Tips on Marketing Your Voice Service

We here at VoiceStamp come up with a few suggestions for getting the most from your marketing budget. Follow these guidelines, and you'll probably be raking in the big bucks*!

1. In any print advertisement, always make your headline much bigger than any other text. In order to gain the reader's attention, you can make your headline as much as 30% of the ad. If you don't grab the reader from other ads, they'll never see what you're offering to them. Keep your headlines short and concise. Example: "Voice Mail For Less". Body text can be small as long as you can read it.

2. In any marketing materials, keep your language simple so that your average person can understand it. Don't use technical jargon unless you are specifically targeting a group and wish to eliminate other non-qualified prospects. Keep sentences short and to the point. Always use the words "you" and "your" to personalize your materials.

3. Make sure to appeal to the reader's needs and of course, greed. Think of what would motivate you to pickup the phone and call on a print ad. Being dramatic is always better than being boring, but don't promise things you won't be able to deliver. Sales and low prices are always popular, so highlight these if they're at least competitive with others. It's better if you have no competitors and are entering a virgin market.

4. Include information like your phone number, internet address, address, fax #, etc. prominently so the reader doesn't have to hunt to try and reach you. Mention that information is available - 24/7 hours/days, which is one of the biggest advantages of voicemail. Callers can dial you (your system) at anytime they get the urge. Set up a fax back system; and use it to distribute marketing materials when people want to check you out.

5. Separate detailed information into smaller paragraphs. An example would be this page where we numbered each of these tips, and left large spaces in between each of them.

6. Graphics and images help to guide and direct the reader's attention where you want it. Put some clip-art of a phone handset next to your phone number or a computer near your email address. Use an illustration along with your headline if possible. Put a box around a paragraph that you wish to emphasize like a sales price.

7. Avoid clutter. Don't use too many similarly-sized type text blocks. Make sure you have ample margins and white space between different elements of your ad or brochure. Don't try to cram too much into the space. If the ad or brochure looks too busy, you'll lose your reader to another ad on the same page.

8. Look at other print ads. Tear out samples of ads that you like or that stand out on a page. Check out your competitor's ads for ideas. (Yes, that's the sincerest form of flattery) Keep refining; change your materials as your learn more.

9. Discuss your ads and materials with people you know and trust. Ask neighbors, friends; business associates what they think of your samples. Did they understand what you were trying to sell? Did your headline grab them? Consider their suggestions but remember that if you ask 10 people, you will get 10 different opinions so try and average them out. It is your business so it is your choice of what ideas to use.

10. Initially use the "shotgun"; marketing approach. Put together ads, brochures, business cards and a press release. Place the ads in many different medias. Send brochures to your mailing list and hand them cards out to all you see. Send a press release to local media. 

11. When you get a call whether they purchase your service or not, ASK THEM WHERE THEY HEARD OF YOU. Keep track of what approaches or print medias are working; and which aren't.  Then, you can adjust your marketing budget to what's working; what's not. VoiceStamp software has some unique ways of gathering this information both with and without the callers knowledge.