In trade advertising, and in all advertising, success depends upon the attractiveness of the proposition the manufacturr is able to put to the retailer and the way in which it is made.
Before organising a trade campaign, therefore, it is necessary to have something to offer, and when that is established it is then necessary to offer it in the most attractive and striking manner possible. It must be borne in mind that retailers are receiving loads of circular matter every day from all classes of manufacturers—they are practically bombarded with literature ; and each individual advertiser's literature has one chalice in ten of even being glanced at. It will be seen, therefore, that it is necessary to originate advertising matter of a striking and original nature before the attention of the trade can be arrested. Once having accomplished that, it is necessary to hold the attention of the trader until such times as he may receive the impression the advertiser desires to create by his circulars. It must be well borne in mind also that the cost of printing, the cost of stamps, addressing, &c., remains the same, no matter what proposition is made, and the whole value of the trade advertising campaign lies in the way the thing is put to the trade.
Take, for instance, some examples of trade paper advertising. Examples No. 1 and No. 2 arc taken from the American trade paper appealing to the printing trade.
No. 1 announces the name of the firm and the name of the article only.
No attempt is made at actual salesmanship in this advertisement ; it merely repeats the name of the article and lets it go at that.
The other advertisement is totally different. It occupies the same space, but a perusal of No. 2 will show the difference in the way that this ad vertising has been approached. It has a distinct and well thought out argument that will appeal to the trade. The simplicity of this method is apparent. The advertisement merely repeats an argument a good salesman would use when calling on a printer to persuade him to buy his paper. Most trade paper advertisements of paper make no extraordinary offer. The majority of claims to patronage are based on the goods themselves. Neither
of these paper manufacturers offer anything out of the ordinary. One ad vertiser repeats the name of his goods, whilst the other develops an argument why they should be bought. It must be remembered that these two adver tisers are buying space in the majority of the trade papers which appeal to printers, and these announcements are probably appearing in twelve or fifteen papers every month. In the course of a year both these advertisers will have bought and paid for a good deal of advertising space, running into fair amount of money. The space will have cost b6th these advertisers the same, but in all probability the mutts will have been largely in favour of the advertiser mentioned in the second sample, because of the thought he has given his proposition. For twelve months he will be advertising along these lines, developing new arguments in favour of his goods, whilst No. 1 advertiser would, in all probability, have contented himself by repeating month after month the name of his goods.
Further examples from English trade papers are shown. In No. 3 yot.L. will see a current advertisement which is appearing in a number of tradd papers month after month in the same fashion. No. 4 is a portion 61 a series for another house in the same classification who utilise their space to some advantage. The No. 3 advertisement gains a minimum result from expenditure in trade papers, whilst No. 4 makes the space of some value not only because it is individual, but because it contains selling arguments.
Still further examples of trade paper advertising which show some thought and skill on the part of the advertiser are reproduced here in the trade paper advertisement No. 5.
The case is argued exactly like the salesman ; an actual salesman in selling these goods will, in all probability, use some of these words. It will be seen that simplicity is the basis of the appeal, for successful trade paper advertising must adopt as nearly as possible the very words and phrases of an actual salesman who is talking to the retailer.