OPERANNG OPPORTUNINES

WALLY LYNCH

Builders Express, Inc.

11550 Plano Rd. Dallas, Tx' 75243 of the public especially by paid announcenent. t t

ANY COMPANIES spend money on advertising and point to their operating statements as proof positive. More often than not, the expenditures prove to be accounting entries lumped into advertising. A look at the books reveals outlays for entertainment, travel, sponsoring a Little League baseball team, etc., but nothing for advertising. The word, which has become a catchall for all kinds of expenses, needs to be taken from the accountant and returned to the merchant.

The American Marketing Association defines advertising as: "Any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor."

A dictionary defines advertising as: ' 'The action of calling something to the attention

Another source says advertising is: "A paid presentation of the merits of products or ideas of commercial significance to a mass audience by an identified sponsor via such media as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, billboards and direct mail."

Within these three statements we can identify meanings applicable to any overview of advertising, but as generalities, they won't apply specifically in each and every instance, For our purposes, we want to view advertising as the one who sells products to the final user doesas a retailer.

The realities of advertising begin with establishing a one-way communication system to the inhabitants of your trading area. Cranted it can be very sophisticated and expensive, but fundamentally advertising is purely and simply one-way com- munication between seller and buyer.

If asked to write a letter to a customer or to several customers. few executives would have any reservations and would do it without a second thought. Other kinds of one-way communication are tape recording, either audio or video, pictures and paintings.

In advertising parlance, the letter is classified as print media, as is a brochure or statement stuffer. The tape recording translates into radio when audio and television when video. Pictures and paintings communicate as advertising in newspapers, magazines, billboards, direct mail and catalogs.

The second reality of advertising is that one-way communication is substantially more difficult to use effectively than personal selling. Whenever there is give and take in communication. its chance of imparting the correct message increases drastically. Hence, one-way communication serves to bring the customer into the place of business so that the externally begun dialogue can be completed internally.

The third reality of advertising is that what is communicated initially better be what it is said to be. This doesn't mean technically. It means that in the eyes of the customer the message must be discernible as represented.

The fourth reality of advertising is that one must have something to say in a oneway communique. The author can't write a book without a story to tell. The merchant must give the customer a reason to get into an on site dialogue in his store.

The fifth reality is that advertising is the tip of an ice berg. It lets everyone know that it's there because a little bit shows above the water line. The foundation under water is not visible, but without it the visible part could not exist. The store is the business end of whatever the advertising claims and it had better be capable of coping with those attracted and their needs.

Like anything else that appetrs complicated, advertising can and should be broken down into its simplest parts. Certainly there is a creative segment to advertising that few managers know the "how" of doing. On the other hand few artists know the "why" of advertising. Combining the two talents is neither difficult nor expensive if managedeach basic part in its time and place.