One of these small town milling companies was the Russell-Miller Milling Company. In the spring of 1902, this company owned one little mill of only 225 barrels daily capacity, located at Valley City, North Dakota. In the spring of 1905, the Russell-Miller Milling Company opened an office in Minneapolis. It was not an unusual thing in those days for a small town mill, thoroly convinced of the superiority of its product and with a faith in the discretion of the pub lic, to establish a Minneapolis office and begin to raise its little voice and cry "the best, the best," with the rest. The results were usually the same. It was usually not long before the impudent little aspirant was caught in the maelstrom of competition, and all its breath was used up in hard swimming.
Everybody predicted the same thing for the ideal ists from North Dakota. One grain man said at the time: "Oh, they won't last long. They'll make a little noise and spend a lot of good money in adver tising, but as soon as the big boys find these fellows the least bit bothersome, they will cut prices below cost if necessary, and smother them." But the Russell-Miller Milling Company had studied the sales policies of its competitors and had determined on a plan of advertising which would disarm them. On a given day advertisements ap peared simultaneously in the Minneapolis street cars, on the billboards, in the newspapers and in the grocers' windows. Instead of the old phrase—"best on earth," and the like—there appeared the bold declaration, "Occident Flour—costs more—worth it." Simple as it was, the fact that quality is more impor tant than price seemed to be a new idea in the milling business.
Straightforward advertising with quality behind it has often cut the Gordian knot of price.
11. Comparison of territories covered.—In plan ning advertising campaigns, one should know the most profitable territories in which to advertise. A map showing the location of each competitor and rela tively the territory each covers, usually discloses in teresting and valuable facts. Such a map should be compared with a map showing the probable consump tion of the commodity. This map can be made from records of per capita consumption and other esti mates.
Some territories are often overcrowded with com petition, while others, fully as productive, present very little competition. Manufacturers who keep their eyes too closely on competition and do not re gard it in the broadest way are apt to scatter their efforts by jumping here and there on rumors that competitors are starting advertising campaigns in certain territories. A knowledge of the probable consumption in any territory will help a manufacturer to determine whether his competitors' efforts are likely to be successful and whether it is advisable for him to make an extra effort to combat the competition.
In the distribution of most staple articles, compe tition is divided into two classes. There are the large competitors who cover the entire field, and the small competitors whose efforts are confined to re stricted territories within a limited distance from the manufacturing plant. The small competitors may have an advantage over the large competitors and may be harder to dislodge. For that reason a map show ing the territory of each competitor and the relative strength of each in his territory is of great value in laying out an advertising campaign.
12. Comparison of freight advantages.—In the
distribution of many commodities, such as building materials and household furniture, some competitors have great advantages over others in freight rates. In determining on advertising campaigns to reach new territories, it is desirable to compare freight rates in these cases and to choose for extensive advertising those territories in which one has at least equal ship ping opportunities with competitors. A map show ing the location of each competitor and the territory into which he can economically ship, is helpful in choosing advertising mediums. Such a map should be compared with the circulation records of each ad vertising medium in each territory that is considered.
13. Relative importance of competitors.—In plan ning an advertising campaign, one should decide whether he is in a position to dominate his field, as far as the force of his advertising is concerned, or whether it would be better for him to use smaller space, per haps more frequently, relying for the supreme com petitive efforts on the sales force.
The A Company manufactures a specialty for farmers. It finds that seventy-five per cent of the business in its line is now done by one competitor. The remaining twenty-five per cent is divided among fifteen other small concerns of which the A Company is one. The leading competitor has used educational copy and large space in agricultural publications for five years. The business of the A Company will not warrant competition with the leader either in size of appropriation or in amount of space used. The A Company's advertising manager decides under these conditions to take smaller space but to appear in the agricultural publications regularly, always appearing in each issue in which his chief competitor appears. The copy is intended to bring inquiries at low ex pense, rather than to make sales, on the theory that a farmer will wish to investigate more than one make of the particular specialty before he buys, and that if each advertiser receives an inquiry or a proportion of the inquiries, he must leave the closing of the sale to his sales force.
An entirely different plan of procedure was adopted by a maker of men's furnishings. On in vestigation he found that while one competitor stood out head and shoulders above all others, this competi tor actually controlled only twenty-five per cent of the market; the investigator controlled twelve per cent; another competitor controlled ten per cent; and the rest of the market was divided among thirty com petitors controlling in no case more than seven per cent each. The leader in the field, while spending a certain amount for advertising, did not spend in pro portion to the amount of business he controlled. The manufacturer in question decided that there was an opportunity for him to become the leader in his line. While he was not the leader in volume of sales, he de termined that his advertising should have the appear ance of leadership. He employed a famous illus trator to make all the illustrations for his advertise ments. All the type was hand-lettered by the best designers. His cuts were in every way superior to those of his competitors. The size of space used was carefully planned to be larger and more commanding than that of his competitors. This plan was con sistently followed thruout all the advertising, and today this manufacturer controls over sixty-five per cent of the business in his line.