LETTERS AND DIRECT ADVERTISING 1. Components of direct advertising.—All direct advertising thru the mail centers about the letter. In a broad sense any letter written to a customer or pros pect for the purpose of obtaining business partakes of the nature of advertising. But this term is not often applied to general correspondence where each letter is personal; it is used to signify form letters re produced by mechanical processes and sent to lists of persons together with the accompanying inclosures. It stands mid-way between the sales letter and general publicity. One is written for a particular person and sent to him directly, the other is addressed to all the persons of a group whom it reaches indirectly. Mail advertising while general in its appeal to all the per sons in a group is sent to them directly as individuals.
2. Advantages of mail adver tising thru the mail, as compared with the more indi rect methods of advertising, has several strong points in its favor. Among these may be mentioned the advertiser's ability (1) to limit the expense of his campaign ; (2) to guard trade information; (3) to concentrate his advertising upon a particular com munity or a particular class of people; (4) to time the reading of the advertisement; and (5) to make enclosures of samples or return envelops that encour age the prospect to order on the spot.
Mail advertising permits the expenditure of small or large sums of money as conditions may dictate. The sum spent for sending out a series of letters is determined mostly by the length of the manager's mailing list. In magazine advertising, on the other hand, the cost comes in large units. To an inade quately financed business, this consideration is espe cially important; tho even a successful and amply financed business must select its advertising mediums according to the limits set by its advertising appro priation.
The advertiser may choose mail advertising as the best means of controlling trade information. Special price appeals may be made thru this medium with less danger of incurring the ire of competitors. Patents,
new types of machines, new patterns in fabrics—the particulars of these must, of course, be disclosed in order to sell the product; yet the advertiser may wish to confide his plans only to a limited number of pro spective buyers. The advantages of a "gum-shoe" campaign are well appreciated by practical adver tisers.
An advertisement in a dental magazine might seem sure to reach a definite and homogeneous class of people. Nevertheless, a mailing list of the dentists graduated from the University of Illinois would en able the advertiser to reach a group within a group. An advertising letter to such an inner group may be composed so as to make an especially strong appeal. In the same way a thoro test may be made of a par ticular locality by directing mail matter to all the known prospects, and adapting what is sent to special local needs.
Mail advertising permits the advertiser to time the reading of the advertisement more exactly. If the prospect is a dealer, he will probably open the letter at his desk. If the letter contains a stamped and ad dressed inclosure, the conditions are good for getting an immediate response. An advertisement in the dealer's trade magazine, on the other hand, may fall under his eye on the car home, or at some other time when active response is impossible. Again printed advertisements only receive a limited degree of at tention, so that a full description of a product in a "printed advertisement" would be the more so since the description would probably be in fine print.
3. The uses of direct adver tising may be used to get orders directly or it may be employed for other purposes. It may be used to sup plement the work of traveling salesmen. It is often used to precede the introduction of a new specialty or a new policy, which assures the salesman when lie calls that the prospect is at least partially informed in re gard to the organization and product which he repre sents. The form letter is used also to introduce a new salesman, and thus often prepares a welcome for him when he calls.