The Creative Team at Hamilton House Mailings works in several areas The Free Review - you send us your direct mail piece, and we tell you what we would have done had we had the brief, and how we think we could change it for you. 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. |
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If you would like us to look at your advert, tell you what we think, and then say how we would have done it just send us the advert...
By email send a .pdf or a .doc file to Creative@hamilton-house.com
By post - send the advert exactly as it was sent out to Creative Team, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
By fax - fax the advert to 01536 399 012
Notes
For UK based customers we will call you back to discuss. For non-UK customers we will email you a summary of our thoughts. Either way there is no charge and no obligation. After the review is done you will get one email from us summarising our services - but that is all - we dont put you on an email list or give or sell your email address to anyone else.
In all cases you must give your email address, full company name, your name, postal address. And please make it clear that you want a review by writing "For Review" on the advert or covering letter.
Rather like press releases and direct mail shots, articles in magazines need to attract attention immediately.
Once the attraction has been recorded then the reader is taken on a journey which retains his/her interest throughout.
For example, imagine you sell low price CDs from Alderney in the Channel Isles. You will find it hard to get an article in a magazine with a decent readership which focuses on you. But what you could find even more beneficial would be an article about unusual businesses in unusual places which chose your business as its example. Or perhaps an article about how businesses have been springing up in the Channel Isles and selling goods at low prices - which just happened to feature you.
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, or phone 01536 399 000 and ask for the Creative Team.
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 simple asking for the free sample, to buying from the catalogue.
Copywriting is what we do. We write sales letters, brochures, leaflets, postcards... Advertising copy that appears as direct mail, email and on the internet.
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 to send us a copy of your latest mailshot (email to creative@hamilton-house.com) 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.
Although this does suggest very clearly that copy comes first, this is not to say that there does not have to be design. 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 would like our comments on a design just send the leaflet in question to creative@hamilton-house.com along with your details including a phone number. We will call you back and give you our views. No charge.
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.
What this means is bringing 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.
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.