Royalty Free Music to Play to Callers On Hold

Message and music on hold

When it comes to putting your callers on hold, you want to make sure they wait for you to come back, and not get irritated at the fact you have just made them wait. Selecting the right music tracks to play on your telephone message and music on hold system, can really set the mood … make sure it’s the right one!

When selecting the style of music to be played on your telephone lines, think of your customers and the type of people they are. You want to make sure the music appeals to them, and make their telephone experience as enjoyable as possible.

Music on hold is still part of your branding efforts, and is a huge reflection on what your company is all about. Making sure you select the tracks with the right ambience and beat will say a lot about you as a company, and will leave a lasting impression.

Media Messages has a large library of royalty free music for companies’ to play to their callers on hold, and as long as you have a professional recorded message played with it, then you won’t be up for any fees from APRA or PPCA.

Our team of audio professionals can help you select the appropriate tracks to go hand in hand with the content of your message on hold program, while also ensuring it is the right representation for your business. We can also mix it up, so that your callers aren’t listening to the same tune the entire time they wait.

For more information about how you can get royalty free music to play to your callers on hold, then please contact our friendly team here at Media Messages – we’ll be more than happy to help you hear the music.

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Have Fun with your Messages On Hold

If you are planning on installing a telephone message on hold program at your office, or even if you already have one playing to your callers on hold, we recommend you have fun with your script. You want to capture the attention of your callers, and to do that you need to be a little bit creative.

If you are a corporate company, you can still have fun with your message on hold script, maybe just be a little bit subtler in the way you go about it.

Humorous Messages On Hold
For instance, if there is an industry related joke that your customer are sure to understand, then why not have a little fun and bring a smile to your callers face and add a little humour to your messages on hold. Your callers will see you as being light-hearted and fun.

Sound Effects
Additionally, you can bring your audio messages alive with some sound effects. We don’t recommend going over board, but if you it can help you get your message through a lot better. For instance, if you are a pet store, then appeal to your callers’ emotions with the sound of a dog barking or a cat purring.

Tell a Quick Story
You don’t always have to be selling your products to your callers, instead why not include a message with an anecdote or a tale about your business – something that will interest your callers, and information that they may not already know about.

Bring Celebrity
Everyone loves celebrities, so do your research and find ways to align your products and services with a celebrity. That way your customers can feel like they too are a celebrity when they buy into your product or service.

Whilst you must treat your telephone message on hold program like you would with all your other marketing material, you can also have a little fun with your content. You don’t have to go overboard, but you can transform your audio production from a mundane script to a super exciting one with just a few different tactics. Ask us how when you call our team today.

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Business Email Etiquette

Your business emails are one of the biggest forms of communications you have with the outside world. Think about it, you use it to contact all stakeholders: staff, suppliers and of course customers. It makes sense to set your emails up in a way that is both tasteful and beneficial for your business. Here are a few ways to keep in line with business email etiquette.

Keep it Clean
Unless you get it professionally done, don’t go inserting a whole heap of pictures into your email. It will look messy, and in many cases, your customers could flag your email as being spammy due to the number of pictures inside the email. Keep your emails clean – it is easier on the eye, and better for email filters to send through.

Simple Signatures
Don’t go over board with your signature. Keep it simple and professional. If you are going to include a logo – make sure it works. There is nothing worse than seeing a red cross where a logo is supposed to go. Also use one, maybe two colours – there is no need to have a rainbow signature. You may think it looks good, but many of your customers will see it as being unprofessional and tacky.

Clear and Concise Content
Just like you would with your telephone messages on hold advertisements, keep the body of your email short. People are generally time poor, and will baulk if they have to read through a novel, with most of them opting not to. Keep your messages clear and straight to the point.

No Big Attachments
Most people will have a limit of about 2 MB per email if you are sending to a business, personal emails can have up to 10MB – don’t abuse it. Keep your attachments small; otherwise they may not even make it to the recipient.

Out of Office Messages
Keep out of office messages short, but with enough information that your customers know when you will be returning, and who to contact while you are not there.

It is essential for businesses to have good email etiquette, especially when businesses are putting up stronger filters and rejecting more and more emails. Plus, you want your customers to actually read your emails and not delete them.

Media Messages have a strict email guide, and we get our staff to take their email communication very seriously. We do sometimes also include a link to examples of our message on hold audio advertisements, whether we have them on YouTube or on our website, and of course, we include links to our Facebook page.

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American Telephone Messages On Hold

Avoid Message On Hold Fails

There is one thing the Americans do extremely well and that is advertising – in all forms. My family and I have recently enjoyed a trip to Los Angeles and Las Vegas – and let me tell you, advertising is everywhere. The difference with America is that they understand that marketing isn’t just about getting the phone lines to ring; it is about the complete customer experience.

There are advertisements everywhere! Billboards, print advertising, television advertisements, outdoor, indoor, on the phone, online and in person. Advertising is prevalent absolutely everywhere. But so too, is a good level of customer service (possibly to the point of cheesy).

I felt as though each brand was making contact with me at every stage of the marketing process, right up until I had left the store or hung up the phone. The staff were very friendly and trying to upsell and cross sell at every opportunity (trust me, I came home with a lot more stuff than I left with). So from a marketer’s point of view, they are doing something right.

American Messages On Hold
As my sister is a travel agent over there, I helped and did a little assistant work for her. Calling restaurants, tour agents, hotels, resorts and hire car companies – and the majority of them had a telephone message on hold program playing. While I knew the States were the original telephone on hold message inventors, I didn’t quite expect to hear quite so many programs playing an on hold program.

The one thing I noticed with most of their messages is they were straight to the point, and didn’t waffle on. Each audio advertisement was clear and concise and clearly conveyed pretty much a single message. I was in heaven.

A telephone message on hold program is just another step in your marketing communications program. It should make up part of your internal marketing strategies, and be focused on informing your customers about secondary products and services, and to also increase brand awareness to your callers on hold. The more they know about you, the more they are likely to reconnect.

Do your business a favour and invest in a professional telephone message on hold program for the professional team here at Media Messages. We supply the complete package, from scriptwriting, voiceovers to audio engineering. Call us today on 1300 796 694.

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On Hold Fail #2

Message on hold fail | Radio on hold

When you work for a Telephone Message On Hold Company, you tend to really take notice what different businesses play to their callers on hold. Some of them are great, others not so. The other day however, I was on the phone to the real estate I am hoping to buy land from, and what they had on hold, everyone would take notice of … and not for the right reasons.

They obviously had the radio connected, but they obviously had the radio connected in a room that didn’t have great reception. All I could here was very loud static in my ear. I couldn’t bear it – I had to hang up, call the receptionist again, tell her what happened, and asked her to get the real-estate agent I was dealing with to call me back (and it has given me a great opportunity to make a sale!)

Businesses think the radio is a great option. I guess because it plays music and keeps callers entertained while they wait, but they neglect to think of all the negatives of playing the radio.

  1. No control over the content
  2. Potentially playing inappropriate music
  3. Inappropriate comments from announcers
  4. Competitor advertisements
  5. Static radio
  6. Huge annual fees

Businesses who are playing the radio to their callers on hold should really reconsider, and consider the telephone on hold time to be a lucrative advertising stream. An opportunity to educate your callers about your products and services – not someone elses.

Media Messages’ telephone messages on hold programs are inexpensive and effective forms of marketing material. Get the best out of this ‘air time’ and call our friendly audio specialists today on 1300 796 694.

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5 Fun Ways to Entertain your Customers In Store

Entertain your customers with in-store music and messaging

Anyone who works in retail knows that you need to stand out from the crowd to draw a crowd. Though this can be a busy industry, so when it’s fast, it is fast – but our retail clients still have a little fun with their customers, and based on what we have heard from our customers, here are five ways retailers can entertain their customers in store.

In-Store iPads
This is a new tactic we’ve heard a few retailers are testing out. They have stations with iPads for customers to use, or their kids and husband’s to play with while they wait. Obviously, the retailers have set the iPads to only be able to search certain sites, but it has worked well for them, as they can offer discounts for customers who “Check-in” on Facebook and let their friends no they are in store.

Once of our fashion customers even has the iPad available for customers to take a pic of the clothes they are wearing so the customer can share with their friends for instant feedback. Risky? Maybe … but the customer is giving them valuable promotion – free. Quite smart if you ask us.

Lego and Toy Stations
It’s all about keeping the kids entertained so the parents can shop and enjoy their experience. Some stores are now setting up a Lego and toy stations to keep the kids occupied while mummy and daddy shop.

In-Store TV Stations
In Target you will find a kids TV station with the latest kids video (great way to get the kids to want to buy said movie), while other stores are using in-store Plasmas to promote their products and services – playing presentations about their business and products.

In-store Presentations
This is an old concept, but one that is still popular among many retailers, especially during the busy period. Usually set up with a stand and the products in question, the presenter’s shows you how to use the product and make customers feel as though you MUST have one. Our favourite or the presenters in Coles and Woolies – got to love free food.

In-Store Music and Messaging
Music will help draw in a crowd – and selecting the right kind of music, will draw in your core target market. Combined this with strategically written messages, you have your very own in-store radio station – entertain and educating your customers about your brand and your products and services.

In-store music and messaging helps to fill your store with atmosphere, while simultaneously acting as a spruiker / customer service representative for your business.

Media Messages is a proud supplier of innovative in-store music and messaging systems and producer of high quality audio productions. Call us today and get your in-store music and messaging program.

We would love to hear some of the ways other retailers entertain their customers while in store. Please feel free to comment below and share your creative ideas.

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On Hold Fail #1

Avoid Message On Hold Fails

As a marketing professional, mother, wife and personal secretary (or so my husband thinks), I am on the phone a lot, and working with telephone messages on hold, I really take note of what people are playing when they put me on hold. Let me tell you, not all of it is pleasant, and we’re sure at some point in time you’ve also heard inappropriate use of on hold time. Here’s an example of a massive on hold fail I heard yesterday.

I called a medical professional (I won’t get into specifics) and the receptionist asked if I would mind holding for a couple of minutes. “No worries” I said, and expected to be put on hold to a message on hold program, or at the very least some music on hold. Instead, the receptionist simply put the phone down, and proceeded with her conversation with another patient.

I could hear everything – from blood tests to results to suggestions. It was actually very personal information that I was privy to, and it wasn’t even my own. I didn’t know who the other person was on the other line, so it shouldn’t have mattered – right? Wrong! The receptionist proceeded to book this patient in for an appointment, and mentioned that patient’s name. Now I don’t know them, and to be honest, the name has already slipped from my mind … but what if I had? Shouldn’t this information be top secret?

What an epic example of why businesses need a telephone message on hold program.

So many businesses claim they don’t put callers on hold, and if this is what they mean by not putting callers on hold, then I strongly suggest they reassess their internal communication strategies.

Instead of leaving me waiting and listening to a private conversation for 3-minutes, this medical practice could have used this time to educate me about important information about their practice; about their care and additional services they provide. 

From a marketing perspective, telephone messages on hold is an extremely important internal marketing strategy, and I’m amazed at how many businesses overlook this marketing channel. Messages on hold is a relatively inexpensive and effective way to promote your business and services to your callers.

Avoid message on hold fails, and call Media Messages today on 1300 796 694 and get a professionally scripted, voiced and edited audio production for your telephone on hold system.

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Radio On Hold Losing Customers

Is radio on hold losing you business?

It is crazy how many companies still play the radio to their callers on hold; especially bigger companies who have large marketing budgets. It blows my mind, because a telephone message on hold program is relatively inexpensive and promotes a company’s products and services, while simultaneously distracting your callers from the fact they are waiting for you. So I don’t see why businesses fail to look at their internal marketing strategies.

Just the other day I called a particular store that supplies products for babies. I was looking for a particular stroller, and I’d heard they had it for a good price – and they did have stock available – if they had the colour I wanted, the deal was as good as done. UNTIL …

 When they put me on hold to see if they had the colour I wanted, I was greeted with the radio on hold, which was great, I heard the ending to one of my current favourite songs “Happy” by Will Pharrell.

However, what played next lost this company my business. After the song finished a set of advertisements was aired, and one of them just so happened to be about the stroller I was looking for – at a much cheaper price. Now I wish I could have been loyal, as the lady who was helping me was really lovely, but at the end of the day, I do prefer my hard earned cash in my pockets rather than someone else’s. And my patience isn’t that great, I didn’t hang around for the lady to return, I simply hung up the phone and called the competitor whose radio advertisement I had just heard and bought the stroller from them.

Yes I could have waited and asked if they would price match, but I couldn’t be bothered wasting anymore time.

This baby store lost my business, and even if I had have stayed on the line and asked for a price match, they would have lost margin … and all because they were playing the radio to their callers waiting on hold.

Furthermore, unbeknown to many people, you are still legally required to pay for the privilege of playing radio on your commercial phone lines – and for some companies it can cost thousands per year – and you have absolutely no control.

As a marketing professional, I see great value in telephone messages on hold, and believe all companies; both big and small should invest in a program as part of their internal marketing strategy. Marketing isn’t just about getting people to caller, marketing covers every aspect: awareness, customer service, sales and aftersales experienced.

Media Messages produce high quality audio productions specifically for a telephone message on hold program, and our contracts start from as little as $11/week. Don’t just take our word for it, let us create a free audio advertisement for you to hear how it can work for you.

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Social Media Engagement

Social Media Interaction

The world is exploding with social media fever, yet so few businesses really get the potential that social media offers. Or they simply believe it just isn’t worth the time or effort. The thing is, social media offers business a portal to engage with existing customers, get to know them to a certain extent, offer them advice and information and potentially get them to refer their friends and follows.

Social media doesn’t need to take a great deal of time. Nor does it need to be narcissistic. Social sharing doesn’t always need to be about promoting your business and its products and services, but rather, it should be viewed as a platform to socialise with your customer and potential customer base. Think of the market research that you could compile just by spending 10 – 15 minutes per day on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Think Outside the Square
You need to put yourself in your followers’ shoes. What do they want to read about? What are they most likely to respond to? When you have that figured out, then it is time to start posting.

For instance, if you are an accountant, then posting topics about fashion isn’t really going to appeal to your followers, but posting tax break updates, reminders and tips and advice certainly will. Maybe even the odd humorous accounting joke. Or possibly a few photographs of luxurious trips or items that could get your customers dreaming and motivated.

You don’t need to be so serious all the time, but you do need to stay within the guidelines of your company’s culture. You want your friends and follows to respond to your posts, tweets and videos; ideally, you will want them to share them with their friends. By mixing it up a little, your followers are more likely to respond positively, than they would if you were only to promote your business.

Social Media and Google
While Google is not the be-all-end-all, it certainly is a means of business for many. Social media is becoming more and more important to Google, as they see it as a natural way to assess what websites are of interest. The more followers you have who are interested in your content, then the more likely you will be seen as an authoritative figure by Google.

Engaging with Customers
Respond to your customers comments, and make sure you get back to them in a timely fashion; and don’t be scared to ask them questions – that’s what social media is all about. If you are on Twitter, make sure you comment on the people you follow – show them that you are taking notice about what they write and the content they are putting up. Social media is a two way street, and if you treat it as if you are the only person on there, then your followers and friends will eventually lose interest.

Apps to Help You
With apps such as HootSuite, Social Oomph and Bufferapp you can easily and effectively engage with your customers on a daily basis. As we said before, if you have your apps set up to work for you, you will see results.

Social media is an improved format of the old focus groups, now however it is much more advanced, and we are able to reach a much wider network. Media Messages is very active in the social media arena. As we specialise in high quality audio productions for telephone message on hold programs, we often share our work on YouTube and Facebook. Make sure you check out our work online.

We would love to hear how your business engages with your customers through social media. Or how you engage with the favourite businesses through these platforms.

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Online Audio Advertising Campaigns

Audio advertising is not just limited to the radio, in fact, the Internet has a number of outlets for businesses to get their message out with the use of professionally produced audio productions. And we are not just talking about audio played on a business’ own website, but through a number of various online streams.

Digital Streaming and Pod Casting
Podcasts and digital streaming is becoming popular practice in Australia, and most of the big radio station has a strong online presence, both social networks and their own websites. While the digital streaming features advertisements played on the radio station, the podcasts are separate campaigns – offered to customers as either an add on feature or as a totally separate campaign.

iTunes Radio
Just like Pandora, iTunes have embarked on a journey to further profit from their customers’ music enjoyment. They have recently released the new iTunes Radio with their phones, and customers will essentially be able to create their own radio station – selecting their own music, and unless they pay extra for the premium version, audio advertisements will be part and parcel. Just another way for businesses to get a piece of the pie.

YouTube
This is an oldie, but an absolute goodie. YouTube is the world’s third largest search engine, so doesn’t it make sense to have your audio message listed on this popular social network. Combine so creative visual with your professional audio production and get your audio heard by the masses.

Net Audio Ads
Net Audio Ads is one of the largest audio networks online. According to their website, they are able to reach a much wider audience than television of radio. With Net Audio you can be really selective with where your audio production is played, and really get to the audience best suited to your brand. Net Audio Ads is very similar to Google Ads, except using audio instead of text based. Whilst this is essentially an American website, it won’t be long until Australia has its own version.

Online audio advertising is a proven method that has helped businesses to educate their customers and convert sales. In fact, Google Audio Ads declare that 22% of Internet users will make a purchase based on what they have heard on the radio.

There is huge potential to get your message out to the masses, and to reach a market that you may have previously been unable to. The Internet has opened so many doors, and now is the opportunity for savvy businesses to make their impact.

If you are interested in conducting an online audio advertising campaign, then please contact our friendly team here at Media Messages for a high quality audio production. For more information, please call us on 1300 796 694.

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Media Messages
2, 2 Spencer Road
Nerang, QLD 4211