George Henry Edward Hawkins

“ There are so many forms of advertising to-day that have proven successful that no one would have the temerity to stand forth and say that any one medium is absolutely away and above better than any other medium. The wise advertiser has found that no one medium is “sufficient unto itself,” and that only by dove-tailing different mediums can the maximum of results be secured. ”

“ The local merchant to-day who doesn’t advertise should at least advertise his business for sale, and in the next ten years posting will, I predict, be developed into one of the greatest forms of advertising for the local merchant. It is so big, so forceful, so always-before-you-and-never-to-be-thrown-away that it is bound to command unusual attention in the small town or city.
Talk it over with your local bill-poster and let him help you with suggestions gleaned from his experience.
Business is built up on confidence. ”

“ I have found in a long experience with advertising and salesmen that a good live traveller is always awake to the benefits of advertising, and that nine times out of ten it is the result-producing salesman who uses your advertising matter intelligently rather than wastefully and who takes advantage of all your local advertising to use as a lever on the merchant for bigger business. ”

“ The trend of everything in the business world to-day is specialization. To my knowledge, there has never been a book written on the subject of posting. I believed there was room for one—that such a book would be welcome to advertisers, and that such a popular form of publicity as posting should have representation in advertising libraries. That is the only possible excuse I have for offering this volume to the advertising world. ”

“ Posting can be used by the local merchant as the one and only medium, or as a supplement to his newspaper or street-car announcements. Its use has in the past been largely confined to the latter, but this has been chiefly because of the high cost of posters in the small quantities needed for local work. This difficulty is being overcome by the issue of stock posters for every line of business, and it is now possible to get from your local bill-posters either the paper itself or information where you can buy it for nearly every trade and every line of goods which would bear advertising. ”

“ Advertising is appealing to people through their common sense and their artistic sense in order to win their dollars and cents.
Bill-posting is a logical and splendid medium for the local advertiser, and the baker, the butcher, the candlestick maker can use it with equal facility and advantage. ”

“ Another distinct advantage which bill-posting has over most other advertising mediums is the opportunity it offers for the use of colors. Colors are agreeable to the eye, they command attention, and the advertiser who fails to utilize the full possibilities of color in getting out his posters is missing his opportunity. It costs just as much to post a poorly printed sheet or an ineffective one- or two-color poster as it does one printed in bright, clear-cut, attention-commanding colors which the eye cannot pass. ”

“ It is the habit of large poster advertisers to have the lithographer make all separate shipments, a list, with quantity designated for each town, being furnished by the advertiser for that purpose. The advertiser, in such cases, pays actual cost of labor and materials for wrapping and shipment, where the size of order is large enough to warrant.
You can save money on cost of paper by ordering a number, or a season’s supply, of posters at one time, especially if the designs are similar in color treatment. At any rate, the larger quantity insures a saving in paper and press-work. ”

“ Freshly papered boards are a good advertisement for your medium.
Don’t spoil a good effective poster by smearing paste all over the face of it. Put your paste on the back of the poster, and place it with a brush wet only in water, or, if you must use paste on the face of the paper, do so sparingly.
Don’t get into any wrangles with the local Civic Improvement Society, and have them writing all your advertisers to discontinue the use of your medium. You can find plenty of good locations without spoiling the landscape. ”

“ On a series of posters a whole story can be told, because one argument can be driven home on each poster. The “reason why” feature of advertising can be applied to posting by the use of this method, and in the development of posting in the coming years the tendency to limit the copy for a poster to merely the name and trade-mark will be over-ruled. ”

“ Some advertisers prefer to check just as soon as the paper goes on the boards so that complaints may be adjusted early in the life of the showing. Others prefer to check toward the end of the service so they may satisfy themselves that the paper has been kept in good condition, and that none of the stands has been covered by other paper. The advertiser who is posting generally will, however, be glad if he can have check made any time during the life of the posting, especially in towns where he has no local representative. ”

“ The space allotted by the bill-poster for an 8-sheet poster is 112 inches high by 84 inches, and the advertiser who is only getting 109 or 110 inches in length by 75 or 76 inches in width is apparently not getting the best run for his money. It would, therefore, seem that all posters should be made so that they will occupy the full quota of the allotted space when pasted up. This may add slightly to the cost of paper but it will mean an added prominence for your posters. ”

“ Give each salesman a list of the towns which you intend to post in his territory, and do it in advance in order that he may acquaint the dealer with the fact and use the publicity as a sales argument. The salesmen or members of your advertising crew, if you have one, should also be able to use the fact that you are going to post a town to secure window displays in advance from the local dealers, in order that their stores may be connected with the advertising and secure a certain portion of the demand. ”

“ As an example of the comparative pulling powers of illustrations I have understood that the news-stand sales of the Saturday Evening Post are appreciably larger when they have on their front cover the picture of an attractive woman than when the design is more general and of less heart interest. If you have a trade-mark for your product that trade-mark should always appear in your poster. ”

“ An advertising trade-mark is a great barrier to imitation and substitution.
The first essential of a successful posting campaign is to have a good poster. A bad design will spoil the most alluring campaign ever outlined.
A figure is always attractive in a poster, because it carries with it a more-than-ordinary element of human interest. ”

“ Do not place competitive products alongside each other. Give them separate locations, or, in the case of a long board, have them as far apart as possible.
Be liberal with your renewal paper. Aside from the fact that it is your duty to see that each poster is maintained in perfect condition the full contract time, the advertiser, especially the one who checks closely, will appreciate the service.
Instead of being afraid to “give something for nothing,” cover your old, dead paper with the left-over paper of some good, live, liberal bill-board advertiser. ”

“ Checking your local posting by salesmen is of two-fold value. Where the work is honestly and intelligently handled, you not only get an above-the-ordinary checking report, but you impress the salesman, especially if he seeks out each individual location, and spur him on to more active sales work.
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The live-wire salesman realizes that in these modern days of fierce competition the aid of advertising is of vital importance and that without it his work would be anything but easy sledding. ”

“ The lithographer is thus saved the extra expense of rush work, for which the advertiser always pays the penalty.
The cost of shipping for entire country is about four cents per eight-sheet poster.
Make freight shipments of over forty pounds. Express shipments under forty pounds.
A pretty poster without selling argument is like a pretty woman without brains. She compels your admiration for a time, but loses out in the end. ”

“ Black is universally employed in combination with the primaries to give strength to the majority of poster printing.
Yellow, orange and red are warm colors, while violet, blue and green are known as cold colors. The cold colors have a soothing action on the brain; the warm colors tend to stimulate it. The cold colors are the more artistic for poster work; the warm colors have the greatest attention-attracting value. ”

“ Don’t think that your obligation is fulfilled when the paper is placed. Try to work with the advertiser and encourage him to greater use of your medium by giving him information as to local conditions regarding the sale of his product, post the local dealers who would naturally be interested just when a certain product is being advertised, and endeavor to secure their co-operation in the way of window displays, etc., to connect the advertising with their stores. ”

“ The cost per town is less than any respectable sort of a campaign could be conducted for in any other medium.
It has been contended that poster advertising is only good as publicity advertising for a well-known product needing mainly a constant reminder to keep it before the public. I believe, however, that posting is effective and can be made profitable for even a new product, for, while a detailed story cannot be told on a poster, one single argument can be brought out on each poster, and, in time, the complete argument given. ”

“ The main difficulty on a general showing is to secure people to make the check. In towns where you have branch houses, local salesmen, or exclusive dealers, check lists may be forwarded to these. Otherwise it is necessary to depend on your traveling salesman covering the towns in his territory during the life of the posting, or else send the check lists to some local dealer, with a request that he look over and report on the showing for you. Arrangements for checking can also be made, we understand, through the telegraph companies who would have the work done by one of their messengers. ”

“ The bill-boards are usually the most crowded during the summer months, from about April 15th to October 1st, not only because summer is the best time for the posting of national advertisers with few exceptions, but because of the great amount of circus and other show paper. You will frequently be disappointed in securing space during this period unless you contract for it in advance of showing. Thirty days is usually ample notice for all but the very largest cities, where it is well, in case you wish a showing to go up on a fixed date, to give sixty days’ notice. ”

“ Such world-wide characters as The Gold Dust Twins, The old Quaker of Quaker Oats, the little Uneeda Biscuit boy, the old darkey of Cream of Wheat and the Victor Talking Machine Dog would never have been worth the millions of dollars at which their owners prize them but for the fact that they have been ding-donged into the public day after day and month after month and year after year in the magazines, in the street cars, in the newspapers and on the bill-boards. ”

“ The repetition of the poster design in the store window at the place where the article can be purchased will be strongly supplemental, will tend to freshen the mind of the consumer as having seen the poster and create a desire to buy and try at just the right moment. ”

“ And so it always will be—you must deliver the goods in order to make good. Bill-posting is an accredited medium of advertising simply because it deserves it—it has won its spurs.
Posting has many advantages over other methods of advertising. ”

“ It’s a game of confidence between buyer and seller, but woe betide the advertiser who considers it a confidence game. You must “Make Good” with the consumer to insure future sales and only in repetition lies success and reputation.
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Checking the Service
“To Err is Human”
The Bill-Poster is just as prone to errors, both of omission and commission, as men in any other business, and while in the case of Associated Bill-Posters service is guaranteed, it is advisable even with them to check wherever possible so as to make sure that service has been actually rendered as guaranteed. ”

“ If you have a grudge against an official solicitor, don’t take it out on the innocent advertiser by giving him poor service. Write the advertiser telling him that the agent isn’t giving you proper treatment, and, if your claim is just and can be proven, ten to one he will rectify the trouble. ”

“ It is but human to do your best for those you know.
Many an advertiser has killed a thousand dollar space with a twenty dollar sketch.
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General Hints to the Poster Advertiser
Don’t try to be funny in your advertisements. If you’re that good, you can make more money in the Bill Nye business.
Owing to the fact that posting is exposed to the elements, extra paper should be sent with your regular shipment to replace damaged posters. 20% extra is the usual allotment for renewal paper.
A bill-poster’s month is four weeks, rather than a full calendar month ”

“ To familiarize the public with your package means instant recognition when they see it on the dealer’s shelf, counter or floor space.
If possible, have your poster made by a poster artist, and not by a designer of newspaper or magazine advertisements. The proper handling and harmony of colors, [15] as well as that broad poster-carrying effect can only be fully realized by the artist who has specialized in that field.
The poster should be judged from a distance, and should be made for carrying effect rather than close view. People do not stand close to a poster ”

“ Use good paper and non-fading inks.
Better prices can always be secured by furnishing your own sketches and then getting competitive prices. Where the lithographer originates the idea and furnishes the sketch he naturally and rightly charges liberally for it.
Rain-lapped posters can be had at a slight additional expense. To “rain-lapp” a poster means to paste the upper sheet over the margin of the next lower sheet just as shingles are placed on a house. ”