354 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



July, 1922 



make of it a very useful publication. It 

 may contain technical and popular ar- 

 ticles, it may have a more attractive cov- 

 er, it may publish many personal items 

 about members (these are ahvays interest- 

 ing) and so on. It can in this way meet the 

 wishes of practically every member. 



Advertising Policy 

 . This is an entirely new subject in the 

 discussions at our Convention. A year ago 

 we had nothing to do with advertising. To- 

 day it is a factor of vital importance to our 

 successful operation and will remain so as 

 long as Ave require it as a source of re- 

 venue. 



When we started to publish Scientific 

 Agriculture under our OAvn ownership last 

 July, it became immediately apparent that 

 we could not develop a circulation large 

 enough to compare favourably with the 

 circulation of other agricultural mag- 

 azines. That removed the strongest argu- 

 ment of the average advertising solicitor. 

 Other obstacles that had to be overcome 

 were (1) the fact that the magazine had 

 already failed under commercial OAvner- 

 ship, (2)- that Ave had no sample copy to 

 shoAv, (3) that Ave had no advertising con- 

 tracts to boast about' and (4) that we had 

 no business connection Avith commer- 

 cial firms and advertising agencies. To- 

 day Ave can shoAv sample copies and Ave can 

 jiame over forty large firms that have giv- 

 en us advertising contracts during the 

 past year. Those tAVO difficulties do not 

 noAV confront us. In addition, we have es- 

 tablished a personal acquaintance tbat is 

 very valuable. 



Those Avho have ever had anythijig to do 

 Avith soliciting advertising for a ncAV pub- 

 lication Avill sympathise Avitli the General 

 Secretary Avho had to go out last July and 

 call on scores of firms for the first time. 

 He had no idea of the type of man he 

 would meet. He did knoAv that the man 

 Avould be very busy and that Avliat had to 

 be said must be said quickly. The repeti- 

 tion of this sort of thing day after day, 

 month after month, became monotonous 

 but it brought I'esults. p]ach issue brought 

 a larger amount of advei-tising than the 

 preceding one. We noAV have about as 

 much advertising as Ave need to carry our 

 nuiga/ine. Whether Ave can keep it or not 

 depends ujion the extent to Avhich every 

 membei- is Avilling to co-operate in devel- 

 oping the policy we luive adopted. 



To take the place of circulation Ave have 

 tried to sell service, to impress upon man- 

 ufacturers the fact that our members in- 

 fluence a large buying constituency and 

 that, as OAvners of this magazine, they are 

 prepared to endorse every announcement 

 in it. To give such an assurance meant 

 that particular care had to be exercised in 

 selecting firms. That has been done. We 

 have not published any announcement to 

 Avhich exception could be taken. 



Under such a policA' as this, the amount 

 of space taken by a firm was not of great 

 importance. The permanence of the ad- 

 A^ertisement is of much more value. A 

 quarter page in every issue of Scientific 

 • Agriculture is .just as valuable to the ad- 

 A'crtiser as a full page in three issues. Our 

 members often recommend spray mate- 

 rials and spray machinery to students and 

 to farmers Avhen both are "out of season". 

 What Ave are attempting to do is to devel- 

 op our advertising pag^s until cA^ery rep- 

 utable firm and product is represented in 

 them and at the same time develop an ap- 

 preciation, on the part of our members, of 

 the value to them of such a reference me- 

 dium as is thus provided. In this Avay Ave 

 place the influence of the profession at the 

 serA^ce of our advertisers. 



We have never appointed an advertising 

 manager. It might be uuAvise to do so. In 

 the case of our particular-magazine, under 

 our present policy, our advertising is al- 

 most an editorial feature. At the same 

 time, there is no doubt that if Ave had a 

 maji soliciting advertising all the time in- 

 stead of intermittently as lias been the 

 case during the past year, our revenue 

 AA'ould be larger. There are more argu- 

 ments against the principle, hoAvever, than 

 there are in favour of it and the argu- 

 ments are almost obvious. An advertising 

 manager does not ahvays get a hearing — 

 an Editor usually does. An advertising 

 manager Avould probably be Avorking on a 

 commission and might not confine his ef- 

 forts to selected firms. 



In addition to educating our members 

 to an appreciation of the obligation they 

 are under to the atlvertisers, and the value 

 of oui- advertising policy to them, the ad- 

 vertisers themselves and advertising agen- 

 cies must also he educated. They must re- 

 alize tliat lliey are not j'eaching the con- 



