Enlisting the Smoker's Aid. The Isenberg Cigar Company, of Wheeling, W. Va., enlists smokers to help in enlarging its list of customers through the offer of a premium for recommending its stogies to their friends. To each customer is sent ten letters with order blanks enclosed. The order blanks are numbered and recorded. In case six orders are credited to a customer's efforts, he is sent a novelty "For a Rainy Day." This is what appears to be a picture in an oval frame, showing an umbrella. The umbrella is really a dollar bill carefully folded to simulate a "weather stick." Winning the Children. One of the big New York dailies has organized a Bed-time Stories Club, composed of children who enroll and pledge themselves to be kind to dumb animals, and who receive a club button and membership certificate. In every issue the paper carries a department of the club news. In connection with this club, the paper conducted a school letter contest and distributed sixty special prizes to the club members who wrote the best letters about what happened on the first day at school. If the members did not attend the day school opened, they could write about their first day at school. The letters were written on one side of the paper, and were confined to not more than two hundred words. The first prize was a special set of eight bound volumes of Bed-time Stories; the second, a choice of a Boston bull puppy or a pair of Belgian hares or a Persian cat; the third, an Eastman kodak; the fourth, a rainy day school outfit, consisting of raincoat, cap and umbrella; the fifth, a Waterman Ideal fountain pen; the next ten prizes were club rings of solid gold in Peter Rabbit design, and the next fifty prizes were that many pure white Peter Rabbits. The prizes were awarded at a monster meeting of the club held at Bronx Park. Farmer's Prize Contest. Kesel Brothers Co., of Marshfield, Wis., conducted a farmers' prize contest. There were three prizes offered for the largest load of women hauled to the store, the prizes being $12, $8 and $5 in merchandise, respectively. Each passenger riding in the wagon was presented with a souvenir, and the drivers got cigars. Two Workable Ideas. June is, of course, the month of weddings, and the proprietor of one store made timely use of the fact by an appropriate trim. In the middle of the window was suspended a big bell of snowy blossoms. On either side was hung a mammoth wedding ring, about a foot in diameter, made of wood and gilded. The display consisted of toilet articles and ivory goods. A Massachusetts store announced: "One of our commercial lead pencils free every day this week with every ten cent purchase; ten pencils with every one dollar purchase. These are a fine pencil and we take this means to further introduce them." The Connecting Link. The success of a store is largely due to the proper attention and care given to the windows, says a writer in Dry Goods. Your show window is the nearest connecting link between yourself and the prospective buyer, and its greatest purpose is to pull the buyer inside after he has come as close as this immediately in front of your door. As the saying is, "So near and yet so far." He is near, it is true; but when it comes to making a sale he may as well be in Egypt. You haven't induced him to enter. Bring him inside, where you can talk to him. It is up to your window to accomplish this. Two important facts or rules, as you may term them, must be borne in mind when dressing your window. First make the window as attractive as possible, arranging the display in as pleasing manner as can be had. Secondly, bearing in mind that the purpose of the window is to pull the buyer inside, your display must be also convincing enough, so that it will create an impulse for the buyer to enter your shop and further investigate the article you are displaying. A Timely Trim. Young people are usually pretty well supplied with funds around Commencement, and the habit of exchanging presents is then much in vogue. Appreciating this fact, one merchant made a bid for this trade. In his window was a large semi-circular pyramid, on top of which two dolls stood side by side. One doll, representing the sweet girl graduate, was garbed in a white dress, while the other represented a senior in cap and gown. From the ceiling were draped flags and ribbons bearing the colors of local educational institutions. Upon the steps of the pyramid were arranged vari ous articles suitable for gift exchange between girls and boys. Strips of white ribbon led from the hands of the boy doll to the various articles appropriate for girls, and strips of red ribbon served a similar purpose in the hands of the girl doll. The window tickets made plain the purpose of these strips of ribbon. Value of Service. The Inland Storekeeper tells of a well-to-do merchant in a Western town who said: "There are a great many customers that I keep through life, but there are some customers who buy once that I never see again. There is something these customers object to. It isn't the merchandise, for I carry the best lines that are made. Then it must be the service of my store. Perhaps one of my clerks was a little surly. Perhaps a man who had been reading my advertisements objected to a 'just as good' offer. Perhaps he had to wait too long for his change. In all events, I watch now for new customers and put myself out to please them in every respect." Summer Slogans. Dainty perfumes for dainty women - the most popular odors of the world's greatest perfumers. Look young again-our shampoo preparation keeps the scalp in perfect health, leaves the hair soft and glossy. Simply delightful! Our talcum powders make you feel so cool after your bath. A well-kept hand is a sign of refinement. We offer the most complete assortment of manicure goods to be found anywhere. We are showing the very latest in fine perfumes — sweet, penetrating and lasting. Step inside and sample them. We carry a large line of sachets - all fresh, pure, of guaranteed strength. Come in and look around that is what this store is here for. Don't forget your sick friend. We have many articles that give pleasure. We have the latest shapes, tints and textures in fine stationery. Don't hope to find a better drug store than ours there isn't one. Are you going to the country? Here are some things you should take along. A cheap tooth brush is dear at any price. Ours may cost more than the bargain kind, but are worth a dozen of them. Going away? We have all the toilet requisites you'll need - cold creams, lotions, perfumes, toilet waters, tooth pastes, powders and brushes, fine soaps, face powders, rouge, etc. Pointers. Fool the public once and you've made a fool of yourself for all time. Let a man remember that a big stock is not all asset. It is liability it is capital that is dead, unless he can make the necessary turnovers that will bring in the interest on that capital. Heavy stock depreciates. Styles change, cards grow dusty, stock gets dull and dingy and discounts are necessary.- Profitable Storckeeping. The Optimist's Corner. There is an honor in business that is the fine gold of it; that reckons with every man justly; that loves light; that regards kindness and fairness more highly than goods or prices or profits. It becomes a man more than his furnishings or his house. It speaks for him in the heart of everyone. His friendships are serene and secure. His strength is like a young tree by a river. Anonymous. The best road to success lies in doing, not only the thing that needs to be done, but in adding something nice that is not required and is unexpected. Original Scheme. A bright idea for interesting the young folks was tried out recently by a store in Hartford, Conn. They offered three prizes to boys and three to girls-first prize, a boy's gold watch or a girl's wristlet watch; second prize, a gold signet ring worth ten dollars; third prize, a five-dollar gold piece. They issued Observation Essay Contest cards, the holders of which might enter the contest and submit their essays as to their observations of the lines of goods carried in stock and the other thing that would impress the alert and watchful person. When the children of Hartford want to buy anything that the Foster company carry, they'll know they can find it there-their observations settled that. A Voting Contest. If various drug manufacturers and salesmen are wondering at increased orders coming in from the Liberty Drug Company, of Alliance, Ohio, they may rest easy that the city is not in epidemic, says the Novelty News, but merely that the commotion is evidence that a premium offer is on, with the drug store as sponsor. This campaign is a voting proposition directed to the small folks of the city, with a fine juvenile automobile, worth $50 oo, a premium to strive for. The votes are obtained by the contestants through trade in this store, each 5-cent purchase bringing five votes, 10 cent purchase, ten votes, etc. Votes may also be procured with the purchase of a 50c and $1.00 coupon book, the former worth 500 votes and the latter 1,000. In the newspaper advertising announcing this sale an entry coupon entitling the holder to 100 votes is inserted. It is to be regretted that the newspaper announcement does not stipulate the awarding of a duplicate prize in the event of a tie, because while this has undoubtedly been provided for, it is a strict ruling of the Post Office Department that such provision always must be made and stipulated. Outside of this, the proposition has the looks of strong appeal and in all probability will prove a valuable move. Free Publicity. Few publicity experts will deny the productive value of getting a firm's or individual's name into local papers in a commercial news item. It is exceptionally good advertising, and is practically bound to be read. An inch in the news column is worth five inches in the advertising columns, and the reasons are obvious. In the first place, people seek news, while regular advertising has to seek readers. Good press work is of inestimable benefit. If Mr. Jones, who is running for Congress, goes about telling what a good man he is his words are not regarded seriously, nor is he. He will have to talk about other things and other people. But let others proclaim the good points of the candidate Jones, and the words are listened to, and there is no ego to offend. So that when a news item of your store or of something connected with your store appears in the paper, it has the effect of thousands of others talking about your store. Into every home it goes, and unassumingly tells about you. In other advertisements comparatively you are Mr. Jones telling people about yourself. Everything considered, it behooves all progressive business men to be on the alert for any occurrence, in which the store might figure, that might be of news interest to readers of local papers. If you cannot attend to the matter yourself, arrange to have a press agent. The news item must reach the city editor in typewritten form, it must contain actual news, and must be written in a style to conform with the style of the paper. And it is to be borne in mind that all city editors prepare the headlines of news items, and also it is their prerogative to change or construe the account in their own way. It is not advisable to drench the editor with news. Use discretion and discrimination, remembering that everything is not news. Anything that is purely and obviously advertising stands hard chances of getting by, for as a rule city editors are jealous of what appears; and while they are always anxious to secure live, snappy feature articles and items, they possess a weird knowledge of what is news to them and what is not. Most editors will vaguely agree that news is the unusual, the extraordinary. But papers have different standards, and city editors have different ideas when it comes io the niceties of the game. Occasionally, it is true, an editor may allow his personal feelings or prejudices to rule his reason, but this is rare. And sometimes it will happen that one local paper will print what another will not. One editor may cut your story down and change a word here and there, while another editor may let the entire account go in unchanged. The good press agent studies the newspapers and studies the editors. He does not try to impress the city editor with his ideas of what does and what does not constitute news. Rather, he falls in line with the editor's views on the subject, and presents matter accordingly. Many things occur that are acceptable as news. The store must figure in some way, and it must be mentioned favorably, or at least not unfavorably. Even the mere name of the news column is of publicity value. Something may happen in front of your store that would prove to be news. Some unusual incident may occur in your store. Your buyer may leave the city, and may return. Most any one in your store might. You might get sick, and later come down to business, and the "many friends of Mr. John Doe will be glad to know, etc." You might move into another building, you might take part in some civic movement or in some commercial activity. You might have some unusual and exceptionally remarkable window display Some friends or relatives might visit you or yours. You may make some improvements to your store, or engage in some building. Perhaps some unique business deal may be transacted wherein you figure. Local conditions may make many other things of news interest. As a rule, an occurrence in a small town is of more importance than the same thing in a larger town. And such things as meetings of directors, and stockholders, etc., are generally as acceptable as news. When the corporation's officers are elected, a write-up of them is in line. When the Excelsior Department Store has a special sale it is not news. But when the Excelsior Department Store holds special sale and intends to give 5 per cent of the sale's receipts to local charity, it is news and may find its way in print. ་་ Many a new enterprise receives a good start through good press work. Generally, newspapers are willing to give new enterprises quite a fair space, feeling it their duty to nurse" local industry, besides which, new enterprises are almost certain to use lots of paid advertising space. And oftentimes there will be something in the news item that may be quoted or otherwise used in the regular advertising. Press work is not child's play, and to get your name in the papers requires a precise application of gray matter, in which every pen point and typewriter ribbon should be immersed. Initiative, energy, a knowledge of human nature, familiarity with local conditions, a sense of humor, and a sacred regard for the truthall of these count in successful press work. If every man in business could realize what wonders press work has accomplished In all lines of endeavor, every man in business will be on the alert for things of news interest. Press work may never be depended on to take the place of regular advertising, but it forms a mighty good supplement. - Manning J. Rubin in Advertising World. Chemistry a Sherlock. Formerly in the criminal courts the evidence of the eye witness was considered the most important, and circumstantial evidence given second place. With the advance of science the positions have been reversed. The opinion of the expert as a rule carries but little weight, but the evidence of the chemist is always received with respect, and stands as certain and final as the laws of nature. The value of this science applied to the detection of crime can be realized when it is known that every city of importance has now attached to its police department completely equipped laboratories in charge of expert analytical and biological chemists, and every new discovery and development is immediately applied toward the safety of society and vindication of the law.-D M. Grosh. |