For example: 65 is the code number of FIGHTING WESTERN; the key for the June issue of FIGHTING WESTERN would then be Dept. 656 (the last digit-6-identifying June). October would be Dept. 6510. When all the two-digit numbers have been assigned, a new set of two-digit numbers, prefixed by a letter, is frequently used, as Dept. A652. The inventive beginner no doubt will be able to work out other keying methods. Preparing and Placing the Ad Most mail order men use an agency in preparing and placing their advertising, and our counsel to the newcomer is to do likewise. (A more detailed discussion of the role of the agency will be found in Chapter VIII.) But whether you place the ads directly or through an agency, you should know certain elementary facts. First and foremost, understand your product or service as no one else does. Sell yourself, and a thousand reasons will spring to mind why others should buy. The preparation of the ad then becomes a matter of putting on paper, in words and illustration, the reasons why people should send for your offering. If you are blessed both with the gifts of language and drawing, then by all means try your hand at getting up the ad; but if you are like most of us mortals, the chances are you can do one or the other, and at that, not too well.
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08-31-2006
