THE AIM OF ADVERTISING 



27 



much sooner will business pick up. If you want an 

 illustration of the difference I am trying to bring out, 

 compare an ordinary standard nursery catalog with 

 those of some of the leading, most progressive firms. 

 In the case of some of these, there are descriptions to be 

 sure, but they are interestingly led up to in such a way 

 as to stimulate action. 



Just a word about the form your message should take. 

 As John Watson once said in an address: ''The thing now 

 is to keep yourself before the public the year 'round with 

 seasonable offerings. You can't expect people to keep 

 you in mind if they see your name but once a year. Little 

 magazines or bulletins are becoming increasingly popular 

 and pay big dividends over long periods." 



THE GENTLE ART OF LETTER WRITING 



A form of advertising that is too often neglected is the 

 so-called ''gentle art of letter writing." Some writers make 

 a classification into "sales letters" and "form letters," but 

 this is not a true division, for after all, form letters are 

 simply sales letters in quantity. The reason that so many 

 form letters fail to pull is based on just that fact — the 

 writer fails to apply to them the same care that he would 

 to a single sales letter. Let us study a couple of simple 

 letters as examples: 



Mr. John Jones, 



Nurseryville, N. Y. 

 My dear Mr. Jones: 



We have for sale a lot of fine Lombardy Poplars at the special price 

 of $1 each. We want to urge you to write us at once and order a number 

 of these. They would certainly make a fine avenue on your place and 

 their quality of quick growth makes them especially desirable. 



Hoping you will want to buy some sometime, we are, 

 V^ery truly. 



Any Nursery Company. 



