CHAPTER XXI.
MONEY IN ADVERTISING.
More Money in Ink—Millions Paid for it Every Day—New Devices to Catch the Eye—Exposure of Advertising Tricks—Cupid on the Counter—What “Bargain Day” and “Below Cost” Really Mean—How an Advertising Agent Made a Fortune in a Day—“Delivering” 5,000 Customers—A Line that Every body is Sure to Read—A Great Advertising Success—Playing With Mystery—A Sure Way to Draw a Crowd—Novel Ways of Advertising in Paris—Almost a Street Fight.
Do you realize what an important part advertising plays in trade? The men who succeed are those who let the public know what they have and at what price. The great newspapers contain every day vast mines of advertising matter. There are many merchants who pay over $100,000 a year in letting the public know the cheapness and value of their goods, and one enterprising company, the proprietors of a celebrated baking powder, expend $1,000,000 a year in advertising their product. These merchants are constantly seeking the best means to get their wares before the public eye; also manufacturers, builders, real estate agents, railroad companies, and in fact all persons doing business on a large scale, are seeking to let men know how and what they do. Owners of proprietary medicines have been known to expend $10,000 in a single advertisement in order to secure the attention of ailing people. All these persons will pay you well for any ingenious suggestions whereby they can increase their patronage. The following are some of the methods suggested:
832. Money and the Muse.—Select some liberal advertiser and note what he has to sell or what he has to do, and embody his peculiar merit in a poem. The poem should be short, spicy and humorous, and not be more than eight or ten lines in length. Let it hit off some of the fads of the day. If it be headed by some catch-word of the hour, so much the better. An ingenious person who can write a verse or two of this kind will find a ready market for his muse.
833. Cents in Nonsense.—If you have artistic talent instead of poetic, you can do still better with a drawing. Let the cut be as original and humorous as some of the cartoons in our daily papers.
834. Word Puzzle.—A puzzle to some minds will be still more effective. Many will be disinclined to use their brains to work it out, but those who do will remember it, and that after all is the merit of an advertisement. A puzzle which may be patented and sold to the advertiser promises much greater profit. See the “Chinese-Get-Off-the-Earth Puzzle.” A puzzle of this kind is commonly sold exclusively to one firm, and ought to bring quite a sum of money to the inventor.
835. Tracks to Wealth.—The inventor who can produce a scheme to cause the customer to become his unconscious advertiser has found the very highroad to success. Such a scheme might be a word in raised letters on the heel of a shoe. Thousands, especially in country towns where there are no sidewalks, would constantly be leaving impressions in the mud, and people would be astonished to find advertisements stamped on the very earth.
836. The Story Advertisement.—Write a short story which ends in an advertisement. This is one of the best methods to gain the reader’s eye. Everybody likes a story, and will read it if it be short. The narrative should lead up gradually and naturally to the advertisement. This requires some ingenuity and skill in writing.
837. The Fictitious Bank Bill.—A piece of paper which at first sight looks like a ten-dollar bill, but turns out to be a clever advertisement, would be picked up and read by everybody.
838. The Pocketbook Find.—A clever imitation of a pocketbook would be picked up by every pedestrian, and when it is opened with the expectation of money, one finds instead an advertisement of Pluck & Company.