Small Home Gazette, Spring 2017

History Brief: Business Without Advertising Is Like a Brass Band Without Wind

A large percentage of the human family in your locality, Men, Women and Children, are going to wear new Shoes this Spring. It is needless to assert that you want to shoe as many of them as possible, and vigorous actions on your part is the only thing that will win your share of the trade. How are you going to get at these prospective buyers? There is only one answer—Advertise!

Text and ad from The Retail Shoe Dealer’s Advertiser, Spring Edition, Vol. XIV, by Willis H. Peters. 1907. Shop owners would choose an ad from the book and take it to a printer to customize with local shop information. The printer was instructed to follow the ad as closely as possible.