Afbil 16, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review; 



u 



Robert Pyle, 



pounds in the mails. They must cost 

 more than $1 apiece. 



The catalogues issued in our country 

 average in price from 1 cent to 35 cents 

 each in the mail-bag. There are a great 

 many houses publishing al^out 100,000 

 books; very few approach the million 

 per year edition. The number needed 

 depends, of course, upon the number 

 of regular customers, as we call those 

 who order intermittently year after 

 year, plus ib.e number of new names 

 that may be obtained in one way or an- 

 other, so that right here comes the next 

 point foi' the advertising man to con- 

 sider in laying out his campaign: How 

 many new names will he get? 



Securing New Names. 



The question which alniost immedi- 

 ately follows is, how much money 

 have you got to spend? This is more 

 easily answered when some plan of op- 

 eration has been arrived at. How to 

 go about it to get new customers is 

 a problem more fascinating than a game 

 of chess, most uncertain as regards the 

 outcome but often proving to bring rich 

 rewards. How *shall we reach the gen- 

 eral public? To a man with a small 

 place doing a local business that prob- 

 lem would be a comparatively simple 

 one. He would probably put up a sign 

 and make his place look as attractive as 

 possible, using the local papers and 

 sending out to his list of customers at- 

 tractive bits of advertising literature 

 at proper intervals. Of course, this is 

 but a mere outline of what he might 

 do. But our general catalogue man is 

 catering to a scattered public with won- 

 derfully diversified interests, living under 

 multifarious conditions of climate and 

 environment. He must catch their eye 

 and gain their attention long enough 

 to impress them. 



One of the first things to consi.ler, 

 therefore, is what mediums he sliall 

 wse. and the second thing is what kind 

 of a proposition he will circulate through 



these mediums. It is much like sowing 

 seed; good seed in poor ground is not 

 much better than poor seed in good 

 ground. Both must be good to form a 

 successful combination. Let us, there- 

 fore, first consider the soil, or the me- 

 diums. 



Papers and Results. 



Judging from the way he spends his 

 advertising appropriation, the average 

 seed and plant advertiser has in the past 

 plainly found it most profitable to use 

 the magazines and some other periodi- 

 cals, giving little attention to either 

 bill-board, street car or other such forms 

 of advertising. First in the list are the 

 papers which hold for him somewhat 

 the same place as the trade papers do for 

 the wholesaler and the commission man. 

 I refer to the garden magazines, with 

 which you are all familiar. Next after 

 this class we would name the women's 

 publications. Of course there is a long 

 list of important farm publications, with 

 the Farm Journal a good leader, some 

 of which will "win out" on certain 

 propositions and ' * fall down ' ' on others 

 and this leads us to another very im- 

 portant matter, that of tracing results. 



We understand that Burpee depends 

 upon a certain proportion of the people 

 answering his advertisements stating in 

 what periodical they saw the advertise- 

 ment, and in that way learns which 

 ones pay best. 



Where possible, we believe it pays to 

 keep every advertisement and check the 

 returns. We have a schedule showing 

 the number of orders received, the cost 

 per order, and cost per reply to a certain 

 list of papers from a certain proposition 

 for a certain period of years, and you 

 can readily understand how helpful is 

 this schedule in selecting mediums for 

 future advertising. 



How Much Space? 



The next question perhaps will be. 

 How much space shall we use? Does 



it pay to use a large space in a few 

 mediums or a small space in a great 

 many? Will it pay better to spend 

 $4,000 for putting an advertisement on 

 the back cover of the Ladies' Home 

 Journal, for example, or to use the same 

 amount of money in buying full page 

 space in four of the leading monthly 

 magazines? Of course, these are ex- 

 treme cases, but the same principle ap- 

 plies, and it is no easy matter to de- 

 cide questions of this kind. We believe 

 it pays to take sufScient space to very 

 certainly catch' the attention of the 

 woman who is not likely to be interested 

 and to take that space in the maga- 

 zines of good standing and large known 

 circulation, and which you know reach 

 the class of people for whom you are 

 making a bid. 



What Kind of Copy? 



The question of copy is, perhaps, the 

 most fascinating of all. We know of no 

 easier way to waste money than to buy 

 space and fill it but poorly. The first 

 question to consider may be, will you 

 advertise directly for orders or adver- 

 tise for names? Or, in other words, 

 get people to send for your catalogue, 

 which can be depended upon to make the 

 sales. Look through the advertising 

 pages of any current magazine and we 

 will find samples of every type. Temp- 

 lin, for example, offers a beautiful lace 

 fern free, tacking on the provision that 

 4 cents must be sent to pay cost of 

 packing and postage. That 4 cents is 

 a good foil to keep off mere curiosity- 

 seekers. It appeals to the people who 

 want much for little, but the advertise- 

 ment is well handled and also ought 

 to appeal to the very best names. An 

 advertisement of this kind will undoubt- 

 edly get circulation for the catalogue. 



Another type you are sure to note 

 is that of making a definite offer of 

 a collection or a novelty. There is 

 some risk as to whether or not such 

 offers will pull and this is the test for 

 the man who writes the advertisement. 

 Personally we have tried the free offer 

 plan, and have secured thousands of 

 names that have cost not more than a 

 penny apiece, and we have tried the 

 second plan above referred to and have 

 got some orders to cost us not less than 

 $4 apiece, but after we had counted 

 up the cost of the catalogues sent on 

 each particular proposition, and had con- 

 sidered the returns from all the sales 

 made, there was little difference in the 

 net result. Countless examples of this 

 kind might be related, but all go to show 

 that it is as important to consider the 

 quality of the names thus secured as it 

 is the cost to get them. 



Display and Repetition. 



There are a few things that may be 

 worth mentioning in connection with 

 display in advertising. Some artists 

 or some advertisers seem to have the 

 knack of getting up an advertisement 

 tkat will stand out strongly on the page. 

 Sortie-^ears back white on black adver- 

 tisements were much in evidence and 

 still distinctive. ■ You will remember 

 the excellent advertising done by the 

 greenhouse construction companies in 

 the trade papers; what splendid taste 

 is displayed, an attractive illustration, 

 strong borders, white space and well 

 selected and well arranged type and, 

 best of all, good, straight from the 

 shoulder talk. 



There is a characteristic style in the 

 clean appearance of Burpee's adver- 

 tising, from which for the most part 



