Fkbbuabt 16, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



THE RETAIL 



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FLORIST 



L^fii 



A MANTEL IN FLOWERS. 



The style of funeral designs intended 

 to indicate the vocation of the de- 

 ceased is happily passing out of fash- 

 ion, but retail florists still are called 

 upon to execute more or less of this 

 class of work. Execute frequently is 

 the exact word which should be ap- 

 • plied, but in the present instance the 

 Alpha Floral Co., Kansas City, achieved 

 •quite happy results when called upon 

 to make a mantel in flowers for the 

 funeral of a manufacturer of the real 

 article. The accompanying illustration 

 shows the design. It stood forty-eight 

 inches high and was thirty inches wide, 

 made on the customary wire frame. The 

 solid parts were of white carnations, 

 the tiling in front of green and bronze 

 galsLX. The andirons were of white 

 chenille wound on wire, the andirons 

 supporting birchbark logs. The base 

 of the design was of galax leaves, with 

 roses and sweet peas. It was necessary 

 to change the color and form across the 

 top to represent a ledge, and here light 

 pink carnations were used, with stevia 

 and sweet peas. The reverse side of 

 such a piece always should be finished 

 Avith as much care as the front, and in 

 this case it was made solidly of galax 

 leaves. 



THE ADVERTISING FLORIST, 



[A paper by Lewis Henderson, Omaba, Neb., 

 read at the recent meeting of the Nebraska State 

 Florists' Society at Lincoln.] 



This subject of advertising, it seems 

 to me, should have been assigned to an 

 advertising agent, for I am sure that 

 such a one as you all have been up 

 against could tell you in much more 

 flowery language than I can do that it 

 pays to advertise. However, I will say 

 a few words from the standpoint of the 

 advertising florist. 



To advertise is to secure publicity — 

 to make known your goods and their 

 uses. "We are living in an age of prog- 

 ress — in a time during which our busi- 

 ness has assumed large proportions. 

 The capital now invested in the florists' 

 business is far beyond the dreams of 

 any florist of less than half a genera- 

 tion ago. It is a time of keen competi- 

 tion, when every florist is striving to 

 outdo every other florist in point of 

 ■equipment, service and results. 



We must keep up with the times if 

 we are to get the best results. If we 

 <lo not keep up with the progress in 

 the trade, it is merely a question of 

 time when we wilj be dropping by the 

 wayside. It will not necessarily be the 

 survival of the fittest — it will be the 

 survival of the pusher. 



■Winning by Merit — ^Plus Advertising. 



Someone may say: "I do not need 

 to advertise; my goods speak for them- 

 selves; they are of good quality, and 

 once a customer, always a customer, 

 «nd in coming back the customer always 

 brings another." This may be true, 

 but if j-ou have something good do not 

 keep it to yourself. Push it along and let 



the rest know of it, even if you are the 

 only florist in the community. Don't 

 sit and wait for the customers to come, 

 as if to say, "They have got to come 

 to me, whether I advertise or not." 

 Publicity is a means of spreading more 

 rapidly the word your customers may 

 spread for you in time if your service 

 is what it ought to be. Advertising is 

 a reminder. Give it all due attention. 

 It is extremely interesting when once 

 gotten into. Its cost must be like the 

 cost of all other things, in proportion 

 to the size of your business. There is 

 no advertising that reaches so far or 

 so quickly as newspaper advertising. 

 The advertisement should be changed 

 from time to time, even if it consists of 

 the merest heading and a short sentence 

 as a reminder of the various flowers in 



ness will ordinarily be given a notice 

 in his Local newspaper, but this is not 

 enough. In the first place, the man's 

 ability, his personality, character, even 

 his dress and appearance, each consti- 

 tutes a standing advertisement of what 

 lie is and what he hopes to accomplish. 

 He must make himself acquainted and 

 popular; his goods must be of first-class 

 quality and such as are in demand in 

 his community; he must put up a neat, 

 clean show window, containing up-to- 

 date stock, artistically arranged. He 

 must be pleasant, courteous and gener- 

 ous, and by all means prompt. All these 

 things are great advertisements. 



Every sale should back up the adver- 

 tising and be a means of further adver- 

 tising. The quality of the stock and 

 the way it is put up will do much to 

 establish his reputation. A neat adver- 

 tisement on his boxes, his name or some 

 trade-mark, not gay or gaudy, but some- 

 thing that appeals to the fine taste, con- 

 stitutes an inexpensive advertisement. 

 His deliver}'- boys must be neat and 

 tidy, his wagons or automobiles clean 

 and up-to-date, in order that wherever 

 they pass they will be pleasing re- 

 minders of his store and flowers. 



The Far-sighted Advertiser. 



The florist must keep his name be- 

 fore the public, through the newspapers 



A Mantel in Flowers. 



season and of the pleasure that can be 

 obtained at a reasonable price. Many 

 a person would, in all probability, never 

 think of buying a flower had he not 

 been reminded by an advertisement in 

 some newspaper or in some other way. 



The Many Means of Advertising. 



A man starting in the florists' busi- 



and in many other ways, so that the 

 public will be familiar with it and re- 

 member where to go when in ne^d of 

 flowers. Comes the committee with a 

 program of an entertainment to be 

 given in some church. They want an 

 advertisement to help pay for the 

 printing of the program and, as a rule, 

 they never overlook the florist. It 



