Advertising Versus Salesmanship

Advertising is collective or impersonal salesmanship. Salesmanship deals with personal persuasion, individual persuasion. Advertising deals with impersonal persuasion, collective persuasion. Salesmanship and Advertising are closely related; in fact, Advertising may be called written Salesmanship.

So close do these two professions draw together that there are times when one cannot be told from the other. Window displays, for example. Do they represent Salesmanship or Advertising?

And then there is the sales letter. Sent by email directly to a specific person it is a sales letter. The identical email, printed on a webpage, is advertising. Advertising is collective appeal. It is a method developed by modern industry by which selling arguments may be directed to millions of buyers at one time.

One of America's foremost advertising experts differentiates between Salesmanship and Advertising with this colorful explanation, "Salesmanship blossoms- Advertising concentrates," which is to say that as, a general thing, Salesmanship permits of elaboration-of the persuasion of personality - whereas, at so much per click, Advertising can afford no such luxuries. Concentration, conciseness, terse pictures and expressions- these are the requirements of Advertising.

The profession of Advertising is possessed of numberless ramifications, and to the average young man or woman its inner workings are a complete mystery. For that reason there are thousands who enter it without the least idea of what it really offers and exacts, and many stay out who are especially fitted to enter because they do not understand its peculiarities-the very peculiarities they are naturally fitted to meet.

The advertising person is not as common to us as the salesperson. We see their work, but we do not see them. We hear that they are paid a tremendous salary for preparing wonderful "copy" and that such and such a company spends a million dollars a year advertising. But of Advertising itself we know little.

There are two general classes of Advertising: Publicity and Appeal. Advertising that merely tends to make popular or explain a product is called publicity advertising. Advertising which makes a direct appeal that you purchase the article advertised right away, and includes the price and a coupon for mailing that price to the advertiser is Appeal advertising.

Still other divisions of advertising are reader publicity, educational, display, outdoor and circular. The media used may be the newspapers, magazines, billboards, electric signs, placards, circulars, handbills, booklets, novelties, motion pictures, phonograph, PPC, banners, email blasts or even radio. Advertising is not limited to any one medium and the true advertiser must leverage all venues to be successful. As such, the advertising person must know the Psychology of Advertising.

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