A COMMON SENSE TALK TO RETAIL ADVERTISERS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12849, 6 July 1907, Page 5

A COMMON SENSE TALK TO RETAIL ADVERTISERS.

CBy "Progress.") Any advice that will help business men to make their advertising more effective and therefore more profitable is of value to them. About the most sensible thing that lias been said on the subject of advertising of late was the address of Ben. B. Hampton to business men: He said:— "A lot of retail merchants arc fo close to their job they can't see some sides of it half as well as the nan across the road. A good many of them can't see anything in newspaper advertising except the first cost of it and the evident success many of their competitors have-made of it. Any man who can buy groceries or padlocks or ehirte or horses, and sell them at a profit, can sell more groceries or padlocks or ehirte or horses by simply telling oil the people who read the newepapere that he's got the things they want at the price they want to pay. "What do you suppose the people read in the paper anyhow? Tho jiewsl You're right in tho news; and don't you forget that tho women folks consider the lire advertisements as news. After the births and marriages they turn to the store news almost every time. "What to say in a newspaper advertisement isn't such a fearful problem as some folks think—nor how to say it. If it sounds like you, the style is all right. You had a good reason for buying in that last lot of goods, or you wouldn't have done it. All right. »Say tho same thing the salesman said when ho sold them to you. "He thought it worth while You were interested— and a lot of people who have never been inside your store will just be as much interested as you were. "You don't need to do something startling to make people road your news. If you bought something at an exceptionally comfortable figure, just say so—and if possible use a cut, bo that you oan come out just as near as possible to spreading out the goods along with the story of them. "If your business is built all along upon the plan of giving every customer ii square deal, remind thorn, of it! Pretty soon you will be doing business with, plenty of people who have been getting some other kind of a deal somewhere else.

"If you run a store that is spotlossly clean—say it; sing it; print it in the papers, and you'll find a lot t>f people in town. who regard cleanliness as next to godliness, or maybe, better. "If you make it a special point to see that your sales-folk never get sour with customers—or if you take pains to employ assistants who know their work from A to Z and back again— Man alive, that's all news—news that people find scarce, tool "Get into print! Don't let any man or woman in town forget that you are right there with the goods. "Tell your store news right along and pretty soon you will have people looking for it—and that means you will have more and more news to tell all the time. "In the newspaper, not on merely dodgers. There's just one thing you take time for, whether you have any time or not—that's the reading of your daily paper. Other people are most remarkably like you. Get your news circulated as news and you'll get it read."—"Racine (Vfis.) Times."