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Show vs- at- isi CLIFF MEMMOTT, Editor SEARS MAN SAYS Either Advertising Pays Or We Know The Reason Why ... Here's what the advertising director for SearsRoebuck in Georgia said recently in addressing the Georgia Press Association: "Sears spends 98 of iheir retail advertising dollar dol-lar in newspapers and here's why: Newspaper advertising advertis-ing has been given the test and we know it pays off." He went on to point out that when Sears has a newspaper news-paper ad and it doesn't pay off, they know it's not the newspaper's news-paper's fault. "We never blame the paper," he said. "We know that they do the job of circulating the ad. We look at these five things: "1 Was it a good time seasonal? "2 Was it a bargain priced right? "3 Was it properly displayed in the store? "4 Did we have adequate sales help to wait on customers that came in? "5 Did the sales help follow through with the prospective customer by giving an intelligent sales talk? "These questions bring the rat out of the wood-pile on a non-paying ad." BUY ADVERTISING ON ITS MERITS .... Quite often our advertising salesmen run squarely into a local merchant, who once in a while buys a little advertising adver-tising space in our newspaper, and then condems the paper and its publisher because customers fail to flock into his store to take advantage of the "bargains" he feels he is offering. of-fering. I'm sure the statement the "Sears Man" made can be consistently applied to our situation ("We never blame the paper we know that they do the job of circulating the ad"). We follow instructions relative to layout of the ad, place it in a good spot in the paper, where it is surrounded with local news, and mailthe paper to our subscribers. Although Al-though I have no' way to prove this point, except through the experience of surveys made in other communities just like this one, but I would not be afraid to wager that 4 out of 5 of our subscribers read- this merchant's ad that is if he has put something in it that has appeal, and is in keeping with the season. I'm in the newspaper business because I am thor- oughly sold on the advantages a weekly newspaper has as an advertising medium. I know it has power and that it reaches into the heart of every subscriber in the trade area. . . These things I know because newspaper advertising has been tried and proven. . . That's why Sears, and Safeway, and J. C. Penney, along with automobile au-tomobile companies, just to name a few. are spending their advertising dollars in the weekly newspapers of the nation. . To often some of our fine friends harbor this thought "Well, he's a good fellow, so I'll give him a little ad once in a while." Isn't that a silly attitude. . . When I walk into a store to buy a new hat, I don't do it because the manager is a good fellow I buy his hat because I like the style, color and because I feel I'm getting value received for my dollar. . . Nope, we don't need charity, not yet . . . we just want to sell our product on its own merits. v E v Decide an argument between two of your friends and - you lose one. Decide an argument between two strangers to you and you gain a friend. - Intelligent elfort, like dropping water, will wear away the hardest obstacle. A little girl was showing her playmate through her new home. "And here's my daddy's den," she says. "Does your daddy have a den?" "No," was the answer, "my daddy just growls all over the house." ' . " 30 |