filed alphabetically by subject or title. For proofs, the envelope
scheme, as described for clippings, can be used. Envelopes of this
size--7"×9"--will also accommodate copies of most circulars, blanks,
and booklets, but if the sizes average larger a vertical file drawer,
with large envelopes, can be used. The vertical file will also
accommodate catalogs. These files being permanent, the expense of
elaborate cabinets can be dispensed with by substituting the cheaper
transfer files supplied by all manufacturers of such equipment.
Each time a piece of advertising copy is re-set in a different size,
it should be given a new number. New numbers should also be given each
circular, booklet, or blank when it is re-printed, provided there is
the slightest change in the copy.
On each envelope, the copy number should be entered, and if the copy
takes several numbers, all should be entered. Copy bearing the title
"Your Chance" may be set in three sizes--full page, No. 640; half page,
No. 641; and quarter page, No. 645; all proofs will be filed in one
envelope and the three numbers will be entered on the outside.
The register of numbers and the file of proofs provide for the
identification of any copy; if the title of any piece of copy is
wanted, the number being known, reference to the register gives it; or
if the title is known, reference to the file gives the number.
PRINTING ORDERS AND TRACERS
Great care is necessary in issuing and following up orders for
printing; every detail must be watched closely if satisfactory results
are to be secured. In the majority of offices the advertising manager,
or a man under him, attends to all details of ordering printing. Large
concerns find that it pays to employ an experienced man for this work
alone. To a concern whose printing bills amount to several hundred
dollars a month, a man who will give close attention to every detail
of the work, from seeing that he gets the stock specified to checking
bills for overcharges, can make his services worth a good salary.
In printing, as in everything else, the personality of the house
should stand out--a typographical style should be established. This is
accomplished much more quickly if every detail of the printing is in
the hands of one man.
There are concerns in which publicity and sales work must be subdivided
to such an extent that the sales manager has all printed matter
prepared under his direct supervision; while the advertising manager
is responsible for the preparation and placing of the copy. In one
such concern, which has come under the writer's observation, copy
for printing is turned over to a man entirely outside of the sales
division. The theory is that the outside man will watch the interest
of the house, in the matter of price, more closely than the man who
prepares, and perhaps is to use, the copy.
This theory may have some foundation in certain quarters; probably
there are some otherwise competent advertising men who are occasionally
outwitted by the printer; but it is also true that the buyer of
printing, who places his orders on the basis of price alone, frequently
loses more in quality than he saves in cost. The man who is to use
a booklet or folder is really the best judge of its worth--what he
can _afford_ to pay for the kind of work he wants; he knows best
its possible value as a revenue producer. He should be competent to
supervise the placing of the orders, but without exception _all_
printing orders should be placed by the same man.
No matter by whom placed, the printing order should specify every
detail; or if it is not on the order blank, there should be a
specification sheet. The specifications would be something like those
shown in the order form, Fig. 9.
This order should be made in triplicate. The original and duplicate
will go to the printer, the duplicate to be signed and returned as an
acknowledgment of the order, while the triplicate is filed in a tickler
under the date when the acknowledgment should be received--usually the
following day.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Triplicate Form of Order for Printing]
When the duplicate comes back from the printer it is placed in the
tickler, under the date when proofs may be expected. At the same time
the triplicate is removed from the tickler and placed in a loose-leaf
binder, all copies being filed in numerical sequence. It will be noted
that, at the bottom of the triplicate, the department or account to be
charged is entered, this record being made when the order is placed.
When proofs are returned, the duplicate is moved ahead to the promised
date of delivery. In this way the follow-up for orders is made
practically automatic, all orders filed under any date being removed
for attention on that day.
Little difficulty is experienced in getting printers to put the order
number on the invoice, when requested to do so. The return of two or
three invoices to a printer who neglects this will have the desired
effect. With the numbers on the invoices it is a very simple matter to
find the copy of the order, which will show just what was ordered and
for what department.
=Records of Printing.= A record of all printed matter received and its
disposition is quite as important as for any other class of property.
Unless properly stored and correctly recorded, there is likely to be a
great waste of stock. Many large concerns lose much more through waste
in this direction than the salary of a competent stock clerk. Not all
concerns will require a stock clerk for this purpose alone, but in
every office the stock of printed matter should be placed in charge of
one person--a clerk, perhaps, who has other duties. That person should
be made responsible for the stock, just as the stores clerk is made
responsible for the property in the factory storeroom.
When printing is received, it should be first checked against the order
copy on file, and then put in the storeroom, or sent to the department
where it is to be used if not to go into stock. In the storage of
printing, a very necessary requirement is that it be kept clean,
otherwise, in the case of matter carried in stock for a long period,
there may be as much as a ten per cent loss through spoilage.
It is best to have all printing put up in packages of specified sizes,
depending on the quantities used. The printer will usually make the
size of his packages fit the needs of the customer, if requested
to do so. On the outside of each package, the name and quantity of
the contents should be recorded. When possible a sample should be
attached.
[Illustration: OFFICES OF THE ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT, BURROUGHS ADDING
MACHINE COMPANY, DETROIT, MICH.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Perpetual Stock Record for Printing, Showing
its Disposition]
An extensive advertiser will require a good-sized room for the storage
of printing, while for some concerns a small cabinet will answer the
purpose. In storing, the packages should be arranged according to name,
maintaining the alphabetical order so far as possible. A numerical
arrangement, by form numbers, is sometimes recommended, but any filing
scheme which makes it necessary to refer to a supplementary index to
find a number before the article itself can be located is not favored.
A low stock limit should be set for every piece of printing that is
used regularly and likely to be re-ordered. One of the most simple
methods of handling this is to make one package of the quantity set, so
arranging the stock that it will be the last package reached. On the
outside a label is pasted--or a rubber stamp can be used--printed as
follows:
This package must not be opened without first notifying the office.
Failure to observe this rule will be considered sufficient cause for
instant dismissal.
After the storage plan has been arranged then comes the question of
stock records. A simple record which will show quantities received,
issued, and on hand is needed. The form shown in Fig. 10 is used by
a manufacturer who supplies dealers, who are his customers, with
catalogs, booklets, and other forms of printing. The same form is
adapted for use by a concern selling through branches or agencies,
while for another business, the form would be modified, eliminating
records of shipments.
This form is printed on a sheet punched for a loose-leaf binder. A
sheet is used for each catalog, folder, booklet, circular, mailing
card, or other piece of printing, the name being written at the top of
the sheet. The sheets are filed in alphabetical order, indexed with
suitably tabbed index sheets.
When printing is received and the order checked, the name and
description is entered at the head of one of these sheets--except in
the case of a re-order, when a sheet will be found in the binder. The
date, quantity, from whom received, and the cost are next recorded
in the proper columns. If it is a new piece of printed matter, the
quantity received is also entered in the _on hand_ column; if a
reprint, the quantity is added to the stock on hand and the total
extended.
For printing that is to be sent to a dealer, an order is entered on the
form shown in Fig. 11. This gives detailed instructions for shipping,
with the quantity and description of the matter to be sent. The order
is made in duplicate. The original goes to the shipping
clerk, while the duplicate, on a blank sheet, is kept in the office as
a follow-up on the shipping clerk.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Shipping Order for Printing to be Sent to a
Dealer]
As shipments are made, the shipping clerk enters in the columns
provided for that purpose, the quantity sent and the date. When the
entire order is filled, it is returned to the office. Every day the
duplicates are examined and inquiry is made of the shipping clerk
regarding any orders for which the originals have not been returned.
When the original is received, the duplicate is destroyed.
Shipments are next entered on the stock sheets, while the original
orders are filed in a binder, alphabetically by dealers names.
Reference to this file shows exactly what advertising matter has been
sent each dealer.
PERIODICAL ADVERTISING
When the question of periodical advertising is taken up, the most
important of all publicity fields is entered. From the country weekly,
through the entire list of city dailies, scientific and literary
weeklies and monthlies, popular magazines, class magazines, and trade
papers for every vocation, religious papers, and reviews, periodicals
can be selected which will reach any class or cover any territory. With
the thousands of publications to select from, the advertising manager
needs to know which ones will best reach the people he wants to reach;
what papers have the largest circulations; which are most popular among
a given class or in a certain territory. He must be posted on rates
and discounts, that he may cover his territory economically. And added
to this, he must have a perfect checking system, that he may know
to a certainty what returns each and every publication is bringing
him. Such a system may show him, for example, that the magazine with
a circulation of a million and an advertising rate of $5.00 a line,
brings orders at a less cost than another in which he is paying but
$2.00 a line--or _vice versâ_. Perhaps the cost in both is within the
amount he is prepared to pay, but he must _know_ what it costs, that he
may know where to increase and where to curtail the appropriations.
=Rate Cards.= Supposing the business to have been just started, or
one that has done no advertising--and this is the most satisfactory
premise from which to work, in laying out a general system for the
department--among the first duties of the advertising manager will
be to secure information about mediums, and the chief source of
information will be the publications themselves, as they will respond
promptly to requests for rate cards.
If the advertising manager gets rate cards from a hundred publications,
he will find probably forty or fifty different shapes, sizes, and
styles. Several spasmodic attempts have been made to induce publishers
to adopt a uniform size for rate cards, with but little success. In the
effort to produce something striking, the convenience of the advertiser
is very likely to be overlooked. One publisher will use a 3"×5"
card--the most convenient size; another, in order to better display the
artistic ideas of his own copy department, uses a card 6"×9"; a book
of rules is issued by another; the result is a miscellaneous collection
that does not fit any size of file made.
To insure uniformity in their files, advertising agencies have been
obliged to design rate sheets or cards which they send to the publisher
to be filled in. Some large advertisers now follow the same plan,
requesting publishers to enter rates on special forms.
But whether or not he uses a special form, every advertiser should have
his own file of rate cards--even if the information is written on a
blank card. The special information needed is shown in Fig. 12. This
can be on a card, or if preferred, a sheet to be filed in a loose-leaf
binder can be used. The cards or sheets should be indexed
alphabetically, under the names of the publications.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Index Card for a Record of Advertising Rates]
If full and satisfactory information is not obtained from the
publishers, it is well to supplement it with information from an
advertising agency. The successful agency, through observation on
behalf of a number of clients, usually has more dependable information
about a given publication than can be obtained by any one advertiser.
All sources of information should be made use of; if the article
advertised is sold to the trade, much valuable information can be
secured from local dealers. In planning a daily paper campaign for a
certain commodity, a letter was sent to each dealer contiguous to each
city asking what morning and evening papers had the largest sale in his
town; at what hour each was received; and the general trend of local
political sentiment. This brought a gratifying response, and helped in
the selection of papers which covered, not only the cities, but the
small towns. Another advertiser secured some very satisfactory reports
from his traveling salesmen, relative to the value of local papers in
which he contemplated advertising.
=Advertising Contracts.= Contracts for advertising are usually made
once a year, in advance. Most publishers of magazines and newspapers
grant certain space discounts, based on the space used within one
year, and in many cases, to secure these discounts, contracts must be
made in advance. Some trade paper publishers allow space discounts,
others maintain flat rates, all of which must be considered in making
contracts.
Practically all magazines, most newspapers, and some trade papers,
allow special discounts or commissions to advertising agencies--though
in the case of newspapers, in many cities, this discount applies only
to _foreign_ advertising, or that originating outside of the city of
publication.
An increasing number of advertisers are placing contracts for space
through the agencies, and relying largely on the advice of the agency
in the selection of mediums. Since the business of the largest and most
successful advertisers is placed through the agencies, it would seem to
be a safe rule to follow. But because an agency handles the orders, the
shrewd advertising manager will not relax in his watchfulness of his
employer's interests. He will maintain just as complete a rate file,
and watch the bills as closely as though dealing direct with publishers.
The experienced advertiser plans his campaigns well in advance, making
annual appropriations for all advertising. This enables the advertising
manager to select mediums, determine the amount to be used in each
class, and prepare suitable copy for the different publications.
This question of the preparation of copy for series of ads applies
especially to national campaigns and local advertising of a general
publicity nature. The advertising manager of a department store is
obliged to prepare newspaper copy daily, and at best can plan his copy
not more than two or three days in advance. In a national campaign
in which advertising is for direct returns, copy must be _tried out_
and its character changed frequently. This does not mean that, in any
case, the same copy should be run indefinitely; it should be changed in
practically every issue. While following the general style adopted for
the house, there should be something new in every issue--something that
will attract and cause the reader to look for the ad each month.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Schedule of Monthly Insertions in Periodicals]
When the amount of the appropriation has been decided, a schedule of
the mediums to be used should be made. This schedule
should include the space to be used in each publication. Indeed,
the schedule of mediums and space that it is desired to use, often
determines the appropriation. For a general publicity campaign, this
schedule can be made absolute, but when the advertising is for direct
returns, it should be elastic. Mediums which do not pay after a fair
trial, should be dropped, and there should be room in the schedule for
mediums not at first included. Changed conditions may make it advisable
to add a medium which previously has been unprofitable.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Order Blank Used for Ordering Insertions of
Advertising Copy]
The advertiser who advertises for direct inquiries or orders, usually
finds it necessary to revise his schedule monthly, basing each schedule
on previous results. That he may act intelligently, he must have
an exact record of past results. A convenient form for the monthly
schedule is shown in Fig. 13, which is printed on a sheet punched for
filing in a loose-leaf binder.
Previous results from each publication on each class of goods is shown
in respect to inquires, amount of sales, and cost of the advertising.
In the three columns at the right of the space for each ad, cost of
each, and total cost are shown.
Separate sheets are used for popular magazines, trade papers, and
newspapers. When copy has been sent, the sheets are placed in a
loose-leaf binder, the full schedule for each month being in one place
where it can be readily referred to.
=Orders for Insertion.= When an agency is employed, the agency usually
sends copy and orders for insertion to the publisher; though some
advertisers prefer to send copy direct, leaving the agency to send
orders for insertion. It usually happens, too, that some orders are
sent direct instead of through the agency. One large advertiser follows
the practice of sending orders direct to those publishers who do not
allow agency commissions, all others going through the agency.
If orders are to be sent direct, a special advertising order blank
should be provided. This order should specify to the last detail the
conditions of the order. A blank, which is self-explanatory, is shown
in Fig. 14. The order is made in duplicate and the copy is filed under
the name of the publication.
=Checking Returns.= A necessity to the advertising department is an
efficient system of checking and recording returns from advertising.
Without a checking system on which he can depend, the advertising
manager is spending his employer's money blindly--he does not know what
he is getting for it.
The first requirement in devising a system is a method of _keying_ ads,
that inquiries or orders may be identified and credited to the proper
mediums. Keying systems there are without number--to describe all of
them would require a book the size of this one--but those most commonly
used are adaptations in one form or another, of the idea of changing
the address.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Card Used for a Record of Inquiries from a
Given Publication]
One of the oldest methods is to use a department number or letter in
the address, changing the number in each publication in which the ad
appears--the address in one would be _Dept. A_; in another, _Dept.
B_. This method is used successfully by some advertisers, but it has
its objections. Most people realize that no concern is so large that
an inquiry will not reach the proper department. If, for example, an
inquiry in response to a beef extract ad, addressed to Swift & Co.,
failed to reach the beef extract department, it would indicate a very
lax system of handling correspondence.
Changing street numbers, room numbers, or postoffice box numbers, is
another common method of keying. This can be operated successfully by
notifying the local postal authorities that all mail is to be delivered
at one number, regardless of the address.
An adaptation of the number key, which can be used to advantage for a
small number of publications, is a combination of numbers representing
publications and dates. First, the publications are numbered, these
numbers being used as the first part of the address. To the publication
number is added the number of the month or week of publication. To
illustrate:
Suppose that the Technical World is No. 5 on the list and the ad
is run in October. The key number would be 510--5 standing for the
publication and 10 for the month. All replies with that address would
be credited to the Technical World for October.
In using this system it is necessary to use some figure--usually 0--for
a repeater to avoid confusion; No. 112 might mean publication No. 1,
month No. 12, or publication No. 11, month No. 2. By adding a naught
after the publication No., confusion is avoided--1102 would mean No.
11, 2nd month, 10012 would indicate No. 10, 12th month. The system can
be further varied by using N., S., E., and W., or by substituting Ave.
for St. or _vice versâ_.
When readers are requested to ask for catalogs or other printed matter,
the numbers by which these are known to the reader can be used for the
key--as bulletin _A_, bulletin _B_, etc.
For either direct inquiries or orders one of the most popular and
satisfactory keying systems is to use a coupon, indicating the
publication and month in the coupon--_T W 11_ printed in small type in
the coupon would mean Technical World for November.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Reverse of Checking Card Used for a Record of
Sales]
A coupon to be filled in offers the reader a convenient means of
answering the ad, and this has a tendency to induce a larger number of
replies. Few people will fail to use the coupon or the address given.
A certain very large advertiser, who uses the coupon, states that less
than one per cent of his replies are without means of identification;
either the coupon is used or the name of the magazine is mentioned.
To make their checking systems as nearly perfect as possible, some
advertisers write to all readers who fail to use the key, requesting
them to state where the ad was seen. Some enclose a postal for the
reply, others enclose a printed slip, on which the magazines used are
listed, to be checked and returned.
A reasonable expense is justified to find out where replies do come
from, for it is as much to the advertiser's interest to continue
the use of all profitable mediums as to drop the unprofitable ones.
Many of the most successful advertisers, however, consider it safe
to distribute unidentified replies pro rata, basing the distribution
on the number of keyed replies--that is, if 30 per cent of all keyed
replies can be traced to the Technical World, that magazine will be
credited with 30 per cent of all unidentified replies.
When the mail is opened all replies should be sorted by key numbers,
inquiries and orders separated. Then the total number of inquiries, and
number and amount of orders from each publication should be ascertained
and credited.
For recording credits a form, similar to the one shown in Fig. 15,
should be used. This may be on a card or in loose leaf. A card is
used for each ad, in each publication--that is, if there are seven
insertions in the Technical World in one year, seven record cards will
be used--one for each insertion. These cards or sheets are to be filed
under the names of the publications.
On the back of the card the form shown in Fig. 16, is printed. This
provides for a daily record of sales resulting from the inquiries
recorded on the face, or from the ad if it calls for direct orders.
These forms supply all necessary data for a complete statistical
record for each publication. Too much time would be required to look
through all of these cards every time information is desired about a
given publication; a more condensed record of total results should be
provided.