The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1908)

T5£ EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY Published by the National Phonograph Co., Orange, N. J. NEW YORK: 10 FIFTH AVENUE NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO., I/TD., VICTORIA ROAD, WILLESDEN, LONDON. NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO. OP AUSTRALIA, LTD., 340 KENT STREET, SYDNEY, N. S. W. MEXICAN NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO., AVENIDA ORIENTS No. 117, MEXICO CITY. COMPANIA EDISON HISPANO-AMERICANA, VIAMONTE 516, BUENOS AIRES. EDISON GESELLSCHAPT, M. B. H., SUD-UFER 24 25, BERLIN. COMPAGNIE FRANCAISE DU PHONOGRAPHS EDISON, 42 RUE DE PARADIS, PARIS. A.U communications to The Phonograph Monthly should be addressed to the Advertising Department, Orange, N. J. Vol. VI. DECEMBER, 1908 No. 12 DAILY Newspaper Advertising — Lack of confusion in your store — these are the most important matters for you to take care of no<w that the siege oj Christmas shopping is at its height — that is, if your Christmas sale of Edison Phonographs and Records is to be as large as it should be. We, of course, assume that you are well stocked with Edison goods, that you have been doing some advertising and that your Christmas window is an Edison window already performing its work. Don't be satisfied to let the Christmas shopping whirl envelope your business, distort your plans and smother your good intentions until its force is spent. That isn't profiting by the experience of former years ; nor is it benefiting by the hints we have given you in regard to "Store Management" and "Selling the Goods." These two departments in the Phonograph Monthly, the contributions to which receive our best efforts, are only valuable to you to the extent that you take advantage of the suggestions contained in them. Only by your adaptation of these suggestions to your particular environment and individual requirements can you prove their worth. Remember, there are two classes of Christmas shoppers — the people who know what they want and the people who do not know what they want. Our magazine advertising is aimed to make people know that they want Edison Phonographs. Our Christmas magazine advertising is aimed to make people know that their families or friends, to whom they are to make Christmas presents, also want Edison Phonographs — or new Records in case Phonographs are already owned. Now it is up to you — your duty to your busi ness— to use space in your local newspapers every day between now and Christmas for the purpose of leading people to your store for Edison goods. We have supplied you with sufficient ready-made newspaper ads for you to accomplish this end with little trouble. It is further up to you — your duty to your business — to take care of the throngs that crowd through your store aimlessly during the Christmas season — the people who do not know what they want. To take care of them we mean convince them that an Edison Phonograph is the thing wanted — a simple matter once you have a possible customer in your store and in a buying mood at that, but difficult when your store is crowded with possible purchasers. A smooth running, everything-in-its-place kind of a store, with a corps of intelligent, courteousto-all clerks, is the store that captures the trade of the people who don't know what they want (when they come in). In the February list of three-minute Records we are trying the experiment of putting out three new Records by Harry Lauder, the Scotch comedian, in place of three of the domestic selections. This is being done for two reasons: First, because we did not want to increase the total of the two-minute selections; and, second, to meet the views of many Jobbers and Dealers that more business will be secured for special Records like the three Lauders if included in the monthly list than if put out independently. According to the theories of advertising, the trade ought to be right and the advance sale for the Lauders ought to be larger than for any previous Lauder Records put out in a special manner. The regular advance list sent to the trade gets more careful consideration than a special one;