Thursday, November 23, 2006
Advertising - The Advantages of Written Over Spoken Words
By Donald Hammond Platinum Quality Author
When the proper analysis has been made, advertising possesses qualities which are entirely different from those in the scope of personal selling, and those qualities so amplify and round out the selling plan as to add materially to its efficiency without regard to the commercial factors. Not the least of these qualities is the advantage of the written over the spoken word. The intonation, inflection, and emphasis which add so much to the meaning of the spoken word also take away from it the fixity which belongs to the cold type.
Where business was done, where goods were sold, by oral methods entirely, a certain want of belief or reliability, and a certain amount of suspicion, is naturally attached to the spoken words of the seller, because of the fact that they were not worded and consequently were without the proper limitations.
On the other hand, the tendency of the mind in general is to credit the printed word with almost a full measure of belief. It is only after considerable reasoning that suspicion may enter in and change this condition; but the first impression of any written or printed word is that it speaks truthfully. This is logical, of course, because the written or printed word has a definite meaning; this meaning is not altered or influenced by inflections and intonations. In fact, it may be limited at law because of this characteristic. Furthermore, it is a permanent record, and can be brought up to confront the person who wrote it at any time.
Print Has Implied Accuracy
A peculiar measure of belief, moreover, attaches to the printed word because of the fact that it has been used largely, primarily, and in the majority of its work to convey accurate and concrete information, to convey news and to convey impressions, all of which had values of their own, were either an accurate representation of facts or were expressed with a full measure of sincerity. This work of the printed word has invested it with a belief and reliability which belongs to no other application of language. As a consequence of this, the advertiser is obliged to measure his business from an entirely different point of view when he wishes to take advantage of the potential force of the printed word.
It can readily be seen that on account of its peculiar value advertising will perpetuate the errors of business just as readily as it will perpetuate its advantages. Furthermore, because of the fact that it is not influenced by personal idiosyncrasies and the fluctuating value which accrues from contact with an individual in a personal way, it is affected by mistakes which are apparently of little importance in the old method of oral selling. It may not be a very serious matter to put your goods in a package which is not entirely convenient when you start to sell it, through a few salesmen, to a few people. Mistakes can be rectified in these cases at a later period without causing much trouble. Where, however, you wish to introduce this package to several million people at the same time, with the idea of rapidly acquainting them with it to the extent that it will become one of the familiar sights, it is of vast importance that the package should represent sent as nearly as possible the acme of convenience. It will be just as easy to familiarize those millions of people with the mistake in your package as it is to acquaint them with the value of the goods, in which case, instead of making several million customers, you would have succeeded in eliminating them from your possible patronage.
Donald "DonOmite" Hammond has been a freelance webdesigner and programmer for over 10 years. He has done marketing of himself and his products as well as customers' products on their websites.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donald_Hammond
By Donald Hammond Platinum Quality Author
When the proper analysis has been made, advertising possesses qualities which are entirely different from those in the scope of personal selling, and those qualities so amplify and round out the selling plan as to add materially to its efficiency without regard to the commercial factors. Not the least of these qualities is the advantage of the written over the spoken word. The intonation, inflection, and emphasis which add so much to the meaning of the spoken word also take away from it the fixity which belongs to the cold type.
Where business was done, where goods were sold, by oral methods entirely, a certain want of belief or reliability, and a certain amount of suspicion, is naturally attached to the spoken words of the seller, because of the fact that they were not worded and consequently were without the proper limitations.
On the other hand, the tendency of the mind in general is to credit the printed word with almost a full measure of belief. It is only after considerable reasoning that suspicion may enter in and change this condition; but the first impression of any written or printed word is that it speaks truthfully. This is logical, of course, because the written or printed word has a definite meaning; this meaning is not altered or influenced by inflections and intonations. In fact, it may be limited at law because of this characteristic. Furthermore, it is a permanent record, and can be brought up to confront the person who wrote it at any time.
Print Has Implied Accuracy
A peculiar measure of belief, moreover, attaches to the printed word because of the fact that it has been used largely, primarily, and in the majority of its work to convey accurate and concrete information, to convey news and to convey impressions, all of which had values of their own, were either an accurate representation of facts or were expressed with a full measure of sincerity. This work of the printed word has invested it with a belief and reliability which belongs to no other application of language. As a consequence of this, the advertiser is obliged to measure his business from an entirely different point of view when he wishes to take advantage of the potential force of the printed word.
It can readily be seen that on account of its peculiar value advertising will perpetuate the errors of business just as readily as it will perpetuate its advantages. Furthermore, because of the fact that it is not influenced by personal idiosyncrasies and the fluctuating value which accrues from contact with an individual in a personal way, it is affected by mistakes which are apparently of little importance in the old method of oral selling. It may not be a very serious matter to put your goods in a package which is not entirely convenient when you start to sell it, through a few salesmen, to a few people. Mistakes can be rectified in these cases at a later period without causing much trouble. Where, however, you wish to introduce this package to several million people at the same time, with the idea of rapidly acquainting them with it to the extent that it will become one of the familiar sights, it is of vast importance that the package should represent sent as nearly as possible the acme of convenience. It will be just as easy to familiarize those millions of people with the mistake in your package as it is to acquaint them with the value of the goods, in which case, instead of making several million customers, you would have succeeded in eliminating them from your possible patronage.
Donald "DonOmite" Hammond has been a freelance webdesigner and programmer for over 10 years. He has done marketing of himself and his products as well as customers' products on their websites.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donald_Hammond
