Ads that pulled the customers

Keying Your Ad

Did you notice the “Dept. A.” in the foregoing sample ad? That is what is known as a key. If you are advertising in more than one publication, always key your ad. This means inserting a department number or letter, such as Dept. A for one magazine, B for another, and so on. There are many other kinds of keys, some more subtle than others. When the inquiries come in, have separate filing places for each “key department.” With this system, you can keep an accurate check on returns and determine which of the publications has the most “pulling power.” Do not make the key complicated; our mailmen have trouble enough deciphering addresses without the burden of confusing letter or number keys attached to the street address.

Ads That Pulled

An Oklahoman, who has a small greenhouse, placed a $15.00 ad in one of the gardening magazines when he was only a teenager, listing gloxinia tubers and seeds, rare begonia and geranium seed. The orders poured in and he sold $700 worth of seeds and tubers in a short time. Then he had to call a halt. His greenhouse was only 8 by 10 feet and he had to save some stock for propagation! I have frequently run this ad in garden publications:

African violets, rare gesneriads, species sinningias; seeds, cuttings, tubers. Free list. Name . . . address . . . phone.

Returns were always good-with from $150.00 to $300.00 worth of seeds, cuttings, and tubers sold. If you live in the South and are dealing with customers in frost-free areas, you can ship most of the year; but in the North, you must limit shipping to the period from May to October.

Years ago, before I acquired a greenhouse, I wrote a magazine article entitled “Sprouting Saintpaulias from Seed.” I stated that I was ready to sell the seed for $1.00 per package. A few days after the magazine went on the newsstands I found myself deluged with orders. Lacking a greenhouse, I didn’t have enough seed to fill the orders and had to relegate the orders to gardeners all over the country. I received nearly 2,000 letters on the strength of that “story.” That’s the power of publicity.

Incidentally, you should be able to induce your local paper to run a little story about your business, or get publicity through the department, “Letters to the Editor.” You could construct your message along these lines.

Dear Editor:

America’s favorite house plant is probably the African violet.

Although hobbyists all over the country are familiar with propagating them by leaf-cutting, I wonder how many growers know that they can produce a wide range of colors and leaf patterns when they grow African violets from seed. The seed is small-one hundred of them would barely cover the top of an ordinary pencil eraser. They are sprinkled on moist vermiculite, covered with transparent plastic or foil with ventilation holes punched in it, and set in a warm place to germinate. As the seedlings enlarge, they are moved to pots. With good care it is possible to obtain flowers from seedlings within 6 to 9 months. I have enclosed a picture of some of my own seedlings.

Sincerely,

……………

If you know your local paper plans to devote space to the garden club or to publicizing a flower or plant show in your vicinity, it may pay you extra dividends to insert an ad on that day. As a result, expect to see a number of gardeners who will drive out to browse around your place. Perhaps none of these visitors will buy right away, but they may later on. And they will tell other gardeners, and thus you will become better known throughout the community.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees

Tags: home greenhouse

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