Let’s Talk Marketing Strategy With an On Hold Message Copywriter

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives (a fair profit for supplying a good product or service). As copywriter for more than 20 years,  I’ve  seen a lot when it comes to what works in marketing, and more importantly what doesn’t work!

Successful marketing consists of three parts: the analysis of marketing opportunities, the formulation of marketing strategy and the execution of that strategy. Let’s talk about how this applies to on hold marketing.

You’ve implemented on hold messages in your marketing plan, that’s great! However it’s time to analyze, formulate and execute. What do I mean? Sure, you’ve taken the right first step in adding a message on hold to your phones, but on hold messaging like any other good marketing, shouldn’t be considered a “one-shot” deal. No, I’m not trying to upsell you here, I’m giving you cold, hard facts. At some point what once was considered a great message on hold, if you let it become stale, boring and out-dated —  is no longer a great message!

Now you may be wondering what else can be included in your on hold script aside from the usual company background info and standard product/service offerings. Well, it’s time to think outside the box! After all, messages on hold are like infomercials via telephone, right? A company is advertising their products, services and expertise.

The big question is: What additional topics can you put in your on hold message script?

Just when you thought on hold messages are all about promotional stuff, you’ll be surprised to find that these 5 items can provide a big impact for your callers and your business when they’re included in your message on hold.

1)     Announce industry awards as well as any professional associations and memberships.

Have you won an award recently? Is your company a recipient of some prestigious membership from a notable association? Let your callers know about it! Not only can you give them some confidence in working with you, you’ll also increase your credibility by proving to them that you are the leader in your industry.

2)     Answer FAQs in your on hold message.

You can’t expect your callers to know even the most basic details of your company and not all of them have visited your website. Have you noticed that most of the calls you receive are just basically inquiries about your opening and closing hours, your address, or your website address? Save your customer and your customer representative’s time by providing this important information upfront. Reserve your waiting caller’s precious time on hold by answering more pressing issues and concerns. 

3)     Make your callers feel that you value their time and call.

How do you do this? By letting your callers know why calling your business is the best decision they’ve made because this serves as an assurance that they’re not wasting their time waiting for nothing.

4)     Provide expert tips and advice to your callers.

By providing expert tips and advice to your callers, you’re once again proving that you know what you’re doing and you are knowledgeable of the products and services you provide. In addition, it will create an impression to your callers that you definitely understand what’s best for them.

5)     Include career and employment opportunities in your messages.

Yes, you can actually put these types of announcements in your on hold message! It will not only help you save recruitment costs, you’ve also helped callers who are looking for jobs. It’s definitely hitting two birds with one stone!

You might think of marketing this way.  If business is all about people and money and the art of persuading one to part from the other, then marketing is all about finding the right people to persuade.  And who better than to try and persuade, than a captive and interested audience?

Utilizing an On hold message system allows an enterprise  to differentiate itself from others in attracting and retaining customers.  Messages on hold aren’t just exclusive for promotions and updates. In fact, you can include lots of information in your message on hold script that is beneficial to your callers, so make sure you utilize every opportunity available with your on hold messages.