Today we have a guest writer, Herbert Kaufman. This essay was originally published in 1908 – uh, that’s right, the year 1908.  While it is focused on newspaper advertising (the internet of the day) the principles as they relate to marketing still hold true – especially the final paragraph. Read on and enjoy!

Some Don’ts When You Do Advertise

The price of the gun never hits the bull’s eye.
And the bang seldom rattles the bells.
It’s the hand on the trigger that cuts the real figger.
The aim’s what amounts–that’s what makes record counts–
Are you hitting or just wasting shells?

DON’T forget that the man who writes your copy is the man who aims
your policy.
When you stop to reflect what your space costs and that the wrong talk
is just noise–_bang without biff–you must see the necessity and
sanity of putting the right man behind the gun.

DON’T tolerate an ambition on your ad-man’s part to indulge in a
lurking desire to be a literary light.
People read his advertising to discover what your buyers have just
brought from the market and what you are asking for “O. N. T.” They buy
the newspaper for information and recreation and are satisfied with
the degree of poetry and persiflage dished up in its reading columns.

DON’T exaggerate. Poetic licenses are not valid in business prose. The
American people don’t want to be humbugged and the merchant who
figures upon too many fools, finds himself looking into a mirror,
usually about a half hour after the sheriff has come to look over the
premises.

DON’T imitate. Advertising is a special measure garment. Businesses
are not built in ready-made sizes. Copy which fits somebody else’s
selling plans, won’t fit your store without sagging at the chest or
riding up at the collar. Duplicated argument and duplicated results
are not twins. Your policy of publicity must be specially measured
from your policy of merchandising.

DON’T put your advertising in charge of an amateur. Let somebody else
stand the expense of his educational blunders. Remember you are making a
plea before the bar of public confidence. Your ad-writer is an advocate.
Like a bad lawyer, he can lose a good case by not making the most of
the facts at hand.

DON’T get the “sales” habit. “Sales” are stimulants. When held too
often their effect is weakening. The merchant who continually yells
“bargain” is like the old hen who was always crying “fox.” When the
real article did come along, none of her chicks believed it.

DON’T use fine print. Make it easy for the reader to find out about
your business. There are ten million pairs of eyeglasses worn in
America, and every owner of them buys something.

And DON’T start unless you mean to stick. The patron saint of the
successful advertiser hates a quitter.