1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 August Voice RS | Page 28
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people badgering them for advertising. One trainer
said that in less than a week he had been called on
by representatives of a national annual, two Middle
Tennessee newspapers, two horse magazines of a gen
eral nature, and the VOICE. This, in addition to get
ting some reprints of a previous ad and some pencils,
was too much. "My customers have just about spent
out,” he said. "I just don’t think they are going to
participate much longer.” We can sympathize!
Since August of 1963, when we officially took over
the VOICE magazine, we have employed the "soft
sell.” We try to be the easiest people in the world to
say "no” to when it comes to advertising. The reason
is that we have found that a good friend who doesn’t
advertise is better than a reluctant advertiser who
has been pressured into buying something he really
didn’t want in the first place. We may not have gotten
rich, but we do enjoy the horse business and the
people in it.
Now. . .let’s discuss the hard-core elements of pro
motion in the horse business. A frequent question is,
"Why advertise a show horse, anyway?” As I see it,
there are several factors involved. Pride of ownership
is a basic reason to promote a show horse. Another
good reason is to enhance the prospects of victory by
extolling the ability, bloodlines and record of a horse.
Another good reason is to enhance the value of a
particular horse. All of these are good reasons for
advertising a show horse. I might add also that it
really works!
What about breeding horses? This is where real mar
keting comes into practice, as there is a product to
be sold. There are literally thousands of mare owners
who carefully plan the breeding of each mare. Adver
tising is the very best method of selling the value of
a particular stallion in an effort to get these mare
owners to bring them to YOUR court and to breed to
YOUR stallion. This also works!
The rest is elementary! You advertise a horse for
sale in an effort to reach prospective buyers. You ad
vertise a horse show in an effort to get both horses
| and horse enthusiasts to come to the show. You pro
mote an auction in an effort to get both horses to sell
I and buyers to buy. The big question now is . . .
"Where should you spend your advertising dollar?”
When it comes to Tennessee Walking Horses we
DON’T WANT TO BUY NO PENCILS
would like to think that you would study the available
DO YOU?
mediums and evaluate each one from the standpoint
, of you
who are active in „ the
sales . . field
nrob-
t Vi O {7^1 1 \ 7
r A. 1. •
,
_ _ __
of "value for dollar spent.” At present the VOICE has
more than 6,500 paid subscribers, which is consider
ably more than any other publication reaching this
market. Our advertising rates are less than any of
the other trade journals and only a few dollars more
than the newspapers, and yet we deliver a great deal
more national readership than any of them. We realize
that some magazines have more coverage in some
areas of the country than we do, but in every case
we have found that virtually everyone in those areas
who is active in the Walking Horse business sub
scribes to the VOICE. It is THE breed publication.
Our achievement in the past few years is no testi
mony to the VOICE staff, but rather a rousing vote
of confidence from YOU, the horsemen who make this
business what it is. We appreciate your support and
your friendship, and will continue to make every ef
fort to provide you with a fine publication that is a
credit to the breed and the people in it.
"You don’t want to buy no advertising, do you?”
28
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse