CHURCH AND SIjp SCHOOL PUBLICITY Hkrbeict Heebner Smith ^S^ll^'^^r * JUL C?1922 * BV 653 .S7 ^y school CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Practical Suggestions for Using the Printed Word to Extend the Influence of the Gospel -^vV^^ "f ''"''^V?}^ JUL J?'/ 1922 OSIUI StUj*^ Herbert Heebner Smith Author of "Publicity and Progress" Associate Director, Department of Publicity Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. PHILADELPHIA THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 1922 Copyright, 1922, by TBUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OP PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK Printed in the U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction 7 I Analyzing Church and Sunday School Publicity Problems 11 II Advertising the Church or Sunday School to Itself 24 III Oral Announcements 36 IV Calendars, Bulletins, and Papers 40 V Posters and Cards 52 VI Writing Letters 59 VII Using the Newspapers 68 VIII Publicity for Conventions and Special Meetings. . . 89 IX Other Uses of Publicity 103 X Advertising Religion in Paid Space 112 XI The Mechanics of Writing Advertisements 127 XII The Content op the Church Advertisement 142 Bibliography 170 Index 173 "And thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command unto thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house, and upon thy gates." — Deut. 6:5-9. " Declare ye among the nations and pubhsh, and set up a standard; pubhsh, and conceal not." — Jer. 50:2. "And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every hving creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." — Gen. 9: 12. INTRODUCTION IETTERS from all parts of the country, by both i ministers and laymen, reveal interest in the use of the printed word as a means of extend- ing the influence of Christianity. The two following show the trend of present church thought in a grow- ing number of centers: ^'I am pastor of a small church in a town of 5000. How can I best use our weekly paper to get the mes- sage of the church before the people?" ''I am superintendent of the Sunday school here. I feel we ought to be more aggressive in reaching after pupils. What can you suggest for adequate pub- licity?" This book is an effort to set forth a few of the principles of commercial advertising and to show their application to church work. Encouragement in its production was first given by Marion Lawrance, dean of Sunday-school workers, during a conversation at Conference Point in 1918, where the writer was lec- turing to state Sunday-school secretaries on methods of obtaining publicity for their work. Upon learning that there was no book available as a text for such classes Mr. Lawrance suggested the writing of such a book. He thought that the Sunday-school field would welcome it. Close association with pastors of many denomina- 7 8 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY tions in schools and conferences on church pubhcity has shown need for a book on local church publicity of a little different type than those available. Through his connection with the Department of Pubhcity of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., the writer has had opportunity to examine thousands of samples of church advertisements and other printed matter and has come to know what are the most vexing questions in local church publicity. Effort has been made to present the bases on which solutions of these prob- lems may be worked out. Of course, the subject is by no means exhausted here. There are thousands of examples of advertise- ments and printed matter fully as good as those re- produced, but a choice had to be made. Many pastors are doing excellent work with printer's ink. Others, because of lack of information and training, have been spending money which has not brought the largest possible results. Several writers are offering ready-made church ad- vertisements of merit. These are useful in union campaigns, although one such series has also been used by indi\ddual churches in nearly four hundred towns. Theological seminaries are coming to see the advis- abiUty of teaching men how to use the printed word as well as the spoken word for the advancement of the Church. The writer hopes that an increasing num- ber of church and Sunday-school leaders will insist that the subject of rehgious publicity be included in convention programs. The International Sunday INTRODUCTION School Association has pointed the way by having courses on pubhcity at its summer training schools. The viewpoint of the book is that of a newspaper man rather than that of a pastor. The first chapters deal with publicity within the church. Then follows some discussion of the value of news in the papers and paid advertising to reach those not now attendants. Help will be found for the smallest church or Sunday school in the most remote district, as well as for the fashionable church on the avenue which has not been successful in enlisting for its publicity the trained ad- vertising men who may be in its congregation. Business has discovered that personal salesman- ship, although effective, is costly. The church knows that great efforts must be expended to move a small number of church members to work persistently for new attendants at church services. Why should not the church follow the lead of its business men and bring something of the gospel, and an invitation to hear more, to the attention of the pubHc? Why not move the people for righteousness in the same way in which they are induced to buy a new brand of bread or meat or shoes? They need the gospel more than they need food and clothing. The writer be- lieves that they can be persuaded of that fact through the printed word. Herbert H. Smith 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. CHAPTER I ANALYZING CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY PROBLEMS TDUBLICITY for religious organizations as dis- -*■ cussed in this volume embraces all means, spoken, written, or printed, designed to deepen interest in Christianity and increase the number of its adherents. Pubhcity is a general word, embracing all forms of making an organization known, while advertising is limited loosely to those forms of pubhcity which cost money. Every time a Sunday-school teacher visits an absent pupil, every time the pastor announces the theme of his evening sermon, or sends an item to the newspaper, the church is given pubhcity. Church work is done best if some rehable person is given direct and exclusive responsibihty. So with pubhcity. If some one in each church and Sunday school, and every other Church organization, is constantly seeking to answer the question, "How can I make this church and its work better known?'' the work of the organization ought to grow. In a majority of churches and Sunday schools the pastor or superintendent will add the duties of pub- licity direction to his already overflowing load of re- sponsibilities. Adequate management of pubhcity requires, however, more attention than can be given by a man whose main interest is distracted by a dozen 11 12 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY duties and, if possible, some one person or a committee of three or five should have full responsibility. The Sunday school may well have a connmittee of its own. The chairman will be more than an honorary mem- ber of the PubHcity Committee. He ought to be to the church what the managing editor is to a dail}^ paper. He must have the full cooperation of the pastor and be in intimate touch with all affairs. The members of his committee will act as reporters, artists, and messengers. In a Presbyterian church in Trenton, New Jersey, the manager of a very successful publicity work is a layman who rides a church publicity hobby, to the good of the congregation and the town. He ar- ranges for semiweekly signs in front of the church, takes charge of the pubUcation of the weekly bulletin, contracts for advertising space in the paper, and sees that reading matter about the church reaches the editor each week. A smaller church does much of its advertising with the help of a duplicating machine. The pastor se- lected as the PubHcity Committee a young man who was taking a correspondence course in letter-writing and a young woman with some talent for drawing. Together they worked out a series of illustrated letters designed to boost the attendance. One of the largest Presbyterian churches in Detroit has a publicity man with a keen sense for organiza- tion. He is office man in one of the automobile fac- tories and without experience in advertising, but he deUghts in working out systems and he was eager to ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 13 help in the church. This chairman has as other mem- bers of his committee a young man employed in an advertising agency as reporter for church activities, an older man who had previously organized the boys of the church to deliver printed matter to homes, and a young girl who with a clever brush and nimble fingers makes posters similar to those illustrated on page 54. The Pubhcity Committee may also well include a member whose duty is to sohcit subscriptions for denominational periodicals and church papers and stimulate the reading of them by appropriate notices in the church calendar and by pinning upon the bulletin board pictures or other matter from current issues. This is a task which may well be assigned to a woman, possibly one who has little talent for lead- ership or pubhc speaking, but who is methodical and persistent. Young people of the church may be enlisted as gatherers of information about organizations with which the chairman may not be in close touch. The chairman and pastor should also have an eye for the future and include some one on the committee who can be trained as the next chairman. The methodical committee will, of course, make a program for the year, and make it well in advance. Conamercial advertisers make up at one time the series of ads they expect to run. They assemble the art work, the copy, have plates made, and ship elec- trotypes to publications many months in advance of the date of issue. The booklets, dealers' helps, and 14 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY circular letters are all planned carefully. In much the same way the PubHcity Committee of a church or school will do well to plan far in advance. The very act of putting the plans on paper will stimulate early preparation, and consequently better results. The Three Important Questions But no matter how the Publicity Committee is organized, these questions must be kept constantly to the fore : ^Vhathaveweto^^sell"? Where can we ''sell" it? How can we tell our ''possible market" about our goods? The first two of these questions can be settled only by one who has a thorough knowledge of the church and the field it seeks to serve. Answer to the third question involves consideration of man}^ factors which many church workers have not carefully studied. Most of this volume is devoted to showing how various religious organizations have used publicity to inform their possible market, together with an analysis of the underlying principles which may be used to the same end by other organizations, what- ever the size or situation. What Has the Church to Advertise? To a certain degree the measure of a church's serv- ice to the community will determine its advertising. Some writers on church advertising urge that the preacher be advertised all the time, comparing the ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 15 preacher to the star performer in a theater. This advice may be right. If such advertising brings the people to chm*ch and to Christ, it is good advertising. Many churches have found, however, that overem- phasis on the pastor and underemphasis on the mes- sage of the gospel has built up an audience rather than a congregation. (See Skeath, '^Building the Con- gregation.") The former leaves when the preacher does. The building of a stable congregation, active and energetic in the work of the Master, ought to be one large object of church advertising. As the church stands first for the message of Christ and his love, so the advertising, representative of the church to the man outside, ought to stress the same note. It is my beUef that every church advertise- ment ought to contain something which when read will leave an uphfting thought. Seldom should an announcement paid for with the Lord's money be merely an invitation to attend a particular service. It should be that, but there should be linked with it some word of suggestion, a phrase or a statement which will help the unsaved and strengthen the tempted. But how are we to break into advertisable parts the nub of the gospel and apply it to present condi- tions in language which non-churchgoers will read with interest, and still confine ourselves to half a dozen sentences or fewer? Answer to this involves analysis of what the church offers the community. The same analysis must be made before any success- ful campaign can be launched for a Sunday school, 16 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY an organized class, a series of evangelistic meetings, or any other special feature. Most of the ' 'things" which the church has for the community are intangible. The problem is to inter- pret these unseen elements in terms which the aver- age man can understand. This was done in one advertisement relating to belief in an unseen God by asking telephone operators and telephone users if they had ever seen electricity. The effects of this force can be seen, but not the force itself; so it is with God. Chemists and doctors were appealed to in the same way in regard to the laws of chemical affinity. In some such manner laws of the spirit may be made inteUigible to the reader of newspaper or circular. Among elements of the gospel, as interpreted through the church, which can be brought tangibly to the attention of possible attendants at any church, are the following : Opportunity to help others Salvation from sin Inspiration for difficult tasks Comfort in distress Instruction in unselfishness Happiness through service Quiet and rest to vexed spirits Bible study Morality Child-training Character development Community support (we would not live where there are no churches) Companionship ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 17 Because the sermon is the big weekly task of the preacher, many pastors instinctively consider it the biggest drawing card. This seems to put a premium on catchy sermon titles. Interesting titles are to be commended, but some pastors have carried to ex- treme the desire to get sermon subjects which will draw hearers. Good themes for advertising will grow out of the sermon content for a particular Sunday. ^'Golf or a Sermon" was the heading of an advertisement invit- ing attendance Sunday evening to hear a sermon on the Seventh Commandment. It preached to the town, whether or not the town came to the sermon. In a similar manner many good advertisements can be built from the main topic, not necessarily the title, of a sermon. (Further suggestions are given in Chapter XII.) Keep your eye fixed on the up- building of a stable body of people who go to chiu-ch as a regular part of their spiritual exercise. Help them to realize that prayer, hymns, and Bible-read- ing are worthy parts of the service. Where Is the Possible Market? Answer to this second highly important question needs more care than is indicated in an offhand an- swer that ^'my parish includes sixteen blocks" or ''three townships." A house-to-house survey is the only way adequately to know the "possible market" for the goods your church offers. The pastor or the Publicity Committee should know what proportion of the people who may rea- 18 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY sonably be supposed to attend a church or Sunday school are young, married, wage-earners, professional people. Where do they live? What are the means of transportation to the church? What is in com- petition to attendance? (Sunday auto rides, friends calling, babies to care for, Sunday newspapers, busi- ness, indifference, movies, parks, and the like.) This last question is important because much of the mat- ter in letters, circulars, and advertisements should be planned in order positively to meet the competi- tion. A survey will show what proportion of the '^possible market^' are automobile owners, how many families have young children, what proportion are foreign-speaking, and other facts. Many pastors know answers to all these questions in a general way, but general answers are often as inaccurate as was the reply of the Sunday-school su- perintendent in a Chicago suburb who rejected the idea of a canvass because ' 'everybody goes to some Sunday school." A survey made soon after by a religious education board showed that only slightly more than half of the children in town were getting Sunday religious instruction. Be sure that you know the facts. Guesses are fatal to success in well- organized church work. Carrying out these sugges- tions will take time, but careful survey of the com- munity will bring the facts. Knowing where the possible customers are, and something of their habits, the final question comes to the front: How can we get them to the church or Sunday school? But lest we forget the things near- ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 19 est at hand, let us suggest at once that few churches are ready to advertise for more attendants until the leaders are sure the present membership is well or- ganized, harmonious, and informed about its work. The next chapter will suggest some ways of advertis- ing a church to itself. How Shall the Church Reach Its Possible Market? The third question, How to reach the possible con- sumers of what the church has to offer, depends for answer upon many conditions. If most of the people a church seeks to reach are foreigners, obviously ad- vertisements in English newspapers will be of slight use. If the field is largely high-class apartments, the employment of cheap handbills scattered in hallways will be worse than useless. Each situation must be studied, and the survey made from the standpoint of what is to be "sold" and to whom. The new pastor of a Methodist church in Brooklyn found that many Jews had moved into the neighbor- hood. Most of the constituents of the church lived some distance from the place of worship. A sign- board was almost useless because of the side-street location of the church. The officials had, however, an up-to-date list of the Protestant families of the neighborhood not connected with any church. With these names and addresses the problem of advertising the church was the comparatively simple matter of sending the proper sort of literature to these families. In a small Southern California town there was no 20 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY newspaper. Most of the trading was in near-by San Diego. The points of contact between the people and the local pastor seemed few. But everyone went to the post office, and all passed certain corners. Signs of various sorts placed at these strategic points helped to attract attention to religious services. Advertising as used in connection with churches means all sorts of methods of reaching people not now sufficiently interested in the organization to give it support. Paid advertising in newspapers may be the last thing your church should attempt. The following are a few of the means of carrying into the minds of men and women the message of the church or its services. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. Painted wooden signs Booklet of sermons Movable letter bulletin boards Blotters Muslin banners Sunday-school papers and cards Billboards Calendars Printed signs on elevated railway Printed leaflets (bulletins) Cards in street cars Parish papers Handbills Catalogue of church activities Post cards Parades Circular letters Suppers Folders Concerts Tickets News in newspapers Envelope stufifers Paid advertising in papers Hangers Electric signs Souvenirs Announcements on movie screens The publicity to be adopted dei^ends on the results sought and where the people are. Let us consider several applications of church publicity. The most natural place to seek more members of a Sunday school is in the church congregation. Among the ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 21 methods of reaching this ' 'market" are notices in the church calendar, or announcements from the pulpit (see page 37), homemade posters in the church vesti- bule, oral announcements in church by a school officer, letters to church members who are not affili- ated with the school, postal reminders of the time of service and the empty chair near the door for new- comers, social events, special exercises as Children's Day and Rally Day — all of which ought to be looked upon as possessing good advertising possibilities for new members — telephone calls, personal visits, letters from friends urging attendance, news of the special effort in the papers, inclusion in the regular church advertisement of the statement about the oppor- tunity to study the Bible, special sermon by the pastor, distribution of leaflets on rehgious education and Bible study from denominational headquarters, articles in the parish papers, and other means dis- tinctly local as occasion offers. Every church or Sunday school should have its possible advertising thus listed. Some items cost money, others do not; all cost brain power, and none will succeed long without some one who is definitely committed to giving the subject adequate attention. Advertising an intangible thing, such as Christian stewardship, looks a httle more difficult than adver- tising a concrete object such as attendance at Sun- day school. Here are some of the ways in which stewardship may be brought to the attention of a congregation: Special sermon by the pastor, testi- mony in three-minute talks by tithers at each service 22 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY for a month, items in the church calendar of the bene- fits other individuals and churches have derived, brief statements of the advantages of regular versus hit-and-usually-miss method of giving to church support, Biblical authority coupled with not too much argument, posters made by a Sunday-school class (page 55), leaflets from denominational head- quarters sent by mail or left in pew, circular letter from a member who has been a steward — not a blud- geon sort of communication, but setting forth the joy of giving. Other ways will occur to the thinking reader. In this sort of propaganda keep the mind of the reader open to the relatively new idea and be careful not to antagonize him by bringing moral pressure to bear too soon. Give him plenty of information un- accompanied by persuasion. Permit the facts to work their way into his conscience. Use humor if possible. Many a man has been brought to the point of action against his former will when his risi- bles have been touched. Both these examples have concerned persons already to some extent in the church organization. When the effort is to add new members to the Sunday school from those outside the present congregation, or to enlarge the size of the congregation, additional means must be employed. If a mailing list can be obtained of persons who would probably be interested in what you have for "sale" — interest in Bible study, child-training, character-building, and the like — then the path of the United States mail is open. The ANALYZING PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 23 problem remaining is that of '^copy/' namely, the preparation of the material best adapted to reach their minds. The word of caution here is that it be written from the standpoint of the outside man, with a minimum of the language of Canaan. If the mailing list cannot be obtained, appeal must be made to those means of publicity which the public generally sees — signboards, posters, newspaper ad- vertising. Inquiry in many towns will show that per thousand persons reached, paid advertising in the newspapers is the cheapest medium. The ques- tions of size of space to be used and what to put in it are discussed in Chapters XI and XII. CHAPTER II ADVERTISING THE CHURCH OR SUNDAY SCHOOL TO ITSELF INFORMATION must precede interest. Com- -■■ mercial houses recognize this fundamental in their elaborate plans for house organs and similar means of maintaining the institutional morale. In the same way a church or Sunday school will be more inter- ested in itself if it knows about itself. This creation of interest should precede definite efforts to obtain more members, and must continue while all such efforts are in progress. Many pastors have been following this idea for intrachurch advertising with- out attaching that label. There is considerable value in the further analysis and extension of the idea if the need of advertising the church to its members is not strongly felt. In most forms of advertising, whether in the church or outside, facts are needed more than comment about facts. This distinction is vital to good adver- tising. We arouse enthusiasm in others, not so much by telling them that we are enthusiastic about a cer- tain thing, as by presenting the facts which have aroused us to the point of intense interest. These facts may reasonably have the same influence upon others. The giving of facts instead of opinions tends also 24 INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 25 to create the suggestive style of advertising rather than the argumentative. If the exhaustive tests of psychologists are to be accepted, the latter form is much more effective. Come along with me And you shall see What a sweeping success Our social will be. A Methodist church in a large New Jersey town used this as the cover of a small four-page folder of blue paper announcing a young people's social. In small churches individuals know each other fairly well. They know when Mrs. Jones is sick and when Mr. Brown has been called to California on account of the death of his mother. Their children tell them that the Christian Endeavor is growing in 26 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY interest and they observe that their Sunday school has a larger attendance than usual. In larger churches, however, such things often cannot be known unless some one takes the trouble to tell others. This can best be done through the church calendar, which is really a house organ of the congregation. (See Chap- ter IV.) Pastors and publicity directors can assist local churches to get a vision of the work outside of their four walls if interesting facts concerning the denomi- nation are given attractive publicity. Does your church know, for example, that there are 1181 con- gregations in Korea, all of which are entirely self- supporting? Or suppose the following statement were chalked on a blackboard in the rear of the church, without comment, would not foreign missions be made more interesting? There are 449 native preachers and teachers in Siam. Only one denomination is at work there. How many members of your congregation know that they help support 83 churches among the Mexi- cans in the United States, or that they maintain 203G schools of all kinds in 16 different countries? Do you yourself know that there are 77 hospitals and 98 dis- pensaries in 9 foreign countries, all officered by phy- sicians and nurses supported by you and 9078 other churches of your denomination in this country? Put one of these facts (corrected for your church) each week in your church calendar or on a home- INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 27 made poster or on a blackboard where church at- tendants can see it. If this plan is followed for six months, there ought to be a marked growth in mis- sion interest. These and scores of other facts for any denomination may be obtained from annual reports of mission boards. The digging up of such material might be a helpful exercise for some class in the Sun- day school or for the young people's society. Church magazines have similar items which may be tersely stated for easy absorption by church attendants. Base Interest on Facts Facts, as distinguished from comment, constitute the basis of interest, whether the effort be made through the ear or through the eye. The oral an- nouncements of the superintendent of a Sunday school or of a department ought to have as many facts as possible. If the notices for a certain Sunday are put in writing and then analyzed closely from the standpoint of the percentage of facts to the number of words of appeal and persuasion, the officer who is not painstaking may make an interesting discovery. The form in which oral announcements may best be made so as to attract attention is discussed in the next chapter. The annual reports of a church or Sunday school constitute an excellent opportunity to ^'sell" the organization to itself. The figures for the year should be given, but if they are interpreted in terms of flesh and blood instead of from the standpoint of the man who has spent hours making his accounts 28 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY balance, the effect on the audience will be more stimu- lating. Seldom is a good accounting officer so con- stituted that he can interpret his bare figures in such a manner as to furnish the greatest possible amount of inspiration and enthusiasm. Some churches use the stereopticon lantern to good advantage at the annual meeting. One city church has its meeting in January, and the pastor takes de- Hght in throwing upon the screen, between sHdes of figures setting forth the work of the year, uncon- ventional poses of men and women prominent in the congregation. Pictures of the chairman of the board of trustees taken by a friend at Atlantic City, of a group of Camp Fire girls on a summer picnic, and of the president of the ladies' aid entering her auto- mobile, added life to the meeting and helped to ce- ment the bonds of good fellowship. Anything which will stimulate the feeling that each person is part of a big whole, and is needed in his place, adds to the sohdarity of the school or congregation. Posters, the hpmemade sort described in Chapter V, ought to be used largely in selling the various organi- zations to themselves. The blackboard may be used to advantage in the same connection. The mere figures of the number of persons late to Sunday school, or the percentage on time, with a query as to the number who will be on time next week, has been enough in some schools to bring the pupils to school more nearly at the time of opening. A black- board with plotted curves showing attendance this year and last also adds to the interest. INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 29 Printed or mimeographed post cards mailed to absentees or to certain groups help to keep interest at a high pitch. The arrangement of matter on such cards should follow the rules suggested in Chapters X and XII for similar material. The chiu-ch or school will be an informed organiza- tion usually to the extent to which the pastor or THURSDAY NIGHT keep "Put the Spirit of Youth in Everything" a date with us on Thursday night VV7E young folks at First Presbyterian CKurcK are nov* gathering every Thursday night at one of our homes. It is more convenient than Sunday night, and a lot more sociable, too. The sender of thifi card cordially invites you /o our next meeting. If you have already met vnth vs, let this be a gentle reminder of a pleasant evening you can help us have next Thursday night at the home of Young People of the First Presbyterian Church Portsmouth, Ohio This was printed in brown and blue on a buff card and helped to interest the young people. superintendent is himself informed about the facts of his denomination and the general mission trend of the Church universal. It is not enough to be en- thusiastic and earnest. The leaders must know. Questions put to ministers and laymen alike at meetings in various parts of the country show that usually less than 10 per cent of the individuals pres- ent know simple facts about the number of foreign 30 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY missionaries in the denomination, what is the per capita gift to missions of the congregation or the denomination and how that figure compares with the preceding year. These may not be the most im- portant facts one should know about a church or Sunday school. But ignorance on these points usually indicates lack of information about other phases of the church's work. Without facts in the possession of the leaders the people cannot become informed. If you are a pastor or other chm-ch leader, search out the reports of your denomination, of your own congregation or Sunday school, and know what your own organization is doing. The more digging you do, the more interesting facts you are likely to uncover to stimulate the mental processes and enlist the interest of your congregation or school. Test yourself. What was the per capita offering of your church last year? of your Sunday school? What was the average attendance the last six months at the morning preaching service — not estimated, but actual? How does this compare with that for the same time last year? Is the attendance actually increasing, or do the ushers seat the people more skillfully so that the pastor is less embarrassed by empty seats? A high-school boy standing at the back of the church can obtain the figures. Facts are stubborn, but helpful if interpreted rightly. Some of the denominations, by suggesting various goals, are helping to bring congregations to higher levels of giving and working. But much depends upon the informed endeavor of the local officers. INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 31 Why not help your church to work in the homes of the people by providing attractively arranged and printed booklets about the congregation? One church used the back page of its weekly calendar for several months to publish the aun and history of each of the organizations of the church. It was a large congregation and the information was news to many attendants. Perhaps you think your people know more than they do about the facts of the or- ganization of which they are members. Possibly if the people who have drifted out the back door of your church or Sunday school had known more about the activities of the organization, they would be still at work instead of outside scoff- ing. A prominent young Socialist admitted that he had been a regular attendant at church. His grand- father was a Methodist missionary in India. Yet he confessed that he did not know of the social work missionaries are doing in India, Siam, and Brazil to raise the standard of living of the people — just what some Socialists are seeking to do in this country. If he had been well informed concerning mission work while still allied to a Christian church, he might have been saved to lend the energy of his sincere devotion to the banner of Christ. Perhaps the churches are failing to give information while seeking to apply the moral imperative to life's actions. How much do your people know about your church? Compose a simple sheet of questions and ask ten average mem- bers. Suggest that they do not sign the answers and seek to get a frank reply. It may be enlightening. 32 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Take your Sunday schooL How many of the members know of the really helpful social service effort being made by your men's class? That group meets in the basement room and is perhaps heard of only four times during the winter when its members eat together. Yet they are part of the organization, and although the arrangement of the building is such that the entire school cannot meet together, the effect of union may be approximated by frequent dis- tribution in each department of items about the work of all departments. Publicity Program for a Sunday School The following is a suggested program for a yearns publicity for a Sunday school. It may be adapted to a school of any size, no matter how meager the means of announcing the various events. It may be shaped to the possible market and the means of reaching it. This plan is obviously only suggestive. January — Be sure that some report is made from the Christmas gifts sent to others by the school. A letter from a missionary read at the opening service may suffice. If the school is asked to join in local evangelistic services, posters on the bulletin board may be used. Emphasize the singing. February — Interest should be at high point this month. See that the church congregation is kept informed of the progress of the school. An item, short and crisp, each week in the calendar or among the pulpit notices will keep the school in the minds of the congregation. Perhaps a ''Recruiting Day'^ INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 33 might be arranged for the school. Use post cards, bulletins, and other special notices, in addition to personal work. March — Plan wisely for Easter. Help to keep the attendance stable by frequent references to the com- ing special day, giving out details slowly so that interest will be sustained. Plan, if possible, for some printed matter which can be carried to the homes of pupils. A special church calendar may be feasible. The school should have some part in the church serv- ices of the week, and this part should be emphasized in announcements to the congregation both before and after the day. April — Like the advertising manager of a depart- ment store, who originates challenge sales, clearance sales, and mark-down sales, the Publicity Committee of the Sunday school must find special talking points. Perhaps a Boy Scout Day and a Camp Fire Day with the boys and girls in their uniforms may be arranged. Work up interest in Children's Week. Parents will be apt to visit the school to see the honor paid to their children. Cards, bulletins, and notices should be used to call attention to this day, all printed mat- ter keeping sight of the fact that this is a school to study the Bible. May — Children's Day provides a good opportunity to do something special to attract attention to the school. Let every parent be invited, and let the invitation be sufficiently specific as to the program so they will want to come. Make it informal, too, — not a mere list of recitations and songs. 3 34 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY June — Let the Publicity Committee lay plans to help maintain interest in the school during the sum- mer. Refer more or less vaguely to special events in July and August. A little attention to patriotism on the Sunday nearest July 4 will give an excuse for a Patriotic Day, with reports in local papers before and after. July — Perhaps your picnic comes this month. Here the tone of the announcements may be more informal. ^'Remember that good watermelon feast last year? Well, there's to be another," or, "The best pie mother ever baked will be part of the eats at the picnic," or, "The gang will all be there," "The best picnic of all the year is the Sunday-school frolic." Similar phrases may be used. Let the papers know about it, too. August — Plan for Rally Day. Don't take a vaca- tion. Publicity Committee, until your plans for this important day are well matured. Keep changing the announcements and references to it on the school bulletin board. September — A Sunday-school parade is used in many cities with good publicity effect; it advertises the school, and gives the children a chance to be "in something." There is also a good chance for news- paper stories. Alumni Day or Shut-Ins' Day may follow Rally Day and serve to keep interest alive. October — Try to get all schools in town to join in a Clo-to-Sunday-School Day. This is the best possible advertisement for religious education, as it tends to keep Protestants united and gives friendly editors INTRACHURCH ADVERTISING 35 good opportunity for frequent stories about the plan. Be sure that every visitor is welcomed. In many places it will be worth while to distribute to all at- tendants a booklet telling about the departments of work of the school and the church. November — Build up the school by having an On- Time Day. Introduce it four or five weeks in ad- vance by reports on the percentage of tardiness. On the Sunday previous drive home the thought of being on time by asking those who were on time to rise and recite together, "We expect to be on time next Sunday." If desirable, post cards may be sent to each pupil during the week; these should also bear some invitation to other members of the family, thus furnishing an excuse to advertise Bible study in homes where the Bible may not be. greatly honored. December — Plan carefully for Christmas. The Publicity Committee can do as much as anyone to stress the thought of giving to others. "Whom are you going to make happy this year?" "Are you saving your nickels for that gift to the children at the mission?" or some such statement may be enough to keep the matter in mind. If your school is in a locality where few of the parents go to church, make Christmas a time when definitely Christian literature is taken home by the children. CHAPTER III ORAL ANNOUNCEMENTS rpHE pastor, Sunday-school superintendent, or ^ presiding officer in a society of any sort is really a human bulletin board when the time for announce- ments comes around. In some churches and other religious organizations the announcements are not made by the man who is on the platform most of the time. Another voice is called into use and the notices are given by this person, who has no other part of the service. This innovation solves the difficulty of which all pas- tors are conscious: the appearance of the same person in many roles detracts from each of the parts he has to play. If the pastor must read or recite eight or ten an- nouncements of meetings to be held during the week and then begin his sermon, the effect on his hearers is less impressive than if a competent person from the audience makes the announcements, before the min- ister preaches. This novelty value must always be kept in mind, and yet the pastor who does not have a printed cal- endar is limited in the variety he may introduce. He has, however, the advantage which comes from the personality value of the spoken over the written word. If the pastor or Sunday-school superin- tendent realizes that the announcements he makes 36 ORAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 37 each week really are advertisements, and seeks to make their wording conform to the laws of advertis- ing, he will get best results. The first law to remember is that of attention. Order in the school may be improved if pupils have been taught by experience that when the time for announcements arrives, the superintendent will have something worth hearing. The item or fact which will have the greatest interest for the greatest num- ber should be put first. Seek for the newest thing, and find something new in the oldest notice. This does not mean that the notices must be long. The more crisp and pungent they are, the more likely they are to receive attention. But they must have interest. This means that the pastor in telling the morning congregation about the evening sermon must put some thought on his announcement. A sermon to empty pews does little good. Perhaps half an hour taken from the preparation of the discourse and ap- plied to ways of attracting people to hear it would be well spent. Never leave until the last minute the phrasing of an oral notice of any important meeting of the church for which you ask the attention of the congregation. There is something in every sermon which can be used as a barb in the announcement to hook the at- tention of the audience. Find that barb and put it in the first phrases of the announcement. Even the announcement of the midweek service should not fall into mechanical phrases which indi- 38 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY cate that the pastor has lost hope of ever getting more than a handful to that meeting. Arouse inter- est by telling just a word of some interesting fact of last week's meeting, ask a pointed question about the subject to be discussed the coming week, or announce the names of those who will take part. The regular services of the church tend to get into a rut, especially in small churches, and the members tacitly assume that because the attendance is small it always will be. The pastor adopts the same attitude, and a pall of in- activity crystallizes into a shell of imperviousness to new ideas. A little touch of life, of novelty or energy, may re- vive the spirits of the church. Add this to plans for organizing the congregation on the group system, plan some social gatherings or other new feature, and before the pastor is aware of it the germ of publicity will be working and forcing the church to strong and stable growth. Decay sets in when activity ceases. The pastor in his set manner of making announce- ments may have large responsibility in hindering the life of the church. This does not mean that sensationalism is to be employed, but ordinary ingenuity in putting to the front the most interesting phase of a coming meeting or event — the application of psychology. As you read Chapter IV, think of your own church or Sun- day school and your notices for next Sunday. Prac- tice each week giving the most interest-compelling announcements you can evolve. Do this until the liabit of seeking a new way of saying an old thing ORAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 39 becomes fixed. Such a habit has helped many per- sons out of ruts in conducting services or in handhng the Sunday-school lesson from the platform. What has been said about the pastor and the Sunday-school superintendent applies in his own field to the Sunday-school teacher and to the leader of every organization of the church. When the Browns paint their picket fence, every passer-by notices it, but when the passer-by has gone that way the fourth or fifth time, the new paint has lost its novelty and is no longer noticed. Paint your notices fresh each week, and see if they don't accomplish just a little more good than formerly. CHAPTER IV CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS npHE printed weekly calendar is at once an order -■' of service, a newspaper, and a ''house organ." It occupies an important place in the upbuilding of any congregation. Members are not likely to grow enthusiastic about their church unless they know about it, and the average church of five hundred or so members has a dozen meetings a week about which those not present cannot know. The weekly budget of news in the calendar gives them facts and helps to cement the congregation into an efficient working unit. Most bulletins or calendars are printed. Some are made on the church's mimeograph. This is an ex- cellent plan for the small church, provided the labor of issuing them does not fall on an already overbur- dened pastor. A stenographer of the congregation working a few hours Friday evening, or a high-school girl on Saturday afternoon, can do this work. The form of the bulletin, especially the arrange- ment of type, should be carefully studied. Com- parison with the printed bulletins of other churches will be helpful. The Presbyterian Church, and per- haps other denominations, has agencies to advise pastors on all printed matter. Attractive subheads will assist members of the 40 CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 41 church to grasp the essential points. The Une of type also should not exceed three and a half inches if the matter is set in eight point or smaller. Most church calendars are nine by six inches, four pages. More than half are arranged so that pages 1 and 4 are the same each week, pages 2 and 3 being changed regularly. Plan Illustrations with Care A large number of calendars put a picture of the church on the first page. Some, however, have this cut made from an amateur photograph in which the lines are not perpendicular. In other cases the pic- ture is taken from a disadvantageous angle, and sometimes the cut is made from the entire photo- graph, so that a large expanse of street in front ap- pears, or several neighboring houses which are not needed. Their inclusion detracts from the attention which ought to be centered on the church itself. Best results may be obtained by marking the photo- graph before the cut is made so that only essential portions of the picture are reproduced. Some churches use merely the tower of the church, or the entrance, or a portion of a window, instead of the whole building. Sometimes this is used fre- quently enough in all printing to become a trade- mark of the church. Best results in this connection may be obtained by having a drawing and zinc etch- ing made of such portions of the building, rather than using a half-tone. A growing number of churches has adopted the 42 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY commendable method of setting the order of service in a column which is only half the width of the page. This puts the morning and evening service orders opposite each other and saves space which is wasted Good example of use of church tower in place of picture of entire church on cover of church bulletin. if the line of blank space is allowed after ''Invoca- tion" or ''Doxology." Some editors put all the mat- ter in a line about two inches wide. Some progressive churches print all four pages of new matter each week and begin the news of the CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 43 parish on the first page, condensing into small space items of routine information about the church. Every publication, in order to have a definite character which will commend itself to the readers to whom it is addressed, must adopt a certain policy MORNING WORSHIP— II A. M. EVENING FORUM— 7:30 P. M. Mrs. A. W. Tyler, Chorister Organ Prelude — "Andante Pas- torale " Alexis Invocation. Lord's Prayer. Gloria. Responsive Reading — 44. Hymn— 139. Scripture Lesson. Morning Prayer. (Choir Response) Anthem — "Serve the Lord with Gladness " Heyser Announcements. Offertory.— " Solitude On the Mountain " Saunier (Choir Response) Offering. Sermon — " Thanksgiving for our Most Priceless Possession " Hymn— 708. Benediction. Organ Postlude — Processional March Parker Mrs. A. C. Baker, Organist Prelude— "Barcarolle" from " Tales of Hoffmann." Hymn— 138. Invocation. Hymn— 68. Responsive Reading— 340. Evening Prayer. Special Music. Announcements. Offering. Offertory — Offertory in G....Loud Address—" Woe Unto You, Scribes and Pharisees." Solo—" The Ninety and Nine " Ira D. Sankey Mrs. A. W. Tyler Benediction. Postlude — Allegro Pomposo Galbraith Usually only half as much space is required when the order of service is set in half measure as here. and style of material and maintain that in each num- ber. A bulletin should have a character of its own. It should not be merely a reflection of the pastor. His reenforcement of an item which the bulletin con- tains will be much more effective if the printed mes- sage be something other than a mere personal plea 44 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY from the pastor to his people. In other words, a church calendar should be run on the principle of the news columns of a newspaper rather than that of the editorial columns. The material for the most part should be state- ments of facts and not of opinions. In the long run much more will be accomplished for the church if this method is adopted than if each notice ends with such a phrase as "Everyone is urged to be present.'^ Pastors who have had experience in writing news for the papers know that editors like facts in condensed form, which involves writing the most important fact in the fii'st sentence, and putting in the first part of the first sentence the nub of the whole matter. Thus if the time element is most important, the news article or item for the calendar should begin, "At 10 o'clock Tuesday morning. '^ Every item in the calendar should have the object of interesting persons in the congregation. This interest will be obtained most easily by putting in the first sentence the point of greatest moment. An item in one church calendar reads: "The last meet- ing of the study class will be held Friday at the home of Mrs. John Emerson, Blank Street. A social hour will follow. A large attendance is desired." This may be the best way of expressing these facts. But here is another way. See which you think would get the largest attendance: "If you have attended the mission study class, you will wish to be present at the final meeting of the class with a social hour, Friday, April 9, at the home of Mrs. John Emerson, Blank Street." CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 45 In the same way this notice might be improved: "The regular meeting of the foreign mission society will be held on Tuesday in the church parlors and . . . leader . . . special feature of the pro- gram.'^ If there is a special feature, why not put that special feature first? To say that a regular meeting will be held is interesting only to the regular attendants. The purpose of the notice ought to be to attract the women who do not go to regular meet- ings. They will be more interested in the special feature. Put your best foot forward. Before you write another item for your church calendar ask yourself what is the fact of most interest to your readers in connection with what you are about to say, and put that first. Let the other facts fall in the order of their importance. Get Facts by Digging The writing of the best items involves the obtaining of definite facts, facts which are not generally known, but which will be interesting to persons you are try- ing to reach. These may be received through an organization of reporters in each society of the church. If they bring weekly brief statements of what has been happening and is going to happen in their de- partments, and this material be edited carefully, there will be room in the bulletin for the most im- portant things, and the least important may be given smaller space. Pastors who have tried, know that the writing of headings which are summaries of the facts, rather than mere labels, receive most attention. 46 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Instead of heading the last item given above ' 'Women's Missionary Society/' the heading might have been, ''Mrs. C. D. James Will Speak," Mrs. James being the special feature of the program. Daily newspapers have a rule that every heading must contain an active verb. This is an excellent fact to remember in preparing matter for church papers. Another rule which is equally good in this con- nection is that suggestion is more effective than argu- ment. To make a man want to go to the next men's dinner will get him there faster than by merely say- ing, "All men expected." Create the desire in a man's breast for the fellowship and the program and he will come. Editing a Monthly Paper The editing of a monthly paper involves an exten- sion of the requirements needed for a weekly calendar or bulletin. In the monthly there usually is more room. This means opportunity for longer articles. Here the danger is to be noted of printing articles longer than will hold the interest of the reader. Merely because a certain speech or article contained fifteen hundred words is no reason why it all should be printed in the monthly church or Sunday-school paper. The editor should have courage to eliminate those parts deemed least interesting to his readers. The editor is in his chair to edit, and he should not fail thi'ough fear to exercise the functions of his office. Some one must be responsible for every publication, CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 47 and that some one must be autocratic. His authority should not be questioned. If he is a poor editor, get another; but permit the man or woman who holds the place to be a real editor. The editor must use constant ingenuity to discover articles and news which will interest. There is little use in printing matter which will not be read, and every article in any publication which is not read by a considerable number tends by that much to dull the desire for the next copy of that paper. Editors must protect the reputation of their paper for print- ing only that which is interesting — and interesting to the majority of readers, not to the writer of a particu- lar article. Editing a manuscript means making it conform to the style of the paper as to capitalization and punctua- tion, supplying attractive headlines, and eliminating superfluous matter. If an article submitted has a dull title, there is no reason why an editor should weary his readers with it. If a more attractive title will im- prove the article, put it on. If the article will be more readable by eliminating three fourths of the introduc- tion, use the blue pencil. The editor is working for his readers, not for his contributors. Of course, the style of the author should be retained and his ideas not changed. Variety of matter provides more ^^hooks" on which to catch the interest of the reader. Let the matter in each issue be varied, both as to interest and length of items. Four-line fillers are often read before page articles. Fillers are always needed for '^make up." 48 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY When material runs to two pages, it is usually time to stop. Interest can seldom be sustained longer, and if the reader is not interested he tosses the paper aside. Good ideas concealed in the last pages of the paper may be lost. Items about people always have interest. Coun- try newspaper editors usually enforce the rule that an item must interest at least ten persons in order to find a place in their columns. '^Every name printed means a subscriber" is another favorite slogan of country editors. From many standpoints the parish paper is a country newspaper. Careful editors will examine every item offered to see how many words can be eliminated without spoil- ing either ideas or sense. Many persons are prolix. Often a general statement is followed by a particular statement, and by putting the second first, there is no need of the original opening sentence. Every line saved means space for more news, and often a word means a line. Pare the matter closely. Good Make-Up Is Important To a great degree the attractiveness of a paper of any sort depends upon careful ''make-up." This involves placing headings near the top of the page, using filler at the bottom of the previous page to force a long article to the top. Headings should be large enough to give distinction to worthy articles. When an article is worth a page of space, it should usually have a heading across the entire page, not a single-column heading. Headings of the same rela- CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 49 tive importance should have uniformity as to size and arrangement if a paper is to have the character of a well-edited sheet. If items three or four inches long carry a heading of one full line in capitals and a line "One Is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren."— Matt. 23:9. Vol. VI BROOKLYN. N. Y., APRIL 15, 1921 No. 28 Published Weekly, Except In the Summer Months ey tha Throop Avt. Presbyterian Church Throop Ave. and Macon St. Brooklyn, N. Y. REV. WM. CARTER. D.D., Pastor, Edited by THE MEN'S BIBLE CLASS JOHN E. BARTLETT, Editor 333 Madison Street. J MILTON RENNER, Associate Editor Subscription, Fifty Cents a Year Entered as Second Class Matter January 30, 1921, at the Postofflce at Brooklyn. N Y , under the Act of March 3, 1879. THE ANNUAL MEETING Were you out last Wednesday night? If not you missed one of the biggest ine s-Tl^ oop A venu e has ever done, inner evolences, when he said that the Ben- evolences had increased over Qix fold in five years and that this had been a constantly increasing growth from year to year. The following is the synopsis of the Reports: To Home Missions $1,690.00 To Foreign Missions 1,753.00 To Other Benevolent Boards. . 1,342.00 To Famine Relief Funds 1,705.00 To Inter-Church Debt Fund.. 1,036.00 To Other Outside Benevo- lences 1,329.00 Total Benevolences $8,855.00 To Congregational Expenses. .28,236.00 Grand total $37,091.00 Members Received on Examination 66 Members Received by Letter .... 22 The narrow column is used on each of the four pages of this weekly calendar with order of service and usual church notices on inside pages. and a half in capitals and small letters, every such heading should be so written. The number of letters which the space will contain should be counted, and headings written to fill that space. Do not have a two-hne capitaUzed heading when the style calls for 50 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY one line. Search your brain for synonyms so the top line will contain just twenty- two letters and spaces, not twenty-five, if that is the limit of the column you are using. Few errors of editing so destroy the good appearance of papers as sloppy, careless headlines. Do not put two ''heads" side by side on the page. Rearrange the items so that one is a little above or below the other. When in juxtaposition, each tends to kill the effectiveness of the other. The style in most papers calls for a complete statement in each ''deck" of the head. The second deck should be an amplification, not a continuation of the wording of the first deck. Get an active verb in each head. Subheads in long articles tend to increase interest and open up the page. Much solid matter tends to make a dead, uninviting page. It may be enlivened by cuts, or if these are not available, by the use of rule boxes. Place in such boxes, not more than one to a page, pungent extracts from the article, if the matter justifies such prominence, or some important fact about the church or Sunday-school work in general which you de- sire readers to be sure to notice. Leave plenty of white space about the matter thus boxed. An announcement of coming articles or im- portant events may thus be brought out prominently, and the appearance of the page improved. ^ The question of the use of advertisements of local CALENDARS, BULLETINS, AND PAPERS 51 merchants in church monthUes and weekly calendars troubles some pastors. Many merchants look upon such advertisements as a contribution to the church rather than a legitimate effort to get business. The constituency of some church papers is such that it is moved by advertisements in the church publications. In such case it is proper for the church to solicit ad- vertising. In those cases, however, where the mer- chant will not get adequate return for money he expends, the church should refuse to accept adver- tisements and should pay the expense of the publica- tion from its own funds. This analysis does not settle the matter, nor can it be settled except by study of each field affected. Popular magazines have standards in their advertis- ing departments so that a man cannot spend his money there if the management thinks his proposal will not appeal to their readers. Thousands of dol- lars' worth of business has been rejected on this ground alone. The church should be equally scrupulous in accepting the money of merchants. CHAPTER V POSTERS AND CARDS WHEN a church or Sunday school places a dis- play advertisement in a newspaper the pastor or Publicity Committee need worry no more about the message getting to the readers, or at least to a considerable number of them. When plans are made for issuing a poster, a window card, or a circular, some one must also arrange plans to get this printed mat- ter where it may be seen and read. The physical presence of a stack of one thousand posters makes so much of an impression upon persons untrained in ad- vertising that they instinctively think that those posters will reach more individuals than an advertise- ment in the newspaper, only one or two copies of which they see. But the paper, it must be remem- bered, is distributed to the homes of the people and the advertisement there does the work. The posters must be put where they can be seen before they are effective. Posters and cards will, however, be considered by any religious institution engaging in a comprehensive campaign of advertising. In some localities posters are much more effective than advertising space in papers. In other situations posters are an efficient reenforcement of the news items and spoken an- nouncements of the same event. Each supports the 52 POSTERS AND CARDS 53 other, and all are stronger and more effective because of the use of the others. Posters, for the purpose of readers of this book, may roughly be divided into those which are made one by one with brush, crayon, scissors, and paste pot, and those which are printed from type. The colored illustrated posters used by commercial con- cerns, unfortunately, seem for the most part beyond the resources of religious institutions except general boards or other denominational agencies. The work of artists is expensive, and a poor piece of art work is much worse than none. Most of the street-car cards and the one-sheet posters on elevated platforms in cities, which contain pictures, are the work of artists who may receive as much as five hundred dollars for a single poster. They are made in large quantity for wide use and such expense is easily justified. Com- parable to such posters are those issued by the de- nominations, or some union of denominations, like the short-lived Interchurch World Movement. The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., has issued a number of attractive posters in connection with the annual Every-Member Canvass. Other denominations have used the work of artists to advantage in urging mis- sions and Christian education. Handmade posters are used largely in a more mod- est fashion by many local religious organizations, and such posters are the chief concern of this chapter. The making of posters forms an excellent outlet for the energies of high-school boys and girls or Sunday- school classes or other groups. The prime essential 54 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY of such a poster is an attractive picture, preferably in colors, clipped from the cover or body of a magazine CanYou Express Yourself Try in C.E. This poster was made as i)art of the class work at one of the summer conferences of young people of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath S('hool Work. It was selected by vote of the class as the most effective of twenty submitted. and pasted on a card background. To this is added a few words of text, the composition of which de- pends upon the object sought. POSTERS AND CARDS 55 The genius of such a poster is in the apt combina- tion of whatever picture may be available with text which will hold interest. Such posters find a very acceptable use in churches and in young people's societies or missionary society rooms. A series of such posters used to drive home some subject like stewardship, mission study, or a definite part of the local church work, changed each week, will do a deal of good in the course of a year, and accomplish a re- sult which cannot be brought about through use of mere words by the' pastor in the pulpit or the super- intendent from the platform. The pictures attract and drive home the lesson. Christian Endeavorers all over the country have used this method with suc- cess in advertising weekly meetings, social events, and similar special occasions. Text on Poster Important The picture goes far toward attracting attention, which is the first of the fundamental requirements of good advertising. But the text must hold the interest, or the attention value of the colored picture is wasted. A large picture of the familiar old lady who accom- panies Dutch Cleanser might be used on such a poster with this text along the side, as spoken by her, ^^Now, I want all you young people to go." Under the picture place, date, and events should be clearly stated. One very effective poster, made by a member of the Publicity Committee of a Detroit church, showed three children seated at a bench. One Httle girl was 56 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY opening her lunch box and the others were leaning over eagerly to look into it. Underneath was the text: ''God will not judge you by what you give, but by what you withhold." This was part of a cam- paign to make people in the church think more about stewardship. The lettering should be done as legibly as possible, large enough to be read twenty feet away, and most of it in small letters (lower case). The text should be thought over a good while, the spacing of it care- fully considered, and the drawing done hghtly in pencil before being made with ink or crayon. Re- member that black on white shows the greatest con- trast. Dark brown on Hght brown looks very well and can be seen at short range, but other colors attract more attention. The poster must not sacri- fice its attention value in order to be ''artistic"; nor, on the other hand, should unsuitable color combina- tions be permitted. Naturally, posters of this sort will exhibit a vast amount of individuahty. Here lies one of their great charms. They should not, however, be ex- hibited more than two Sundays in succession, as they soon lose their attention value. When the mat- ter is not of local import, or if it can be easily changed, such posters may be passed from one church to an- other and used several times. If the Publicity Committee has at hand a list of the high-school boys or girls who have some talent in drawing, basis will be formed for a subcommittee in charge of posters. Some children can't keep their POSTERS AND CARDS 57 pencils from drawing funny figures, to the amusement of their fellow pupils and the despair of their teachers. Here is an excellent avenue of employment for these busy folk in promoting the work of the church and Sunday school. Keep Bulletin Boards at Work The widespread use of movable-letter signs has done much to solve the question of ''What sort of signboard?" The problem, then, is one of copy: ''What shall we say?" Too many pastors answer this in the easiest way by displaying only the times of meetings with the topic of their sermon. Other managers of church publicity use the bulletin board as a lawn preacher and have displayed from Sunday night to Friday morning a sentence designed to make passers-by think on helpful subjects. On Friday the Sunday topic is displayed. Some churches feel that these bulletin boards do not reach the majority of passers-by because the let- ters are too small. They have arranged other types of board, the best of which, perhaps, is a shallow frame covered with a glass door behind which is dis- played a sheet of wrapping paper transformed into a church poster. Usually this is merely a sentence sermon in letters six or eight inches high. A church in Trenton, New Jersey, uses this idea successfully, with the assistance of the sign-card writer of a local department store who letters the copy given him by the chairman of the PubUcity Committee of the church. 58 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Any sign is better than none, but hundreds of churches occupying high-priced land at busy inter- sections offer the passers-by no word of help or sug- gestion of better things except ^Treadling on Sunday at 10.00 A. m/' Perhaps your church is missing some such opportunity of preaching to throngs all day and night. The arrangement of matter follows rules similar to those for the best appearance of printed matter in a display advertisement. The prime consideration is that it must be easy to read. All fine lines and flourishes are to be subordinated to the aim of getting the message into the mind of the reader, who may be passing rapidly in an automobile. The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., through its Department of Publicity, has filled a need among ministers for appropriate short statements to put on bulletin boards by issuing three series of sermonettes for outdoor bulletin boards. These are designed to give the passer-by something to think about which will tend to draw him nearer to the things for which the church stands. Printed posters for store windows, and cards for the advertisement of special meetings, follow in their make-up and composition the same laws as display advertisements. For full discussion of printed pos- ters, see Chapters XI and XII. CHAPTER VI WRITING LETTERS 1ETTERS form an important link in any care- -^fully planned publicity campaign for a religious organization. In fact, many large results have been accomplished through the use of letters alone. They are especially valuable in communities so large that an effort to reach non-members through the news- papers means much wasted circulation. Letters also have a high place in intrachurch publicity. But letters, like all publicity, to be effective must be well written. ''Get into the envelope and seal the flap after you,'' advises a writer on the composi- tion of business communications who has had large success in making his circular letters human. The human touch is especially needed when attempt is being made to interest possible members of a church, a Sunday-school class, or a men's club. A letter is a personal representative. In appear- ance and content it should ably reflect the sender at his best. Hence, letters should be written at the beginning of the day, or when the writer is mentally and physically at ease. Perhaps of the two, mental ease is the more necessary. Everyone has heard the warning, ''Do not answer a letter while you are angry." Letters designed to persuade a man to join a 59 60 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY religious organization, like all other letters, must be written from the standpoint of the recipient, not that of the writer. This principle cannot be stressed too strongly. It should be recalled before every let- ter is written. Change the "I" to ''you'^ and note the improvement. Analyze the letters you receive. Those which talk about you and recognize the diffi- culties of your position are more favorably noticed than those which speak of what the writer has done or will do. "I have been asked by my colleagues," began a letter to Presbyterian ministers by an officer of the denomination. This was changed to open with, ^'You already have received," thus Unking the second letter with a prehminary piece of printed matter and putting the reader in a more favorable frame of mind. The law of compensation operates in writing letters — that is, results from letters are in proportion to the effort and heart put into them. Good letters are not written without careful thought, although those who in their everyday work are constantly seeking new ways of doing things can more easily write an attention-compelling epistle than can the man who in all his dealings with his fellows is content to follow the crowd in a rut. Most letters are advertisements addressed to a specified individual. As such they follow the laws of advertising, of which the first is ''Find the point of contact." Get the attention of the reader by the easiest means. Don't raise debatable subjects in the first paragraph. Get the reader to agree with you, to WRITING LETTERS 61 feel at peace with the world, especially with you, and then get the barb of your idea into his mind. Use of Questions Is Often Effective A question is often the best way of getting atten- tion. *'What did you think of that suggestion in last Sunday's sermon that/' etcetera, might be a good way of getting the attention of a possible member of your church. You don't ask him if he was at church the previous Sunday. Assume that fact, and the suggestion of what was then said, if of general interest to men of the type addressed, may pull him to a pew the following week. The sting of a pointed question often arouses the conscience. Witness the wide use of "When did you write to mother last?" in rescue missions. ''How do you expect your son to stay in Sunday school when his father plays golf all day Sunday?" may put a new thought into the minds of careless parents. Commercial concerns rarely issue a circular letter without a definite purpose. Usually they hope for a reply to a definite proposal. Let church people take a lesson here and seek to press home the point in view. Try to get a response of some sort. Inclose a reply card for a copy of the church calendar, angle for a statement of the former place of residence or church connection in other towns; anything to get the man to answer. The act of mailing a reply fixes more strongly in his mind the letter you send. Frame your letters with this in view and never permit in the letter any suggestion of the wastebasket or his pos- 62 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY sible failure to answer. Believe success and it comes. Let the letter radiate faith in its own success. The composition of letters, like the composition of any sales Uterature, requires time and thought if best results are to be achieved. The introduction must be friendly and must establish a point of contact if the ''prospect" is to read the whole letter. The paragraphs must not be long. The eye naturally jumps from one break in the page to the next if the interest lags a moment in a long paragraph. Short paragraphs usually tend to shorter and, therefore, clearer sentences. Read over the last two form let- ters you sent possible members of the church or adult Bible class and see if you now can find spots where they might have been changed for the better. The letter which begins with the brief recounting of an incident frequently puts the writer on the proper friendly basis with the recipient. This sugges- tion of narration does not mean a long story. Merely a thought or a picture, something which vis- uahzes a scene to the reader, makes it easier for him to get your message. The newsboy on the corner nearest our church came to the manse last night and laid three dimes in my hand. ''I want to give this for the Thanks- giving fund"; he said, and was gone before I could invite him in. Suppose that were the opening of a letter asking for money for the annual Thanksgiving baskets? Wouldn't you be inclined to read further? If the message of a letter is interpreted in terms of WRITING LETTERS 63 life it will be more carefully read. Incidentally, the same principle carried into sermons or talks from the Sunday-school platform meets with large success. The flank attack is successful in realms other than that of modern warfare. It works in the province of the mind. To assume that the man had been at church and to ask his comment upon a phase of the sermon of the previous Sunday makes him say to himself, perhaps unconsciously, ^'I suppose I ought to" go." A certain educational institution issued a booklet about expansion plans which it was desirous should be read by a Ust of men and women supposed to be favorable to such institutions. To send a leaflet to a business man and say: "Please, sir, read this. It tells why we are going to ask you for money later on," would have defeated the purpose. After careful study the plan was adopted of sending the booklet with a letter which asked the advice of the recipient as to certain features of the proposed expan- sion program, thus assuming that he would read it and flattering him because his opinion was asked. It evoked a reply from a considerable number and favorable consideration from still more. Suggestion is always more potent than command or request. Witness the best methods of training your children. Mental processes are much alike in children and adults. Suggest that everyone in town is going to the benefit concert for the local hospital, and everyone will wish to go. Beg people to come to the prayer meeting Wednesday night and those will respond whose sense of loyalty overbalances their 64 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY inclination to stay by the fireside. Plant the desire to go in the heart of a man, and he will go, rain or snow notwithstanding. Suggestion is the means of creating the desire. How this can be done may be answered only by a study of each circumstance. The flank attack is a mechanical means of arriving at the result. Ask yourself, '^In order to get the man to come, how can I arouse his interest in some allied feature of the eve- ning's entertainment so as to move him to action?'' This action can be brought about often by an opti- mistic temperament which assumes that the crowd will be there and which radiates that confidence to others. The pessimist worries about the size of the crowd and it usually measures up to his expectations. Make the sermon worth hearing, the meeting worth the attendance of busy men; assume that they will come and write them in that spirit. Results ought to follow. Letterheads What minister of the gospel would think of going on his pastoral calls with a photographic miniature of his face made into a pin and fastened to the lapel of his coat? Why then should clergymen use a half tone of themselves on their letterheads? The letter, as well as the visit, projects the individual into the attention of another. Shall his picture accompany the epistle? The letterheads of the largest and most substantial concerns of the country are simple in design. There WRITING LETTERS 65 is not much type, and what is used is small and not ornate. The elaborate letterhead, along with the flow- ing beard and the hoop skirt, has passed, probably never to return. The presence of much printed matter on a letter tends to detract from the written message itself. As in architecture, tailoring, or house-furnishing, so in letters simplicity makes the most pleasing impression. The quality of stationery to be used must not be decided hastily. A dollar more put into a thousand letterheads may be one of the best advertising invest- ments the chm-ch can make for the pastor. It is not wise to spend money lavishly on letterheads and envelopes, but good quality pays. The same comment applies to printing. Printing is an art. One of the mistakes which churches fre- quently commit is to give printing to the lowest bidder. When artistry enters as a large factor in manufacture, lowest possible prices cannot be paid and best results obtained. If the pastor or some member of the church or Sunday school can supply the brains which higher priced printers usually use with their work, then printing at the bare cost of labor and stock can be done with assurance of good results. Churches ought to provide their pastors with plenty of well-printed stationery and cards. Such equipment is part of the office expense, not personal, and payment should come from the church treasury. The laws of balance must be nicely observed in the placing of letters on the typewritten page. If the 5 66 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY letter consists of about sixty words on the usual letter paper, the effect will be much more pleasant to the eye of the recipient if there are nine lines on the page than if the material be written in five long lines across the middle of the sheet or near the top. Stenog- raphers are trained in the adjustment of their ma- chines and as to the proper place to start a letter. They estimate from their notes the length of the material. Ministers and other religious workers frequently must write their own letters. A little care of the same sort will be repaid. Some one has said that the 'T. S." is like the sting in the hornet's tail. Everyone reads the postscript; sometimes it is read first, after the signature has received a glance. Put a sharp barb in the post- script, but it must be short. Shall we spend one or two cents in sending a letter? The answer may mean the difference of twenty dollars in the cost of a small part of a sales campaign. To use less than first-class postage may be criminal waste of the Lord's money. Many men and women will not look at a one-cent letter. The mere act of breaking the seal of a letter under a two-cent stamp forces the recipient to do something which incUnes him to a quasi-favorable reading of your message. If the envelope can be marked so that the recipient knows the nature of the contents, especially if he desires the contents, a one-cent stamp is justified. In towns where people get little mail a one-cent letter is given more attention than among people whose mail each morning contains ten or twenty letters of WRITING LETTERS 67 various sorts. The question of stamps is important and to err on the side of doing the best is wiser than on the side of the cheapest in sending church matter to prospects. This suggestion is borne out by com- mercial experience. CHAPTER VII USING THE NEWSPAPERS "1^ fHY not put the news of the church where the ^ ^ people will read it? Christ did not require people to come within four walls to hear him. Why should not a church of to-day use modern means to get its message to the people who never come to its stated services? The founder of the Woolworth stores is said to have laid down this principle for the location of his places of business: ^'I want to set my trap where the mice are plenty. ' ^ The newspapers of the country — the papers in your town and mine — reach nearly everyone. Consequently all the favor- able items concerning Christianity which can be inserted there, are so much of an effort toward Christianizing the world. When a religious organization embodies in a four- page tract an idea which it hopes to get into the minds of many people, some way must be found to circulate the leaflet, and the cost of distributing material is high. Through the columns of the news- papers of the land churches have a medium, the circulation of which is already provided. In order to circulate the " tract ^* without cost, rewrite the idea in terms which the people will read. Then the editor may print it. But he must not be blamed 68 USING THE NEWSPAPERS for hesitating to print material which he thinks peo- ple will refuse to read. His paper is a commodity which sells because it contains matter which the buyers wish to read. If he prints articles which a considerable number do not desire, he will soon find his circulation declining. The pubUc will read another paper. Editors Are Human — Help Them About this time some one will rise to remark that the papers in his town are yellow, untruthful, and generally venal. If that is the case — and usually such a picture is vastly overdrawn — what has the brother done to improve the papers? Reporters make mistakes. A few are inaccurate. Most of them know little about church affairs. They are apt to confuse the names of church offices and make blunders which to the ecclesiastical lawyer seem important. If editors, or reporters, are approached with the assumption that they wish to be helpful, and facts are given fully and without irritation, the care will usually be found to be worth while. In an experience of nearly twenty years in daily and weekly journalism, the writer has been thrown with no class of persons more careless of the desires of editors and more ungenerous in their criticisms of blunders than ministers. Editors of church pages all over the country report that pastors seldom send in announcements of their Sunday sermons uni- formly on time and in the shape used by the paper. Some one must rewrite a great quantity of dreary 70 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY facts which could just as well have been wi'itten correctly by the pastors in the first place. Every pastor and Sunday-school superintendent ought to be on friendly terms with the editors in their town. Church and press are both engaged in the upUft of the community. That each fails so often to understand the other is to be regretted, for thereby many opportunities for mutual helpfulness are lost. Show the editor that you are a real friend by tip- ping him off to news which is not directly related to your church. Help him with the details of the obitu- ary of some prominent man you have long known. Offer to report a lecture or other meeting, if you in- tend to go and he is short of reporters. Give him items about weddings you perform. Commend him for supporting the right. In smaller cities facts about visitors, learned by a pastor through his pas- toral calUng, may go far toward warming the editor's heart toward a church. When the paper does not print church news, don't blame the editor. Look to yourself, and see how the matter can be rewritten, or additional or other facts dug up which the editor will accept as worthy of pubhcation. Some papers print sermons in full. Probably they are read by some persons other than the proof reader and the compositor, but from a news standpoint many Christian journaHsts question their value. Most per- sons will more readily peruse a half-column sunmiary of a sermon with the most interesting points brought USING THE NEWSPAPERS 71 out than wade through a two-column discourse. Unless people will read it, there is Uttle merit in printing it. Sermon extracts should closely follow the rules of good news-writing. The Bible text is unimportant to the newspaper reader, however necessary it is to the pastor. Put in the first paragraph that state- ment, irrespective of the place it occupied in the dis- course, which ties the sermon with current popular thought. There must be a point of contact before the reader will spend his time upon it. Find that. Do not grow weary in well-doing when you start sending church or Sunday-school news to a paper. If the editor at your suggestion sets apart a half column or a half page, as hundreds of papers do, and expects the space to be filled by you or your fellow workers every week, don't forget that every week means every seven days. Have the copy in good shape on the editorial desk on or before the time set. The danger to be watched in filling a regular space is that the matter tends to become routine work. From a propaganda standpoint the regular department is much to be desired, but some one must work hard to furnish only the best of material. If there is no regular department, and the church or Sunday school gives the editor news only as facts warrant, the task of the church reporter is to prepare a flow of facts for the editor. Too often church folk feel piqued when they stay up an hour at night to write a report of a farewell social for their foreign missionary, and then find the next morning that the 72 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY six-page article has been boiled to four lines. Space was "tight" that night, but the next night there may be plenty of room. No one can tell what the next minute will bring forth in a newspaper office, and news values must continually be readjusted in view of the latest developments. The thing to do is to keep the paper suppUed with facts all the time so that when slack times come church news will have a chance. Some years ago the St. Paul Pioneer Press had an energetic correspondent in Fargo, North Dakota. Every night he had a well-filled envelope on the desk of the Northwest editor. When other news was light, the Fargo man was rewarded by having most of his tales printed, although when real news developed in other parts of the Northwest, the thinner tales from North Dakota were dumped into the wastebasket. The diligence of the man earned for him regularly the largest pay check of any of the hundred or more correspondents. So it will be with church news. Keep the papers suppfied against the day and hour when the demand for copy sweeps the church news into type and into the forms for publica- tion. Reach Larger Audiences Persistence has unexpected rewards. One of the larger denominations maintains a news bureau which furnishes facts to papers of the country. Accounts of the coming of speakers of the various boards are sent ahead of the lecturers, much to the enlargement of the audiences that greet the men. One day a USING THE NEWSPAPERS 73 report came, too late to be mailed, that a certain man was to lecture the next day in Jackson, Michigan. The News there was wired that such a man would arrive at such a time. The editor assigned a reporter to meet the train. The paper printed a column-and- a-half story the afternoon before the lecture, and next day carried two columns about the meeting itself. Thus the facts that the board was trying to get across received a tremendously increased hearing because of the care in sending its itinerary to the news bureau. The Presbyterian denomination equipped its lec- turers on one campaign with stories to be sent to weekly papers in the smaller towns they expected to visit. The men were given the following, with a stamped envelope and instructions to mail it to only one paper in the town in which they were planning to speak : Advance news items: "The New Era and the New Needs." Item for paper to be sent in advance. Instruction to lecturer : Fill in blanks below. Print all proper names and mail to one paper only — one with largest circulation in towns you will visit. Weekly papers usually close for news on Wednesday morning. Get your item there Monday morning. New Era Movement. tear off top here and mail early To the Editor: You may care for this news item. It will interest every Presbyterian in your territory. The lecture is free. This item is exclusive. Would be glad to have you or a repre- sentative attend the lecture. 74 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Pictures of Presb>i:erian work around the world will be shown in the local Presb\i;erian church next evening, Feb at o'clock. The pastor is Rev The address will be given by Rev of The local church is one of 10,000 congregations in this country and abroad. In addition to the 1400 foreign missionaries and 1250 home missionaries, the denomination supports 77 hospitals in 9 foreign countries and has 2000 schools and colleges in 16 foreign countries. It was a Presb\i:erian missionary who invented a plow which natives in India can use to turn a better furrow. A picture of this plow in action will be shown. Another missionary of the same denomination has helped break up the effects of the India caste system by importing and crossbreeding chickens. In one year the size of eggs was doubled in one district. After the lecture the following was to be furnished the editor : FoUow up news item: "The New Era and the New Needs" Lecturer: Take this to the newspaper office the morning after 3'our lecture, no matter whether weekly or daily. Offer it to the city editor as news he may care for. You are cooperating with him in furthering the best things in town. Ask no favors. New Era Movement. detach top here and throw it away A Chinese evangelist who keeps a record of over 2000 persons for whom he daily prays was introduced to the audience in the Presbyterian church last evening by of who gave an illustrated lecture on 'The New Era and the New Needs." The slides gave a graphic view of Presbyterian- ism around the world, picturing mission work from Alaska to North Carolina and from New York to India. The evangelist, Ding Li Mei, has had what are termed USING THE NEWSPAPERS 75 remarkable results in China. He is one of the powers for good among the younger men of that country. The educational and medical work of the Presbyterians was shown, as well as evidences of the evangelistic work whereby last year 173,000 new members were added to the rolls. The local church joins with 10,000 other congrega- tions in maintaining 77 hospitals in foreign lands, many of them the only places of healing available to hundreds of thousands. According to those who are informed, hospitals are unknown where medical missionaries have not been sent by men and women from Christian countries who loved their neighbors well enough to provide money to support the work. Last year Presbyterians raised for all purposes $10,000,- 000 more than they ever did before, but gave an average each week of only an ice cream soda without the war tax to all the mission work of their church. But the average is rising. An increase of twenty per cent is expected this year as a result of the Every Member Canvass, Sunday, March 6. In order that this might not have the appearance of being too much of a ^ ^canned" story, the lecturers were instructed also to copy the entire matter before sending. If the local pastor also told the editor of the coming lecture, no harm was done. The editor got the news from two sources, with the chance that it thus made more of an impression upon him. The sort of news that papers will use depends upon the size of the town and the appetite of the readers for religious matters. The Boston Transcript uses full pages of religious matter every Saturday, not stereotyped notices. The Chicago Tribune employs a religious editor, but the Sunday paper often has only eight or ten inches of items. Thus in other cities the amount of space deemed worth devoting to 76 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY religious purposes varies. The strange thing is that church people so seldom make efforts to have the space enlarged by asking for it, or commending the managing editor for his good judgment in giving space to an important story. If the element of interest is kept in mind, the ques- tion of news will solve itself after the local church reporter has had experience. He must continually search the activities of the church or school with these questions in mind: ^'What has happened which would interest people outside this church? How can events in the school or church be made to interest a large number?" Often news about the denomina- tion, or other general religious items can be made available by giving them a local angle. Sometimes the taking of a special offering in Sunday school for a popular famine appeal, or something similar, may be counted news because it links a local institution to a national effort concerning which all the town knows. How TO Get Attention The essence of good news- writing is to write so that the matter may be easily read. If church and Sunday- school news intended for publication in daily papers be offered in form which can be easily digested, following the style which the paper usually adopts, it will have a better chance of getting into the paper than if the editor must turn the article over to a reporter for rewriting. Glance at the headlines of this morning's paper. Some items hold your attention while others do not. USING THE NEWSPAPERS 77 A few you read, every word. Of others the first para- graph is enough. With many articles a few words of the headline are sufficient to indicate that there is nothing of great interest for you in that news. Each item or ' 'story, '^ as every article in a newspaper is called, competes for your attention with every other. Thus it has come about that instructors in journalism lay down the rule that the first sentence of every story must contain the nub of the whole occurrence. The answers to Who? What? When? Why? How? and Where? should usually be contained in the first sentence, certainly in the first paragraph, and that first paragraph must not have more than half a dozen lines. Just as the first sentence is the place of prime importance, so the first clause of the first sentence should contain the most important element. This may be a time element, a place element, name, cause, effect, or something similar. By a peculiar tattoo mark on his right palm, John Smith, aged 23, hving at 45 East 7th Street, this afternoon revealed himself to Officer Jim Jones as a badly wanted forger. This style of news presentation seems to suit the American taste better than the more expanded way which might be adopted by those unfamiliar with the elements of news- writing: This afternoon John Smith was arrested, charged with being a member of the forger's band which has been operating in this city. Efforts 78 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY have been made by the poUce for many months to discover members of this band. Officer Jim Jones was in a cigar store on Seventh Street when Smith entered. When the alleged forger held out his hand to receive the change from the purchase of a cigar the officer noticed a peculiar tattoo mark in his palm. This identifying mark had been ex- plained to all the police. The average reader lost interest in the second item before he was half through. He cares Uttle for the arrest of a forger, and the briefer statement above told him all essential facts. Obviously the chronological order of facts has nothing to do with a good news story. The most important feature of a ball game may be in the last few minutes of play. No reporter will attempt to compel his readers to wade through a column of description of the rest of the game before reaching the exciting moment. He forces to the front of the story : ''By a twenty-yard run around left end in the last minute of play Jimsy Brown, quarter-back for Yale, carried the ball over Harvard's line for the first touchdown of the day." Or the quarter-back may be sufficiently well known to open the story with his name. In writing reports of conventions, never begin with the opening hymn and try to force your readers to read through the entire three days' session. Put in the first paragraph what you consider the most significant or helpful thing said, no matter at what time of the meeting it was delivered, and make the USING THE NEWSPAPERS 79 rest of your report center about that, forgetting entirely most of the details. Only thus can you hope to have the report read by any except those who need it least. The best news in the eyes of the editor is the fact which will interest the greatest number of persons and make the greatest impression. The fact that John Smith, of Oshkosh, has died and left five thousand dollars to the local library for the purchase of fiction is of interest in Oshkosh and in many communities of Wisconsin. It is of minor interest to most citizens two hundred miles or more from Mr. Smith's late home. Whether or not the Oshkosh library ever has fiction is immaterial to them. The item has, however, a slight interest for librarians or others concerned with acquisition or sale of books. If the will of the late Mr. Smith, of Oshkosh, had contained a provision establishing a library in his birthplace, Shawnee, Pennsylvania, ^^on account of the lack of facilities for reading in that village," the item would have been considered news in Oshkosh and Wisconsin and also in eastern Pennsylvania. If Mrs. Smith had told the papers how her late husband w^hen a boy had walked thirteen miles to borrow a book to read, and had then determined some day to build a library in the town of his birth, the item would have had an appeal to people generally. It would have been printed by papers in all parts of the country, depending upon the amount of other general human interest news available on the day this item came to the attention of editors. 80 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY In the same way the fact that Mrs. Brown-Jones is now the soprano in the choir of the First Methodist Church is of interest to members of that congrega- tion and to others in the town to the extent to which the singer is known. It is of no interest to Metho- dists in other towns, and may be of no moment to Methodists in the same town not members of First Chm-ch. But if Johnnie Smith sends a grimy letter to the pastor with a quarter, asking that Grandma Brown, who is bHnd and eighty-seven, may have an instru- ment in her pew so that she can hear the sermon, the alert church reporter has an item which will touch the heartstrings and the purse strings of everyone in his own church, or in no church, and it has a certain diminishing value outside the town. The unusual has more interest for people — includ- ing yourself — than the usual. This is the reason editors tell the world when a preacher's son is arrested but never record the fact that his other son stays at home nights and struggles with the Hebrew Testa- ment. Papers are blamed for carrying this principle to an extreme and charged with always playing up the seamy side of life. But expensive tests show that church people seldom support generously those papers which do not present the unusual. Still less often do they take time to pen a letter to an editor thanking him for supporting the good and condemn- ing the bad. The church people of any community constitute the stable, reliable portion of the con- stituency of most papers. They can get what they USING THE NEWSPAPERS 81 demand — if they back their demand with their pat- ronage. The failure of church people to protect their own interests is related by a religious editor of The Chicago Tribune. To test the pulling power of certain features the managing editor one Sunday ordered omitted a real estate feature occupying less than a page. Before noon on Monday hundreds of letters and telephone calls had inquired for the missing real estate news. The feature was restored. A few weeks later the usual church notes were dropped. Not one person inquired for them! If you had been managing editor what would you have done? But he didn't. The church notes are still running, although the opportunity is not used as largely by pastors as it should be. In writing news be concise. Make every word count. Read your article after writing and count the number of words, even whole sentences, which can be eUminated and the story still be well told. Some one must pay for the white space occupied by every word printed in a paper. If twenty persons can be made to read two items instead of ten persons one item, the editor has helped to increase the circu- lation of his sheet. Additional items may often be crowded in by the ehmination of unessential words. Always give the initials of a man or woman when the name first appears in a story. Take special pains to have both correct. You don't like your name misspelled, and there may be several persons in the vicinity with the same patronymic. 6 82 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY The rule most often broken by amateur news writers is that which prohibits the use of editorial expression in news. Experience with many groups of ministers and students in training for Christian work shows that after the most careful explanation of the distinction, about 12 per cent of the class will fall into the error of expressing opinion rather than facts. Every well-edited paper excludes from its recital of facts any comment on those facts, unless the article is signed or is prepared by a specially favored writer. This means that all first-person pro- nouns must be left for another day, unless used inside quotation marks, attributed to some- one. The well- edited local paper will not say, ''Our church will have a special speaker in the pulpit next Sunday." Who is ^'our" when printed in the news columns of the community paper? When a church is dedicated, by what right may an enthusiastic member write for publication in the city paper, ''The most beautiful church in this state"? This expresses a judgment, not a fact. The same idea may, however, be given with the probable approval of the city editor: "What many persons say is the most beautiful church in the state." Here authority, indefinite but not that of the paper, is credited with the expression of opinion. Permit the copy writer or editor of the newspaper to write the headlines. Furnish the facts in news form and the editor will do the rest. His headline contains only so many letters. You do not know what style of head he may wish. Large city papers often write two sizes of heads over many articles so USING THE NEWSPAPERS 83 that the make-up man may have a choice in arrang- ing a symmetrical paper with nicely balanced heads of the same size. News at 9.00 p.m. may be ancient history when the next sun arises. If you have a morning paper in town, and value your reputation with the paper, let not midnight find the news outside the city room. True, some country papers run as much matter one week as they can and next week label that which is held over, ^ ^Continued from last week," without offending the reader's ideas of timeliness. With daily papers the time limit must be more closely observed. Some facts, on the contrary, are news even though they are twenty years old. Such was the revelation, a dozen years after the event, of the operation to Grover Cleveland on the Atlantic Ocean while he was President, and the fact that Roosevelt was seriously injured in a boxing bout in the White House. The people were interested enough to read these facts, even though old by or din- ar}^ standards, because of their concern for the men involved. But few church or Sunday-school facts can stand being put aside until a more convenient season. After the news is typewritten on one side of the paper and revised for possible errors of spelling, give it to the editor with your compliments. If it is worth printing, and the editor is not biased against any church, as it should be assumed that he is not, the material ought to see the light of day, even though it may be considerably modified to meet the 84 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY judgment of the newspaper man. Always remem- ber that it is his paper which he is editing, not yours. Try to learn from the changes made, never complain, and don't forget to thank the powers that be for the favorable attention your church or Sunday school does receive. The rules for news-writing and the selection of facts have been developed through years of work by the news editors of the country. They may with profit be followed by the editor of the church calendar and parish paper. Every piece of publicity matter used within the congregation ought to be prepared with as much attention to the rules of news-writing as is devoted to those articles which are offered to the town newspaper. Observance of these rules will result in greater interest in the work of the church. If the pastor or publicity chairman will remember these suggestions when planning the next weekly notice which the friendly editor prints to announce the Sunday services, he will seek a little longer than has been his wgnt to find something which will inter- est the readers of the paper as distinguished from the members of the congregation. Find the items which make the work of your church that week different from the work of other churches. This is often very difficult. The semblance of newness can be obtained by variety in the wording of the items, if the style of the paper does not require a set phraseology. Never print an item in the church calendar each week in the same way if the contract with the printer permits resetting the type. Seek to make the most simple USING THE NEWSPAPERS 85 announcement in a manner different from the way in which it was made before. Some Technical Terms Many editors of church and Sunday-school papers are not trained news writers. They have not had opportunity to become famihar with many of the terms used in printing and newspaper offices, such as the following: Mat. A piece of dried paper pulp or papier mache which has been pressed into a type form and thus prepared to be used by printers in casting a metal plate which will be used in printing. Mats are cheaper than electrotype plates, and being lighter can be transported through the mail at much less expense. They cannot ordinarily be used by printers in small towns where a casting machine is not often available. Plates. Thick pieces of metal which may be mounted on wood or may be grooved on the back so as to fit into an iron base issued by the Western News- paper Union or similar supply house. Electrotype plates are made by depositing copper on a wax mold made from type form or a cut. This is then backed up with type metal. A stereotype plate does not have the copper facing and hence does not permit so fine printing as does an electrotype. A stereotype is, however, practical for most newspaper work. Stick. The name of the metal container held by a printer who sets type by hand. From this use has grown the designation of a ^^stick" to indicate about 86 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY two and one half inches, single column, of a news story. Em. The square of any type body. Unless other- wise indicated, it usually means the square of a pica (12 point) . A 3-em dash means a dash three times the width of the size of face used in the type. Half-tone. A printing block produced by photo- engraving process whereby Hght and dark spaces and intervening tones are reproduced by the size of dots from which the picture is printed. On a coarse screen half-tone these dots are easily visible. News- papers usually use from 65 .to 90 screen for their half- tones. Much finer work can be done with a 150 screen half-tone. This, however, requires the use of calendered paper for a printing surface. By 150 screen is meant that there are 150 crossed lines to the inch on the ground-glass plate which is introduced by the photo-engraver between the negative and the subject photographed. Line drawing or line etching. When one wishes to reproduce printed matter which does not contain a photograph, or wishes to reproduce a picture made with pen and ink, the process is more simple than when a photograph is reproduced. Black and white lines require no half-tone screen. Zinc etchings cost less than half the price of half-tones, which ordinarily are etched on copper. Line etchings can be printed on paper of any surface. Thus pastors who use a rough paper for their church bulletins usually must have a drawing made of their church for use on the cover. USING THE NEWSPAPERS 87 Copy. The original matter which the printer or the photographer uses to reproduce. Linotype. A machine which casts Hues of type from brass matrices, making possible the setting of type about twenty times as fast as it can be done by hand. When the type has been used, it is rem el ted for another j ob. The same term is frequently applied to matter set by such machines. Proof, An impression from type. Proof reader. One who reads proof to mark typo- graphical errors. Copy reader. The person who edits copy and writes the headlines, especially on a newspaper. Every paper has from one to a dozen persons whose only business is to edit copy and write headUnes. Other men read proof. Galley proof. The first form in which proof of any type is usually given. A galley is a brass container for type, about two feet long; hence a galley proof is proof of type in a galley, no matter what its length. This is contrasted with page proof, which is proof of type after it has been made into pages. It is expen- sive and difficult to make changes in page proof, unless the matter which is cut out is replaced by material which when set is exactly the same length, so that changes from one page are not carried over to succeeding pages. Proof should be handled like a red-hot iron; don't hold it. When proof comes, the type has already been set and is standing at the printer's ready to go to press. Every day that metal is tied up in type 88 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY means an increase in the capital investment of the printer. Frequently charge is made if proof is held beyond a certain reasonable time. If changes are to be made in matter after it is sent to the printer, alter- ations should by all means be made in the galley proof rather than in the page proof. After type is set, it is difficult and therefore expensive to change. Author's changes (corrections in copy made by the writer who has changed his mind) are charged for by most printers. Temper of printers and expense can be saved if authors change their minds before mat- ter is set. Story. In newspaper parlance, any article, poem, or essay, serious or frivolous, is a story. Reporter. Man or woman who gathers news from original sources. Same person usually writes it, although in large cities facts are telephoned to a rewrite man who turns in the actual copy to the city desk. City editor. The executive in charge of the report- ers. He makes assignments, indicates the length of the story to be written, and sees all matter relating to city news. In the same way papers have men in charge of the telegraph, cable, sports, and other fea- tures. Over all is the news editor, or the managing editor, according to the paper's organization. CHAPTER VIII PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS AND SPECIAL MEETINGS CONVENTIONS, series of evangelistic services, or special gatherings of any sort, have in them- selves news elements which do not adhere to the regular meetings of church and Sunday school. PreHminary newspaper pubHcity for a convention must be planned carefully, and a program should be laid down which will bring to the front a few details of the meeting each day or so, in order that with the newest facts the public may again be told the essen- tials of time and place of the gathering. Such a campaign involves marshaling facts and events in a more or less mechanical or controlled fashion. It means keeping to the rear some of the big facts until near the finale. All the principles of news-writing apply to publicity for conventions. If you are an officer of a county Sunday-school association, a state Christian En- deavor organization, or a Young Men's Christian Association with a convention in prospect, study Chapter VII in the light of your immediate task. . Thinking will be clarified if it is kept in mind that publicity for a convention is for two purposes: (1) Directly for attendance; (2) indirectly for attendance 89 90 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY and directly for the public information on facts allied to the purpose of the gathering. Every Christian convention gives the friendly editor an opportunity to hang on the peg of the special meeting some facts about Christianity or its organized forces. Such meetings provide the seeker of publicity for Christianity a favorable chance to enter the columns of the papers to tell the message of the organization to those not now connected with it. Such publicity reenforces the desire of possible attend- ants to go to the convention. The plans here suggested are not theory. They have been put into practice for a county Sunday- school convention, for several state Sunday-school conventions, for district conventions of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, for national Go-to-Sunday- School Days, and in various other connections. If carefully followed, with adaptations to local condi- tions, they ought to increase the attendance at any convention and greatly add to the public knowledge of the principles for which the organization stands, unless indeed conventions in the past have had the fortunate guidance of trained newspaper men. There is nothing unusual about the plans. Hard work alone will make them successful. The one who manages the publicity for a conven- tion must be in close touch with the officers and with all developments. He should be to the convention authorities what the president's assistant is to the head of a corporation. He must be trusted and must be allowed to plan special features which will PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 91 make good news stories, without, of course, interfer- ing at all with the dignity which ought to enshroud religious conventions. For the sake of concreteness let us analyze the publicity plans for a convention of the Bureau County Sunday School Association. They are not unusual but serve to illustrate the application of principles. The same plans were used for a state convention, and may be adapted to any convention. The Bureau County Convention The Sunday School Association of Bureau County, in Northwestern Illinois, September 17, 18, 1918, held one of its largest conventions, and officers of the association freely attributed much of the success of the gathering to this campaign of publicity which was worked out with the cooperation of the secretary of the association. Publicity plans were initiated July 20, two months before the meeting. It had been the custom of the association to issue for each convention a printed poster which was sent to every school. Each school was also visited by a county officer two or three Sun- days previous to the convention. Letters were sent to each superintendent telling who was to speak at the convention, and two Sundays before the meeting each school was provided with a number of printed programs for distribution. A banner given annually to the school sending the largest delegation stimu- lated attendance. Usually some effort was made to get the local correspondents of the county papers to 92 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY put in items about the convention. The convention expenditure for advertising and postage was about twenty-five or thirty dollars; it was no larger in 1918. The plan usually followed for getting attendance at the county convention assumed that the largest proportion of people interested would come from the Sunday schools themselves. The items put in the county papers constituted the only means of an- nouncing the convention to those members of the community who did not attend Sunday school the three weeks preceding. The assumption that the ma- jority of persons interested in the convention would come from the Sunday schools is doubtless correct, and if a program contemplates merely technical dis- cussion, of interest only to active Sunday-school work- ers, this plan of publicity may be sufficient. Every Sunday-school convention, however, presents a most excellent opportunity for bringing to the attention of the people of the community the prime advantage of studying the Bible in an organized way. Hence in the opinion of many workers, county officers over- look a large and comparatively uncultivated field when they do not use every means in their power to reach members of the community who are not con- stant Sunday-school attendants. The plan outlined for Bureau County was exceed- ingly simple. The work was done entirely by cor- respondence and, inasmuch as the desire of the officers of the association and their willingness to cooperate had to be discovered as progress was made, PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 93 the plan was not so complete as many county officers can work out for themselves. On July 26 a letter was sent by the secretary of the association to editors of the twelve newspapers in the county, soliciting their cooperation in the coming convention. With this went the first of a series of news items. With changes in dates and names this, in lieu of a better item, might be copied for any county convention. Note that this is written as a local item for publication in each paper. As local news it re- ceived more attention than if it had told about the convention at Lamoille without reference to people in the town in which it was published. Local Sunday-school officers are interested in the plans for the coming county Sunday-school convention at Lamoille, September 17 and 18. The officers [names of president, vice-president, and secretary were inserted] are behind every effort to make the convention this year more help- ful than ever. It is realized by all Sunday-school workers that the schools have a large part in all efforts to keep the morals of a community at as high a standard as possible. The convention will offer suggestions to workers of all departments to help them to do their work better. "Sunday Schools," says B. M. Smith, of Princeton, president of the county association, "are needed to help every person in the county get the idea of morality we all must have to keep our county in the front line of progress." (Similar brief quotations from Sunday-school work- ers may be used to advantage in laying stress on the importance of attendance.) 94 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY The second news item to the county papers was sent shortly after August 7, to be printed about a month before the convention. Several of the towns had two papers, hence the secretary sent to the paper having the largest circulation the following item which is given in full with the brief note to the editor at the top: To the Editor: Hundreds of readers in your vicinity will be interested in this item about the coming Sunday- school convention. H. H. Morse, Secretary Church people of Lamoille of all denominations have organized for the proper care of the Bureau County Sunday School Convention, to be held in Lamoille, September 17 and 18. The chairman of the committees are : (insert) . To the second paper in those towns where there were two weeklies the following item was sent : Delegates to the coming Bureau County Sunday School Convention at Lamoille, September 17 and 18, will be entertained overnight without charge, according to an announcement by the secretary of the association, H. LI. Morse, of Neponset. Local committees have been appointed at Lamoille and everything possible has been done to prepare for a helpful convention. Details of the program will be announced soon. It will be observed that the time, the place, and some of the details of the convention are given in both items. The opening sentence, however, differs PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 95 in each and each one has some details which the other has not. Editors who are careful about the material that goes into their papers do not wish to print an item which appears in identical language in a com- peting paper. Indeed, in larger cities there is some- times difficulty in getting into the second paper much of any material about a rehgious gathering if another publication has been given information first. Sometimes it is best to deal exclusively with one paper, letting the editor understand that no news of the same sort is being sent to his competitor. In the case of the ordinary county Sunday-school conven- tion, however, most editors will be glad to use some- thing about the meeting even though their com- petitors have the same facts. If possible divide the facts so that each editor will have something exclu- sive. In some places it will be found better, however, to give to each paper all the facts furnished the other, but with different emphasis. The third item was sent to the papers on August 22. Following the same form with note to editor, as given on page 94 : An automobile caravan will be organized in this town by members of the local Sunday schools who are planning to attend the County Sunday School Convention at Lamoille, Tuesday and Wednesday, September 17, 18. B. M. Smith, of Princeton, president, and H. H. Morse, of Neponset, secretary and treasurer, are in general charge of the arrange- ments for the convention. One of the most interesting speakers to be pres- ent is W. C. Pearce. Mr. Pearce is, ... . 96 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY About August 10 the poster for the convention was drawn up. (See discussion of Sunday-school posters in Chapters V and XII.) A final item rounding up all the facts of the con- vention and more details about the speakers was sent to all papers for pubUcation the week preceding the gathering. In addition to these news items the county officers carried out the usual program of visitation and issu- ance of letters. They also did what the writer con- siders one of the most important features of any con- vention publicity campaign: they issued a letter directly after th« convention giving each school the number of delegates and number of schools repre- sented, with a suggestion that pupils and officers read their local paper for a report of the convention. This report was sent by the secretary to every paper in the country on the day after the convention closed. Items to papers were made comparatively brief in order that they might conform to the average ma- terial used by the papers. They were written with- out specific knowledge of the facilities in each office for setting type. County officers who have available copies of the papers to which notices are to be sent, can plan a more detailed campaign by study of the various papers. If the type is set by hand, brief items are most acceptable. If the office has a type- setting machine and has space for a considerable amount of local news, longer items will have chance of favorable attention. PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 97 Examples of News Stories The following items may be suggestive for news stories for papers of your county. Make carbon copies of these, with local names inserted in place of the italics, and offer to an editor in each town : Mother Eliza Brown, the oldest Sunday-school member in the county, expects to hear every word of the coming Sunday-school convention, although she has not left her home in High Street for the past three years. Officers of the association have ar- ranged with the local telephone company so that she can hear all she wants of the convention speakers during the entire time of the sessions. The meetings are expected to attract a large attendance, in addition to regularly appointed delegates from each school of the county. (Follow with details of the program.) Reports to the secretary of the Jones County Sunday School Association indicate that the at- tendance at the coming meeting at Lincoln, Janu- ary 30, will constitute the largest gathering of Sunday-school workers ever held in that town. Reports have been received from 47* of the 56 schools in the county. Among the speakers will be According to Dr. T. Y. Jones, the oldest minister in this part of the state, every church in Linn County has been the outgrowth of a Sunday school. The County Sunday School Convention, to be held in Marion the first two days of next month will lay plans for the extension of religious work into newly settled portions of the county. 7 98 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Among the subjects to be discussed are. . . . (Follow with several paragraphs on history of Sunday-school work amplifying first sentence.) There is only one Sunday school in the county ' which cannot have a representative at the coming County Sunday School Convention in Independ- ence, June 17 and 18. This is the small school conducted each Sunday afternoon in the county jail. Members of the First Methodist Church go to the jail every Sunday and have a study of the International Lesson among those members of Sheriff Smithes family detained ^'for the time being.'' (Follow with details of the class or similar unique school and features of the convention.) The appeal of the coming convention at Colum- bus, May 17, will be to laymen. It is expected that more than half of the men at that gathering will be business and professional men who leave desks and counters for three days to study better Sunday-school methods. (Follow with details of the convention, and use cuts of leading speakers and officers.) Music will have a large part in the coming State Sunday School Convention at Florence, June 3-5. B. Y. Brown, professor of music at Jones Univer- sity, will have charge of the convention singing and of the Sunday-school pageant Thursday night. (Give details of this and a few other facts of the convention.) Thirty-five hundred and forty-three Sunday schools have been added to the religious forces of this state since the State Sunday School Association began PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 99 more aggressive work seven years ago under Secre- tary Jones, of Kankakee. This Association is part of the International Sunday School Association, enrolUng more than 20,000,000 pupils and teach- ers. The state convention at Joliet, .... Suggestions given in Chapter II on selling organi- zations to themselves should be applied to conven- tions and special meetings. Make the group which is responsible for the success of the plan realize that it must do a good deal of work. An eastern college attempting to raise a million dollars found that six months of precious time had passed without result because the trustees were not themselves thoroughly interested. Advertising of various sorts was sug- gested to sell them their own proposition. Thus in some churches the idea of special services will have to be advertised thoroughly — especially, perhaps, the idea that the church people should become personal assistants to the evangelist during the effort. Newspaper Advertising Has Advantages In paid display space in newspapers officials of conventions can use the imperative tense, as they cannot in news items. There is high value in display space in selhng other things; why not in selling the idea of a convention, or a community training class, or special evangelistic meetings? Space in papers is measured and priced by the agate line (14 to the inch), or by the inch, and costs roughly fifteen to twenty-five cents an inch per thousand circulation. Thus for ninety cents a thousand, one may have an 100 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY announcement three inches high across two columns sent to every subscriber to the paper. The cost of sending a post card to an equal number would be about fifteen dollars a thousand. Of course, the post card would go to a select list, but the advertisement in the paper will reach many who may be interested, and yet will never be found on any hst available to the Sunday-school association or pastor. Material for such advertisement can well follow the general lines of a poster, but the copy should be changed with every insertion, retaining the name of the association, or some catch phrase in each adver- tisement as an identifying mark to build up a reputa- tion for the association. Display advertising of this sort is to be recommended only in certain cases. It is most effective when continued. When only one insertion is possible, the space should be large. It ought to be possible in connection with state con- ventions to have friendly merchants donate to the association part of their advertising space to be used to urge attendance. This has been done with good success in some cities in connection with Go-to- Sunday-School Day, Mother^s Day, and on other special occasions. Proclamations by the governor of the state or the mayor of the town have been used with excellent effect in advertising Go-to-Sunday-School Day and similar special events in which most of the people of the community will participate. Official announce- ment by civic authorities is often good advertising. Don't forget that the motion-picture houses in PUBLICITY FOR CONVENTIONS 101 a community gather every week thousands of persons who look at the screen with concentrated attention. A screen invitation from the churches of the commu- nity to participate in the special event which is also being advertised by other means will get into their minds, and if the suggestion is phrased to reach the people much good ought to result. Every auxiliary means which can be found to add to the impact of the convention or special meetings will strengthen all the other efforts. Let darts of suggestion hit the individual man from every direc- tion. His attention will be arrested; perhaps his conscience will be pricked. Cards or tickets of admission appeal more to children, perhaps, than to adults, unless the tickets admit to a meeting at which it is expected that the crowd will greatly tax the seating capacity of the building. They can be used, however, to advertise a feature of a state convention, such as a pageant, in order to stimulate attendance from the local churches. In printing tickets, as with all printed matter, care should be taken to have the quality of the stock and the workmanship reflect the high standing of the church or Sunday school in the life of the community. Poor printing is usually expensive in ways which can- not be traced, lowering respect for the institution issuing it, classing the organization with cheap, un- important institutions. On the other hand extrava- gance in deckle edges, many colors, gilt edges, and the like, is to be avoided. 102 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Personal Work Is Always Effective Nothing excels the heart-to-heart talk of two friends as a selling factor. Let a friend invite you to the next Sunday-school convention, and a favor- able impression is left. If you see the convention mentioned in your local paper and in the church calendar and then receive a letter about it, the im- pression is much deepened. The personal invita- tion alone might have induced you to go, but it was helped by the other avenues through which you have heard of it. Get ten people to telephone ten or twenty persons, inviting them to a convention, or community train- ing class, and the news spreads rapidly. Assign definite work, and ask reports on all work done. Personal letters by key persons in each community will go far toward influencing others to attend a con- vention. The sending of two or three good speakers to visit schools and churches helps to generate enthusiasm for a Sunday-school cause, and enthusiasm is needed for the convention. Speakers help to make the idea of attendance popular. It becomes the ^'fashion" to go. This is the aim of all publicity for conventions. A team of two is more than twice as good as one be- cause of the operation of crowd psychology. Christ sent out the Seventy, two by two, and no better teacher of psychology has yet arisen. CHAPTER IX OTHER USES OF PUBLICITY MANY times you have felt like writing to the editor of your paper to tell him that this thing was right or the other thing was wrong. Once in a while you have done so. The editor knows that for every letter he receives perhaps several hundred per- sons feel as does the one writer. If, when a moral issue is before the people, the impulse to write such letters can be stimulated, important pressure may be brought to bear on the papers. Through the publi- cation of communications pubhc opinion may be influenced for the right. Letters from taxpayers, when the city council is not inclined to do the courageous thing in some mat- ter before it, are often effective. A group of fearless Christians organized to send such letters to papers and stimulate others to be written is one way of using legitimate publicity to further the cause of right. Suppose on this same question before the city council certain clubs pass resolutions. That action is news. Possibly the papers will print the text of such resolu- tions. If they have been written with this use in mind they will be more readily treated as news, and read by a larger number of persons, than otherwise. If a committee interested in certain good causes introduces resolutions in meetings of young people's 103 104 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY organizations, men's clubs, lodges, or other bodies favorable to the cause under discussion — whatever it may be — the basis for news stories is created. In this manner facts and editorial expressions can be pubhshed which could not otherwise gain entrance into the news columns. Such action upholds the hands of the editor who may wish to support the right, but who hesitates so to do because of business connections. If the facts and argument come to him in the form of letters, or in the shape of resolutions adopted by important gatherings, he often cannot ignore them. He must print the news of the town. Thus he can justify his course in giving currency to the ideas of the ^'reformers" when his business associates reproach him for not following their wishes in suppressing information about the state of pubhc opinion on the matter before the council. Perhaps allsuch uses of pubhcity come under the head of diplomacy. Certainly in Washington and in state capitals astute men and women seize every opportunity to: have pubhshed items and articles supporting their side of various questions. The forces of evil have their paid agents constantly at work making opportunities for such news. The children of light must be as wise as the children of darkness. But often they are not. Preachers can use the papers to further moral reforms by furnishing quotable extracts from their sermons. Sunday night usually is a dead time from a news standpoint. Monday morning papers offer a OTHER USES OF PUBLICITY 105 golden opportunity for the churches. If something can happen or be made to happen, if a preacher can say just the right thing to be used as news, the reUgi- ous forces can get display news heads Monday morning. Such projects as the development of interest in week-day religious schools, in better hbraries, im- proved schools, and similar community enterprises can be furthered by wise use of publicity. All are projects in which the community has some interest. This interest can be increased by judicious resolu- tions passed by various bodies, by proper letters written to the editor, by speeches at gatherings to which reporters have been invited, and by signed articles in local papers from the pens of authorities on the subject under discussion. If the matter can be made the theme of a debate in a neighborhood association, a church club, or similar gathering, the event will have a news element which will help to bring the facts into the light of the daily paper and thence into the minds of those whom the sponsors of the idea wish to influence. Several examples of this sort of effort to increase civic righteousness by publicity are given in ' Pub- licity and Progress," Smith, Chapter IX. Raising Money by Publicity Money can be raised by publicity when the proper preliminary efforts have been made to interest the people. When a great popular emotion like patriot- ism has aroused the nation, the call to subscribe for 106 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Liberty Bonds finds eager response. When a maga- zine asks its readers for gifts to help save the starving of China, money rolls in by the hundred thousand a day. All this is done through the wise use of pub- hcity. Of course in these and similar cases the news- papers were ready to give space to the facts and in many instances to print appeals in the news columns. The editors felt that the information was what the people wished to know. To raise money for a local hospital, a college, or a new church building, the laws of publicity and psy- chology previously described can be put to use. In- formation must precede interest. Money will not be given for objects concerning which people do not know. College presidents frequently need more money for endowment or for another dormitory. Some of them think that by announcing their need in the papers the cash will come in. It will come to the extent to which the people appealed to know about the need and have an interest in the institution. If that interest has been sufficiently engendered because of information either from residence there as a stu- dent, through talks by agents of the college, or by pastors, pledges will come. But the information must be given, and in many varied forms. Cornell University has raised a large sum of money, as have also Smith and Wellesley and New York University by organization, paid advertising, pub- licity stunts by local committees, and news stories of the way the money was being raised. A group of Smith girls rented an old barn near a fashionable OTHER USES OF PUBLICITY 107 drive and by selling hot waffles made money for the college, but they also made news for the papers, because all the women in town were ready to read about these venturesome Smith women. This pub- licity brought more customers and they brought more money; thus the fun grew. Cornell used large display space in daily papers of the east to good advantage. Other colleges have done the same. Publicity for such a campaign must be wisely managed. Papers seldom print appeals for cash as, ^'Send checks to J. J. Brown at once." But Mr. Brown can be made to say something interesting at some important gathering, and the publicity man can see that incidentally the fact is mentioned that he is treasurer of the Blank College fund. Or the speech may be about the importance of supporting colleges liberally, and the report of the address be in itself an argument for giving to such causes. The plan for such a campaign, including the paid advertising, circulars, letters, post-card follow ups, news stories, and activities of various suborganiza- tions must be worked out carefully, and should fit into a plan similar to that outlined in Chapter I of this book. The product which the institution has for sale must be analyzed. This will differ for a college and for a church which needs a new edifice. The field for the ''sale" of this interest must be closely scanned. The different classes of persons who ought to be interested should be listed and subdivided. Then answer the 108 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY question, How can we reach these people? List the available means, written and spoken, of all sorts. A theological seminary in need of $3,000,000 was recently started on its task. Its constituency was mostly in one state, although its alumni were inter- ested, and more widely scattered. The alumni in the state were organized into committees of small units, and names of men and women interested, or who ought to be interested, were sent to the office. In a short time a mailing list of over 10,000 was obtained. An advertising campaign was started with weekly copy in the periodical read by most of the men of wealth of the denomination affected. A reporter on a local paper was employed to send out news stories about the seminary to papers of the state, using his news instinct to find the items and to help make other news-bearing things to happen. To keep in touch with the people on the mailing list, a four-page semimonthly paper was started, stressing the cause of better trained ministers and giving the news of the campaign. This created and main- tained interest in the institution among those already having some contact. Leaflets setting forth the plans of the institution were prepared and sent to the names on the list, and used by members of the faculty and agents of the seminary as they spoke to groups on the needs of the institution. Another institution raises its needed $200,000 a year solely through weekly advertisements in the leading paper of the denomination with which it is affiliated, plus the activities of an agent of the college OTHER USES OF PUBLICITY 109 who makes personal calls over the country, and writes personal notes as opportunity can be created. The advertisements prepare the way for him, save ex- planations, and create a favorable atmosphere for a personal presentation of the needs of the institution. Through these advertisements large sums of money have been sent directly to the school without other appeal than that provided by the weekly announce- ments. Small gifts of this sort are cultivated into larger sums by personal letters and continued adver- tising. Another college depends largely on organization and dinners to which possible givers are invited. Large sums have been raised in this way, but the expense has been upwards of 15 per cent, as against less than 1 per cent with advertising plus personal visits of one person. With the dinner method, the pastor of the church of the denomination with which the college is affihated is visited and his interest obtained. A dinner is planned to which the leading men of the town are invited, without much advance information being given concerning the object. At this meal, paid for by the college, several speakers set forth the need of religious education and the require- ments of this college. Leaflets about the college are also distributed. The next day, and for a week or more, the guests at the dinner are visited by agents of the college, supplemented by neighboring pastors working on commission, and pledges are sought. Only the best obtainable help is used, but it is un- trained for this work and inexpert. Expenses run no CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY high, but the plan has been voted successful in small towns and cities. It has reached much ''new" money. Good Advertising Reduces Cost of Raising Money Expert money raisers are scarce. Those colleges and institutions which have been largest users of advertising and pubhcity seem to have the best continuous success at lowest net cost per dollar raised. The building up of a body of informed con- stituents who will give increasing sums each year is perhaps the ideal to be sought by colleges which are not fully endowed. Giving follows interest. In- formation by personal contact is most effective, but most expensive. The personal contact plan fails to develop new prospects, such as the friend who pinned a check for $25,000 to an advertisement of a fund for pensioning aged ministers. He never had come into direct touch with any representative of the Board be- friended. But the advertisements, repeated weekly, cultivated his confidence. He responded^ One college president of the west dehghts in relat- ing how he borrowed twenty dollars to begin adver- tising in church papers and how the discovery of only one of the many friends thus brought to the surface will pay for his advertising for many years. Naturally this type of advertising, as all resultful advertising, must be carefully constructed. General statements must give way to specific instances. Print a picture of a poor boy locked out of college because the classrooms are full to overflowing. With OTHER USES OF PUBLICITY 111 the proper approach, such human interest facts ought to pull checks from people. The name of the college and the amount of the need alone will not get big results. College advertisements, like every piece of writing, must be constructed from the standpoint of the reader. There must be some point of contact which can be developed into interest in the particu- lar institution. CHAPTER X ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE A REAL estate dealer visited the home of a Pres- byterian pastor in a small Nebraska town, and upon learning the name of the clergyman said, ^'Oh, you are the preacher who puts those advertisements in the paper." The clergyman admitted his church had been ad- vertising the gospel. ''Well," continued the visitor,''! don't go to church, but my wife and I this winter have formed the habit of getting down the family Bible every Saturday when those advertisements come out and we look up the Scripture reference you print." This incident typifies the hope of the most ad- vanced thinkers on church advertising that every advertisement paid for by a religious organization shall carry ta the reader something of uplift, whether or not the reader accepts the accompanying invita- tion to attend the particular service also announced. The advertisements used by this Nebraska clergyman cost $1.80 a week. He had been paying the expense from his own pocket, but when the trustees saw the increased interest in the church they gladly appro- priated $200 a year to continue the announcements. A large Presbyterian church in Brooklyn was con- verted to the use of paid space to advertise religion 112 ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 113 and church attendance rather than merely the ser- mon of the pastor. The audiences increased after two weeks of the changed appeal and many comments were made on the advertisements. Some ministers and laymen are prejudiced against church advertising of whatever sort because of the blatant practices of some churches which have been misled into beUeving it is advisable to imitate a Do You Know What Palm Sunday Means ? It means the triumph of the King, the crowning with praise of the Lord of glory, the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. How long is it since you praised God? How long since you gloried in his triumph? How long will Christ have to wait to enter into your heart? To-morrow will* be a good time to decide the matter. Go and join in the throngs that will praise him. Go and join in the hosannas and strew his path with palms of victory. It will do your soul good. You need it and God needs you. THROOP AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH If You Don't Know Where It Is, Go to the Church Nearest You Because it broke away from the Brooklyn custom of announcing merely the time and place of service, the above announcement created much favorable comment. Notice the last line. vaudeville show in program and announcement in order to spread the gospel. Church advertising as considered in this volume means telling people some- thing of the gospel, in terms which they can under- stand, and inviting them to a certain place where other details will be explained. Using paid space means stepping forth from the congregation and ad- dressing a world which knows there are churches, but which seldom enters their doors, and not infrequently 8 The Golden Rule Will Work WHATEVER your business, the Golden Rule of the Bible will work. Try it in its complete applica- tion. You will have more satisfaction — and more business. Treat your employes as you would want to be treated if the hired man were boss. If you are employed, do your work as you would want it done if you handled the check book. In your home treat your children as you would want to be treated by God, your Father. ''Children, obey your parents/* says the good book. The principles of the Bible can never be disproved. Follow its teach- ings and nothing but good can result. First Congregational Church What better use can be found for home-mission money for influenc- ing a community than to print this suggestion in local newspapers? It is one of twelve plated advertisements prepared by the author of this book and issued by the Western Newspaper Union for smaller papers. They were used in 235 papers with a possible audience of 2,300,000. 114 ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 115 ignores the principles for which the churches stand. To explain the principles of Christianity to these out- siders and persuade them to attend the church they have neglected, perhaps for years, is not an easy task. But there is more hope of reaching a large number of non-church members through the daily papers than through any other medium. By the papers it is possible to go into the highways and hedges and seek to compel them, through the applied psychology of the printed word, to come in. Shall the Publicity Committee plan for a paid advertisement only on Rally Day, Christmas, and Easter? Or is it wiser to plan for a definite campaign throughout the year? The experience of commercial advertisers and the tests in university laboratories all commend a regular campaign. If a man is invited in a different way every week of the year to go to a cer- tain place, he will be more likely to accept than if the invitation comes three times a year at intervals of four months. By all means plan for a regular weekly advertising campaign for both church and school. And why cease advertising in summer, even if it be necessary to close the church? People have greater need of the restraining hand of religion in hot weather, when the preachers are on vacation, than in winter when all the churches and Sunday schools are running full blast. Use the papers to preach to the people. Reach them where they are when it is too hot to dress and go to church. It is seldom too hot to read the Saturday afternoon paper. Professor Adams, of the University of Michigan, 116 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY well says that any fact which is once well known will in the course of time be forgotten. Churches cannot assume that because they have been occupying the same unadvertised spot for a half century that people will continue coming to service. Out of every one thousand persons in the United States fourteen die each year, and many are annually coming to the age of understanding. Commerce and religion must keep facts before the people. Commerce has also discovered that ''card'^ adver- tisements, such as ^^J. A. Snyder, Shoes,'^ do not sell shoes nearly so fast as does the announcement of the more progressive man who tells about the style of the shoe, its quality and finish, and so forth. Some churches are passing through the stage of advertising from which commerce emerged forty years ago. Even banks, those conservative, stable affairs which one time thought that an incomprehensible set of figures was possessed of occult powers as an attrac- tion of business, have seen a new light. To-day banks are among the most progressive advertisers of any town. Live banks have increased their deposits manyfold, and the nonadvertising institutions have lost pace in the procession. This has been proved in scores of towns. If churches and Sunday schools can learn a lesson from commerce and pass over the ^'measles" stage of advertising they will save much money and accompUsh more good. Religious advertising has a home-mission aspect which is more easily understood since the propaganda during the War showed the power of the press in ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 117 turning the opinion of masses of men in certain directions. The pastor of a suburban Chicago church said he did not need to advertise in the local paper because his and three other churches on the east side of the tracks had every family Hsted, and knew just who did not go to any church. '^The people on the west side of the tracks won't come to our churches. We can't reach them, no matter what we do," continued the minister. He admitted, however, that the people on the west side needed the constructive force of the gospel more than those who lived among the ehte. He frankly added, also, as a new light dawned, that the west siders took the local paper and that the substance of a sermon printed there would reach them effectively and tend to make them better citizens. He left the office of his adviser to sell that idea to his trustees. How Much Shall We Spend? If the potential advertiser is now almost persuaded and asks, ''How much shall we spend?" some hght may be shed by the records of commercial concerns. Business houses make their advertising appropria- tions upon various bases, although the most common is that of a certain percentage of sales. It is reported in advertising journals that 33^ per cent of the gross sales of Arrow Collars is used annually in ad- vertising that product. Colgate and Company is said to expend 2 per cent, Great Northern Railway 1.83 per cent, Ivory Soap 3 per cent, Sears, Roebuck 10 per cent. The latter concern has 1300 persons 118 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY in its advertising department. Marshall Field and Company, credited with doing 28 per cent of all the Is This the Way to Heaven? This question by a poor child in one of the first Sunday schools in England in 1792, was answered in the affirmative. Many a child^ and adult too, has found that regular church and Sunday school attendance opens to them the gates of Heaven. Perhaps you would like to start too. There's no admission charge. Go to some Sunday school next Sunday. Learn the ^^ Jesus Way'' This headin^'ought to attract those outside the church — and those are the ones vvlioni we seek to reach in newspaper advertising. This is one of a series contributed for the good of the town by the Eastern Shore News, Cape Charles, Virginia. Note the simplicity of the type arrangement. department store business in Chicago, expends only 1 per cent of the gross sales in advertising. The ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 119 usual retail store figure is nearer 3 per cent, the aver- age for all Chicago being 2.57 per cent. Some con- cerns appropriate a certain sum per unit sold, like the sellers of oranges in Cahfornia. It is reported that the Sherwin-Williams Company, maker of paints, cannot increase its sales unless at least 33/2 P^r cent is spent in advertising. This figure is the result of close study. What would 3 per cent of the gross income of your church amount to? Would this sum be more than could be profitably used for all publicity? The Presby- terian Department of Publicity several years ago sug- gested a minimum of one dollar a year a member for publicity and advertising in the local field of each church, and a number of pastors say that this average works well. The church must not be extravagant. It can tell its message on a smaller expenditure than many enterprises far less essential to the world's hap- piness and progress, but the church ought not to rest in the belief that it can do no advertising and expect to attract people in growing numbers. Christian col- leges expend from 5 to 10 per cent of their total budget in promotion work. Church Advertising Pays If obdurate trustees or official board members insist that money given to church must not be used to get more church attendants in the home town, present a little of the following evidence, a few of many examples: An Illinois town decided to raise money for a new 120 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY church. The organizer who was called included advertising in his plan, but was rebuffed. Finally consent was gained for one advertisement, then for another. The second day the editor of the paper met with the committee and confessed that he had never been much attached to the church but that when it bought advertising space from him he was interested, and the facts presented made him want to help build the new structure. He offered a generous contribu- tion. The advertising was continued. The amount asked for the building was oversubscribed. The church has kept up its advertising ever since. A pastor in New York State obtained a larger appropriation for advertising after the trustees ob- served the way people were stopping to look at a bulletin board for which they had grudgingly allowed fifty dollars. A secondhand mimeograph in a church near Cleve- land helped to increase the attendance from 15 to 75 and 100. A circular letter appeal in an Indiana church brought in $270 more than was hoped for at a special event. A large church in Tacoma began advertising in papers its evening service at which the attendance was less than 200. Soon the audience increased to 1000 and more. The average evening offering was $10 before the advertising began. With the en* larged crowd it grew to $50. The advertising cost about $12, a net profit to the church in cash of $28, to say nothing of the continuous contributions of ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 121 those who became regular contributors after joining the church as a result of the Sunday evening services. A small church in Wisconsin spent $5 for a cut of the chiu-ch choir to use in an advertisement and got a crowd which left $15 above the usual average evening offering. Trinity Episcopal Church, of Niles, Michigan, for several years has used paid advertising of the type recommended in this book. The pastor says that the church had formerly used the older type con- taining the announcement of the next services and the theme of the sermon. "This type worked all right as giving valuable information to the people who intended to come to church and wanted to make sure of the time or the sermon they wished to hear," he says, ''but these advertisements failed miserably in reaching the unchurched." The attendance is counted each Sunday and the record of the increased offerings shows that the new advertisements pay many times over. The church invests $4.50 a week for copy, ten inches on three columns with plenty of white space, so that the advertisement dominates the page on which it appears. The copy is always con- sistent with the dignity of Christ and with a universal appeal attempts to awaken curiosity as to what the church is hke. ''Newcomers are not asked to con- tribute," reads a line in all the advertisements, which the pastor says attracts attention. The text is changed each week but the form and appearance remain the same. Few churches have failed to profit financially from a 122 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY sane, continuous program of paid advertising adapted to the community. They have grown, of course, in other ways, although those making the most stable growth have stuck close to the gospel and have not bought attendance by gifts of carnations, oranges, or other souvenirs. Needless to say the preacher must have something to give that is worth hearing, and the whole service and congregation must in every particular back up the advertising. Testi- mony of the efficacy of advertising in raising money for new churches, obtaining help for mission stations on foreign fields, finding missionaries for specific points, raising money to pay old debts, raising money for college endowments, for the running expenses of colleges, and hundreds of other examples might be cited. The best way to finance the advertising is to put it in the church budget. Some churches and federa- tions of churches have had success in sohciting cash contributions from merchants, who in some cases are listed in the advertisement as paying for the space in that issue, or for part of the total space. Some per- sons question this method of financing church pro- motion on the ground that the churches ought to pay their own bills, getting the merchants into the churches and then soliciting them as church members and not as merchants. A large amount of good has been done, however, by money solicited from merchants and used for religious advertising as a community enterprise. An extensive joint campaign of this sort was that of the ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 123 Portsmouth, Ohio, churches and merchants preced- ing Easter, 1921. With the aim of $500 fixed, the contributions to the fund soon ran over $730. The I of Mfco li coa% to tnk kfid W i Christianity Is Difficult Chesterton, famous BritUh author, it louring America. He says some very true things: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It hat been found dillicult and not tried." Everyone who went to church yesterday found for himself, the truth of this statement. Christianity means a fight. It is a fight by a man for his bet- ter impulses. Every sermon yesterday, worthy the name, showed you some of the paths of struggle not yet attempted. Life is a struggle, but the least of the struggle is for material Ifiings. A man may gain a whole city but lose his own soul. Church attendance helps us heep close to our best ideals. It aids when we are templed to be a little "sharp" in our business practice, or to be less than fair. The churches of Portsmouth call you to high ideals. They u^ hold Jesus Christ, the perfect man. Why should you not serve Him, who has promised to "give His beloved peace?" Determine now, to go to church next Sunday. Portsmouth Federation of Churches L^ One of a series of large advertisements by the churches of Ports- mouth, Ohio. The space was paid for by funds soUcited from mer- chants whose names appear. merchants the year previous had raised, and the churches had spent, $200 on paid advertising before Easter, with profitable results. In 1921 the adver- tisements were run for three weeks preceding Easter 124 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY and $410 was spent. The balance of the fund was divided during the rest of the year and advertisements were run every Saturday. Preceding Easter large announcements were used every morning and eve- ning in the two local papers. Each advertisement was illustrated, a cross with a spray of lilies being used most of the time. Twenty-five churches of seven denominations cooperated in this effort. The advertisements urged church attendance, interest in em'rent evangelistic services, and church member- ship. At Easter 686 members joined twelve of the cooperating churches. The total Sunday-school at- tendance on Easter was over 10,000, although 7500 of the year before had been a high-water mark. The same results spiritually might have come without the advertisements. There is no way of knowing. They created so much talk about the town that the bankers asked to have a special advertisement for which they would pay. This occupied fifteen inches on five columns. The bankers said over their signature: '^The bankers know that the unseen forces of life — honesty, integrity, fair dealing — are stronger than their steel doors, time locks, and brawny special officers. ^'Honesty, sense of right, conscience, religion — ■ call it what 3^ou will — we bankers know it exists. The strong boxes are for the few subnormal men who prove the general rule of honesty. ''Every banker in Portsmouth knows that if churches had not been here since the beginning of the town, the banks could not stay a week — would ADVERTISING RELIGION IN PAID SPACE 125 never have been. Law and order must precede safe banking. Churches induce law and order. ''We support the churches, each banker and employee, according to his choice, because we want Portsmouth to grow and become a better place in which to live and raise a family. We know that along the path of righteousness and this alone, lies stable, continuous prosperity. We want to put our influence on the side of right every time. 'The bankers of this city know that the church is the sole institution which has for its chief busi- ness the inculcation of the principles of honesty and right dealing. "Churches develop faith, and faith is needed before a man is willing to risk his savings and his labor in a project he hopes will mean much to the city and its workers. "Churches are the ally of everything that is good and the enemy of everything that is \vrong. The banks of Portsmouth stand solidly beside the churches on this platform. "The banks and bankers of Portsmouth cordially invite their officers and employees, and every citizen of this progressive city, to attend some church to-morrow. It is the Sunday before Easter, Palm Sunday. Why not accept this first invita- tion by the banks of this city to attend church? Pick your church — any church — but go. Be there on time. Go expecting to get some good from it. Go every Sunday. You will never regret it." This type of group advertising is spreading. In some cities churches of one denomination pool their advertising appropriations for special advertisements 126 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY in connection with a series of simultaneous evangel- istic meetings. In other towns advertisements urging churchgoing and the observance of Christianity are paid for by groups of laymen. All such church ad- vertising puts the church before the community in a manner much more befitting its importance than do the several small cards of the individual churches, each announcing a sermon topic, as though competing among themselves for the churchgoing people of the place. Through efforts stimulated by the Church Ad- vertising Department of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, newspaper advertising managers are being interested in the publication of general advertisements urging church attendance. Several series of such advertisements have been sold to news- papers and used in large space around which the announcements of individual churches are grouped. At least fifty daily papers all over the country used such advertisements the first half of 1922. CHAPTER XI THE MECHANICS OF WRITING ADVERTISEMENTS WRITERS of connnercial advertisements seek to have their announcements seen, read, believed, and remembered. This means that they must at- tract attention, obtain interest, convince, and move to action. Writers of advertisements for religious institutions should seek the same ends, for they are based on proved psychological laws. The first two of these four points relate to the physical appearance of the advertisement and are considered in this chapter. BeHef in an advertisement, and remem- brance of it, will depend largely upon the content of the announcement. This will be discussed in the following chapter. A prime consideration of all advertising, and a matter which is considered carefully by commercial advertisers in the light of much data, is the medium through which the institution is to advertise. Shall the announcement be in newspapers, in the street cars, on billboards, passed from house to house, sent by mail, or put on the screen of the local motion- picture houses? It may be wise for the church or Sunday school to adopt all of these means in part. On the other hand, 127 128 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY some churches are so situated that a few of these mediums will reach all the available prospects. The Publicity Committee will consider the location of the church, the amount of money available, and the sort of ' 'prospects" it is aiming at, before deciding the question of medium. Of course, one would not use street-car cards to influence inmates of an orphan asylum to attend Sunday school, and it would be inexpedient to use billboards on the platforms of elevated railways of a city if most of the possible attendants ride in automobiles. In larger cities it is almost wasteful for a single church to use adequate space in a metropolitan paper unless the church is so located that most of the readers can attend. Direct-by-mail methods are perhaps better for a majority of city churches. But if all churches of a city, or those of a denomination, can pool their advertising appropriations and advertise religion rather than a particular service, the large city dailies constitute the best possible medium. In smaller cities because of cheaper rates, individual churches can afford to use space which endeavors to sell the idea of churchgoing and the practice of Christianity. Some of the most successful newspaper campaigns for churches have been conducted in towns of 3000 to 50,000 population. In selecting the mediums for the church announce- ment pick out those which for the least cost will get one's message to the greatest number of persons likely to be influenced. When there is a choice of newspapers and one wishes to reach nonchurchgoers MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 129 he will select the paper read largely by that class. Very likely the publicity chairman may read another paper. Foreign language papers can often be used with profit for Christianity. In the days of the ancient Jews the gateposts were the most; prominent places in a city for an announcement. The writer of Deuteronomy records that the Jews were com- manded to write upon their doorposts the reiterated command to love Jehovah. But even after the medium is selected, the ques- tion how to make the advertisement noticeable is not easy to answer. The announcement of the church competes for the attention of the reader with scores of other advertisements. Glance through the advertising pages of a popular magazine. Some advertisements catch your attention. Others you ignore. The writer must plan his advertisement so that it will get the attention of the largest possible percentage of readers. Laying down rules for the writing of advertise- ments is a hazardous proceeding. Before one style of advertising has run its course, another style comes to the front and sells goods through the at- tention it attracts, and yet it may be in direct viola- tion of rules thought to be established by experience. Master craftsmen seem to agree, however, that dis- play advertisements or posters and other printed matter in which the type may be resolved into series of rectangles look best, and consequently attract most attention. It is also true that advertisements which are set in the same family of type look better 9 130 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY than those which permit a large variety of type faces to distract the eye. With newspaper advertising the important ques- And Come Every Sunday Sunday is the first Sabbath of the new year. Why not start the year by worshiping God in a church — the church of your choice ? Regular church attendance means bigger moral reserve. You can't get that outside of religion. You need the church and the church needs you. Come hear an inspiring sermon Sunday morning at 10.30 at the Presbyterian church, by Rev. J. J. Jones on ** SAVED TO SERVE.'' Special Service Sunday Evening. The simplicity of this design attracts attention, and the liberal use of white space on the sides helps it stand out on the newspaper page. Same family of type, but of different sizes, is used in this advertisement. Compare the text of this advertisement with that on page 139. The reader of this advertisement ought to get some- thing from it, whether or not he hears the sermon. Used by a amall church in Michigan tion of size of space and frequency of the announce- ments must be settled. Most churches have an announcement every Saturday, the space varying MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 131 from one inch single column in large cities to ten inches on three columns in smaller places where the rate is lower. Elaborate tests in laboratories seem to indicate that a quarter page advertisement four times repeated is remembered more often than the same matter made into a full page advertisement and run only once. In the same way an eighth of a page eight times repeated is better than a full page once. Advertisements which are placed in the upper half of a right-hand page seem also to get most attention. Some churches put their efforts to draw the un- saved on the sporting page of the paper and not with other church advertisements. The theory is that they are fishing for non-churchgoers, and these will not be likely to read any part of a church page. Where many churches advertise, the effort to attract attention to one advertisement is difficult. Inas- much as nearly all the advertisers are trying to per- suade people to hear the same gospel, the author has long recommended that Protestant churches pool their appropriations and advertise Christianity in space large enough to be effective, with small cards giving the name, location, and hours of service of the several church organizations. Layout Helps Writer and Printer If novices in religious advertising will think of their finished announcement as having one or two headlines to compel attention and the body of the advertisement to convince the reader, and will put this conception on paper in the form of a drawing, 132 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY they are most likely to start right. This making of a layout or plan of setting type for the printer's guidance is much more important than appears on the And Come Every Sunday Presbyterian Church A diagram of this sort, called a "layout," will greatly help the printer to get your idea of the manner of setting the advertisement — and will help you in framing the wording. A layout should be made for every advertisement. See how this increased emphasis on the name of the church would have improved the advertisement on page 130. surface. Advertising agencies which spend even small amounts of money for their clients carefully draw to scale the entire advertisement, indicating the exact sizes and kinds of type, and just where each MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 133 subhead is to be placed. The more accurately the layout is drawn, the better the advertisement will usually be. A rough sketch showing the relative sizes of type and location of the display lines will, however, suffice. Plan carefully the nmnber of words you can get in the space at your disposal. In one square inch the printer can set about twenty-three words of eight- point type and only sixteen words if in ten point. This page is set in eleven-point type. Allow plenty of margin in which no type appears. Remember that one chalk line on a blackboard attracts more attention than a thousand lines. We make things seen by contrast. White space around the matter, inside the bounding rule, will help the advertisement to stand forth from a crowded newspaper page. If cuts are used, their position must be shown. Posters and Cards Printed posters and cards are of interest to every church worker. These follow the same laws of ar- rangement as do advertisements. Cards are in many cases merely small-sized posters. Both should follow the laws of attention and interest which under- Ue all efforts to persuade others. Many posters used by churches are less effective than they might be on account of the fact that the one who wrote the mate- rial failed to remember the form in which the matter was to be used. He wrote sentences with too many words to permit the printer to display important parts adequately. 134 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Posters and cards, such as are used to announce special meetings in church and Sunday school, can well follow the same form as is suggested on page 132 for a display advertisement in a newspaper. A lay- out should be made, indicating just where each line of type is to go. If this layout is made the same size as the poster is to be, the author of the matter will be helped to better results. Posters are of many kinds, but those which cannot use an illustration to attract attention must have a headline which will catch the eye of the hurried passer-by. A subhead a third of the way down the sheet and the signature or other heavy line at the bottom makes a well-balanced poster. It is a mis- take to attempt to put all the facts in big black type. Each line when thus treated tends to destroy the attention value of every other line. Determine what headline will attract the attention of a majority of the people you wish to reach. Put this in one or two lines at the top. Perhaps the place of meeting can best go across the bottom. The time, the date, or the name of the speaker can be put in the subhead in black type. Extraordinary skill is needed to de- sign a type poster in which all these facts can be displayed effectively. Writing posters and cards is from this standpoint a matter of choice of the most important matter and courage to subordinate other facts which the pubhc should know. Another law which all writers on typography recognize is the de- sirability of using lines of capitals sparingly. This law is violated persistently in church printing. MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 135 EXPERIMENTS HAVE SHOWN THAT THE AVERAGE MAN WILL TAKE FIVE TIMES AS LONG TO READ THIS PARAGRAPH, SET IN CAPITALS, AS TO READ THE SAME NUMBER OF WORDS IN THE TYPE USED FOR THE REST OF THE PAGE. WHEN MORE TIME IS CONSUMED IN READING, AN EXTRA EF- FORT IS CAUSED, AND THE ADVERTISE- MENT IS NOT EASY TO READ. The advertisement must be easy to read if the message of the type is to get into the mind of the greatest nmnber. Isn't this short paragraph a real rehef to the eye, strained a httle by the capitals? The Time to Prevent War Is when the seeds of war are being sown. No Protestant pulpit need apologize for advocating peace — especially among the most Protestant peoples. Therefore, " With malice toward none, and with charity for all " This Pulpit, without apology, because there are those who urge and would welcome such a welter of blood. Protests Sons of Pilgrims Being Urged to Fight Sons of Puritans for the sake of a clamorous minority that Despises the Pilgrim and Hates the Puritan After announcing his sermon theme, a pastor proceeded with the avv-ful example reproduced above. With six faces of type, it ilhis- trates what a printer will often do to an advertisement if it is not laid out carefully and display lines indicated. The bottom line as displayed does not convey a fair meaning. Commercial adver- tisements seldom have part of a sentence displayed and part not displayed. The final sentence is in eight lines and six different kinds of type. Compare this for style with the advertisement on 118. 136 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Commercial advertisers extend the influence of this rule even to the headings over their advertise- ments. In a copy of The Saturday Evening Post, of eighty-four headings over full-page announcements, only eight were set in capitals. In Printers' Ink, a journal for advertising men, out of ninety-nine page advertisements, only seven had headlines in capitals. Church advertisements can well follow the advertis- ing laws which commerce has discovered at large cost to itself. The reason back of the greater difficulty in reading capitals is that the eye normally looks at about the upper half of letters. The additional lines of all capital type force the eye to take in more of the actual letter than is customary. In spite of this fact most church bulletin boards appeal to passers-by with nothing but capitals, and even posters issued by denominations, which ought to have available the experience of trained typographers, err in making the poster hard to read by printing it entirely in capitals. Experiments have also shown that the setting of a paragraph or page in italics produces a type combina- tion which slows up the reader and makes reading more of a burden than when roman type is used. Both capitals and italics may be used for emphasis. But the caution should be again set down that the man who stands on the street corner and yells will get the attention of the crowd for only a short time. As he keeps on yelling, the crowd wearies and no MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 137 attention is paid to him. So with the preacher who does not modulate his voice or the advertisement set all in capitals or italics. Some zealous persons who think empha- sis is obtained only by putting more ink on a page require frequent paragraphs printed in black face like this. A line or two of black-face type used as a subhead is in keeping with its purpose, but to set large masses of reading matter in a heavy face is displeasing to most eyes. This is an effort to**yeir'allthetime. The length of the line is another important factor to be considered. Experiments by Professor H. L. HoUingworth, of Columbia University ('^Advertis- ing and Selling/^ p. 181), show that a line of type which is three and a half inches long is the greatest width which the eye reads with ease. He says: '^Experimental studies of the way in which the eye behaves in reading show that the whole line of printed matter is not seen at once and as a whole by the eye. Nor are the separate letters each fixed in succession, nor are the successive words even examined one by one. The eye fixates three or four points in reading the fine, these points falHng where they may — now in the middle of a word, now at the beginning or end, now between two words. When the printing is legible a given line thus requires few movements for the comprehension of the words — a few fixations will cover the whole line. But when the printing is difficult to read clearly, the separate words or letters 138 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY difficult to discriminate from each other, more fixa- tions are required, and these extra fixations mean fatigue. The most comfortable length of line, for ordinary print, is about three and one half inches." The effort you may have made to read some church pubhcations with a line seven inches long printed in eight-point type will reenforce the above statement. Advertisements to be effective must be easy to read. It is a principle of art that the human eye is most pleased with a form which in size is as three is to five. In other words, an advertisement which is three inches wide and five inches high is more often re- membered than one which is square or one which is wider than high. This may not appeal to the reader as being true, but the history of art from Greece to the present seems to prove that the eye likes one shape better than others. Notice that books and magazines with great unanimity conform rather closely to this proportion. Let your advertisement do likewise, if you would observe all the restrictions the human mind places on advertisement writers. Pictures attract the eye of everyone, and ought to be used more largely in church advertising than is now generally the case. The difficulty is both in getting proper pictures and in obtaining proper cuts. Half-tone cuts can be used in newspapers only if made with a coarse screen. Many daily papers use a 55-line screen, while for fine calendared paper the screen should be 150 or more. This means that many of the details in a photograph are lost when a cut is made for newspaper use. MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 139 • e/^* e/^* e/^' e/^'e/^- '^ This Advertise' . ment Is a Direct i ^ Invitation to YOU to attend our services ^ to-day. ?9:45 A. M J school. 11 A. M.— Dr. John L. Jones, pastor, will have for his subject ''The Constancy of the ^i Eternal ^ Sunday ^1 7:45 p. m. — A 15-min- ^ ute pipe organ recital . -^^ by Prof. Benjamin fej^ Johnson. ^^• 8 p. m.— Topic: ''The ^ Joy of Service." \^ First Presby- t I terian Churchf^^ ^ Corner 4th and Cedar ^i^ The wide border detracts from the message, and the variety of type used makes this less attractive to many persons than the advertise- ment on page 130. 140 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY In planning the layout, do not hesitate to leave a proper amount of white space, but use it, for the most part, in concentrated spots. Do not permit the printer to use it all between the lines of type by '^ lead- ing out" to fill the space. When the matter is set solid, like this, more words can be put on the page by twenty per cent, but the matter is not so easy to read. Advertising authorities recommend that advertisements be set in type not smaller than ten point, leaded, although mail order concerns can rise and testify that their announce- ments pull thousands of orders when set in solid eight point or smaller. Type can, on the other hand, be too large for the space in which it is intended to be used. In order easily to read these lines you must readjust the focus of your eyes. There is a real relief to come again to the type to which you have been accustomed in reading this chapter. Lest the inexperienced advertisement writer be- come discouraged at the apparent multiplicity of things to be remembered in writing religious adver- tisements, it should be recalled that in printing ad- vertisements one is attempting to set in motion forces designed to accomplish the same result sought MECHANICS OF ADVERTISING 141 by the preacher who has spent three years in a sem- inary. Advertisement- writing is a profession in itself. This book is an attempt to show ministers and church w^orkers a few of the principles needed in planning advertisements. Commercial concerns have wasted large sums because of inexperienced effort in writing advertisements. Churches have done the same by using advertisements which are poorly designed, and therefore less effective than they should have been for the amount of money expended. Many of these suggestions may seem unimportant, but all are part of the effort which must be taken to make the most effective advertisement. Commer- cial concerns employ high-salaried men to make sure that the announcements on which they spend thou- sands of dollars conform to all known laws of the mind. Noncommercial institutions may ignore the laws of good typography at the expense of getting less than the best results. CHAPTER XII THE CONTENT OF THE CHURCH ADVERTISEMENT TO make the advertisement of a church beUeved and remembered is perhaps not so difficult as to have it seen and read. In the preceding chapter we have considered some of the mechanical means of having a church advertisement seen and read. But perhaps the most important element in gaining the attention and interest of those whom we wish to attend church is the headline and the first few words of text. People who seldom go to church have hardened their hearts and will quickly turn from any announcement sent out by a religious organiza- tion. But these are the people we seek to persuade. Writing church advertising is not a task to be undertaken lightly. Commercial enterprises pay large sums to men who have the experience and train- ing which enables them to arrange words which will compel attention and interest for the message they have for the world. Copy writers get as large salaries as any producers of written material. The man who with a series of advertisements of ten or twelve words can throw a glamour around artificial pearls so that people will gladly pay large sums for the satisfaction of wearing them can well be paid $100 for each ad- vertisement. The preacher who will have an audi- 142 CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 143 ence of 4000 may be paid upwards of $10,000 a year, yet the advertisement of the church in a paper with only 1000 circulation has good chance of being read by 4000 persons. Some pastors assume that because they can write a good sermon, they can easily write an advertisement, and they dash off something half an hour before the paper must have it. Or the chairman of the Public- ity Committee, having been instructed to write something for the space in the paper, puts down ^'Attention." That is what he wants, why not shout for it at once? Then in a style which is a cross be- tween a herald of old and a modern preacher he fills the space. Because some one tells him that he has seen his advertisement in the paper, he pats himself on the back and does the same hurried thing next week. Let the writing of church copy be approached prayerfully. There is tremendous opportunity for good involved. Through the headline of the advertisement the chiu-ch must make the point of contact with the pros- pective church attendant. Obviously the label ''First Methodist Church" as a heading will not go far toward inducing nonchurchgoers to read the advertisement. Indeed, this heading will tend to drive away all but those who are looking for the an- nouncement of that church. It is assumed that the church which is content to use paid space in which to announce the theme of its services and nothing else is not interested in these chapters. Not all the money spent by churches for 144 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY the mere announcement of the topic of sermons is wasted, but the opportunity for so much more effec- tive use of the space is such that one is tempted to condemn severely the announcement type of church advertisement. Some churches send to the church editor the themes of the sermons and put the same information in the paid advertisement which appears on the same page. The pubHcation of a Bible verse in the paid space would further Christianity more. This chapter is concerned with a diligent effort to turn the attention of nonchurchgoers to Christian- ity through paid newspaper space. This at once rules out the mass of advertisements which consist of the name of the church and pastor with merely the topic of the sermon. Such advertisements may be raised to a higher level, where they will give the reader something constructive to think about, by the addition of only a line or two. See the illustration on page 146. The money given the church for propagating the faith should be used not so much to inform the regular attendants, who will come without an advertisement, as to reach out after those who go nowhere to church and endeavor to give something of the gospel and invite them to certain services, the themes of which can with pro- priety be announced as an incident. We should seek to get people to church because they desire to wor- ship God, not because the preacher is to speak on a certain theme. Some pastors never announce the topics of their sermons. The type of advertising considered here needs more CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 145 Blue and Discouraged? There are many men and women in this town whom life apparently has treated unkindly. Without true friends they struggle against odds. Yet the church around the corner is full of men and women anxious to help. Christianity Means Helpfulness Meet these church people half way. Give them an op- portunity to be your friends. "Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest." Thus directed the founder of Christianity. His promise stands to-day. Test it. Crosses which arise m business, in school, in the home are more easily borne if one has accepted the assurance that Jesus Christ is ever ready to help. METHODIST CHURCH An endeavor to show that the church gives comfort in time of trouble. The time of service and topic of sermon could also be added to advantage. Issued by Western Newspaper Union 10 146 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY thought than the mere announcement of sermon topics, and the headline is the element on which the success of the entire advertisement hangs. If hasty- readers are not caught by the headline they are not reached by the advertisement. Any advertisement is, however, a good advertise- ment if it gets the results sought. This ought to be remembered in connection with all comments in this book on church announcements. Unfortunately we Are You a Drifter? Some men float with the moral current and seldom give their conscience a chance. Come Sunday night and see motion pictures, " The Prodigal, " story of a boy who left mother and home. Also a scenic, " Tropical Gems of Florida,'' At 11 o'clock, "The Greatest Thing in the World" will be the message. Sunday School at 9.45 A. M. A Church of Friendliness -Grey stone Here is a good headline over a compact advertisement used in small space in Elizabeth, New Jersey. have no body of data concerning the effectiveness of various types of church advertisements. The best we can do is to follow as closely as possible the rules found successful by commercial advertisers. Business seeks to have a head rather than a label — and it is usually set in lower case. The best adver- tisement writers go back to newspaper headline practice. It is required that a good newspaper head have in it a verb in the active tense, that 'the words CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 147 be short rather than long, that they tell the story and do it in more than a commonplace manner. The head over a news story really sells the story to the readers, or it doesn't. In the same way the head over an advertisement attracts readers to the body of the announcement, or it does not, and the reader skims to the next page. All the effort spent on the copy, and the money for its insertion, is then lost. Study of commercial advertisements also shows that usually the head hnks directly with the product advertised. Test this statement with any current popular magazine. Commerce does not label its advertisements ^'Attention," ^Tisten," or ''Stop," but uses more adroit means of making a statement which will of itself get the attention and lead to interest. Each advertisement competes with every other advertisement with the reader's interest in other things. The heading therefore must be more than commonplace. The amateur may think by this that some bizarre thing is meant. In some cases the heading will verge on the sensational, but always it must be in keeping with the thing advertised. The better than commonplace way of doing things can be illustrated by this want advertisement from the New York Times : THE dear folks have raised my rent; I need some- thing to buy magazines with. If you are a private family, no roomers, will give a Christian a pleasant room with modern furniture, including a bookcase, for $35 month or less (more if I must), write descrip- tion of room to H 314 Times. When home I read or sleep — both quietly. This has a quality which cannot be put in words. 148 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY But because it is indefinable, it should be the more sought. It is the element which will get your ad- vertisement read and remembered when others are passed by. An advertisement must not, however, exist for its own cleverness. Some lecturers and preachers are said to draw more attention to themselves than to their message. So it is with some advertisements. Say what you have to say in a manner which will interest others. But such advertisements as are headed by a cut of a bear followed by the words ''in mind" are not worthy of use in religious advertising. They were discarded by commerce generations ago. They may get a crowd once or twice, but are not built on a lasting foundation. Keep in sight what you have for sale : the outworking of the spirit of the church in the individual and the community. Church advertisements above all others must be believed. Any false note will mar the announce- ment. There must be integrity expressed through and through.' For this reason many enthusiasts in church advertising are convinced that advertise- ments for Christianity cannot be successfully written by men who do not themselves practice what they are preaching. To Make Advertisements Remembered The second principle mentioned at the head of this chapter specifies that the successful advertisement must be remembered. Little use to have had the advertisement read if it is to pass from memory at CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 149 once. Here again we can call on the investigators in many psychological laboratories for the laws of memory and apply them to church advertising. Applicable laws are repetition, intensity, associa- tion, and ingenuity. We eat Uneeda biscuit be- cause we are commanded to do so at every turn. Repetition fixes the name in mind. Let the name of your church or Sunday school in the same manner be fixed in the minds of possible attendants and mem- bers. The same copy should not be used, however, in successive issues. An advertising campaign of two or three weeks is usually of small value. With rehgious advertisements we are trying to change the habits of perhaps a lifetime. This cannot be accom- phshed in a brief period. When an advertising cam- paign is planned, do not begin until you can continue six months or a year, or begin with firm faith that results during the first few months will influence the holders of the moneybags to be generous. Intensity of impression depends on the skill with which the advertisement is written and the appeal it makes to the reader. Of course in this every ad- vertisement will vary. Some men will be caught by one illustration, and some by another. The intensity can be increased, however, by making a message the focal point of many forms of appeal. If a man reads in his evening paper an appeal to use the Golden Rule in business, sees it again on the motion- picture screen that night, reads it in the street car on his way to work, and gets a letter on the same sub- ject, he is Ukely to pay more attention than if only one 150 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY of these mediums were used. The suburban elders who divided their congregation into sections and assigned each ''prospect" to six men, one of whom made it his business to ride to the city with him each morning, understood this system. The constant pounding by different voices, by different mediums, wears away the most stony resistance to the message of the gospeL The law of association is common. Study the association this advertisement recalls to you: ''Your dear old mother prayed that you would always go to church." Is not this a more potent appeal to attend divine worship than the bald "Goto Church Sunday"? The latter, however, has its uses. The former recalls associations of home and mother and early prayers, the influence of which is added to the invitation signed by all the churches in town. "Yes, my mother taught me to pray," was the heading of another church advertisement designed to bring back childhood memories. The law of association is highly important in all rehgious advertising. Put a smile into your advertisement and a cordial handshake. Make the reader feel that there is a red-blooded man back of it. Let the sentences be clear, not involved, not too long. Avoid form and expression not in keeping with the church. Anglo- Saxon words are better than Latin derivatives. Let the writer remember that he is talking to John Smith who sometimes drops into a back pew, and not to brother ministers. His thinking and his expression must be in terms which the average man can absorb without effort. Did you ever hear people say that CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 151 they get more out of a good children's sermon than from the main discourse? Before copy is prepared, it would be well to inquire the cost of the space projected. Advertising rates lllliiil WHAT WE DO Is the Church practical? What is it doing? Read the story of this ad told week by week. Helping sick folk is practical. 77 hospitals and 98 dispensaries in 9 counties. 350,284 patients treated. 664,029 out-patients. 36 Chinese dispensaries treated 565,300 persons. 6 hospitals working in war-stricken Persia. Through our benevolent budget you may minister in Christ's name. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Main Street II This illustrates a type of informational advertising that is beneficial to Church members and those outside the Church. This might have been improved by the addition of an invitation to attend church next Sunday at 11. Used in Mitchell, Indiana. are based on so much an inch or a line. There are fourteen ''lines'' (agate, a size of type equivalent to 53/2 point) to the inch, which means an inch high and a column wide. If the rate is 40 cents an inch and the advertisement is planned for seven inches on 152 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY two columns, the cost will be 40 times 14, or $5.60 for one issue to reach the thousands on the sub- scription hst. The rate for a page in The Ladies' Home Journal is $15,000 for an issue. To this cost must be added the expense of making drawings and plates, which often amounts to $400 or more in addi- tion. Business concerns often spend $300,000 a year on one pubhcation alone. The church should not be extravagant, but neither should its visions of possi- bilities be cramped. Question of Appeal Important The question of the appeal to be made must be considered before a worthy advertisement is com- posed. Psychologists say that suggestion is more potent as a moving force than argument. Everyone also knows that habits are powerful things in men's lives. If church advertisements can strengthen good habits or help people to form new habits which will buttress their character, much good has been done. It is also known that the parental instinct is powerful. An appeal to that has fair possibility of success. Commerce is vitally interested in this question of appeal. S. Roland Hall says in ^'Writing an Adver- tisement": "The Curtis Publishing Company says frankly that it spent thousands of dollars and years of effort before finding out that the appeal to boys to earn money was not the most powerful point of contact in securing agents for The Saturday Even- ing Post. The most successful appeal was that to CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 153 the parents to start the boy in work that would give him something useful to do and develop his character. "A good example of how an effective appeal may be brought to hght through study of the uses of serv- ice of the article is afforded by a series of adver- tisements of the New International Encyclopedia. The books themselves do not constitute the main appeal. The scene was shown in which an ambi- tious office employee is depicted in the act of giving his elders some unusual information they wanted. The keynote of the advertisement was The Man Who Knows. Instead of featuring the set of volumes as a desirable pm-chase, the writer of the advertisement very skillfully brought out the suggestion that the man who keeps storing his mind with useful information is likely to win posi- tion and power. The International Correspond- ence Schools' advertising is of this kind. They do not advertise Study Courses for Sale. They realize that the idea of study is attractive to only a few, that the thing they must play up is the benefit of study, the rewards that technical knowl- edge will bring the possessor." Keen business men know that people do not buy high-priced articles for the sake of the goods them- selves so much as for the sense of satisfaction in possession. The person who pays several thousand dollars for an Oriental rug buys it as much for the story which goes with the rug and the satisfaction he will get from telling that story to visitors, as for the article itself. A man will pay two dollars for a tie rather than one dollar, not because the higher- 154 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY priced cravat will wear longer, but because he will get additional satisfaction from the more delicate combination of colors in the two dollar article. It is the intangible thing, ''satisfaction," which he pur- chases. It was knowledge of this law which led one pastor to advertise on the bulletin board in front of his church, ''Sensible persons go to church twice on Sun- day — do you?" People like the satisfaction of being counted sensible, even in their subconscious minds. (Skeath, "Building the Congregation," p. 46.) In the same way another powerful motive was touched in this advertisement: "That family of yours deserves the very best you have. Give them the best you can, the heritage of a good name. You will find our serv- ices very helpful in securing that character which must be back of every good name. Let us help you through oiu- services on Sunday." What the headlines shall be, of course, will be governed largely by the subject matter of the an- nouncement, and the same rule applies to the writing of posters. Here are the headings over a number of the advertisements used in the union effort of all the churches of Portsmouth, Ohio : Moral Forces Alone Are Permanent Listen to Roosevelt Pizarro's Line in the Sand Christianity Is Difficult Why the Bankers of Portsmouth Support the Churches "Central, Please?" (Addressed to telephone oper- ators) CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 155 Savorless Salt Christianity Is the Great Adventure Chemistry and Christianity (Addressed to doctors and druggists) After Lent Is Over What Do You Do with Your Time? Your Spiritual Income Blank Easter Means New Life and Hope The series of advertisements issued in plated form by the Western Newspaper Union and published for the most part by individual churches in small towns of the country used these headUnes: The Way to Happiness A Town's SoHd Citizens Blue and Discouraged? Golf or a Sermon? No One Is Perfect Turn on to the Road to Church What Does Your Family Think of You? Aid the Preacher Pictures are highly desirable in all church adver- tising, but pictures are difficult to obtain. Photo- graphs of religious masterpieces can be made into cuts, and a few concerns offer for sale half-tones of such subjects. Some denominations also have the beginnings of a helpful cut service. Because the '^commodities'' offered the pubhc in rehgious adver- tisements are rather intangible from a pictorial standpoint, the choice of subjects is Hmited. For two dollars to three dollars small zinc etchings can be obtained of drawings in ink made by the Pub- licity Committee of a church or Sunday school, but 156 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY unless these are well done their use does not add to the attractiveness of the church announcements. This field has not been much entered by artists largely, perhaps, because the churches have not felt that they could afford to buy well-executed drawings. It may be typical of the age that the best artists in these days are employed in displaying attractively a new design in silverware, silk stockings, or auto- mobiles, rather than the incidents relating to Christ which occupied the artists of early days. An in- creasing demand for cuts for posters, cards, and newspaper advertisements will eventually produce the cuts. The cut of the church tower often is used as a trade- mark and sometimes a cut of the entire church is used, although this occupies a good deal of space. A Methodist church in Minneapolis used a picture of the church at night, the pastor saying that most per- sons know his church with the light streaming from door and window, rather than when the sun is shin- ing. Some pastors use a cut of themselves, but this seems to savor too much of an effort to '^sell" the man than his message, although Douglas and Mennen and Smith sell shoes, talcum powder, and cough drops that way. The pictures of these merchants, how- ever, are often used in advertisements in connection with other illustrations. The design on page 157 makes the advertisement stand out, but the copy is open to the objection that it is not constructive or educa- tional. It merely announces services for one day. The signature might have been smaller, the decorations at the top eliminated, and a verse of Scripture substituted. 1821 1921 Centennial Week SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20 The Final Day of a Great Week 10.30 A. M. — Sermon, "Henceforth*' Mr. Clausen 3. P. M.— Jubilee Baptismal Service 7.30 P. M "SUbat fWaler" (Rossini) Vested Choir Directed by Prof. Howard Lyman BERNARD C. CLAUSEN, MINISTER On the Courthouse Circle baptist 167 158 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY How TO Use Paid Space for Sunday Schools Paid advertising for Sunday schools has been growing in volume. The enthusiasm of business men who know the value of newspaper advertising has been responsible for much of the large-sized copy used to promote adult Bible classes, especially when an effort has been made to increase attendance through a contest or other feature. The International Sunday School Association has stimulated the use of paid space, especially in con- nection with Go-to-Sunday-School Day in the fall, through the circulation of sample advertisements and suggestions of ways in which local newspapers can be utilized to attract people to study the Bible. Churches of any community are in the habit of working together on Sunday-school problems, so that union advertisements for Sunday schools de- velop rather naturally. The Sunday school is common to every Protestant church. The courses of study are more or less similar, the objects of the school the same, the standards and goals are identical for thou- sands of organizations. If some one can be found to write the copy and pay for the space, Sunday-school advertising has a favorable opportunity for develop- ment. One of the best illustrations of the use of paid space for Sunday schools is that afforded by the consider- able series of advertisements used in the weekly at Martinsville, Indiana. One such advertisement read: CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 159 MARTINSVILLE'S BEST PAYING INSTITUTIONS Martinsville's Sunday schools are by far its best paying and most profitable institutions. They have never received a penny of tax money, nor have they ever asked the pubUc for a dollar ; yet there are no other institutions in our city which yearly return larger dividends. And this helpful work they cheerfully do without asking any other reward than the chance to serve. However, only about one in five of our popula- tion are members of any Sunday school. IS YOUR FAMILY RECEIVING ITS FULL SHARE OF PROFITS FROM THE SUNDAY SCHOOL? The Sunday schools are not free because they are cheap. They are free because they are priceless. No parent, however rich, can ever buy for his child the benefits and blessings which the Sunday school freely gives. God's best gifts are always above price and the Sunday school is among God's very best gifts to man. Those children who from childhood enjoy the rich benefits of the Sunday school will in their maturity and old age rise up and call their parents blessed for leading them in this way. Co to Sunday School To-Morrow This was one of a number of advertisements vn-itten by a local pastor. It occupied eight inches on three columns, and was paid for by the owner of one of the factories in the town who desired thus to make a con- tribution to the moral uplift of the community. It gives an idea of the usefulness of display advertising for religious institutions which the author hopes will permeate the thought of many men of large means. 160 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Another type of Sunday-school advertising has been developed most largely in Oakland, California, where the Tribune has solicited the cards of Sunday schools of various denominations, all of which occupy small space under a well-displayed announcement similar to the following: ''Talk about the questions of the time; there is but one question — how to bring the truths of God's Word into vital contact with the minds and hearts of all classes of people." — WiUiam E. Gladstone. Is your child in Sunday school? If not, why not send him to-morrow? This idea can be utilized in many towns. The initiative, however, must be taken by some one con- nected with the advertising department of a news- paper or by some central organization, such as the city or county Sunday-school organization. Unless some type of united effort is thus made by all the churches of the community, perhaps the best plan for advertising a particular school is to stress the advantage of Bible study and fellowship found in the Bible school in connection with the advertise- ment of the church itself. Except in special cam- paigns it probably is inadvisable to separate the invitation to Sunday school from the invitation to church. Announcements of both services ought to include invitations to attend the other. The type of advertising done in Martinsville, however, is strongly to be commended. The weekly stimulus to attend some Sunday school is advisable. CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 161 In Your Hurry Pause a Moment You are BUSY, Busy chasing the elusive dollar — sometimes holding it for a while, then letting it go. You are in a hurry — so much so that you have no time to think seriously of your soul life. You may say, "There's no money in that." Jesus Christ said, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" How about that proposition? Think it over. NOW! Read Matthew 6 : 33; John 3 : 16; Hebrews 2 : 1-3. Easter Is "Join the Church Sunday." (The Record donates this space to the churches of the county.) 1 1 1 1 1 Would this have attracted your attention in six inch double column space in your paper? From an excellent series used by the Daily Record, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, written by a local pastor. 11 162 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PtJBLICITY The principles of headline construction and layout which have been set forth on previous pages con- cerning church advertisements, apply in equal force to printed announcements of Sunday schools. The designing and writing of printed posters and cards Ukewise require observance of the rules suggested for display advertisements. Care in planning a poster is the more important because usually there is only one poster in a campaign, while there is a whole series of advertisements. One advertisement can supplement the next. The poster must in a way stand alone and tell the whole story. It must attract attention and create interest and move to action. Color can be used on posters as it cannot usually in newspaper advertisements, but the wording must be studied with care. Posters for Sunday-school conventions, Hke posters for evangehstic or other series of meetings, often follow the Hne of least resistance and use as a head- line "Thirty-Second Annual Sunday School Con- vention," or ^^Evangehstic Meetings," or something similar. If interest in the convention can be aroused by the mere announcement of the event, then the obvious poster may be the best for such a gathering. Workers who have studied the subject seem to agree, however, that better headlines can be found for con- vention posters than the announcement of the meet- ing itself. They beheve that the large line at the top should make an appeal to those not previously interested in the gathering. Opinion may well differ on what this should be, CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 163 and one sort of appeal may be better than another. ''Kansas for the Kingdom" may be the best Une for a Kansas state convention. ''Be a Better Sunday- School Worker" has been used often. There may be some different twist to yom* convention which will provide an especially pat headline. Generally a verb of action in the line is better than a mere com- monplace "Sunday School Convention." Such words also as "Stop, Look, Listen," "Notice," "At- tention," and the Uke, give evidence that the de- signer of the poster has not thought long over this invitation to the thousands who will see it. If there is available a photograph of last year's convention, perhaps a long narrow cut of this group with the big hue, "Find Yourself" or "You'll Come This Year?" will best serve your purpose. The pic- ture will attract the attention of everyone who w^as present the previous year, and friends will seek to identify others in the group. Here are other pos- sible headlines : Fill Your Religious Reservoir Study to Show Thyself Approved, or, without the actual quotation, Study to Be Approved Enlarge Your Sunday-School Job Study Sunday-School Methods Put Vim Into Your Sunday-School Work Learn Best Sunday-School Methods The last four, like the "Be a Better Sunday-school Worker," show at once the nature of the meeting announced. The fact that the poster advertises 164 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY Sunday-school work should not be concealed in small type.^ Is it best to use cuts of the speakers? Some con- vention posters have been overloaded with pictures. When the cuts are of many sizes and several "screens'^ they frequently make a jumbled looking poster, out of keeping with the idea it sets forth. Pictures, however, always attract attention. If cuts of three or four of the speakers will help to draw the crowd, use them, but perhaps a cut of last year's group, as men- tioned above, would have as much pulling power. Don't permit the cuts to throw the poster out of balance and detract from the headline. What to Put on Evangelistic Posters Posters for evangelistic services in a church, or for any other special meetings, should follow the sug- gestions for Sunday-school convention posters. Un- less one is sure that the line ^'Evangelistic Meetings" is the most attractive combination of words he can find to draw the unsaved to the meetings, use some- thing else. The suggestions given on page 154 for advertisements can be adapted for posters. In some cases the name of the man or woman who does the special preaching is in itself a drawing card. If so, use that. Very often a point of contact can be found which will be better than that. There is no reason why a poster as well as a church advertise- ment, should not also leave with the reader an up- lifting thought. If the poster aims to make the reader think, it will do more good than otherwise. CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 165 Here are some headlines for evangelistic advertise- ments, which also might be found available for pos- ters: The Church Is Working for You ''I Know Whom I Have Believed" Beyond the Grave? (ReHgion is the chief thing we can take) Lincoln Said (brief quotation on need of religion) Overcome Your Handicap Yours Is the Choice Stabilizers (Most stable folk belong to church.) The Gospel Will Save Lonely? (An attempt to reach a boarding-house district) A poster must not have too many words or the type will be too small to be read at a distance. If it is advisable to add to the main facts some instruc- tions or other matter, this should be set in type which will be read when the passer-by is standing close to the poster. This subordination of the lesser details will enable the other facts to be set in large type. But the printer must be aided in his endeavor to produce a well-balanced poster by the writer's fur- nishing words and sentences of the proper length for display in the manner planned in the layout. A poorly written poster cannot be displayed to advan- tage by the printer. What to Say on a Motion Picture Slide Stereopticon shdes shown in local motion-picture houses between reels of pictures constitute a staple 166 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY form of advertising in many communities. Very often the manager of the motion-picture house will consent to run the sHde on Friday and Saturday evenings without charge. But the opportunity of reaching persons who otherwise would be untouched by church influence is well worth paying for. Such an advertisement on the picture screen, if there are not too many such shdes between the reels, has an excellent opportunity of being seen and read. A pastor in Lincoln, Kansas, has used slides for several years. He has had one slide prepared with a good picture of the church with the caption, "A Good Place to Go To-Morrow — the Presbyterian Church." Space at the bottom of the slide is left for announcements of special events. Another slide which he often uses reads thus : MR. MOTORIST ! ! Turn your automobile in the direction in which it should go, and it will take you to church somewhere NEXT SUNDAY THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IS ON THE WAY STOP I THINK! WORSHIP! Such slides can be made at small expense through the purchase, by pastor or publicity chairman, of inexpensive combinations of film and carbon paper, whereby material desired to be shown on the screen can be typewritten neatly and the slide made merely by binding the film between two pieces of glass. CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 167 They Give Intelligently THESE two Pres- byterian broth- ers in Rupar, India, together earn only $8 a month, but for three years have provided funds for spe- cial evangelistic serv- ices in their village. Their example of con- secratio.n can be matched by that of hundreds in Korea, Siam— and America. ;^ One Presbyterian who yearly; investsin benevolences his in- come of nearly a mil- lion dollars received in youth his impetus to give. Of his first $5 he set apart a definite pro- portion for the church. ARE YOU A PROPORTIONATE GIVER? In the Presbytenan Church many thousands of members give a certain proportion of their income— many a tenth or more— to Christian work. Every Mormon and Jew gives a tenth to his church as a matter of course. How do you decide how much to put on the collection plate —the first loose coins your hurried hand finds; or a definite portion of your week's income? Be businesslike with God. He has given us all we have and will demand an accounting of our stewardship. How much dare we withhold Jot out own use? Have you thought through this question of Christian stew* ardship of time, energy, ability and money? PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH raVING SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Cor. Wilson Ave. and Weirfield St. Pastor ARTHUR F. KURTZ Services Sunday 10:30 A.M., 8 P.M. THROOP AVE. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Cor. Throop Ave. and Macon St. Pastor WILLIAM CARTER, D.D. Services Sunday 10:30 A.M., 7 P.M. Each advertisement in this 1921 Presbyterian series attempted to give information and arouse greater interest in church work. Used by ten Brooklyn churches — two only shown here. 168 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY This makes a better-looking slide than can be pro- duced by writing on a piece of glass. The same rules for the composition of an attention- compelling headline should be followed in making slides. The matter necessarily must be brief and consequently prepared with great care. Can You Use Street Car Cards? Cards in street cars can be used to advantage by churches in cities where the lines of traffic run advan- tageously for the bringing of attendants to the church. Cards can also be used to supplement other forms of advertising when all the churches are united on a special drive, such as is often undertaken at Christ- mas or Easter. Whether street-car cards should be used in place of advertising in the newspapers must be determined after a careful study of each situation and a weighing of the elements involved. The thing to be determined in relation to all church advertising in cities is the use of that medium which will reach the largest number of possible attendants with the least waste circulation. If there are three street-car lines in town, and your church is near the end of one line, it may be inex- pedient to use street-car cards unless it is possible to obtain space only in that line which passes your church. In some cities space must be taken in all cars in town. Religion is the most engrossing subject in the world. No topic has more angles of interest for the average man or woman. The Church has yet done CONTENT OF ADVERTISEMENT 169 little to train men and women to write in popular terms so that this interest can best be developed. But the day will come when the Church will lose the idea that rehgion is to be expounded and discussed only in the stained-glass environment of edifices set apart for the worship of God. There are various vehicles for the conveyance of the message of the gospel to the minds of men. Commerce in the last twenty years has discovered avenues to reach men's minds previously used but Httle, and as a result has grown tremendously. The age is called materialistic because trade has profited by its adoption of the path of least resistance and the shortest way into the mind of man. He has been persuaded to buy crackers in packages, to seek education at home in the evening, to ask for a certain brand of carpenter tools, and to designate the sort of bearings wanted in the axle of his automobile. Society will shortly find that ideas of right living and straight thinking can with profit to itself also follow paths of least resistance and the printing press will add new laurels to itself. The Sunday-school movement began in England under the stimulus of the editor of a local paper who used the press to tre- mendous advantage. Some time publicity will be used mightily to tell men the way of righteousness, to set before them the principles of the perfect Man, to spread abroad the gospel of peace and brother- hood. You can help to bring in that day by using in your town the various means of publicity which are available. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS on church advertising are few. Those on commercial advertising would fill more than five feet. The schools of journalism have called out a number of good books on news writing. A selected list only is presented here. CHURCH ADVERTISING "Book of Religious Advertisements" (Christian Publicity Com- mittee, 1915). Reproductions of half-page advertisements used in The Baltimore News in joint advertising campaign in that city. "Building the Congregation," Skeath. (Methodist Book Con- cern, 1919.) A brief analysis of sane educational methods used by the author in his church to build up a congregation as dis- tinguished from an audience. "Church Advertising," Ashley. (Lippincott, 1917.) Ad- dresses at the Church Advertising Department of the Phila- delphia Convention of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. "Church Publicity," Reisner. (Methodist Book Concern, 1913.) Compilation of extensive advertising plans which the author used as a pastor in Denver and New York. "Handbook of Church Advertising," Case. (Abingdon Press, 1921.) Digested and arranged papers delivered before the Church Advertising Department of the Convention of the Asso- ciated Advertising Clubs of the World at Indianapolis, 1920. Has many practical helps for the novice. "How to Advertise a Church," Elliott. (Doran, 1920.) Com- paratively brief account of advertising campaign in Kansas City churches. 170 BIBLIOGRAPHY 171 "Practical Interchurch Methods," McGarrah. (Revell, 1919.) Chapters 13 to 18 have helpful suggestions and copy of adver- tisements used in joint campaigns in several cities. "Principles of Successful Church Advertising," Stelzle. (Revell, 1908.) Helpful book for inexperienced advertisement writers unacquainted with printers' terms. "PubHcity and Progress," Smith. (Doran, 1915.) Publicity methods of commerce applied to religious, educational, and social activities, covering paid advertising and news. "Standing Room Only," Stidger. (Doran, 1921.) How the author as a pastor has filled his church through clever programs and persistent publicity. The publicity departments of the Southern Baptist denomina- tion and the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., have issued practical handbooks on publicity and advertising. The Presbyterian Magazine, official organ of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., has monthly articles on church advertising. COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING "Advertising and Selling," HoUingworth. (Appleton, 1913.) Authoritative volume by professor in Columbia University deal- ing wholly with commercial advertising but containing many practical helps to church advertisement writers. "Advertising as a Business Force," Cherington. (Doubleday, Page, 1913.) Analyzed compilation of business experience of scores of commercial advertisers. Worth study by those churchmen who can get ideas from unrelated subjects. "Correct Composition," DeVinne. (Century, 1921.) Helpful technical suggestions by a master craftsman. "Making Type Work," Sherbow. (Century, 1916.) An ex- tremely suggestive book on typography for those who seek to make type talk with distinctness. "Making Advertisements and Making Them Pay," Durstine. (Scribner's, 1920.) Breezy book of practical ideas for copy writers by one of the best. 172 CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLICITY "Psychology of Advertising," Scott. (Small, Maynard, 1913.) Important basic book of some of earliest investigations into application of laws of psychology to advertising. 'Typography of Advertisements that Pay," Farrar. (Apple- ton, 1917.) A most stimulating study of type, cuts, and white space, as related to getting messages into the minds of men. "Treatise on Title-Page," DeVinne. (Century, 1902.) Com- ment and suggestions on history of type composition as related to title-pages, showing development of various faces of type and their proper uses. "Writing an Advertisement," Hall. (Houghton, Mifflin, 1915.) Analysis of methods and mental processes in writing an adver- tisement. HELPS IN NEWS WRITING "Newspaper Editing," Hyde. (Appleton, 1915.) A working manual for editors, copy readers, and students of newspaper work. "News Writing," Spencer. (Heath, 1917.) An excellent book by a practical newspaper man and professor of EngHsh. "News Writing and Editing," Bleyer. (Houghton, Mifflin, 1913.) A comprehensive book for those who would write news, with many examples and suggestions on copy-reading and proof- reading. "The Writing of News," Ross. (Holt, 1911.) Complete study book for the student of the art of writing for newspapers. INDEX Advertisements, Bible verse in, 144; border detracts (illustra- tion), 139; check for $25,000, 110; for conventions, 99; de- sign distinctive (illustration), 157; form of, art rules, 138; faces of type (illustration), 135; frequency of, 131; give something of gospel, 144; good if gets results, 146; home-mis- sion propaganda, 116; infor- mational example, 151; pas- tors "dash off," 143; raise college funds, 108; on sports page, 131; space, cost, 99; quote prominent workers, 93; white space helps, 133 Advertising, advisabihty of, in church papers, 50; defined, 11; expense based on sales, 117; letters follow laws of, 60; by mail, example, 19; plan to meet competition, 17; regular vs. spasmodic, 115; themes from sermons, 17; value of good letterheads, 64 Advertising writing, rule-making hazardous, 129 Announcements, put thought on, 37 Annual reports, 27 Appeal, suggestion vs. argument, 152 Appropriation, minimum, 119 Articles, signed, in papers, 105 Attendants, possible, where? 17 Attention, church advertising competes for, 129; law of, in oral notices, 37 Audience — or congregation? 14 Banks advertise churches, 124 Banners, 91 Basis of expense of advertise- ments, 117 Blackboard as bulletin board, 26 Booklets, 31, 63 Boxes, use of, in make-up, 50 Budget, put advertising in, 122 Building, church to raise money for, 106 Bulletin (see calendar) Bulletin board, arrangement of matter on, 58; how use, 57; sermonettes, 58; Trenton, New Jersey, 57 Calendars, Easter, 33; form of news, 44; headlines of items, 45; material, statement of facts, 44; mimeographed, 40; not personal organ of pastor, 43; set in half measure, 41; use of advertisements in, 50; use of cuts in, 41 Capitals, hard to read, 135 Cards follow rules of advertise- ments, 133; use in conven- tions, 101 Christian Endeavor plans for convention, 89 Church advertisements, copy, 16; leave uphfting thought, 5; must be beheved, remem- red, 148; only religious in- fluence, 112 Church advertising defined, 113 Church magazines, have facts for, 26 Church treasury pay for sta- tionery, 65 Circular letter, by Indiana church, 120 College advertisements, 110; campaign plans, 106; per cent 173 174 INDEX of cost to get funds, 109; per cent of expense for advertis- ing, 119 Commerce, lessons for churches from, 116; uses laws of mind, 169 Competition to church services, 17 Conventions, Bureau County, 91; have news elements, 89; follow-up story for, 96; letters by key persons, 102; motion- picture ads for, 100; news, . examples to use, 97; news re- ports of, 78; pubHcity plans, 89 Copy, church ads, 150; conven- tion poster, 100; important problem, 22; Niles, Michigan, Trinity ads, 121; subjects for ads, 16 Cost, advertising space vs. pos- tals, 100 Cross, used in ads, 124 Cut church tower, 156; offered by some denominations, 155 Daily papers best medium, 128; use of, for nonchurchgoers, 115 Debate as means of making news, 105 Definitions — city editor, 88; copy, 87; copy reader, 87; em, 86; galley proof, 87; half tone, 86; hne etching, 86; line, 99; linotype, 87; mat, 85; plates, 85- proof, proof reader, 87; reporter, 88; story, 88; stick, 85 Detroit church publicity com- mittee, 12 Deuteronomy records command to advertise, 5, 129 Diplomacy in publicity, 104 Editing manuscript, 47 Editor of church paper, have courage, 46; convention gives friendly, opportunity, 90; guided by letters, 103; help with news, 70; prints what people will read, 68; owns paper; not you, 83 Editorial comment via resolu- tions, 104 Evangehstic campaigns (see con- vention) Evangehstic posters, possible headhnes, 165; what will draw unsaved? 164 Facts, of denomination, use of, 26; dig for, 29; help keep peo- ple in church, 31; needed as basis for ads, 18; not com- ment, 27 Figures on attendance, 30 Fillers always needed, 47 Group advertising, 125; illus- trated, 167 Hall, S. Roland, quoted, 152 Head vs. label, 146 Headlines, articles, 48; for Christmas Sunday-school ad- vertisements, 35; count let- ters, 48; in lower case, 146; point of contact, 143; posters, 134; Portsmouth advertise- ments, 154; for Sunday-school picnic poster, 34; use verb, 146; Western Newspaper Union advertisements, 155; written by editor, 82 Holhngworth on eye movements, 137 Hospital, to raise money for, 106 Information of Sunday school creates interest, 24 Interest, must awaken before gifts come, 106 Intrachurch advertising always important, 24 Italic for emphasis only, 136 Items about people, 48 Laws to be observed in writing advertisements, 127 Laymen pay for advertisements, 126 Layout, 132 Lecturers, send news stories, 72 Letterheads, 64 Lettering on posters, 56 INDEX 175 Letters, as advertisements, 60; to editors help moral issues, 103; flank attack, 63; by key persons, 102; open ^ath inci- dent, 62; placement on page, 65; quality of stationery, 65; used by small church, 12; use of suggestion in, 63; when use, 59 Libraries helped by publicity, 106 Line, unit of advertising space, 99; length of, 137 Make-up, 50 Market for church's goods, 17; how reach, 19 Medium, choice of, 128; list, 20 Mimeograph, use of, increased attendance, 120 Missionary convention plans, 90 Money raised by pubhcity, 105 Moral issues helped by letters, 103 Motion-picture screen advertise- ments on, 100; slides, 165 News, best, interests largest number, 79; church, keep papers supplied, 71; church people ignore religious, 80; editorial expressions prohib- ited in, 82; examples of stories, 97; items for conven- tion, 93; local angle of, 76; prepared story, 73; reports of conventions, 78; in resolu- tions, 103; writing, first sen- tence, 76; unusual has greatest interest, 80 Novelty, value of, 36 Offerings grow under advertise- ments, 120 Officers must be informed, 29 Oral announcements, give facts in, 27 Paid ads may be inexpedient, 20 Paper, make-up of, 48; Monday morning, 104; monthly, danger in long articles, 46; semimonthly, for theological seminaries, 108 Parents, reach, by special days, 33 Pastor on friendly terms with editor, 70 Personal work effective, 102 Picnic, poster headings for, 34 Portsmouth, Ohio, campaign, 123, 154 Possible market, 19 Post cards to absentees, 29 Posters, change often, 56; home- made, 53; laA'out important, 134; poor headHnes, 162; for stewardship, 55; Trenton, New Jersey, 12 Preacher, be advertised? 14; help reforms by sermon ex- tracts, 104; must give some- thing worth hearing, 122 Printing, good, 65, 101 Proclamations by officials as advertisements, 100 Proof, galley, page, 87 Pubhcity, defined, 11; for right- eousness possible, 169 Pubhcity committee, organiza- tion, 11; sohcit subscribers to church papers, 13; three im- portant questions, 14; Tren- ton, New Jersey, Detroit, 12 Quahty of printed matter, 101 Query on blackboard as adver- tisement, 28 Quotations in Sunday-school ad- vertisements, 93 Rally Day, plan early with pub- hcity committee, 34 Rehgion in paid space, 112 Remembrance, laws of, 149 Reporter, employed for news items, 108; gather facts for calendars, 45; need help, 69 Resolutions often good news, 103 Results of advertising, Illinois new church, 119; New York, 120; Niles, Michigan, 121; Portsmouth, Ohio, 124; Ta- coma, Washington, 120 Scripture, use in church adver- tisements, 112 176 INDEX Sermon, best thing to advertise? 17; extracts, how prepare, 71; print in full? 70 Signs, use of, example, 19 Slides, on screen for convention advertising, 100; at annual meeting, 28 Space, cost of, how figured, 151 Stationery^ churches furnish, 65 Stewardship, how advertise, 21 Street-car cards, when use, 168 Suggestion, use of, in letters, 63 Summer advertising useful, 115; plan early for Sunday-school attendance, 34 Sunday-school, attendance grows, 124; class dig up facts, 26; find special talking points, 33; program for year, 32; teacher, how to use pubhcity plans, 39; workers, quotations from, in advertisements, 93 Sunday-school advertising, grow- ing in volume, 158; hnk with church, 160; Martinsville, Indiana, 159; Oakland, CaU- fornia, 160; proclamations, 100; samples by International Sunday School Association, 158; suggested plan, 20 Sunday-school convention, Bu- reau County, 91; interest out- siders, 92; plans, 89; follow- up story, 96 Sunday-school posters, common- place heads, 162; possible headlines, 163; use photo- graph, 163 Technical terms, 85 Telephone to spread news, 102 Theological seminary plan, 108 Tower, use of, in calendar and advertisements, 41 Tract, put in newspaper, 68 Trenton, example of bulletin board, 57; use of posters, 12 Trustees, persuade to advertise, 119 Type, resolve into rectangles, 129; sohd, 140 Unchurched, reaching in ads, 121 Visitors, welcome them, 34 Want ad, uncommon, 147 Week-day schools helped by publicit}', 105 Western Newspaper Union ad- vertisements illustrated, 114, 145; heads of series of ads, 155 Words in square inch, 133 Y. M. C. A. convention plans, 89 Zinc etching, use of, instead of half tone, 41 Date Due Mvia"^ ir 2 ? 'L • ^