Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 13,
1924
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
$18,000 Sales from One Advertisement
Joseph A. Jacober, Advertising Man for the Otto Grau Piano Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Winner in the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce Advertising Contest, Describes the Methods Which He
Uses—An Address Before the Ohio Music Merchants' Association
1
C AN NOT give you a cure-all for your
advertising or publicity problems as I do
not know that such a panacea exists but
I will try to the best of my ability to tell what
good, clean advertising will accomplish for the
retail piano business. This can best be illus-
trated by the experience of our own house in
Cincinnati.
For some years we pursued a rather spas-
modic advertising program, exploiting a variety
of instruments, usually in an endeavor to force
business w'ith a price-and-term appeal. Of
course we secured results, but these results
were attained not infrequently at a loss of
prestige, not because of the quality of the in-
struments that we sold (as these included quite
a number of the best known makes), but due
to the fact that we featured price and the saving
to the customer, instead of quality and musical
or entertainment value of the instrument to the
purchaser.
At first glance one might be tempted to say
—why be concerned about the appeal so long
as you get the business? In our opinion it
was a real cause for concern. One can very
easily take a farm and by diligent work and
favorable conditions take from the earth an
abundant crop; but who will say that this can
be kept up for' even a few years? Fertilizer
must be added—crops must be changed, or the
earth will become barren and nothing but weeds
can be grown thereon. This is an unfailing"
law of nature—you reap what you sew, and
you can only honestly take out in proportion
to what you yourself put in.
Prestige-building Copy
Quality—prestige-building copy—creates the
desire for music. It is the duty of everyone
engaged in the music industry to do his share
in promoting the lQve of music in the home,
for that is the seed from which all of our
future business must grow. Advertising solely
with a price appeal is merely taking the fruit
from those who have really created the desire
for music, without putting anything into the
field for the future.
To revert again to our own experience. In
1921 we decided to discontinue the price appeal
and to merchandise thereafter strictly upon a
quality basis. We contracted for the most de-
sirable position in the Cincinnati Enquirer and
put this plan in operation. I wish to say to
you here that the change instantly proved the
wisdom of this policy. We not only secured
a greater volume of business, but business of
the most desirable character. We found a ready
market for the highest class of instruments the
market affords.
While it is true that a considerable volume
of business can be created through special sales,
one must ever keep in mind one pertinent fact—
that a sale to prove effective and not harmful
to your future good name ' must be genuine,
actual bonifide values must be offered and your
customer must be given exactly what you prom-
ise, and, above all, what your advertising leads
him to expect. You can easily make your copy
ambiguous and create the impression in the
mind of your prospective customer that you
are offering him an extraordinary value, but
do not overlook the fact that he will be quick
to note the deception when he visits your store.
This kind of advertising works an irreparable
injury to the entire industry. I do not wish
to assume the role of advertising reformer—
nothing could be farther from my mind. I am
a great believer in truthful advertising and have
absolute confidence in the discrimination of the
public at large. 1 am completely sold on the
idea that their confidence can be gained and
held by telling them the truth. Before you can
expect maximum results from your copy, their
confidence must be earned—they must know
that your statements can be relied upon.
We have sold as much as $18,000 worth of
instruments in one day on a single sales an-
Joseph A. Jacober
nouncement. This is no more than you can
do with a like effort.
To be an asset to your business your adver-
tising should mirror the personality of your
store—otherwise you cannot expect it to build
good-will and confidence for you. Untruthful,
ambiguous bragging statements in public print,
are dangerous; they create distrust and send
elsewhere thousands of dollars worth of valu-
able business, of which you could easily have
secured a share.
Selecting the Lines
In choosing the lines you expect to sell, select
instruments that will enable you to advertise
truthfully. If you wish to feature a dependable,
medium-priced instrument, you will find your
copy very effective by calling attention to the
pleasure and entertainment to be derived from
its use in the home. After all is said, your
prospect is far more interested in what the
piano will do for him, or in what he can do
with it, than in anything else that you can
possibly say for it. Primarily he wants music
—that is the thing you must sell him. After
he visits your store not infrequently you will
find that though he came there with the inten-
tion of investing a limited amount, he will read-
ily choose an instrument of much higher grade
because its tone, design or some feature of its
construction has made a particular appeal. I
have sold many thousands of dollars worth of
pianos at retail and could cite hundreds of such
incidents, but every piano man has had the same
experiences.
Permit me to stress again that constructive
advertising consistently used will bring results.
Advertise music; convince your public that you
sell dependable instruments at a fair price; that
the statements made in your advertising and by
your salesmen may be relied upon, and you- are
on the right road—the only road that leads to
success, and the establishment of a substantial,
permanent and profitable business. Don't brag
—nobody likes it—it takes all the joy out of
an otherwise pleasing description. Let your
customers do the bragging after they have pur-
chased. State facts briefly and simply. If you
use much reading matter in your copy, let most
of it explain the advantages that the instrument
affords the customer, the entertainment and
pleasure it will bring to him and his family.
Remember that your public forms its opinion
of you, your store and your organization from
the character of advertising you issue, and from
the statements you make in print. Mould their
opinion in your favor by issuing copy that is
a credit to your store.
Creating a False Standard
There are so many interesting things to say
about almost any piano made to-day that an
almost unlimited field for good copy-writing
exists. You must make money to stay in busi-
ness; if you offer $500 pianos special at $225
you create a false standard of values in the
mind of the public. They don't believe you.
This type of copy really acts as a sales-resistant,
making it more difficult to sell worth-while in-
struments at the right price, the only price that
will let you stay in business.
One thing more and I will close. With the
adoption of the quality advertising plan I have
outlined to you to-day, our business has grown
to a remarkable extent; our sales have been
very materially increased, and what may seem
almost unbelievable is the fact that our losses
through repossessions have been reduced to the
point where they are a negligible factor, this
even throughout the business depression that
our industry has experienced this year. It is
my firm conviction that this condition • can be
attributed to the fact that our copy appeal is
primarily to the class of people who can afford
to buy pianos and who have a moral sense in
the obligations they have assumed.
From this you can easily see that my posi-
tion on the question of obtaining immediate
results from advertising is that sales copy must
be preceded by prestige copy. In other words,
you must first build good-will and create con-
fidence to insure a quick response to an an-
nouncement of a special value.
Moats With Griggs Go.
DAVENPORT, 1A., September 6.—S. B. Moats has
just been appointed manager of the Duo-Art
and grand piano department of the A. P. Griggs
Piano Co., of this city. Mr. Moats is well
known to the music trades in the Tri-cities,
having been in charge of piano demonstrations
in several establishments for a number of years.
Bensberg Opens in Smackover
SMACKOVER, ARK., September 5.—The Bensberg
Music Co., formerly located in Stephens, has
been removed to this city and has leased a
store in a prominent position opposite the Post
Office. Mr. Bensberg and W. W. McAnulty
have taken charge of the new branch.
Knight-Campbell to Broadcast
The Knight-Campbell Music Co., Denver,
Colo., has secured a license for the operation
of a radio broadcasting station of the Class A
type, broadcasting on 226 meters and with the
power of five watts. The call letters assigned
to the station are KFDL.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.