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We are the marketing team of the Hamilton House group, which includes Hamilton House Mailings plc, Hamilton House PR Agency, First & Best, The School of Educational Administration, and Witchwood Media Ltd.
If you would like to see more about the individual aspects of our work please visit one or more of our web sites:
This site is part of the Mailing Information Exchange (MIE), a comprehensive guide to getting higher response rates in direct mail.
The MIE consists of a number of web sites each derailing with an element of direct mail and is supported by a series of advert free news groups which convey the latest information on each aspect of direct mail.
The sites within the Mail Information Exchange.
THE STARTING POINT
- 50% of direct mail works, and 50% flops. What is it that makes one mailshot work and another become a total waste of money. This site assumes no background knowledge at all, and takes you through the basics and the preliminaries so that you can find out exactly how to make your mailshot work with higher profits than you ever imagined.
THE THEORY of DIRECT MAIL - exploring why one mailshot works and another one doesn't
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The Fundamental Laws of Direct Mail - the most fundamental elements of direct mail which affect everything else. Ignoring them turns good mail into junk mail. A summary of the findings that arose from the Double Response Rates project in 2006.
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The Standard Theory of Direct Mail makes it possible to predict why one mailshot works and another doesn't. This is the major work containing reports on research both by direct mailers and by academics into direct mail response rates.
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The Library - a collection of some of the most insightful articles in the practice of direct mail, its theory and practice. There's usually around 20 to 25 major articles in the library - covering key issues. They are charged at £5 to £10 each for download.
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The EMail Web and Blog Site - a web site that summarises the research and looks at the response rates that you can get from using email, blogs, adwords and webs. .
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The A to Z of Direct Mail - a regularly updated list of around 100 articles and details of mailing lists on every aspect of direct mail from Announcement Advertising to the XZ Theory drawn from across the MIE sites.
THE PRACTICE
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Getting started in direct mail. the point was made that some of the work in the Standard Theory is getting a bit involved, and sometimes people just like to have somewhere to start. That's what this is. A starting point.
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Writing and designing direct mail to meet the demands of the Standard Theory of direct mail and accord with the three fundamental laws. In other words - we know what it is that makes direct mail work and what makes it fail - so how do we put all that into theory
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Good Ads - examples of adverts that follow the theory and laws
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Bad Ads - example of those that do not - and where they fail
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Dirty tricks used in direct mail - what gives direct mail a bad name - and what to think when you are suddenly offered mailing lists at incredibly low prices, or offers from mailing houses to post your mail at prices that seem far too good to be true.
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Humour in direct mail. The use of humour in the Toppled Bollard adverts, theory and practice.
DIRECT MAIL INFORMATION
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Postal News - what Royal Mail is up to, and how their latest activities affect successful direct mail
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Mailing lists, available for immediate download on line - plus guidance and background. Buying lists on line is the cheapest way to get mailing lists - but do remember - you have to know how to integrate the list once you have downloaded it.
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Email mailing lists - email lists of schools businesses and consumers. How to get higher response rates with email marketing, how to avoid being labelled a spammer, and a complete guide to all the email mailing lists available.
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Cutting the cost in half using the Filtered Database Technique. If you can work out who your customers are, you can work out who the next group of customers will be - and cut the cost of reaching them.
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Solo mailing - the issues and factors involved in posting mail in the UK
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"I spoke to my designer and he said it was rubbish" - FAQs, comments, and why some people in the direct mail industry really don't like us revealing all these insights.
SPECIALIST SITES CONCERNING SELLING TO SCHOOLS AND PARENTS (sponsored by the School of Educational Administrators)
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Selling to schools and parents - the starting point - if you have not sold to schools before this is where you begin.
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Solo mailings to schools - the classic approach, but not everyone finds they can make it work. Why is that?
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Shared mailings to schools. For over 25 years people have been using the shared mailing technique to reach schools, and it remains popular to this day.
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Selling to parents Everyone wants it but it takes some special techniques to be able to do it.
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School books - selling books into schools
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Public relations when selling to schools If you are serious about selling into education, you need to use PR as well as direct mail and email.
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Educational tales and rumours - what people love to believe about direct mail but which is not true - the antithesis of the three laws.
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Promoting courses in universities and colleges - exploring the way in which students now choose what course to follow, and how universities can use this new approach..
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Education Marketing - the complete guide to reaching schools and colleges. A huge site that covers issues that have never before been tackled in relation to selling into schools.
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Information for educational suppliers A good general guide on how to sell into schools
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Top5 - a site for schools giving names and addresses and web sites of thousands of suppliers into the school markets. Widely promoted to schools and widely used.
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Schools - the site that brings together schools and parents - includes a database of every school in the UK
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Administration - the UK's school administrator site run by the School of Educational Administration
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The Bursar's site
About Tony Attwood - and his work
Tony Attwood C.Ed., B.A., M.Phil, F.Inst.A.M. founded the MIE and is chairman of Hamilton House Mailings. His approach to direct mail has transformed the way we approach direct marketing in the 21st century.
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