f '<Z<f'if- .^^ ■?' 



Mabch 5, 1908. 



The Wcdkly Florists^ Review* 



i.AT iTVi-Y i. V 1. V^X'liXriiV^Y i-YXTST l-XTiiVi:^ 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 





NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING. 



Factors That Make for Its Success. 



Every retail florist feels it his bounden 

 duty to keep up some sort of a show of 

 advertising in the local newspapers, and 

 often — very often — he is at a loss to 

 know what to talk about and just how 

 to tell his litory so that it will produce 

 the desired result — more business. 



No argument is needed to prove that 

 modern, scientific advertising pays; this 

 can be said without reserve — it is a well 

 supported fact. 



During the last few years there has 

 been a great improvement in the methods 

 of modern merchandising, and better ad- 

 vertising methods have had a great deal 

 to do with this advancement. 



To a more extended knowledge of 

 newspaper advertising is due the fact 

 that business success today is attained 

 in a few years, where formerly it re- 

 quired three-quarters of a lifetime. 



If you have never advertised your 

 business, there is no better time to make 

 the start than the present. 



Spring is nigh, with its balmy days, 

 bright sunshine, green grass and singing 

 birdsT-good themes for the poet. 



Spring Flowers — Easter Floral Dis- 

 plays-^Seed Planting Time, etc. — make 

 equally good themes for florists' retail 

 advertising. 



In starting a campaign of local news- 

 paper ddVertising, you do so with the 

 hope that it will "make good." Of 

 course ! 



Then never make the foolish mistake 

 of dashing off a few hastily written lines 

 — while the messenger waits — and expect 

 results. 



Successful advertising is never pre- 

 pared in a hurry. 



If it was, . there would be more suc- 

 cessful advertisers and fewer profes- 

 sional advertising men. 



Gureful Preparation of Copy. ^ 



A certain advertiser contracted for a 

 quarter-page space with a leading news- 

 paper at 5 p. m. one beautiful autumn 

 afternoon. 



The paper would close its forms to go 

 to press the next morning at nine o 'clock. 

 The said advertiser 'phoned the expert 

 ad-writer whom he employed to have 

 copy ready for the ad by 8:30 the next 

 morning. 



On being informed by his advertising 

 man that it was impossible to produce 

 a strong piece of copy in the time al- 

 lotted, he decided to write the ad him- 

 self — and he did so. 



The ad — well, it didn 't pull. Strange, 

 wasn't itt 



The mere purchase of space in your 

 newspaper — which you are positive cir- 

 culates among your prospective customers 

 and whose pages you have reason to be- 

 lieve are carefully perused by your likely 

 patrons — I say, the mere purchase of 

 this space is but the beginning of your 

 advertising success. 



When you pay for advertising space, 



what are you supposed to pay fori Type, 

 paper, ink? No, hardly! 



You intend paying for an effect in the 

 minds of the people — an effect that is 

 intangible as air, yet as permanent as 

 steel beams. 



Is your advertising creating this 

 effect? Is it driving home the truth 

 about your business and turning into 

 your store the patronage you justly de- 

 serve by right of reputable, clean, high 

 grade merchandising? 



If it isn't, something is wrong. Look 

 for the cause. 



Remember this fact — advertising copy 

 must fit the reader and not the writer. 



The advertisement that pleases the ad- 

 vertiser — suits his eye and tickles his 

 vanity — is not always the ad that brings 

 the business. 



Overcrowded Space. 



Some one has well said that "adver- 

 tising should contain little black matter, 

 more white matter — but a great deal of 

 gray matter. " 



It is indeed pathetic to see how some 



New propositions are forced upon the 

 prospective customer ' at most unex- 

 pected moments. 



The advertiser has constant entree 

 where no salesman would be tolerated, 

 and even the most intimate friend would 

 be forbidden to discuss business mat- 

 ters. 



A grea;t,^deal has been written on the 

 subject of Advertising and advertisement 

 writing — much of which is mere theory, 

 devoid of any worth in practice. 



And yet, if it wasn't for the divers 

 theories, n6 one would arrive anywhere — 

 except by sheer good luck or fortunat* 

 chance. 



. Elements df Success. 



What are the basic elements of suc- 

 cessful advertising? 



Let us begin at the beginning: 



First — we must have ideas. 



Second — words; these two are one. 



Singly and separately they are with- 

 out avail; coupled and united they make 

 for success as perhaps no other single 

 element in commercial life. 

 ^ "It's words that make another man's 

 mare go your road." 



Words^ mark you — driven by ideas. 



But ideas and words take time — lots 

 of it, too. 



Well deliberated, well, thought out, 

 well chosen, they take a vast deal of 

 time; AnjJ right here is the rub and the 

 reason fip'^f'.much of -the poor advertising 

 of the -retail florists ' trade. 



The trouble is, the florist refuses to 

 take the necessary time to write effective 

 advertising. He is too busy! 



I 



Flowers for "Events" 



There are times and events which seem to de- 

 mand the presence of flowers — and when these oc- 

 casions do arise it is wfell to know jiist where you 

 can find the choicest and finest variety at most 

 moderate prices. 



Whether you desire a bouquet of beautiful cut 

 flowers — some blossoms for your home decoration 

 or afunera) tribute to the memory of some departed 

 one, you will find our flowers to be the very best 

 and our prices — invariably moderate. 

 vAU 'phone orders have our immediate and careful 

 attention. 



IMPERIAL GARDENS, 



250-254 STATE ST. 



PHONE, 53 MAIN 



An Attractive Newspaper Advertisement for a Retail Florist 



retail advertisers crowd their space in 

 order to economize — not realizing that 

 less text, more display and selected ma- 

 terial will "pull" infinitely more. 



Advertising is nothing more than 

 salesmanship, and it follows that the 

 same reactions of the mind of the reader 

 must be sought as in personal solicita- 

 tion. 



The same individualism may be in- 

 jected into advertising as into the per- 

 sonal interview — but the advertiser talks 

 to hundreds, while the salesman talks 

 to a few. 



If the advertiser's plea is unsuccess- 

 ful one day, he may come back the next 

 and the next. 



- ^ 



He feels that he can't afford to make 

 the sacrifice— and explains the medioc- 

 rity on that basis, and he is frank 

 enough to say so — but the fact remains 

 that the advertising specialists, who 

 write business-getting advertisements, 

 frequently spend hours, sometimes days, 

 on a single idea — and there is profit in 

 it when this sacrifice is made. 



What is the remedy for the many poor- 

 ly written advertisements? 



In just one word — it's "Concentra- 

 tion." 



There can be no hard and fast rule 

 for the creation of ideas on any sub- 

 ject. 



In advertising you should give care- 



