You tell me. Here’s an interesting little book titled, How to Write Advertisements That Sell—Methods by which 146 shrewd advertisers plan, layout, and place their copy.
I’m not saying this 1912 guide has it all right, I’m just saying it’s interesting that so much of a one hundred year old book remains pretty true.
An excerpt…
What does the buyer want? How does your product fit that want? What tone should dominate your advertisement, and what should be its chief appeals for trade? In the answers to those questions you have the foundation of successful advertising—the center and heart of the message your campaign should carry.
Knowledge of your product in itself is not enough; you must know your product in relation to its prospective purchaser.
How to Write Advertisements That Sell, A. W. Shaw Company
Haha… no, I haven’t a clue why they used a section title like “What Makes Men Buy,” when they discuss what women buy as well. Foible of the times I’m guessing. Thank goodness many things have changed.
LOVE the charts.
How to Write Advertisements That Sell
The book is part of the Duke University Libraries’ Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920.
Posted in JULY 2017 / Chuck Green is the principal of Logic Arts, a design and marketing firm, a contributor to numerous magazines and websites, and the author of books published by Random House, Peachpit Press, and Rockport Publishers.Contact.
Thoughts?