Music Trade Review

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8
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
In further proof of the "sureness and certain-
ness" of a carefully planned and rightly con-
ducted campaign of newspaper advertising, let
me cite a case somewhat different, but none the
Some Valuable Suggestions for the Piano Merchant on the Value of Advertising and the
Patience and Pains Necessary to Secure Results—Ernest F. Gardner, an Advertising Spe- less interesting than the above—and, by the way,
cialist of National Importance Gives His Views Through the Kansas City Journal and Fur- one that will serve even better as a definite il-
lustration, from the fact that it is a purely local
nishes a Number of Important Illustrations, Particularly How He Made a Piano Business
proposition, and is known to most of the readers
Pay—Advertising Cannot be Valued by Direct Immediate Returns.
of this paper. I refer to the stock selling cam-
Pages and volumes have been written about of personal solicitation and various other methods paign of the Nevada-Commonwealth Mining &
"the cumulative effect in advertising." It is a of getting his name before the public lie had suc- Milling Co., which was recently opened up and
subject that has been worn nearly threadbare, ceeded in establishing a fairly satisfactory busi- carried to a most successful completion by the
and yet is one that is of very grave importance ness, and all was sailing along very nicely until
Horn-Baker Advertising Agency.
to the present-day advertiser.
his principal competitor also took liberal space in
In our favor at the start was the fact that the
Particularly does this apply to the specialty the leading local sheet and began a very extensive Nevada-Commonwealth was really an investment
advertiser—to the one line proposition, siu-h as campaign of advertising.
proposition of exceptional merit. It possessed
pianos, automobiles, tailors, savings banks, bak-
Needless to say, this advertising finally began
the earmarks of a money maker, and it only
eries, flour mills, buggies, wagons, schools and to produce results tha. were probably very satis- needed the "tale tersely told" to a waiting pub-
colleges, foods and beverages—in fact, manufac- factory to the advertiser, and at the same time lic to produce the capital to cover cost of addi-
turers and dealers who devote their efforts to the effect on the business of the old-timer was tional equipment, which would soon put the
the production and sale of any one particular far from gratifying.
property on a dividend paying basis.
article or line of goods.
This condition of affairs gave material aid in
But while the proposition "looked good and
convincing him that he, too, should get into the was good," it would never have been worth a
Such advertisers cannot estimate the value of
advertising by the direct immediate returns— game before it was "eternally too late." So I dollar more than it was three months ago had
they should not place an advertisement to-day mapped out a very conservative three months' not more capital been raised to carry it beyond
and expect the crowds to flock to their store to- campaign, opening up with an eight-inch double the development stage to the dividend stage;
morrow. For the department store or the gen- column advertisement in the Sunday issue and and it is not likely that this could have been
eral retail advertiser results are quite different. dropping to six-inch single column during the done in any other way than by a carefully
They place an advertisement to-day bristling week days.
planned and rightly conducted campaign of ad-
with bargain counter talk and black price figures
In the Sunday advertisements we featured bar- vertising.
in bold display—and to-morrow come the crowds gain propositions—rental, returns and slightly
We realized this fact, and insisted that we
for the very good reason that they are made to used pianos cf various makes, which had been have absolute control of the campaign.
believe that the dealer's supply of the articles ad- taken in exchange on new pianos. In each week-
The officers of the Nevada-Commonwealth read-
vertised is limited to a certain quantity, and that day issue we featured some one particular style ily consented to our demands, and we began the
they must respond to the advertised call imme- and make of piano, always giving illustration, work cf outlining the entire campaign before a
diately or not at all.
price and brief description.
line of advertising was placed.
Prom the Sunday advertisements the results
With the specialty advertiser this condition of
We prepared the prospectus, the advertisements
affairs rarely ever exists. The piano and automo- were particularly encouraging to this embryo ad- and the follow-up literature many days in ad-
bile dealers, the baker, the tailor and the savings vertiser—they brought direct returns in the vance of the real opening of the campaign. We
bank have been offering the public their product shape of from three to a half dozen sales every did not expect magic results from the first week's
or commodity for years—the "supply" or the Monday morning.
advertising—neither did the officers of the Ne-
ability to meet the demands of the public will
The results from the other advertisements— vada-Commonwealth.
continue for years to come, and the ad, reader these advertisements being of an educational na-
We made careful estimates as to what each ad-
naturally decides that there is no need of haste ture rather than special propositions calling for vertisement should produce in the way of in-
in responding to such advertisements, but that he direct returns—were, of course, not so noticeable, quiries and cash returns, what the literature
will put the matter off until such a time when and when the hot weeks of the early summer ought to do in the way of increasing the cash
he is ready to take some action in regard to the months began to put a damper on the piano busi- returns, what the probable cost per reply would
proposition advertised, and at such a time he ness (as had happened during every year he had average, and about how much time would be re-
calls to mind the name of the dealer or the con- been in business) he began to find fault with the quired to dispose of the entire allotment of stock.
cern whose advertisement he has observed in the advertising, in spite of the fact tnat it was more We were conservative in these estimates, and our
columns of his favorite newspaper, and imme- than paying its cost of about $50 per week on the hopes were more than realized, the result being
diately sets out upon a tour of investigation.
sales resulting from the Sunday ads. alone, and that the entire allotment of stock was sold out,
But this calling to mind process is purely a for fear he would finally "come out at the small the receipts totaling more than $175,000 in less
matter of memory, and if the ad. reader is de- end of the horn," as he expressed it, he discon- than nine weeks, and within five days after the
ficient along this line the "occasional advertiser" tinued his advertising at the end of the three last ad. was placed the stock was over-subscribed
will have invested his money in vain so far as months' contract—and thereby hangs a sad. sad more than 600,000 shares, and the company was
the trade of this particular patron prospective is tale.
returning hundreds of dollars every day.
concerned.
During the three months that he had been con-
Newspaper advertising a gamble? Well, hardly.
And the American people, as a rule, possess a ducting his opening campaign, the competitor had
The thing to do is to give it a fair chance to
all the while been leaning a little more toward make good, and it will make good in nine cases
well developed ability to forget.
Therefore, it behooves the specialty advertiser the aggressive. Just as soon as he was convinced out of ten. Don't buy newspaper space with the
to take this very vital fact into consideration, that the old-timer had a well-developed case of
same feeling that the gambler possesses when
and to plan his advertising campaign with a long "cold feet," he doubled his appropriation, increas- he stakes his roll on the turn of the dice. "Tote
look toward the future, rather than to expect im- ing his space and taking on every other publica- fair" with advertising, and it will even scores
tion to any value in the city.
mediate results from an occasional splurge.
with you—and then some.
A few months of this and he again settled back
1 had an experience with a specialty advertiser
—a large piano dealer in a not very far distant into a more conservative position, with the knowl-
DIVIDEND OF TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT.
city—some years ago, which illustrates this edge that he had things coming his way in a
most satisfactory manner.
point.
The creditors of the Compensating Pipe Organ
He was of the doubling Thomas sort, and
And they continued to come for days, weeks Co., of Battle Creek, Mich., whose factory re-
looked upon advertising as "nothing but a gamble, and months, until the expected result happened cently passed into the hands of Lyon & Healy,
anyway." However, as the result of a very vigor- —the old-timer closed his doors, left behind him have received the first dividend of 25 per cent, of
ous and persistent campaign of education, di- the good will created by a dozen years of hard their claims. Another dividend is looked for, al-
rected toward convincing this one piano dealer work and departed for fields and pastures new.
though it is not expected to amount to more than
that advertising would prove a profitable invest-
This narrative—long and drawn out as it is— 15 per cent.
ment—that it was really an absolute necessity is given in detail to demonstrate the fact that
for the life, the growth and the development of
specialty lines can be advertised successfully.
The Charles F. Netzow Manufacturing Co.
his business—lie was finally induced to buck the
If the onee mighty old-timer had looked upon have just shipped from Milwaukee to Louisiana
game for a try-out.
advertising as a legitimate, sure and certain points the first carload of pianos manufactured
He carried a large stcck of high-grade pianos— proposition, instead of a gamble—if he had en- in Milwaukee. The company have acquired four
his regular line comprising a hajf dozen leading tered the game as did his more modern com- acres of land on Holton street, where pianos and
makes—and his easy payment plan was particu- petitor, with a look to the future—he would be rrgans will be manufactured on a large scale
larly attractive. As the result of a dozen years the big man to-day instead of his competitor.
within a few months.
PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN WITH A LOOK TOWARD THE FUTURE.
POOLE
PlftNOS
Appeal to cultivated tastes. 1 hey are
marvels of beauty and form at once a
valuable accessory to any piano store
5 and 7 A P P L E T O N S T R E E T , BOSTON, MASS.