One class of mediums is not better than another. It may be better for a certain purpose, and worse for another. The problem of the advertiser is, first, to find out definitely what purpose he wants to achieve—what people he wants to reach, what he wants them to do, how his product can best be made to appeal to them, how they live, earn, spend and play—and then to pick out, after unprejudiced con sideration of all mediums, the ones that can best carry his message about his product to his market. The problem is individual for each advertiser.
5. Three general classes of mediums.—All adver tising mediums may be divided into three classes : a. Direct mediums—thru which the possible cus tomer is reached directly by the advertiser, either by mail or by some other distributing agency fully con trolled by the advertiser.
b. Periodicals—thru which the possible customer is reached by the introduction of a third party.
c. Signs—thru which the possible customer is reached by utilizing the habits of the public.
In the case of direct mediums, the circulation is en tirely in the hands of the advertiser. He makes up his own list of possible customers and reaches them for the most part thru the mail. He may add a name or eliminate a name at will. He is in full control of all advertising mediums of this class.
When one buys space in a periodical he does not have full control of its circulation. The publisher comes to the advertiser and announces that he is dis tributing his publication regularly to a certain class of readers. He offers to introduce the advertiser to these readers thru space in his publication. He tells the advertiser the class of readers he can reach. The advertiser can pick and choose his publications, but he has no control over the circulation of these publi cations.
Signs include a wide variety of different kinds of mediums. Neither the advertiser nor the one who sells the space has full control of the circulation reached by signs. An electric sign may be placed at the corner of Broadway and Forty-Second Street in New York. Estimates, based on careful count, can be made of the number of people who will pass that point every twenty-four hours, but the advertiser can not buy a definite circulation for the sign. It will vary from day to day and week to week according to the habits of the people. The second party in the advertising triangle, the possible customer, controls the circulation.
6. Circulation.—The circulation of any advertise ment is, in its broadest sense, the number of individ uals who may be expected to see it. The circulation
of a medium is the number of people that it reaches. Just what should be considered in figuring the cir culation of a magazine or newspaper, for instance, we are not here to discuss. At this point, however, it is important to emphasize the fact that circulation does not always or often mean the actual number of people who see an advertisement—it means the nuni ber who may be expected to see it. The user of di rect mediums sends out 5,000 form letters. His cir culation is 5,000. One thousand or more of his let ters may go into the waste-baskets of recipients with out being read. It is the advertiser's task to make his direct advertising so attractive in appearance that most or every one of his 5,000 circulation will really see and read his message. The user of periodicals may buy a circulation of 100,000. That is what he pays for. He does not necessarily, however, purchase 100,000 readers of his advertisement. Whether any or all of the people who make up the 100,000 circulation of his mediums see and read his advertisement depends on his ability to attract their attention and to arouse their interest. In other words, circulation and readers of an advertisement are two separate things. Circulation is a mechanical thing that can be bought. Readers cannot be bought; they must be persuaded: Until recent years statements of circulation have been often unreliable. Some publishers refused to give any statements regarding circulation, and others were satisfied with round numbers that were obviously inaccurate. The sellers of space for signs made little effort to estimate the number of people who might see them, and even users of direct .advertising bought lists of names with frequent disregard for their time liness and value. Now, all this is changed. Sworn circulations are the order of the day. Circulation is a matter of careful investigation, and everyone—pub lishers, billboard people, companies controlling street-car space, advertisers and the government it self—is concerned with the circulation of advertising mediums. The United States Post Office Depart ment demands sworn statements of circulation from newspapers, and the Audit Bureau of Circulation to which most periodical publishers, advertisers and agents belong, issues detailed analysis of circulation for its members. Other associations and individuals are rendering similar service. This is decidedly the day of known circulations.