Of course, the answer to my somewhat provocative headline is “Neither” if you are practicing Direct Response Marketing!  The beauty of Direct Response Marketing is that when you test and track your campaigns, you know exactly what’s working and hence the value you’re getting from any particular piece of advertising or marketing.

If an advertisement isn’t producing an adequate result, you stop doing it!

There’s a well known quote that many ad folk and marketers are aware of.  It’s…

 “I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.”

It was said by John Wanamaker, an American businessman and department store pioneer.  And I was reminded of this quote today when I was browsing through a fascinating book called “This Day In Business History”.  For every day of the year it provides a collection of….

 “Great corporate tales, commercial milestones, colorful titans, captivating quotes  and calamitous blunders”

…that occurred on that day in years gone by.

So for today (March 12) in 1877, John Wanamkaker opened “a new kind of store” in  a converted railroad depot in Philadelphia.  It was one of the world’s first department stores and soon became of of the largest.

Among the many firsts introduced by Wanamaker was the use of full-page newspaper advertising on a regular basis.  It was his experience with this that apparently led to his quip about “50% of advertising is wasted”.

What most people don’t know about Wanamaker is that he wasn’t the kind of man who was happy to waste money and that he was one of the early pioneers of what could be called “Direct Response Marketing”.  He hired a man by the name of John E. Powers to write his copy and advertising.  One can only assume the marketing was a success because Wanamaker paid Powers an annual salary of $10,000 – an astonishing sum at the time.

Powers himself is regarded as one of the first great copywriters and pioneered a number of early innovations.  But, that’s a story for another post.

So, keep in mind Wanamaker’s quip and test and track the effectiveness of your advertising.  You’ll be amazed at the difference that simple step can make to your bottom line and cash flow.