MR. ADVERTISER!
You spend your money to tell People what you've got to sell.
Now, what kind of People can afford to buy your particular Goods?
What income must they possess to be probable Consumers of your Advertised Product?
How many possibilities of Sale has your product per thousand average Readers?
These are all vital factors in the framing up of your campaign, and in the prospects of Success from it.
Here are some Census figures upon which we base our Campaigns and Calculations.
In the year 1900 there were 15,964,000 Families in the United States.
These Families averaged about five persons each, or a total population of 75,994,575.
Fifty-one per cent of that population lived in the country - 10 2/3 per cent was Semi-urban, and 38 1/3 per cent lived in Cities and Towns.
The Newspapers and Periodicals these Families read had a total circulation of 8,168,148,749 copies per year.
That means 512 copies per year per Family, or nearly two copies per day for each family.
A great deal of Reading, isn't it?
Now comes the astonishing part of the Census figures.
Nearly 33 per cent of all these Families had an average Income of less than $400 per year, or about $80 per capita.
Only 21 per cent of these Families had an annual Income of $400 to $600.
Only 15 per cent of these Families had an annual Income of $600 to $900.
Only 10 1/2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $900 to $1,200.
Only 7 1/2 per cent of them had an annual Income of $1,800 to $3,000.
And, of the Automobile Class only 5 per cent had an Income of over $3,000 per Family, or $600 per capita.
Now, wouldn't that set you thinking?
Suppose you have Pianos to sell through advertising, how many Families of the total that read Newspapers and Magazines could afford to buy one?
Then, how many of these are already supplied?
That estimate shows your Possible Market through Advertising, and indicates the way that Market must be approached.