Too much must not be expected in the way of immediate results; and, indeed, although effort should be made to form an estimate of the amount of business that comes through the advertising, it must be recog nized that it is utterly impossible to weigh such results with exactness. The plans should provide for advertising that is continuous and persistent, remembering that it is constant dropping that wears away stone, and persistent advertising that brings business. Little result is to be expected from spasmodic and irregular advertising; it lacks in force and in cumulative effect. Continuous and systematic publicity stamps upon the minds of the public the name of the company and the inducements which it offers. The man who sees the advertisement of a given trust company daily comes to feel that he is acquainted with it and knows its strength and facilities. Another thing that argues for having advertise Name Address John R. Dow 1734 East 39th St Blacksmith Owner of several houses Business Remarks DATE Ad. matter sent Remarks Reply 10/24/06. Opened acet. "|4106. FIG. 285. ments always before the public is the fact that people are earning money every day, and either saving or spending it. There is an advantage in adopting a suitable emblem, analogous to a trademark, to appear in all the company's advertising, including newspaper and magazine advertisements, circulars and stationery. Such cmblems are in use, with marked success, by a number of prominent banks and trust companies. The emblem may be a neat picture of the company's building, a distinctive style of type, a simple design suggesting the name or location of the company; or it may be an attractive design selected arbitrarily. Its use tends to give individuality to the advertising and to familiarize readers with the advertiser's name and business. In the use of emblems, however, care should be used lest all advertisements appear too much alike, thus causing the reader to pass them by with the idea that he has already read them. It should be a part of the plan to use only good qualities in everything -paper, printing, illustrations, etc. A circular well printed on good paper costs no more for postage if sent by mail than a cheap circular; while its possibilities for good are immeasurably greater. The public instinctively associates cheap advertising with second-rate concerns. MEDIUMS OF ADVERTISING. An important part of the plan of campaign is the selection of mediums. Nothing illustrates more forcibly the change that has taken place in the matter of financial advertising than the number of different mediums, good and bad, which are to-day used for advertising banks ani trust companies. Among them are: Newspapers, daily and weekly. Magazines and illustrated weeklies. Financial periodicals. Circulars, booklets, statements, cards, monthly papers. Pay-roll envelopes. Personal and form letters. Cards in street-cars and suburban cars. Window exhibits. Signs, electric and other, on the building. Bill-boards and other forms of out-door advertisements. Calendars, blotters, wallets and other novelties and souvenirs. NEWSPAPERS. Experts in financial advertising seem practically agreed that for local business the daily newspaper (or the weekly newspaper in small towns having no daily) is the best single medium of advertising, because it reaches more people at a less cost per capita than any other medium, and because it is the place that people expect to find the advertisements of all live concerns. They are also agreed that newspaper advertisements must be supplemented by circulars and booklets. As to the proper proportions of the two mediums opinion is not so unanimous, and the question is largely affected by local conditions. In cities where there are several daily papers, it is important to select the right ones. The important considerations are, a wide circulation and the reaching of the class or classes of people from whom business is desired. Frequently it is wise to use all of the local papers. As between morning and evening papers, the latter have the advantage of being more apt to be taken home and to be read by all members of the family. Ofttimes it is useful to advertise in papers published in German or other foreign language, being careful to have the advertisement written in the same language as the reading matter of the paper. The frequency of the advertisements in each paper will depend largely upon the number of papers used. A common practice is to have the advertisement appear two or three times a week in each paper. The space used is generally two, three or four inches, although much larger spaces are occasionally employed. CIRCULARS AND BOOKLETS. Circulars and descriptive booklets are being issued in great profusion by trust companies all over the country. Their usefulness is unques tioned, but its degree depends upon several things, among them being the familiarity which the people have with such literature. It is evident, for instance, that a given booklet will attract more attention in communi. ties where such things are novelties than it will where every trust company has been issuing them for years. In the latter case, the law of the survival of the fittest is more in evidence. It is customary to have one booklet treating briefly of all the departments of the company, and one booklet on each of the departments-banking, savings, trust, safe deposit, bond, foreign exchange, real estate, etc. In addition, circulars are often prepared, each of which treats of some one function, or one aspect of a function, of the company; e. g., trustee, executor or administrator, guardian, agent, registrar, collections, wills, management of real estate, savings accounts, checking accounts, safe deposit, storage of silverware, storage of furs, letters of credit, interest on accounts. Educative ideas like the value of the habit of saving furnish the subjects of many little booklets. Circulars are issued directed to special classes of people--young men, teachers, firemen, policemen, farmers, actors, married women, working girls, foreigners-circulars for the last-named being written in various foreign languages. Many companies, particularly in towns and smaller cities, find it useful to publish a little monthly paper, distributed gratis, containing such general matter as will interest the readers together with educational and direct advertisements. Most companies publish in circular form their regular statements as called for, but comparatively few get full advertising value from them. The ordinary bank or trust company statement has no meaning to the lay reader, and therefore no interest. But if the statement be explained and put in plain English, excluding technical terms, it may be made a valuable advertising medium. Important results have been obtained from pay-roll envelopes furnished free to large employers of labor, having printed on their face a few well-chosen words on the value of systematically saving a part of one's salary or wages and depositing it in the Blank Trust Company. One large savings bank uses over two millions of such envelopes each year, and finds it a good investment.. There are numerous ways in which circulars and booklets may be distributed. The most common ways are by sending them to persons on the mailing lists and by placing them on the desks and in racks in the office so that people may help themselves. For the purpose of mailing it is well to remember to have the booklets of a size and weight that will permit their being placed, perhaps with a letter, in an ordinary size envelope, and carried for one stamp. Mailing cards are coming to be used for this purpose. A little thought will suggest other ways in which the circulars may be distributed. The officers and clerks may carry a small supply in their pockets and hand them out as favorable opportunity occurs. They may be mailed with interest notices, with notices of safe deposit rent due, with notices to send in pass-books for entry of interest. When pass books are balanced and ready for delivery, there is an excellent opportunity to enclose in the book a neatly printed slip calling attention to the fact that the company is making every effort to render good service, asking for criticisms if the service has been in any way unsatisfactory, and inviting the customer to bring in his friends. MAGAZINES, ETC. Magazines, illustrated weeklies and other periodicals whose circulation is general, not local, are used when a banking-by-mail business is sought. In this field the selection of mediums is of supreme importance, and the advertising manager needs to thoroughly inform himself as to the bona fide circulation of each periodical considered, the classes of people it reaches, and the localities in which its circulation is greatest. The opportunity is large to waste money by placing advertisements in mediums that do not circulate among the people wanted. FINANCIAL PERIODICALS. Financial periodicals are the mediums employed when advertising specially for accounts of banks and other trust companies. LETTERS. Personal letters, and form letters which are written as personal letters, are being widely used, and when intelligently written and handled prove a very valuable advertising medium. They are sent to persons oL the regular advertising lists and to selected lists made up from time to time. For instance, brief letters showing the value of opening savings accounts for the children in the family may be sent to parents of newborn babies, the names being obtained from the birth lists. The subjects treated in the letters may be the same as those covered in booklets, but are treated briefly and in letter style. Some of the letters are direct invitations to open accounts. The "follow-up" system is generally used; i. e., new letters are sent out at regular intervals until the "prospect" becomes a customer or is evidently not to be reached by this method of advertising. The plan being that these letters should partake of the character of personal letters, care must be taken to adhere to the plan in every respect. The best way is to have each letter written separately by a corps of typewriter operators. If this is impracticable, the letters should be printed by a printer who makes a specialty of such work and understands his business. Carbon copies or poorly mimeographed copies should never be used. The letters should be personally signed in ink by an officer of the company, rubber stamp signatures being avoided. They should be sent out as first-class mail matter. Unless these precautions are taken, it is better to have the letters printed as circulars without any pretence of being personal letters. Such circulars will have a better effect than "personal" letters which proclaim upon their faces that they are not what they pretend to be. OTHER MEDIUMS OF PUBLICITY. Advertising cards in street cars are extensively used in most cities. They offer space for only a brief message or reminder; but they are before the eyes of people who usually have nothing to do except to read such cards. Even the man who makes it a habit to read his paper or a book on the car has times when he has finished his reading or wearies of it, and lets his eyes glance at the advertising cards. Care must be taken to have the type used in these cards large and plain enough to be read with ease. It is to be observed that this medium of advertising reaches only those who use the cars, and is available mainly in cold weather when closed cars are in use. Care should be taken to select car lines patronized by persons who would find the office of the advertiser convenient. Copy for these cards must be changed frequently. Window exhibits are used by many companies. They may consist of collections of coins or currency, a check or draft of unusual amount, a picture or model of the company's new building, the last statement of the company, especially if explained in detail, a comparative statement showing growth, an enlarged photographic reproduction of a savings passbook showing how an account increases by persistent saving, etc. One attractive exhibit was made of an hour-glass accompanied by a statement of the amount of interest earned by savings depositors during the hour required for the sand to run out of the upper half. Care must be taken to have such displays not too sensational. It is to be noted, too, that some companies are so located that it might bring danger of a "run" to have a crowd gather about the window. The signs on the building occupied by the company should be distinct enough so that an ignorant person looking for the office will have no difficulty in finding it. There is also a value in signs conspicuous enough to attract attention of the general public, provided a reasonable amount of dignity is maintained. In some cities electric signs at night are used. Calendars, blotters, wallets, rulers and various novelties are extensively used, although their value is questioned by many advertising managers. It sometimes happens that even when the advertising value of such things is known to be small, it is advisable to invest in them in order to retain good will or to follow a custom established in a community, the failure to follow which by any one company would hurt its business. Companies located in small cities or towns or in the outskirts or small business centers of cities doubtless are under a greater necessity of using this kind of advertising matter than are the large companies at the business centers of the principal cities. In common with other concerns, trust companies are continually asked to buy advertising space in programmes, cook-books, monthly church or lodge papers and other printed matter issued by churches, clubs, societies, etc. The opinion seems to be pretty general and pretty definite that such things are practically worthless as advertising mediums. It is nevertheless often advisable, if not necessary, to take space in such pub |