NOVEMBBB 2S, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



27 



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O DOUBT you are all ex- 

 pecting something inter- 

 esting and helpful from me 

 in this brief discussion of 

 local advertising; so I am 

 going to do my best to tell 

 you, in as few words as 

 possible, some of the per- 

 sonal observations I have 

 made that help me to get 

 the best advertising results for the least 

 money. Do not, however, expect for a 

 moment that I am going to tell you how 

 to advertise your business; I am not yet 

 ready to quit the florists' business and 

 take up the advertising profession, or 

 make a monkey of myself. What I am 

 going to tell you is based upon my be- 

 lief in advertising as a business-builder, 

 a patron-winner. 



I believe in advertising. I believe in 

 advertising because advertising to me is 

 simply aggressive salesman- 

 ship in public print, which 

 tells our story to the thou- 

 sands who are reached by 

 the media that we use. 



Without going into the 

 technique or details of ad- 

 vertising, which I leave en- 

 tirely to my advertising 

 man, I will tell j'ou a few 

 of the rules which I apply 

 to our advertising in order 

 that it may be most pro- 

 ductive. 



Besult of Repetition. 



I have heard it said by 

 an experienced advertising 



A paper by W. H. EnRleliart, of the Idlewild 

 Greenhouses, Mempliis, Teiin., read at the sev- 

 enth unniial convention of the Tennessee State 

 Florists' Association, at Memphis, November 17. 



minute or close up shop. I insist upon 

 sentiment and am a firm believer in the 

 fact that sentiment sells flowers. 



Capitalizing Every Event. 



In the way of sentiment I endeavor 

 to capitalize every holiday, seasonable 

 event and thought that in any way 

 can be turned to flower sentiment. 

 Whether we are pushing flowers, plants 

 or bulbs, or anything else, I insist upon 

 our advertising being seasonable. My 

 third rule is, therefore, that our adver- 

 tising must be seasonable and opportune. 



My fourth, and next to last, rule is: 

 Keep something before the public at all 

 times. Our customers and friends, or 

 prospective customers and friends, must 



man, and I believe it is 



APHORISMS ON ADVERTISING. f 



t^* v'* ((?* 



Each advertisement should express, clearly and 

 forcibly, the main idea or principle on which the 

 firm's business is built. 



paper advertising was the fact that de- 

 partment stores disposed of such great 

 quantities of merch'andise by using news- 

 papers. For if newspapers will sell or- 

 dinary merchandise, they will certainly 

 sell flowers, in which sentiment is strong 

 in its appeal. And I have found it to be 

 true. 1 need say little about newspaper 

 advertising; it needs no justification. It 

 is a busii'.ess-getting, sales-making help 

 to the florists' business. 



If I have a hobby in publicity, my 

 hobby is direct advertising. The timely 

 mailing of folders, cards, etc., sent out 

 .iust previous to holidays or events, 

 brings a ready response in orders. You 

 are all more or less familiar with the 

 kind o'f advertising I mean. I mail this 

 advertising to our customers only, as I 

 have no prospect list, and as quickly 

 as we win new customers I add them to 

 my mailing list. During the last two 

 seasons we have used the 

 service of the Falls Service 

 Co. for our direct mail ad- 

 vertising, with the good re- 

 sults I have mentioned. 



Without taking up your 

 time with billboard adver- 

 tising or painted signs or 

 street-car card advertising, 

 all of which I favor, I will 

 close with a few of the ways 

 we have capitalized some of 

 our equipment and location. 



Each advertisement, if possible, should contain 

 an appeal to sentiment. 



true, that "repetition builds 

 reputation." But unless you 

 repeat some distinctive 

 thought, idea or appealing 

 message and stick to it 

 everlastingly, you can have 

 no impressive repetition and 

 hence no reputation as a re- 

 sult of your advertising or 

 the word-of-mouth recom- 

 mendations of customers. So 

 the first rule I judge my 

 advertising by is: It must 

 contain, in a clear, under- 

 standable way, the one idea 

 upon which we are building our busi- 

 ness. And that one idea is that Idle- 

 wild flowers (if you will pardon this ref- 

 erence to our business) are not just 

 flowers, but high-quality flcrwers. And 

 our advertising is constantly aiming at 

 that same target, putting that same 

 thought into the minds of the people 

 we want to reach. So, instead of simply 

 selling flowers, or advertising flowers, 

 we are advertising and selling our own 

 kind of flowers. 



Eight here I want to introduce my 

 second rule of advertising and that is: 

 Every one of our advertisements, when 

 possible, must contain some sentiment. 

 Sentiment sells flowers in the great ma- 

 jority of instances, and I think you all 

 agree with me that it is one of the most 

 vital pillars of the flower business. If I 

 thought for a minute that sentiment 

 would ever become dissociated from the 

 flower business, I would sell out this 



All advertising should be seasonable and op 

 portune. 



By various expedients, the business should be 

 kept before the public continuously, lest possible 

 purchasers forget the store or its wares. 



The slogan, "Say It with Flowers," should be 

 used persistently. 



not be given an opportunity to forget 

 what we sell, because I feel we owe 

 them the duty of keeping them in- 

 formed. I will briefly summarize the 

 course of action embodied in the fourtii 

 rule, by telling you about the various 

 kinds of advertising we employ, for I 

 am constantly improving and building 

 up our advertising. 



First and of greatest importance to us 

 in my experience has been our news- 

 paper advertising. In my opinion news- 

 paper advertising excels all others. If 

 you will stop to consider, you can easily 

 "understand what a short cut to count- 

 less thousands of people newspaper ad- 

 vertising is. In Memphis we have two 

 afternoon papers and one morning paper, 

 and in a single day I can reach nearly 

 every prospect in the territory within 

 seventy miles of Memphis bj- using these 

 papers. 



What originally sold me on news- 



A Striking Store. 



Locations in Memphis are 

 difficult to find and remem- 

 ber, because of the countless 

 numbers of small specialty 

 stores and the fact that 

 they are nearly all scat- 

 tered about town. 



On the sidewalk at the 

 curb in front of our store 

 you will find plants and 

 trees that are green the 

 year around. The entire 

 front of the building is in 

 a bright, attractive color 

 that stands out for several 

 blocks each way on the 

 street — a bright spot on the 

 street. When passers - by 

 have once seen the green 

 plants and trees on the sidewalk and the 

 color of the store front, they will for- 

 ever after identify our store and its 

 location whenever they see one of our 

 advertisements anywhere. 



But we have gone further; the in- 

 terior is also of a striking, appealing 

 color and the displays and windows are 

 in tune with the seasons. 



Our panelod-body, motor delivery cars 

 are also painted in a striking, appealing, 

 attractive color, which is suggestive of 

 bright and fresh flowers. A light green 

 color is used as the dominating sclieme. 

 I am confident that it pays. 



But I am also a stickler for this, 

 the fifth and last rule in my advertis- 

 ing: I do not have a single advertise- 

 ment, piece of printed matter, sign or 

 service equipment that does not carry 

 the greatest advertisement our business 

 ever had, "Say It with Flowers." I 

 credit much of the greater demand for 



