Advertising - Getting To The Reader's Level

( Originally Published 1902 )

The successful advertising man must possess such qualifications as

1. Knowledge of human nature.

2. Originality tempered with horse sense.

3. A vast fund of information and experience.

4. The commercial instinct.

5. Knowledge of type and typographical effect.

6. Ability to write quickly, easily, concisely.

7. A keen perspective faculty.

He ought to appreciate the value of his employer's money, the worth of advertising mediums; he ought to know all about illustrations how to get the best work from artists and printers, and a whole lot of other things.

I place knowledge of human nature first in the above category, for without it the advertising man is useless. And that brings me right near the subject of which I wish to treat in this paper, viz., how to get to the reader's level-how to interest the reader in your story—how to induce him to buy your goods how to move him by wit, argument, anecdote, illustration or typographical appearance.

It is a fine study. You must put yourself in the place of your audience. You must search for his strong and weak points — you must be constantly putting him through a most searching analysis. For if you do not know your man-or woman-you may be rubbing the fur the wrong way, and repelling instead of attracting a possible customer.

At dinner, the other evening, in an uptown hotel, a young man spoke of a clever ad that appeared in that day's Evening Post.

"It's wonderfully clever!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, to the lady sitting beside him. She expressed a desire to read it, and between the courses it was peeped at. She was mightily interested in it, and so was the elderly gentleman next to her, and soon the whole table read the ad. It was a short ad-about two hundred lines, single column, without an illustration, and with but one headline; but the text was so entertainingly written that it was read with interest by a group who had no earthly desire for the article advertised. It influenced these men and women to the point where they were guilty of a slight breach of table etiquette. Now, if that ad were interesting enough to be read by people who had no use for the article advertised, it must have been doubly interesting to those who desire such an article.

But that same ad would be lost in papers with less cultured readers. An East-Sider fresh from his daily toil—a police-man direct from his beat, or a longshoreman from the docks enjoying his favorite paper with his after dinner pipe, would not be likely to revel in any piece of fine advertising writing. If he became interested in an ad it would be because he wanted a bargain pair of trousers or a cheap pair of shoes. In such a case he would want the value to stick right out before his eyes in bold type, and be told in a manner unmistakable in its bargain strength.

He is not looking for literature—he is looking for bargains.

The thrifty German riding uptown in the elevated is likely to become interested in his Zeitung's advertising columns. His attention would be attracted to-and he would carefully read-all about a special sale of underwear and hosiery. Our German friend would read this hosiery and underwear ad if he contemplated buying hosiery and underwear, thought he could afford the money and if he felt the advertiser was honest in his statements. A few grammatical errors would not bother him.

That same ad in some high-class German weekly would provoke criticism by reason of its looseness of construction. The effectiveness of the ad would be thus lost—which reason would hardly ever operate against the effectiveness of an ad in a "popular" publication.

When I took charge of Hayden Bros.' advertising in Omaha, the first thing I did was to get myself acquainted with the class of people I had to reach. I used to walk through the first-floor aisles and note the men and women buying—stand near the main entrance and study Nebraskans as they came in and out-and occasionally walk through Parnum, Douglas, or any of Omaha's streets to receive impressions.

I noticed that women were, as a rule, not too well dressed—that jewelry was conspicuous by its absence—that men paid but little attention to style—that money seemed hard to get—in fact, it was the hard summer of '94, when farmers were so bard up that in several cases they killed their horses and fed them to hogs rather than keep them. People were so occupied with saving and making the mighty dollar that they had no time to read nice advertising. They were influenced by ads that would drive home the strongest sort of bargain arguments, and prices had to be pretty small to be interesting.

So I gave Omaha people the hurrah, straight-from-the-shoulder, page, half-page and quarter-page advertising, with plenty of meaty items and small prices, and Hayden Bros. said it was a success.

Just so with Denver, Salt Lake, Portland or any part of the West during the three or four years of financial depression—the flashy, noisy style of advertising was the style that attracted.

Personally, I like nice advertising—the clean-cut—the logical—the witty—the advertising that attracts the eye and is a delight to the mind. But what is the use of writing such advertising when it fails in results? Now, in New York, such advertising pays well. Why? Read the answer in the thousands of intelligent masculine faces you see everywhere in and about New York. In the street cars, ferryboats, waiting rooms and suburban trains you notice an army of clean-cut, nicely dressed men of all ages, whose appearance bespeaks wealth, leisure, taste in dress, nicety, discrimination. •You must appeal to them with the nicest sort of advertising. That explains the reason why Brill Bros., Wm. Vogel & Son, Rogers, Peet & Co., and other Gotham concerns are so successful with their nice advertising. They have the audience to speak to.

Therefore, Mr. Budding Advertising Man, give careful consideration to your audience before you speak your little piece through the advertising trumpet. Find out whether your audience is rich or poor whether it is well educated or not—whether it is keen and appreciative, or dull and drowsy.

Another very important rule: Always be good-humored. Never allow a suspicion of annoyance, surliness or jealousy to creep into your advertising literature. The public likes to laugh —to be tickled—to be pleased. And when you try to please them with your bargain stories-it makes no matter what your subject is—you can be all the more successful when there is a vein of good humor running through your talk.

Use Short Words.

Frequently the traveling optics of masculine and feminine students of advertising, in studying typographical arrangements of intellectual publicity; productions profound in their ponderosity, are reminded of the wisdom—yes, necessity—of the advice contained in the following triple-word selection

USE SHORT WORDS

The quintessence of truth boiled down to such an infinitesimal degree that the remaining sediment is composed of jewels exceedingly rich, rare and recherche-withal microscopic—is owing to the advertising gospel centered in this following combination of two consonants and a vowel: — -

USE SHORT WORDS

Advertisers! Why ruthlessly ransack the dictionary-why rake up from the remotest recesses of mental ramifications words obsolete, words heavy and hoary with antiquity, words tongue-twisting and brain-destroying in their polysyllabic longitude, words that the Anglo-Saxon hurled upon William the Conqueror and words that empty every box in the compositor's case, when before your sagacious gaze lies this advice

USE SHORT WORDS

The mental calibre of your audience is a serious consideration—too serious to ever fall into innocuous desuetude. It must be always retained in its completest energy within the confines of your think tank, and no matter how intellectual or otherwise your audience may be, forget not to

USE SHORT WORDS

The presumption is that when an advertising expression is at the point of your pen you should immediately concentrate all your mental qualities in giving said expression the happiest and concisest form. For it ispossible to manipulate the English language in such a manner that the manipulation will bring joy or pain to the reader. And never—oh, never!-fail to attach extreme significance to the following time-honored and truth-proven advertising adage

USE SHORT WORDS

Advertising space is valuable because of the immovable, irrevocable and inevitable law of supply and demand. Affluent publishers and cold, calculating business managers quite some decades ago discovered that paper cost considerable cash; type could only be obtained by displaying and then depositing the shimmering simoleons, and compositors callously called for shining spondolux each succeeding Saturday. Even the production of a weekly was no weak enterprise. Therefore the advertiser was " soaked so good and hard" that the only opportunity evident to that interesting individual to get ahead of the game in preparing his publicity pavan was to

USE SHORT WORDS

By earnestly adhering to this mode of procedure he not only renders himself more intelligible to his readers, but also produces a greater number of words for their edification at a cost more commensurate with the proportions of his bank account. Beware, gentle reader, beware! of the unfortunate and utterly ridiculous habit of using words of elongated measures (which convey a rivulet of ideas but a Niagara of noises) when into your ear is dinned this advice: —

USE SHORT WORDS

The above Mr. MacDonald wrote for Fame, but "between the lines" of jaw-breakers appears the force of the lesson

USE SHORT WORDS

All understand short words. Short words drive home points that long words never do Short words hit—long words miss. Short words are the every day words—long words belong to the dictionary. Short words make the advertising story remembered—long words cause it to be forgotten. In the selection of words it is best to

USE SHORT WORDS!