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OCTOBBB 8, 1908. 



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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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ADVERTISING 



FOR FLORISTS 



iSi, NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING. 



The Important letter of G)py. 



A study of "copy" and the actual 

 preparation of advertising matter nat- 

 urally precedes the broader subject of the 

 complete campaign. No matter how laage 

 the space or the circulation you pay for, 

 or how favorable the rates you secure, 

 you are not getting your money's worth 

 if the "copy" (the text matter of the 

 advertisement) is weak or uninteresting. 



Copy must do more than fill space. It 

 must "pull" business — bring results. 



Effective copy is never staid and me- 

 chanical. It can't be ground out of a 

 hopper. If it could there would be no 

 need to study the problem of salesman- 

 ship on paper. You could just purchase 

 good copy as easily as good printing. 



Ideas Come With Study. 



Ketail florists' advertising cannot be 

 too strong, concise and original. 



' ' Original ! ' ' you say. ' ' Yes — but how 

 can I be original in writing my ads? I 

 have no originality, and seldom see things 

 with bright ideas." 



This is the feeble excuse ventured by 

 many florists for the dryness and com- 

 monplaceness of their advertising. Be 

 of good cheer. You need not have any 

 lonesome feeling in this respect, for every 

 advertising writer and expert this coun- 

 try ever produced began without the 

 bump of originality being previously de- 

 veloped. 



The reason is in not being thorough 

 enough — the "hopper" variety is so 

 much easier to' produce. Hence its prev- 

 alence. 



Cultivate the habit of goifag into the 

 subject as deeply as possible, and soon 

 you will surprise yourself with a multi- 

 plicity of ideas which have been with 

 you all the time — but jtist needed a spark 

 of enthusiasm and interest to bring them 

 forth. 



Get an Outside Viewpoint. 



It is not enough for the florist to know 

 the inside r^cts about his particular 

 proposition. 



Indeed, strange as it may seem, you 

 may be too close to your own business to 

 realize its strongest advertising points. 



It will pay you to cultivate that valu- 

 able '{^outside" attitude — the viewpoint 

 of the disinterested man or woman — your 

 customer. Don 't look at the subject en- 

 tirely from your standpoint. Get a little 

 perspective in your advertising. Put your- 

 self in the other fellow's place. 



Emphasize "you" and "your" in the 

 copy, not "we" and "our." 



Get the "you" habit in writing your 

 advertising. 



It is much more polite — and better 

 business, too. 



Don't Be a G)pyist, 



It is well and good to read the adver- 

 tising of others for suggestions and ideas 

 — but do not slavishly copy phrases and 



ideas that seem to fit your case. In do- 

 ing this you are sacrificing your own per- 

 sonality, which is too strong a factor to 

 entirely disregard. Have initiative. 

 Search, your proposition for new ideas. 

 Then express them brightly and with all 

 the literary skill at your command. 



Above all, make your advertising in- 

 teresting. It must be this or it will never 

 hit the mark. 



How to Go About It. 



As far as the actual preparation of 

 an advertisement is concerned, no fixed 

 rule can be laid down as to detail of 

 method. There are as many different 



The Bdltor Is pleased 

 when a Reader 

 presents his ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



kVI^ 



As experience is the bept 

 teacher, so do we 

 learn fastest by aa 

 exchanare of experiences. 

 Many valuable iraints 

 ar6 brouKht out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling' and gram- 

 mar, though desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 doing your best. 



WK SHAIX. BE GLAD 

 TO HCAR FROM TOO. 



ways of doing it as there are successful 

 advertisement writers. 



Probably no two writers go about it in 

 the same way when they sit down to pre- 

 pare an advertisement. But experience 

 has proved the wisdom of certain methods 

 and has established some general prin- 

 ciples. 



Study every phase of your proposition 

 thoroughly. Then set down on paper 

 every talking point that occurs to you. 



Omit no fact or argument that might 

 possibly be used to advantage. With this 

 list of selling points before you, you 

 have your material ready. 



Regular Insertions Recommended. 



The next step is to determine the size 

 of space to be used. 



In deciding this point, remember that 

 if you haven't an appropriation large 

 enough to warrant the continuous use of 

 fairly large space, it is much better to 



use a small space regularly and fre- 

 quently than very large* space spasmod- 

 ically. 



If you are planning to run a complete 

 series of newspaper advertisements, each 

 individual advertisement should, if pos- 

 sible, emphasize a different point, al- 

 though it is well sometimes to summarize 

 other points, the theory being that there 

 are always some readers who have not 

 seen previous advertisements and who 

 may not see later ones. 



In case of a pure type display adver- 

 tisement, that is, one in which no draw- 

 ing or design cut is used, the next thing 

 is to create a suitable headline for the 

 ad, which should contain the gist of your ^ 

 story. 



Very few persons read through the 

 copy of all advertisements — but there 

 are many who see all, or nearly all, of 

 the prominent headlines. 



The Headline Important. 



So the wise plan is to state your case 

 clearly in the headlines. And if this i8_ 

 sufficiently well presented, the ad is 

 most likely to be read through. 



"The meat at the top ' ' — always. It 

 is just as good a rule for advertisements 

 as for news items. 



By constant practice you will acquire 

 the knack of telling the whole story in 

 the headlines and thus get a bigger cir- 

 culation for your announcement — the 

 head at the top and the name of the ad- 

 vertiser at the bottom making in them- 

 selves a complete advertisement for the 

 benefit of the nearsighted person and the 

 cursory reader. 



The Text. *^ 



Having chosen a suitable head, you 

 have the subject of your advertisement. 

 Pick out the selling point or points you 

 wish to develop. Then sit down and 

 write as fast as the ideas come to you. 

 Never mind the length, but just get your 

 ideas down before they take flight. 



Give real arguments — good, logical 

 talk, instead of plain, unsupported state- 

 ments and meaningless brag. 



When you have written yourself out, 

 rewrite your composition. 



Weed out all superfluous words. Con- 

 dense — boil it down, but not too much. 

 Never make the mistake of sacrificing 

 clearness to brevity. 



Now rewrite your advertisement, us- 

 ing the shortest, simplest and strongest 

 words that come to you. 



If you have difficulty in choosing 

 words, have a synonym book at hand — 

 and use it. 



Short, easy-reading paragraphs are the 

 best. 



There are several reasons why this 

 pruning process is a good thing. It 

 saves valuable space, makes easy read- 

 ing and permits more effective display. 



Value of Illustrations. 



The importance of good illustrations 

 should not be overlooked. 



In the first place, a good illustration 

 serves as an eye-catcher. 



Then, again, it may increase the * ' pull- 

 ing" power of the ad fifty per cent — 

 and possibly present an a^gument in 

 itself. 



A good illustration tells its story at a 

 glance, a story that is intelligible to 

 young and old alike, to the educated and 

 the illiterate. 



In this connection it is well to remem- 

 ber that there must be a direct and close 

 relation between the illustration and the 



