by Barkham Burroughs
Available in 217 free installments
Owner:
An important idea in advertising is to enlist the services of others, by making it to their interest to advertise your business. This is often done by sending out charts, calendars, etc., containing useful information, together with the advertisement. These, when properly arranged and prepared in an attractive manner, will be placed in a conspicuous place in the store, office, or home of the person receiving them. Railway, insurance, and other corporations have vied with each other in the elegance and attractiveness of their charts, etc., until they have gone into the fine arts, and spared no expense to captivate the public.
LETTERS.
More effectual than circulars, and nearest a personal interview, is a personal letter. As an advertisement the letter impresses itself upon the mind of the person receiving it, in an unusual way. A prominent firm employed clerks, and had written several thousand letters, at many times the cost of printed circulars, which they mailed throughout the country, calling especial attention to their line of goods. Even the two cent postage stamp, and the envelope being sealed, impresses the person receiving it with the thought that it is of importance, and one of the largest dry goods houses in Chicago, when issuing any circular which they regard as special, seal the envelope and place a two cent stamp thereon. They consider that this gives their circulars a preference over ordinary printed matter. Certain it is, that the public accept advertisements largely at the value and importance attached to them by their owners.
DRUMMERS AND AGENTS.
Personal effort exceeds all other means of advertising, and competition in many branches of business has become so strong in these times, and the facilities for travel so excellent, that large numbers of solicitors and agents traverse the country. Good personal address, a thorough understanding of the business, a knowledge of human nature, together with social qualities, constitute a good drummer.
HOW TO WRITE AN ADVERTISEMENT.
Before writing an advertisement, one should always place before his mind what is the most important thing to impress upon the public. If he is advertising an article of established trade, it is the name and location of the house selling it which must be the more prominent, or at least equally so with any other part; but if he be introducing some new article, or seeking to extend the sale of something little known or rare, these items are of far less importance, and the name of the article itself should be more prominent. The advertisement should be so constructed as to claim the attention of the reader, and retain that attention until he has read it through. "Excite but never satisfy," is the principle pursued by many successful advertisers.
The advertisement should never contain anything repugnant to refined taste, and nothing grotesque or ridiculous. The most meaning should be condensed into the fewest possible words. The wording should often be changed, and an attractive typography should be used. It is well to choose an attractive heading, followed by fairly spaced paragraphs, with appropriate sub-heads.
* * * * *
[Illustration: HOW TO BE HANDSOME.]
HOW TO BE HANDSOME
Where is the woman who would not be beautiful? If such there be--but no, she does not exist. From that memorable day when the Queen of Sheba made a formal call on the late lamented King Solomon until the recent advent of the Jersey Lily, the power of beauty has controlled the fate of dynasties and the lives of men. How to be beautiful, and consequently powerful, is a question of far greater importance to the feminine mind than predestination or any other abstract subject. If women are to govern, control, manage, influence and retain the adoration of husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers or even cousins, they must look their prettiest at all times.
