The Hamilton House Service

The Creative Team at Hamilton House Mailings works in several areas.  In each case call 01536 399 000 and ask for the creative team.

The Free Review - you send us your direct mail piece by post, fax or email, and we tell you what we would have done had we had the brief, and how we think we could change it for you. No charge and no obligation. For UK customers we will call you back - non UK we will reply by email.

The article - perhaps with a photo or two - which relates to your products appearing in a suitable specialist magazine could be worth a fortune in advertising terms.  Not only does it attract people to your product, it is also something you can have to photocopy and include with later advertising.  

Copywriting of advertisements is our core business - we are among the best known copywriters in the country.

Brochures and leaflets - we can handle the text and design, just the text or just the design.  You tell us what and we'll get it done.

Design - our design department can work directly from your copy or from the work of our copywriting department.

Public Relations.  We specialist in PR to those working in education - call 01536 399 000 and ask for the PR team.

Direct mail to schools - everything you need from mailing lists to fulfilment.  Call 01536 399 000 or visit www.solo.ac for solo mailings, and www.shared.org.uk for shared mailings.

Parents -

The article

Publishers traditionally think of reviews - and reviews can be good.  But whoe articles on the theme of the book can attract even more sales, if they end with a note about the book's title.

Consider this headline...

The Great Lie of Citizenship

An article of this nature turning up in an educational magazine is likely to be read by most citizenship teachers.  Even if they don't take in the whole piece they will probably flip to the end and see what the reference point is - and if the reference point is "Key Stage 3 Citizenship by A.N. Other" with the publisher's name then the piece will work as a selling mechanism.

Such articles are normally written by the author, but where the author doesn't have the time or the style to do this it is possible to get such articles placed - usually by a PR company specialising in such work.

Where the author wishes to write the piece it is important that the author realises that articles of this nature do not push the whole book as a blatant advert but rather take the reader on a journey which retains his/her interest throughout.

Getting such articles placed is as much an art as writing the article in the first place - and sometimes (not always but sometimes) the magazine may ask you to place an advert alongside the article.   Although you might not be knocked out by this concept, it is certainly worth considering - the cost of the advert is probably not going to be that big - and the impact of the advert plus the article can be quite considerable.

To discuss the Hamilton House team putting together an article and negotiating a placement for you please email details of your idea to Creative@hamilton-house.com or phone 01536 399 000 and ask for the Creative Team.

And in case you are still wondering what the great lie actually is, it just struck me in writing this page that we by and large teach the political side of citizenship on the basis that the government knows what it wants to do, and sets about doing it.   The "great lie" is revealed when we look at the Home Office where illegal immigrants work in the department which has the jo0b of finding illegal immigrants.  But is it possible to teach the governmental side of citizenship as chaos?

Copywriting

What makes the biggest difference to your response rate?

The product or service you are selling.  Try selling something that no one wants and it doesn't matter how good the advert is, you won't get too far.   

But assuming your product or service is one that can attract sales given the right advert, what really makes the biggest difference is what you say.

In short it is the text that counts.

A few changes can make all the difference - a phrase here, an opening line, a PS - these are the changes that can take you from a 1% response rate to a 3% response rate, can take people from simply asking for the free sample, to buying from the catalogue.

Copywriting is what we (the people who wrote this web site) do.  We write sales letters, brochures, leaflets, postcards...  Advertising copy that appears as direct mail, email and on the internet.

And we specialise in reaching teachers and parents.

The problem with copywriting is that it is not quite the same as writing letters and emails.  We can all do this - but it doesn't mean we can write adverts.   

If you would like a quick self-tuition course then probably the best thing around is the 100 Ways Web Site.   This is dedicated to putting up a list of the 100 Ways in which it is possible to double response rates in direct mail.  It really does list lots of ways in which leaflets and brochures can be changed to make them even more effective, and is based both on practical experience and some very good theory.

But if that all seems too much you can send us a copy of your latest mailshot and we'll give you a call back with what we think could be done to the text to improve the response rate.   And we can of course re-write it for you if you wish - although at that point we do start charging. If you want to talk first call 01536 399 000.  We're mostly harmless.

Although the above comments on copywriting suggest very clearly that copy comes first, this is not to say that there does not have to be design within our adverts.  We very much believe in design, and the power of design - which in turn is controlled by an adherence to the rules of the psychology of perception.

If you want to know where to put your headline on a piece of paper, and why moving it by an inch of two can make a load of difference, take a look at www.mailing.org.uk 

If you would like our comments on a design just send the leaflet in question to along with your details including a phone number.  We will call you back and give you our views.  No charge.

Similarly if you would like us to quote for doing a direct mail design based on our theories as explained in the 100 Ways website just call 01536 399 000 and ask for a member of the Creative Team to call you back.

Brochures and leaflets should not be a list of stuff you have to sell with a few lines on each and a picture.  What needs to happen is that you have to encourage people to buy, and encourage readers to remember your catalogue so that they come back for more later.

Ask yourself this simple question - what makes them remember me?

What you have to do is bring the brochure to life with a theme - with words and concepts that make the reader recognise that they are reading about a brand and not just about a list of products they could buy anywhere.   They need to find a unity of style and a unity of approach in your work.

To see how this could apply to you, just send in your brochure or catalogue and let us make a few comments.  There is no charge or obligation.  If you think we are talking the biggest load of twaddle you have ever heard then you can politely make your excuses and put down the phone.  If you think that maybe we are onto something, we can talk about how we might be involved in writing your next brochure or catalogue.

You can talk about this first by calling 01536 399 000 and asking for the Creative Team, or you can go ahead and send in the brochure straight away, either as a pdf to Creative@hamilton-house.com or by post.