Good Business

A rapid stream ran by the writer’s boy­hood home. The stream turned a wooden wheel and the wheel ran a mill. Under that prim­i­tive method, all but a frac­tion of the streams poten­tial­ity went to waste.

Then some­one applied sci­en­tific meth­ods to that stream — put in a tur­bine and dynamos. Now, with no more water, no more power, it runs a large man­u­fac­tur­ing plant.

We think of that stream when we see wasted adver­tis­ing power. And we see it every­where — hun­dreds of exam­ples. Enor­mous poten­tial­i­ties — mil­lions of cir­cu­la­tion — used to turn a mill wheel. While oth­ers use that same power with man­i­fold effect.

We see count­less ads run­ning year after year which we know to be unprof­itable. Men spend­ing five dol­lars to do what one dol­lar might do. Men get­ting back 30 per­cent of their cost when they might get 150 per­cent. And the facts could be eas­ily proved.

We see wasted space, friv­o­lity, clever con­ceits, enter­tain­ment. Costly pages filled with palaver which, if employed by a sales­man, would reflect on his san­ity. But those ads are always unkeyed. The money is spent blindly, merely to sat­isfy some adver­tis­ing whim.

Not new adver­tis­ers only. Many an old adver­tiser has lit­tle or no idea of his adver­tis­ing results. The busi­ness is grow­ing through many efforts com­bined, and adver­tis­ing is given its share of the credit.

An adver­tiser of many years stand­ing, spend­ing as high as $700,000 per year, told the writer he did not know whether his adver­tis­ing was worth any­thing or not. Some­times he thought that his busi­ness would be just as large with­out it.

The writer replied, “I do know. Your adver­tis­ing is utterly unprof­itable, and I could prove it to you next week. End an ad with an offer to pay five dol­lars to any­one who writes you that he read the ad through. The scarcity of replies will amaze you.”

Think what a con­fes­sion — that mil­lions of dol­lars being spent with­out knowl­edge of results. Such a pol­icy applied to all fac­tors in a busi­ness would bring ruin in short order.

You see other ads which you may not like as well. They may seem crowded or ver­bose. They are not attrac­tive to you, for you are seek­ing some­thing to admire, some­thing to enter­tain. But you will note that those ads are keyed. The prob­a­bil­ity is that out of scores of traced ads the type which you see has paid the best.

Many other ads which are not keyed now were keyed at the begin­ning. They are based on known sta­tis­tics. They won on a small scale before they ever ran on large scale. Those adver­tis­ers are uti­liz­ing their enor­mous pow­ers in full.

Adver­tis­ing is prima facie evi­dence that the man who pays believes that adver­tis­ing is good. It has brought great results to oth­ers, it must be good for him. So he takes it like some secret tonic which oth­ers have endorsed. If the busi­ness thrives, the tonic gets credit. Oth­er­wise, the fail­ure is due to fate.

That seems almost unbe­liev­able. Even a store­keeper who inserts a twenty-​​dollar ad knows whether it pays or not. Every line of a big store’s ad is charged to the proper depart­ment. And every inch used must the next day jus­tify its cost.

Yet most national adver­tis­ing is done with­out jus­ti­fi­ca­tion. It is merely pre­sumed to pay. A lit­tle test might show a way to mul­ti­ply returns.

Such meth­ods, still so preva­lent, are not very far from their end. The adver­tis­ing men who prac­tice them see the writ­ing on the wall. The time is fast com­ing when men who spend money are going to know what they get. Good busi­ness and effi­ciency will be applied to adver­tis­ing. Men and meth­ods will be mea­sured by the known returns, and only com­pe­tent men can survive.

Only one hour ago an old adver­tis­ing man said to the writer, “The day for our type is done. Bunk has lost its power. Sophistry is being dis­placed by actu­al­ity. And I trem­ble at the trend.”

So do hun­dreds trem­ble. Enor­mous adver­tis­ing is being done along sci­en­tific lines. Its suc­cess is com­mon knowl­edge. Adver­tis­ers along other lines will not much longer be content.

We who can meet the test wel­come these changed con­di­tions. Adver­tis­ers will mul­ti­ply when they see that adver­tis­ing can be safe and sure. Small expen­di­tures made on a guess will grow to big ones on a cer­tainty. Our line of busi­ness will be finer, cleaner, when the gam­ble is removed. And we shall be prouder of it when we are judged on merit.

About the Author

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