Many companies have budgets for E-commerce marketing and/or budgets for advertising campaigns trying to get customers through their doors. However, On Hold marketing offers a uniquely more direct approach — because the customers have already “arrived!”

Used the right way, professionally and carefully produced messages on hold can effectively appeal to callers. After all, they’ve already taken that first step by calling. If you think of every phone call as an opportunity, then each caller has already walked in.

Short, succinct, impactful messages matched with the right licensed hold music delivers an even greater advantage with repeat customer upsells. Reward their loyalty with timely, exclusive offers and you have a win-win: your customers appreciate the value and will be back again while you’ve just increased sales revenue.

Putting monthly promotions on hold also keeps the custom message sounding fresh for repeat customers who know better than anybody when something sounds new. Using on hold marketing services in conjunction with other campaigns reinforces the spotlight and makes an effective tool in cross-promotions. Lifetime oil changes? HVAC wholesale rebates? Dental discounts and pet wellness plans? Advertise them with a professional phone message to a receptive audience that already expressed an eagerness to call you.

The best way to get results from a custom message? First, remember that the intended audience is never going to SEE your on hold marketing campaign, only HEAR it. That means there’s no room for wordiness. If a word or phrase has no particular impact, get rid of it.

That leads to the second reason. Your audience is in a holding pattern and likely anxious to move on. Don’t bore them with statistics or, even worse, self-congratulatory fluff. That doesn’t go over well in messages on hold. Don’t make callers memorize a lot of numbers or complicated directions, either. The power of retention is better served with cross selling and calls-to-action.

*Use words and phrases that benefit the caller and speak directly to each. “Snoring keep you up last night? We can help your sleep apnea during this call.”

*Speak conversationally. Consider the announcer of your custom message as a customer service representative talking one-on-one. Unless, of course, you’re going for a stylized piece directed toward a specific audience.

*Use immediate calls-to-action. You already have their attention…there’s only one step left!

*Avoid sounding like a legal brief. Lengthy details, lists, and overly technical explanations can make callers tune out…what may work in print advertising does not always catch the ear!

There’s much more to the formula, made simple by IAP. Mixed with catchy hold music, inspire your callers with IAP’s professional phone message producers, the masters of on hold marketing services!

If you ever thought about putting messages on hold to work in your phone system but figured the process would be too cumbersome or time consuming, we’d like to illustrate otherwise! Hold music and effective on hold marketing is simple…IF you have the right vendor with professional phone message experience. IAP makes the magic happen for you in four easy steps.

Wondering if and why you need on hold marketing services? Done properly, a professional phone message can engage a captive audience in otherwise dead hold time. In the transfer process, silence on hold can seem infinitely longer in the caller’s mind. And forget radio. Even if you have rebroadcast rights from ASCAP or BMI, radio’s music selection has limited appeal at best, not to mention commercials that could be promoting a competitor!

A solid, effective telephone on hold message system helps alleviate the seemingly slow passage of time associated with silence and the annoying, costly aspects of radio. IAP on hold marketing delivers personalized messages with broadly appealing telephone music. The overall sound can be geared for your clientele’s call-to-action…all we need is a little input and we’ll do all the work!

*STEP 1: Fill out a quick and easy questionnaire, then e-mail it to us. We’ll write a custom script based on the info you provide. Our writers are highly experienced at creating a professional phone message, written specifically for the messages on hold format. We’ll take your answers and transform them into attention-grabbing, inspiring custom messages that get results! We work with many industries and know how to appeal to your callers in the spoken word.

*STEP 2: Choose a voice. Listen to the voice demos on our website. We have an excellent selection of male and female voices. Professional and versatile, our voice artists know how to appeal to all demographics, young and old. Need a special accent? Kid’s voice? What about messages on hold in a foreign language? IAP has you covered.

*STEP 3: Select music. You’ll find many music choices on our website. Easy Listening, Jazz, Oldies, Classical, Country, Rock…we have all kinds of licensed, instrumental hold music. Every time you freshen your hold messages – whether monthly, bi-monthly, twice a year, or whatever your needs — you have the freedom to select new tracks/genres with every production. Your telephone music can also capture the holiday spirit when the time comes.

*STEP 4: Determine delivery format. Your telephone on hold message system will replay custom on hold message audio via MP3, wav file, from a USB drive, burned to CD, even mixed to tape.

That’s it! Using your business telephone to market and upsell customers can be done in 4 easy steps with Illinois Audio Productions. You’ll see right away that we’re an easy-to-work-with company where you always get one-on-one answers from a real person. Give it a try!  We’re glad to answer any questions.