Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 179, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1915 — Can’t Afford It. [ARTICLE]

Can’t Afford It.

The other day a merchant said he couldn’t afford to advertise in his home paper. If the man’s views were not distorted he would see that he couldn’t afford not to advertise. Refusing to advertise is his most expen-' sive extravagance. That same merchant will spend hours telling of the “unfair” competition of the mailorder houses who are his most aggressive and dangerous competitors, yet the methods employed by the mail-order houses which succeed are the very ones which the merchant refuses to use. The mail-order house first of all is an advertiser. Advertising is the life of its business. Every magazine that enters the small town and rural home carries the ad of the; mail-order house. Expensive . catalogues are printed showing the illustrations of the actual articles. Occasionally sheets are scattered broadcast over the country as a .special “come-on” for the bargain hunter. Instead of doing these things in a smaller way through the columns of his local paper the merchant who can’t afford to advertise sits down and “cusses” his tough luck and wonders why he can’t get the business. He never thinks he has a better opportunity to reach the people in his neighborhood than the mail-order house has. It doesn’t cost him as much as it does the outsider; he can draw the people to his store and show them the actual article he is advertising, and, when they buy, they can take their purchase home with them instead of having to wait for several weeks for it. Advertising is an investment. It should be charged to your selling cost. Figure what percentage you have to pay to advertise, then base a fifty-two weeks’ campaign on the computation. You can’t lose. You can’t afford not to advertise!