and, upou arriving 9 tie ofRSce plac-
I'd ~ ceat IN ny lse3ss. and forgot all
abeut tie lettsrs. did not wear that
same esat again for ssversl weeks,
and thst's whsFs my troubls started.
Thsss Isttsn happsnsd % b invita-
tions % my fsrt3eSA bisthday party.
Ths evening AZ IL pasty eams, the
s&ags uns an ~. The dinner vas
ssppsssd 70 hs sf 600 p. n, but no.
body showed up. We waitsd until
thsn 10 and bshold my wife aid to me:
do yoa recall . morning some few
wesas ego when gave 20 thoss let-
ters to mai1s Thsy were ths invita-
tteas y year party. lmmediately
the thoaght struck me: ~By eolly,
thoss lsttpFs are IN Tie pocket Of my
raineoaf st the Office"
That incident reminds me Of IN old
Old frisad Of mine who was IN to see
me the other day. He told me about 4
motor trip hs had taken, driving from
Minneapolis up North for = few humid
red miles. Il happened to be on a
Saturday. He visited several towns
on his trip, calling at many stores, and
he remarked to me: "Do you know,
there were about two chain stores in
each one Of the towns ! went through,
and they were the only stores that
were busy-the other stores didn't ap-
pear TO Be doing much Of anything"
That caused him TO investigate just
~ . matter Of curosity, 10 I asked him
the names Of the towns he visited.
then wrote TO the newspapers In
each Of the towns and requested that
they send me their newspapers of
Thursdsy and Friday. two days be-
fore the Saturday when my friend
called at the stores. Upon receipt of
these newspapers, found that In four
vertising that had been done was by
49, SueSu bsOfcss AuoS SOtveu Sue
problem.
The retail merchants in the towns
where my friend visited had failed to
advertise In the newspapers inviting
the public TO their store that Saturday
and the public, not receiving an invita-
ton, did not come, but the chain stores
had invited them with neat, effective
ad., attractive in style and chuck full
Of common sense, and, naturally, that
Is where they wtnt.
So the store sthat failed 70 receive
their friends were like my birthday
party-the crowd didn't come.
! venture to say In all the failures
Of retail merchants the last three
years not twenty per cent Of these
same merchants advertised religious
ly in newspapers, whereas, IL they
had. their investment In newspaper ad-
vertising would have brought sufTi-
cient trade 10 prevent . great amount
Of their losses.
The total newspaper advertising Of
f22 daily newspapers in 28 principal
cities Of the United States in the year
1923 was 1888 ,9l5, ,97l agate lines--a
gain Of 92,651 500 lines over the pre-
vious year.
We are not handicapped today in
unfolding our business tIse same as
our forefathers were who were COM
pelled to depend chiefly upon personal
exploitation of the individual, for the
circulation Of those days was very
small.
First Of all the newspaper has cir
culation. A single newspaper will
often cover from go to 80 per cent of
the homes in its territory. Advertis-
ing space in that paper will give a
much greater return per dollar spent
than will any other form Of advertise
ing on which postage is spent.
Second. people are accustomed to
reading the newspaper. It il not diff
ficult to get their attention, as in the
case Of q circular letter, the booklet
and other forms Of direct-by-mail al
vertising.
Third, and best of all, It is timely.
The advertiser il able to appeal to his
audience by frequent advertisements.
So we are led to believe that even
criticism about rs in the columns Of
newspapers IL good advertising and
so with the retail merchant. The
minute he starts figuring on selling
merchandise, he has Tot to start figur-
ing on the advertising that is going
to do it.
Advertising certainly has many
sides. It'can scream, talk or whisper;
Il can attract the eye or befuddle It.
II can BE- m interesting story, or un-
interestfng piRle. There are just as
many kinds Of advertising as there
are things to advertise. There is the
sincere lind that bYeakhes honesty and
truthfulness and which carries the
reader right thru TO the end, and then
again there il the kind Of advertising
that says: Beware, am just trying
TO attract attention; don't mean what
! say, and don't intend to make
GOOD On the extravagant claims l am
talking about"
NeWspapers, however, are not in thu
hAhit Of Publishing misleading ad-
vertisements, and for that reason the
public has unlimited confidence in ad-
vertising.
The retail narehant vho viii figure