Part 2

_The proper use of colors will make your posters stand out like a sore thumb on a one-armed man._

Colors catch the eye. A small child is attracted to a colored Easter egg where it wouldn’t waste any time on an ordinary piece of hen fruit. We are all susceptible to the beauty and attraction of colors, and nowhere in advertising does color cut quite so much of a figure as in posting.

Strong contrasts and striking effects, rather than daintiness and real artistic combinations, are to be sought for poster work. A poster can either be made or marred by the proper or improper use of colors.

It is not the intention here to go into an exhaustive treatise on the harmony of colors, but rather to give a few general hints and suggest simple color combinations which will be practical when applied to posters.

The primary colors are yellow, blue and red. From these, in combination, all other colors are made.

Black is universally employed in combination with the primaries to give strength to the majority of poster printing.

Yellow, orange and red are warm colors, while violet, blue and green are known as cold colors. The cold colors have a soothing action on the brain; the warm colors tend to stimulate it. The cold colors are the more artistic for poster work; the warm colors have the greatest attention-attracting value.

GOOD TWO-COLOR COMBINATIONS

Black and yellow (strongest primary combination). Black and red. Black and light blue. Black and green. Black and orange. Red and dark blue. Red and green. Red and yellow. Light yellow and dark blue. Blue and orange.

(A white letter used with any of the above will give a three color effect with two printings.)

In combination with black the density and richness of the other colors will be intensified in the effectiveness of the display. Where black is laid over the supplementary colors it often gives the effect of an added color.

GOOD THREE-COLOR COMBINATIONS

Black, red and blue. Black, red and yellow. Black, yellow and blue. Black, red and green. Black, green and orange. Black, orange and blue.

Beyond the use of the three primary colors in combination with black, according to the density and richness of the colors employed, nearly all gradations of color effect are possible.

HARMONIZING HINTS

Red will harmonize with the other two primaries, yellow and blue; also with yellow and green-blue, yellow and violet-blue, green-yellow and blue, green-yellow and violet-blue, and yellow-green and violet-blue. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with red, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Yellow will harmonize with the primaries, red and blue; also with purple-red and blue, orange-red and blue, orange-red and violet-blue, purple-red and green-blue, and red-purple and sea-green. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with yellow, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Blue will harmonize with the primaries, yellow and red; also with yellow and purple-red, yellow and orange-red, green-yellow and red, green-yellow and purple-red, and green-yellow and orange-red. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with blue, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Orange will harmonize with green and violet, green and purple-violet, blue-green and violet, blue-green and purple-violet, sea-green and purple-violet, and sea-green and purple, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Green will harmonize with violet and orange, violet and orange-red, blue-violet and orange-red, and purple-violet and orange, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Purple will harmonize with orange and blue-green, orange and sea-green, yellow-orange and blue-green, yellow-orange and sea-green, and orange-yellow and sea-green, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Bill-Posting For The Local Advertiser

_Advertising is appealing to people through their common sense and their artistic sense in order to win their dollars and cents._

Bill-posting is a logical and splendid medium for the local advertiser, and the baker, the butcher, the candlestick maker can use it with equal facility and advantage.

Posting can be used by the local merchant as the one and only medium, or as a supplement to his newspaper or street-car announcements. Its use has in the past been largely confined to the latter, but this has been chiefly because of the high cost of posters in the small quantities needed for local work. This difficulty is being overcome by the issue of stock posters for every line of business, and it is now possible to get from your local bill-posters either the paper itself or information where you can buy it for nearly every trade and every line of goods which would bear advertising. These posters are made up with a blank space at the bottom for printing in the name of the local merchant. Moreover, many manufacturers to-day furnish posters, imprinted with the local dealer’s name, if he will but post them.

Local poster advertising can be made either general or specific—it can advertise the full line or special sales. The specific advertising is usually more productive than the publicity style. Here are a few suggestions of specific opportunities for local merchants;

BANKS—Solicit savings’ accounts, and state interest-commencing dates.

STATIONERS—Advertise school books and supplies just previous to opening of new term.

FURNITURE DEALERS—Special spring sale of furniture for porch and country places. Advertise April 15th a “Special Discount Sale” to catch people who move into new homes May 1st. Rug sale.

COAL DEALERS—Early fall poster admonishing people to lay in their winter’s supply and save money.

SPORTING GOODS—Advertise baseball and tennis supplies in spring, football goods in fall and skates in early winter. Cameras.

HABERDASHERS—Straw hats and Easter neckwear. Fall derbies, ties, mufflers, etc.

DRUGGISTS—Specialty of prescriptions. Soda-water fountain and special drinks. Christmas gifts. Spring tonic.

JEWELERS—Engagement gifts and wedding presents. Special poster advertising clocks and watches. Silverware poster.

NURSERIES—Seeds, bushes and trees for spring planting.

HARDWARE DEALERS—Lawn mowers, garden tools and seed-time specialties. Farm tools and supplies in special “Farmers’ poster.”

REAL ESTATE—Special sales of lots.

CLOTHIERS—Spring suits and hats. Raincoats and umbrellas. Shirtings and gloves. Fall suits and overcoats.

SHOE STORES—Ladies’ and children’s shoes. Low shoes for spring and summer. Fall shoes, rubbers and overshoes. Baseball, tennis, football and outing shoes.

CUSTOM TAILORS—Made-to-measure clothing for spring. Fall suits and overcoats.

LAUNDRIES—Advertise quality of work and prompt deliveries. Special poster on ladies’ shirt waists and lingerie.

CIGAR DEALERS—Special price box sale of cigars. Pipes and smoking mixtures.

GROCERS—Teas and coffees. Special soap sale. Special advertising of premiums or trading-stamps.

GAS COMPANIES—Gas ranges.

DENTISTS—Artificial teeth and crown work.

PHOTOGRAPHERS—Special one-month price for cabinet photos.

DEPARTMENT STORES—White goods sale. Special silk sale. Remnant sale. Linen sale. Ladies’ and children’s ready-made suits. Shirt-waist sale. Christmas furs. Christmas presents. Men’s hats and clothing. Boots and shoes. Special 10% discount month.

MUSIC STORES—Pianos and organs. Exchange department. Slightly used instrument sale. Installment plan.

SUMMER PARKS—List of attractions, free street-car tickets, etc.

MILLINERS—Easter bonnets. Special $5 trimmed hat.

These are but a few random suggestions, and the list might be continued almost indefinitely, but I have given enough to suggest the possibility of special offerings through posting and show the way.

Most of such posters which cannot be purchased of stock lithographers can be made up by the local printer or newspaper office in one or two colors, with or without wood-cut illustrations, but the more attractive the poster can be made, the better the results will be.

The beauty of posting for the local advertiser is that he knows his advertising cannot be scattered. It will go right in his own territory, and he will not be paying for any waste circulation outside. Then, too, he can select his locations, supplement his special poster with hand-bills to the farmer, newspaper announcements and special window displays to connect his store with just what he is advertising at the time he is advertising it.

The fact that everybody knows the local merchant is no argument against advertising. They also know “the other fellow,” and advertising alone, combined with fair dealing, will give you the lion’s share of the trade.

The local merchant to-day who doesn’t advertise should at least advertise his business for sale, and in the next ten years posting will, I predict, be developed into one of the greatest forms of advertising for the local merchant. It is so big, so forceful, so always-before-you-and-never-to-be-thrown-away that it is bound to command unusual attention in the small town or city.

Talk it over with your local bill-poster and let him help you with suggestions gleaned from his experience.

_Business is built up on confidence. It’s a game of confidence between buyer and seller, but woe betide the advertiser who considers it a confidence game. You must “Make Good” with the consumer to insure future sales and only in repetition lies success and reputation._

Checking the Service

“_To Err is Human_”

The Bill-Poster is just as prone to errors, both of omission and commission, as men in any other business, and while in the case of Associated Bill-Posters service is guaranteed, it is advisable even with them to check wherever possible so as to make sure that service has been actually rendered as guaranteed.

The importance of this is illustrated in the writer’s own experience with every showing that goes up. The following are but a few of the “errors” that were discovered by check, even in large towns where the bill-posting plants are supposedly at their best. Posters have been found put up on the leaves of a double gate which stood open all day. Posters have been put up on walls covering windows, and the paper was punched through to let in the light. Occasionally posters are put up with a sheet blank; one section of the poster was probably left out by the lithographer in collating, and the bill-poster made no effort to replace it. Other posters have been found on fences not high enough to accommodate the whole poster and strips have been torn off at the top or bottom. Showings have been billed that our checker found never went up. Paper has been covered at the end of two or three weeks and never replaced. Once in a while checkers run across a town where a strike is on among the bill-posters, and the paper disfigured by big smudges of lamp black.

The best time to make this check is open to some difference of opinion. Some advertisers prefer to check just as soon as the paper goes on the boards so that complaints may be adjusted early in the life of the showing. Others prefer to check toward the end of the service so they may satisfy themselves that the paper has been kept in good condition, and that none of the stands has been covered by other paper. The advertiser who is posting generally will, however, be glad if he can have check made any time during the life of the posting, especially in towns where he has no local representative.

The main difficulty on a general showing is to secure people to make the check. In towns where you have branch houses, local salesmen, or exclusive dealers, check lists may be forwarded to these. Otherwise it is necessary to depend on your traveling salesman covering the towns in his territory during the life of the posting, or else send the check lists to some local dealer, with a request that he look over and report on the showing for you. Arrangements for checking can also be made, we understand, through the telegraph companies who would have the work done by one of their messengers.

Four things are necessary to watch in checking the showing, viz., Position of the boards on which your paper is posted; position on the boards; condition of the paper; and contiguity to your own posters or those advertising competitive products.

In regard to the first you will of course want a fair share of the paper to go on boards in the center of the town, on the most traveled thoroughfares. You do not want the paper all on the outskirts of the town, or posted in alleys and other inconspicuous places. In regard to the position on the board, the ends of the board are of course preferred positions, and the more posters you can get on corners the stronger the showing will be. In regard to the condition of paper, a glance will be sufficient to satisfy your checker whether the paper is in good order, or whether it needs renewing.

It is also desirable that no two of your own posters be posted too close together on the same board (as a matter of fact it is best to put up each poster on a separate board) and of course it is decidedly objectionable to have paper advertising competitive products put up next to your posters.

The following are illustrations of forms used in checking.

[Illustration: Specimen Check List as Furnished by the Bill-Poster.]

[Illustration: Sample of Checking Form Attached to Check List To be Forwarded to Salesman or Local Representative.]

It is important to remember in this connection that complaints should be filed promptly with the bill-poster, and, wherever possible, the checker himself should call on the bill-poster and arrange for the adjustment of complaints while he is on the ground. Where adjustment cannot be made by the checker on the spot, and correspondence is necessary, complaints must be made within ten days from the date of expiration of service.

[Illustration: Specimen Letter Sent to Dealer when Check List has been Returned by Salesman Unchecked. A Blank Leaf is Provided For Reply, also Addressed Stamped Envelope.]

Connecting Poster Advertising With Sales

“_That good old Ship—Salesmanship_”

Sales results depend upon advertising and the advertising results upon salesmanship. The two are so closely allied as to be all but inseparable, and the Advertising and Sales Managers should pull together as one team.

If you have salesmen on the road keep them thoroughly informed about the advertising you are doing in their territories. Give each salesman a list of the towns which you intend to post in his territory, and do it in advance in order that he may acquaint the dealer with the fact and use the publicity as a sales argument. The salesmen or members of your advertising crew, if you have one, should also be able to use the fact that you are going to post a town to secure window displays in advance from the local dealers, in order that their stores may be connected with the advertising and secure a certain portion of the demand.

Give your salesmen either a sample of the poster to be used—or, better still, a small reproduction of it which he can carry around and show the dealer as Exhibit “A.”

A splendid method of connecting your posting and window displays is to get out a one sheet poster, hanger or banner for window use, the same being a miniature of the poster itself. The repetition of the poster design in the store window at the place where the article can be purchased will be strongly supplemental, will tend to freshen the mind of the consumer as having seen the poster and create a desire to buy and try at just the right moment.

I have found in a long experience with advertising and salesmen that a good live traveller is always awake to the benefits of advertising, and that nine times out of ten it is the result-producing salesman who uses your advertising matter intelligently rather than wastefully and who takes advantage of all your local advertising to use as a lever on the merchant for bigger business.

Checking your local posting by salesmen is of two-fold value. Where the work is honestly and intelligently handled, you not only get an above-the-ordinary checking report, but you impress the salesman, especially if he seeks out each individual location, and spur him on to more active sales work.

The live-wire salesman realizes that in these modern days of fierce competition the aid of advertising is of vital importance and that without it his work would be anything but easy sledding.

To sum up this chapter in a nut-shell:

Acquaint your salesman fully about your local advertising.

Give him a small reproduction or print of the poster itself.

Furnish him, wherever practicable, with small posters or hanger of the same design for store work.

Urge him to secure window displays from the dealer to remain during the life of the posting.

Give him a check list for each of his towns and insist upon him personally inspecting the showing.

Suggest his getting acquainted with the local bill-poster, with the idea that the personal equation almost invariably insures better service. It is but human to do your best for those you know.

_Many an advertiser has killed a thousand dollar space with a twenty dollar sketch._

General Hints to the Poster Advertiser

_Don’t try to be funny in your advertisements. If you’re that good, you can make more money in the Bill Nye business._

Owing to the fact that posting is exposed to the elements, extra paper should be sent with your regular shipment to replace damaged posters. 20% extra is the usual allotment for renewal paper.

A bill-poster’s month is four weeks, rather than a full calendar month; a bill-poster’s year is, therefore, forty-eight weeks.

A discount of 5% is allowed for a continuous showing of three months, and a 10% discount is allowed for a six months’ continuous contract.

The bill-boards are usually the most crowded during the summer months, from about April 15th to October 1st, not only because summer is the best time for the posting of national advertisers with few exceptions, but because of the great amount of circus and other show paper. You will frequently be disappointed in securing space during this period unless you contract for it in advance of showing. Thirty days is usually ample notice for all but the very largest cities, where it is well, in case you wish a showing to go up on a fixed date, to give sixty days’ notice.

Advertisers pay all carrying charges on posters.

If you have branch offices in various parts of the country, a goodly saving in carrying charges may be effected by shipping all paper for a certain territory by freight to your offices in that section of the country and have them re-ship the individual allotments by express. This suggestion will be especially valuable to Eastern advertisers shipping paper to the Pacific Coast, as individual freight shipments mean long delays.

Ask the bill-posters not to place your paper next to competitive paper.

Treat the bill-poster like a white man, see that his bills are paid promptly, and he in turn will show his appreciation by giving his most efficient service.

General Hints to the Bill-Poster

_The buying public of to-day are pretty discriminating. When they ask for mushrooms they’re not going to stand for toadstools._

Use judgment in the placing of posters. Have them harmonize in color scheme, rather than clash. Do not place two posters of exactly the same color background alongside each other.

Do not place competitive products alongside each other. Give them separate locations, or, in the case of a long board, have them as far apart as possible.

Be liberal with your renewal paper. Aside from the fact that it is your duty to see that each poster is maintained in perfect condition the full contract time, the advertiser, especially the one who checks closely, will appreciate the service.

Instead of being afraid to “give something for nothing,” cover your old, dead paper with the left-over paper of some good, live, liberal bill-board advertiser. Then let him know, through his agent, that you have done so. Freshly papered boards are a good advertisement for your medium.

Don’t spoil a good effective poster by smearing paste all over the face of it. Put your paste on the back of the poster, and place it with a brush wet only in water, or, if you must use paste on the face of the paper, do so sparingly.

Don’t get into any wrangles with the local Civic Improvement Society, and have them writing all your advertisers to discontinue the use of your medium. You can find plenty of good locations without spoiling the landscape. A whiskey advertisement right next to a church is bound to rankle in the breasts of the congregation.

If you have a grudge against an official solicitor, don’t take it out on the innocent advertiser by giving him poor service. Write the advertiser telling him that the agent isn’t giving you proper treatment, and, if your claim is just and can be proven, ten to one he will rectify the trouble.

Don’t think that your obligation is fulfilled when the paper is placed. Try to work with the advertiser and encourage him to greater use of your medium by giving him information as to local conditions regarding the sale of his product, post the local dealers who would naturally be interested just when a certain product is being advertised, and endeavor to secure their co-operation in the way of window displays, etc., to connect the advertising with their stores.

Official Solicitors, Associated Bill-Posters and Distributors

These Official Solicitors to The Associated Bill-Posters and Distributors of the United States and Canada enjoy the protection of the Association rules and regulations in maintaining service for their clients. The Association requires that the solicitor be financially responsible, and through them you secure the same rights as though you placed the business directly with the bill-poster.

The services of the solicitor cost you nothing, as he is paid a commission by the Association, and you, the advertiser, are saved the expense of clerical hire, postage, stationery, order and check-forwarding and the many details of the follow-up system.

Amsterdam Supply Co., 111 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Anderson, H. J., Enquirer Printing Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Associated Bill-Posters’ Protective Co., 147 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

Ayer & Son, N. W., 300-308 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Ayres, H. E. & Co., 164 Federal Street, Boston, Mass.

Batten Co., George, Fourth Avenue Building, Fourth Avenue and 27th Street, New York City.

Clague-Painter-Jones Co., First National Bank Building, Chicago, Ill.

Cusack Co., Thos., 15th and Throop Street, Chicago, Ill.

Darlow Advertising Agency, Inc., Bee Building, Omaha, Neb.

D’Arcy Advertising Co., Fullerton Building, St. Louis, Mo.

Donnelley & Sons, John, 97 Warrenton Street, Boston, Mass.

Ewing & Miles, Inc., 32 Union Square, New York City.

Flynn, Joseph J., Lawrence, Mass.

Green Co., J. Chas., San Francisco, California.

Gude Co., O. J., 935 Broadway, New York City.

Holbrook & Parsons, 44-46 E. 23rd Street, New York City.

Jersey City Bill-Posting Co., 104-6 Green Street, Jersey City, N. J.

Long-Critchfield Corporation, Corn Exchange Bank Building, Chicago, Ill.

Lord & Thomas, Trude Building, Chicago, Ill.

Mahin Advertising Co., American Trust Building, Chicago, Ill.

Massengale Advertising Agency, Atlanta, Ga.

Morton, P. H., St. Paul Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Newark Bill-Posting Co., 27-33 Treat Place, Newark, N. J.

New Haven Bill-Posting Co., New Haven, Conn.

Nordhem Co., Ivan B., Bessemer Building, Pittsburg, Pa.

Peel, Frederick, 14th floor, Times Building, New York City.

Procter & Collier Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ramsay Co., Charles A., 575 Old Colony Building, Chicago, Ill.

Robison, Sanford II., 814 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Sherin Co., C. E., Fifth Avenue and 40th Street, New York City.

Snitzler Advertising Co., 256 Madison Street, Chicago, Ill.

Southern & Co., I. M., 1402 Broadway, New York City.

Stoops Bill-Posting Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.