WHEN BUSINESS IS DULL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4366, 16 January 1922, Page 4

WHEN BUSINESS IS DULL

SHOULD MONEY BE SPENT ON

ADVERTISING ?

Mr J. M. A. Hott (of J.. Hott, Ltd., advertising agents, Wellington), in “New Zealand Business and Industrie's,” published the following strong case for the continuation of advertising when business is depressed : When visiting one of my clients a few days ago I saw in his private office a picture which furnishes me with the text for, this month’s article. Certainly the drawing was not produced by a Royal Academician—indeed it looked as if it had been den signed by the office boy—but despite this fact it told a story, and most effectively. It simply represented a good old Leghorn .hen looking for dinner with the, energy which marks that breed of fowl—and while this was interesting, the most important part was the roughly lettered phrase underneath : “Does a Hen Stop Scratching Because the Worms are Scarce ?”

That little motto ought to be printed and placed on the desk of a good many New Zealand business men today. Too many of them are sitting down—talking about calamity, about troublous timesi, about short finance —while according to some the last straw has been added by the publican tion of the tariff proposals. Surbly this is hot the right attitude fbr business men to-day, and it is very refreshing at times to contrast this viewpoint with that which is being taken by some of the more aggressive executives of the community. One .of them was in my office only a few weeks ago, and when talking over business he mentioned that, aL though he was no longer in the position of having to ration orders', he was still getting his fair share or what was going. He emphasised the fact that he had to fight for business, but also'emphasised the fact that orders were there for those who worked for them, and that .he was getting a goodly portion. , If there is one thing certain it is that the fearful ones in business have lost, some of their .lead to the bptim-i istic men who have, been steadily pushing on ahead. Of cour.se business is not as good as it xyas, but there is still lots of business to be got. Imports last year were extraordinarily high\ but. you have only got to watch the figures each month for 1921 and work out the average for. the last two years to see that stocks of many lines are getting back to normal —and hence, although buying may be reduced, it is still going on. There are still mouths to be fed and bodies to be clothed—and the orders .will go to the business man who pushes hardest for them.

This indeed is your opportunity, Mr Business Man, and if some of your competitors have stopped to sit down and shiver,’get as far ahead as you can. while they are waiting. In this connection I spent some months at our Sydney office recently and was very interested to notice the great difference in' the viewpoint of business men over here compared with those in Australia. Tp land tn New Zealand in July last was like coming into the fog after being in the sunshine —yet business men in Australia had just as many problems to face as those in the Dominion. In many instances they have bigger difficulties, but they are taking them more cheerfully. Possibly Australia is more used to sudden depression in business, but whether that be the case or not there, business men are still going on working steadily, and they have not forgotten how to smile. Let us face this thing and get right down to tin tacks. Turn back the

pages of the years and think of some of the depressions through whicn New Zealand business has passed and has come out satisfactorily. Think of the 1908-09 depression—quite a lot of folk thought, that the world was coming to an end then, but the clouds rolled by, the sun'shone once more, and the men who kept steadily plugging away during the times of depression eventually won out. AH this applies with, special enn phasis to the business man’s advertising. One of the main factors in his selling campaign is his allocation for publicity. If he is wise he will not reduce salesmen unless they prove absolutely unprofitable and get cold feet and so he should keep his advertising going even though he may find it necessary to pare his media and cut out duplication of circulation. When it is harder to get orders you must simply advertise harder and get them. The pot must be kept boiling, and that object will, not be achieved by drawing the fires—moreover, if tne fires are , drawn, quite a lot more money will have to be spent in getting the steam up again. Here's where the story of our friend the Leghorn hen comes in again—sne does not stop scratching because the worms are scarce, and the business man should not stop advertising because. times are more difficult. Certainly there will be a reduction in the margiflr of profit as compared with prosperous times in the past, but we must not let that fact worry us—it is better to make progress 1 , hold the fort and keep the wheels turning on a small profit, than to stop altogether, and eventually lose still more profit. There is another class of business man to whom this preachment is ad.dressed —those who are not advertising to-day. I have one of! them in my mind. He is a most charming gentleman, and for some years past I have been urging that his company should do something to establish a demand for its brand, rather than for its goods alone. Right through these years he has told me that it was impossible for their firm to advertise, because they had far more orders than they could fill, and my sugges-

tion that this delightful state of affairs could not last for ever was ; waved airily aside. - I saw him again a few months ago; and pointed out that the time had surely arrived when he wanted to do something to keep the wheels of his factory going. He told me a most gruesome tale of the position—how they had put men off and how their factory was working short time, ending up with the statement that “they simply could not afford to advertise to-day!’’ It has taken several weeks to convince him that this is just the time he should advertise, and his campaign will be launched in the course of a few weeks. There are too many business men who are still at the point that he has now passed. They fail to see that it is the time, of times to increase the advertising appropriation when or-i ( ders slacken down. When business grbws dull good advertising produces orders, because advertising is nothing but salesmanhsip in print. Advertising helps to turn dull business intp good business, so when business is quiet the advertising campaign is the last thing in the world that should be cut down—not the first. ,

Times lik? these, however, should undoubtedly cause the business man to look still more carefully into his advertising allocation, and see to .1 that he secures maximum efficiency for every pound of expenditure. Far rtoo much money is being spent for badly prepared, badly placed and badly planned publicity, and, unfor-

I tunately, quite a lot of manufacturers look upon this expenditure as being ! an investment, whereas it is nothing of the kind. Good advertising is an I investment, but poor advertising is • undoubtedly an expense. Good advertising that is telling the manufacn turer’s story effectively cannot be cut down, therefore the thing to dp is to turn poor advertising into good advertising. Too often the business man thinks he alone can handle his advertising effectively, but while undoubtedly he knows his own business better than an outsider, nevertheless he shbu’d also remember that the art of presenting the facts regarding his goods is a business in itself. The business man may be able to write a good letter, but he is not therefore equipped to edit a newspaper,, and so, tool, the advertising expert is able to handle the advertising campaign better than a man who has not the. necessary training and experience in advertisings

Another point of importance —in times like these the pruning knife should be applied to so-tpalled ‘ adveri tising,” particularly where the advertisement cannot be altered frequently. Frequency of change is one of th ' first essentials for success in advertising. Test the matter for yourself. I will wager that you are not able to close your eyes and repeat what appears on twp of the signs opposite your office, the other side, of the street and yet you see them a dozen times a day. Why? Because you have seen them so frequently that they have worn a brain groove. Let one of these signs be painted to-morrow, and you will know exactly what It says and what it tells. So, too, with an advertisement—it must be changed as frequently as possible if results are to be secured. The most successful advertisers realise this —we have one client who is marketing one article, and yet his advertisements are changed 312 times in the year—every day the message is told in a different way.

Another reason which makes the newspaper the most valuable medium is that it gets to the reader at a time when he has but few distractions. It is read by the fireside in the home, when the purchases—-most of them will have some relation to the home —can receive the most careful coni sideratidn.

Finally, remember th,at there’s still lots of business to be done and that the man who goes hardest after it will get it. Remember, too, that if some of your competitors are prepared to quit there is all the more business left for you.