THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
239 
tunate—or should I say fortunate? in having poor sales¬ 
men. Where advertisers contemplate buying their own 
space, they cannot rely altogether on the “talk” of the so¬ 
licitor, hut must take into consideration: 
(1) Their past experience with that medium; 
(2) The experience of other advertisers in that me¬ 
dium ; 
(3) The nature of the commodities appealing in that 
medium’s advertising columns; 
(4) The editorial appeal and 
(5) The class of people who read that particular publi¬ 
cation. 
Time will not permit the consideration of these several 
factors in detail, hut we must pass to the second vital mat- 
publication in which nursery advertising is found, it is 
very noticeable that the larger number occupy about an 
inch of space, and amount to hut little more than a bus¬ 
iness card, or contain some such bald statement as: “Our 
new catalogue is ready. Send for a copy.” Perhaps 
the ad may say, as an ad of one member of this associa¬ 
tion did say: 'I have over three million strawberry 
plants and plants of every kind but Gandy on my list. 1 
want your order Mr. Fruit Grower.” 
In these little ads, it is quite noticeable that the name 
of the nurseryman or firm stands out in bold letters, big 
enough and bold enough usually, to please the most crit¬ 
ical. Hut such is not good advertising, and I dare say 
Am W y nn 
m, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 28th, 29th and 30th, 1916. 
ter that has a very large share in determining the cheap¬ 
ness and productiveness of an advertisement. 
The Copy and Layout 
This second matter is that of the advertisement itself. 
An advertisement is made up of “copy,” or the language 
composing the advertisement; and the “layout,” or the 
manner in which the words of the advertisement are dis¬ 
posed in order to attract attention and put across the mes¬ 
sage. 
It is universally considered that an advertisement, to be 
productive, must be attractive, it must be read, under¬ 
stood. believed and must stimulate action. Just how to 
make an advertisement do these things, just how to write 
the copy that makes the ad pull and to display it so that 
it will get the readers’ attention, is the snag that trips 
more advertisers than any other one thing. 
Nursery vds Are Poor 
When we look through the advertising columns of any 
that most nurserymen who advertise in this manner de¬ 
clare that advertising is only an expense. 
If you are in doubt as to the most profitable size ad to 
run, why not follow the suggestion of a well known ad¬ 
vertising man for the preparation of advertising copy? 
Tell your story as concisely as possible, with all of its 
salient points, then put it in whatever space may be re¬ 
quired to display it properly. If you feel your appro¬ 
priation is limited, you will find it more profitable to use 
a few papers with copy carrying a real salesmanship mes¬ 
sage about your product, than to use a few sentences or 
an ordinary business card in a big lot of papers. An or¬ 
dinary business card may be good enough for out-of- sea¬ 
son advertising, but never for in-season bus¬ 
iness getting. If you want a single rule for tell¬ 
ing your advertising message concisely and clearly, then 
first put in black and white what you would say to any¬ 
one whom you were trying to sell in person. If you do 
