21/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Getting leads via the internet and email is clearly on the up (there’s a link to a new report on this at the end).

The report shows that large numbers of companies don’t believe that they are particularly well set up to exploit these new approaches - in fact the number that do believe they are well set up to do this has declined from 44% in 2007 down to 41% in 2008. But 94% think that this is the big growth area.

The key areas of getting leads on line (not all of which are covered in the report) are

Generating your own email lists of customers and potential customers. This works well when you have something new to say all the time (rather than just “we’ve got a special discount this week”). Where you have got something to say, the ad becomes softened and people take more notice (just as you read all my chit chat - right?)

Search engines such as Google. Having a great website that attracts thousands of people, who then either buy on line or who call you or email you, is a terrific way forward - providing that the site really does work in this way (rather than just look pretty) and the sites rise up the Google rankings. This is an area of contention - web designers are really keen on look, and we have lots of them calling HHM to tell us how with extra design our sites could do much better. But all our results show that (at least for B2B) it is the text that does the work, not the various images all fighting each other. Simplicity in design is not sexy, but it seems to pull in bigger results.

Search engines - paid. When I asked for info on this before from readers I got a mixed answer - some made good money out of Google Adwords, some didn’t.

Blogs - this is what I have spent the last year working on, and finding that it is possible to get huge audiences quickly - 45,000 unique visitors a month each visiting at least twice, gained by one blog in 4 months. The cost of blogs per sale appears to be less than the cost of using google ad words - but it just seems a longer term project so people don’t do it.

Newsgroups - like this one. You provide information to people and attach your company name, the name gets associated with the news, and readers are more inclined to call. About 20% of all the calls from potential new customers that Hamilton House gets come from people who say, “I subscribe to your news service…”

Hamilton House runs four marketing news services described at http://www.hamilton-house.com/gateways/newsgroups.html

We also run nine similar services for teachers, which do take adverts, described at
http://www.yesmail.org.uk/emailteachersdirect.html

There are a whole series of experimental blogs running - you might like to read the one at www.blog.hamilton-house.com to get an idea.

Or call me, Tony Attwood, on 01536 399 013.

Link to the original research article:http://www.marketingvox.com/online-lead-generation-delivers-but-can-be-better-used-039266/?camp=newsletter&src=mv&type=textlink

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12/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.

The psychology of perception is the scientific study of the way in which people react to what they see. It tells us such things as where the eye goes when a reader first pick up your leaflet.

The approach also tells us exactly what effects illustrations have – and surprisingly the answer is that they are not always positive. Alarmingly, the same is true about the use of colour.

Because the psychology of perception offers a scientific approach to the writing and design of advertisements the predictions that it makes are subject to rigorous tests in academic studies in universities. Thus these are not personal opinion and assertion, but testable scientific facts.

You might wonder, therefore, that if the psychology of perception is this good at telling us which mailshot and which email will work, why more advertisers don’t use it.

The answer is simple: the predictions that the psychology of perception makes are often alarmingly different from those that common sense provides. And faced with an approach that goes against all they have done for years and years, many people simply back away.

There is also the problem that some of the answers the psychology of perception give us are just a bit more complex than the answers common sense gives us. Sometimes the scientific answers say, “in situation A, do X, but in situation B, do Z.” Common sense approaches generally give us one answer for all circumstances.

However there is a big benefit from using this approach. Not only do you get the advantage that the scientific approach gives (much higher response rates), you also have the benefit of producing advertisements that look different from those of the majority of companies. And that in itself can be a real benefit.

Tony Attwood

PS: If you would like to know what the psychology of perception has to say about your current leaflet, just email me a copy, with your phone number, and I’ll call you back with the details. Tony@hamilton-house.com works most of the time.

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