Net Advertising Group

MR. ADVERTISER!
You spend your money to tell People what you’ve got to sell.
Now, what kind of People can afford to buy your particular Goods?

What income must they possess to be probable Consumers of your Advertised Product? How many possibilities of Sale has your product per thousand average Readers?

These are all vital factors in the framing up of your campaign, and in the prospects of Success from it. Here are some Census figures upon which we base our Campaigns and Calculations.

In the year 1900 there were 15,964,000 Families in the United States. These Families averaged about five persons each, or a total population of 75,994,575. Fifty-one per cent of that population
lived in the country – 10 2/3 per cent was Semi-urban, and 38 1/3 per cent lived in Cities and Towns.

The Newspapers and Periodicals these Families read had a total circulation of 8,168,148,749 copies per year. That means 512 copies per year per Family, or nearly two copies per day for each Family.

A great deal of Reading, isn’t it?

Now comes the astonishing part of the Census figures. Nearly 33 per cent of all these
Families had an average Income of less than $400 per year, or about $80 per capita.
Only 21 per cent of these Families had an annual Income of $400 to $600.
Only 15 per cent of these Families had an annual Income of $600 to $900.
Only 10 1⁄2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $900 to $1,200.
Only 7 1⁄2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $1,800 to $3,000.
And, of the Automobile Class only 5 per cent had an Income of over $3,000 per Family, or
$600 per capita.

Now, wouldn’t that set you thinking?

Suppose you have Pianos to sell through advertising, how many Families of the total that read Newspapers and Magazines could afford to buy one? Then, how many of these are already supplied?

That estimate shows your Possible Market through Advertising, and indicates the way that Market must be approached.

It also shows about how many Readers you must pay to reach who cannot buy your Piano, no matter how much your advertising makes them want it. And it also shows the futility of writing “Catchy” copy to attract the greatest number of Readers for your advertisement, What you need is not numbers of Readers, but Class of Readers.That very limited class you must convince, when you once get its attention, or you lose all profit from your Piano advertising. You must make up in Conviction and Selling-force for what you lose in possible number of purchasers with such a proposition.

But, when your product is something which can be used by the Masses, it is then a better subject for Advertising. Because, you then have about 85 per cent more possibilities of Sale, among Average Readers, than you would have had with a Piano or Automobile. The
current mistake in Advertising to this great 85 per cent of Average Families is that of talking over their heads, in terms and thought-forms which are unfamiliar or unintelligible to them.

Observe that not one of this great 85 per cent of families has an Income of more than $1,800 a year, or $360 per person. Observe also that the Average Income of this great 85 per cent is less than $500 per year, per family, or $100 per head. We must not expect the
Average of such people to have classical educations, nor an excessive appreciation of Art and Inference.

Neither are they as Children in Intellect, nor thick-headed Fools. They are just Average Americans of good average intelligence, considerable shrewdness, and large bumps of Incredulity. Most of them might have come “from Missouri” because they all have “show
me!” ever ready in their minds, when any plausible Advertising Claim is made to them.
But, they are willing to be “Shown” when the arguments are sensible enough, as well as simple enough, to appeal readily to their mental make-up. They are not suffocating for want of pretty pictures and pleasing phrases in Advertising.

What they are most interested in is, “Show me how to get more for my money of what I need for Existence and Comfort rather than for Luxury.” This “great 85 per cent” of
Readers has a peculiar Habit-of-Thought or Mental Calibre of Its own which responds most freely to a certain well-defined form of approach and reasoning.

To strike the Responsive Chord with the class of Readers aimed at is to multiply the Selling-power of every Reason-Why given and every line of space used.

----------------------------- Dennis Gartland is editing the works of some of the greatest advertising minds. Dennis is one of the foremost experts on search engine optimization, pay per click advertising and combining traditional and internet media. He is also CEO of Net Advertising Group. You can reach Dennis at 330-503-3108, www.netadvertisinggroup.com or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ----------------------------