5 Steps To A Successful Voice Marketing Campaign

A few years ago, answering the question “What is voice marketing?” would have been fairly simple: a marketing strategy that involved voice broadcasting and dropping mass calls into people's phones. But since then, significant changes to the technology and industry have revolutionized this communication method.

Advancements like text to speech phone calls, two party connections, call control, and interactive voice response systems have expanded the capabilities of voice technology marketing. On the industry level, the advent of smart technology and enhanced voice recognition have rapidly expanded the possibilities regarding how to use voice marketing tools.

But rather than detracting from more traditional voice marketing uses, these changes can be used to produce more successful voice marketing.

Five Simple Steps to Success

Times and technology have changed, and companies need to adapt their campaigns to incorporate these changes. But while you're in the process of revolutionizing your marketing, keep in mind the basic tenants of successful voice marketing. These steps are tried and true, and just as applicable today as they were years ago.

Step #1: Set Your Goal and Stick To It

Before you start your campaign, ask yourself what goals you want to accomplish with your voice marketing platform. Do you want to generate more leads, boost brand awareness, or receive feedback on a new product?

Though voice marketing technologies are powerful and becoming increasingly intuitive, they can't do everything (yet). Until they can, set a specific and quantifiable goal for each campaign. This produces useful data on the effectiveness on each current campaign and can also inform future marketing strategies.

Your goal will determine how you craft your campaign and voice messages and texts. Different goals may require unique target audiences, content, and features, all of which we'll cover in the next steps.

Step #2: Define Your Target Audience

This step is essential for any marketing campaign, but especially marketing using voice technology. Voice APIs can produce high quality data, but only when used effectively and appropriately. Dropping every voicemail you record into every customer's phone is ineffective, annoying, and a waste of time for everyone involved.

Use demographic data to target your audience and tailor your message. Audiences radically differ depending on their circumstances in life, and the usefulness of the product or service you offer will fluctuate as a result of this. Remain relevant by considering factors that affect your audience, such as:

• Employment
• Age
• Income
• Education

• Gender
• Marital Status
• Affiliations
• State of Residence

• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Citizenship
• Health

A young adult about to enter graduate school, a middle-aged couple looking for their first home, and senior citizens preparing to retire are all produce drastically different data. How can you cater to each group's unique needs?

Step #3: Make it Mutually Beneficial

Though this is listed as step #3, it's essentially rule #1 to offer valuable content. Make it genuinely worth the time and effort the customer will have to put in to listen and respond to your voicemail. Why should customers respond? What do they gain?

In your message, make sure to obviously state the benefits of responding. For example, instead of just stating that your company is rolling out a new service, include a promotion where customers who call in or text a special keyword will receive 60% off the service or a free trial.

Some content is inherently useful, such as appointment confirmations and delivery receipts. Because of this, customers are already motivated to respond, which makes the method of response even more important. We'll cover this in the next step.

Step #4: Include a Clear Call to Action

Customers won't respond to your voicemails if they don't know how. Make your call to action clear and easy to follow. For example:

• Direct customers to your website to take advantage of a sale or promotion
• Ask customers to click on a survey link they'll receive shortly via text
• Let customers know how to enter social media contests and giveaways
• Remind customers to confirm or reschedule their appointments online
• Encourage customers to enroll in paperless billing on your app
• Tell customers which keywords to use in-store for exclusive rewards

There are two key components to an effective call to action: the action and the method. What should customers do and how can they do it? We've already covered the why in the previous step. With all three answered, your voice marketing campaign is on its way to success.

Step #5: Use Features to Your Advantage

Voice marketing services have continually expanded and improved upon the features they offer. Use this to your advantage to save time and money, while also adding value to your voice messages and texts.

• Audio Streaming – Play music, prerecorded greetings, voice advertisements, and more
• One-Time Passwords – Verify identities and transactions with voice-based passwords
• Text-To-Speech – Turn text into voice messages in a variety of languages and accents
• Two-Party Connection – Use two-way communication channels to connect with users
• Call Recording – Record calls with the option to pause and resume the call as needed
• Call Quality Monitoring – Analyze calls from customers to improve support services

Gauge the needs of your company and customers, and then build a customized voice marketing strategy with the best features to serve both parties.

Phone Notify! and Voice Marketing

We know every company is unique, so we believe your voice campaigns should be, too! That's why we've built a programmable voice API capable of creating custom experiences to fill every need. Esendex's voice broadcasting API lets you send mass voice and text messages to customers around the globe in minutes.

With a variety of features, volume-based pricing, and coverage in more than 190 countries, voice marketing has never been so easy. You can easily connect to customers and create dynamic campaigns that will drive success. And best of all, our multichannel communication options encourage you to integrate all of your marketing technologies.