Small,Business,Marketing,Manag business, insurance Small Business Marketing: Managing Your Voice Brand

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A company projects its brand in many ways: its logo, Web site,advertising, office and even employee attire. Yet with such an emphasison developing an appropriate small business marketing strategy, it issurprising that one of the most active customer touch points is oftenignored.The phone call still reigns as the primary mode of interactionbetween small businesses and their customers. If there is a problem,most entrepreneurs will pick up the phone to quickly fix the problemrather than use a channel, like e-mail, that requires them to wait fora response. As a result, your company's voice brand is an importantaspect of maintaining the image you want to convey.Everyone has experienced the call. You pick up thephone to call a business and immediately wish you hadn't. Whether beingmet with an inept staff member, a shockingly foul-mouthedrepresentative or someone who provided grossly inaccurate information,odds are you've experienced an ignored voice brand.What Is a Voice Brand?Simply put, your company's voice brand is the image it provides through the spoken word. Marcus Graham, author of Voice Branding in America, provides a more in-depth account of establishing an optimal small business marketing message:"It's the unique combination of voice talent, words, call flowand spirit that greets and guides callers. The voice brand is largelyexperienced over the telephone today, but that's changing. With thetelephone, computer and television morphing into similar multi-functiondevices due to digital convergence, a company's voice brand is beingheard on Web sites, multimedia CD ROMs, kiosks, cards, point ofpurchase devices and who knows what else."Crafting Your Company's Voice BrandWith the evolution of how businesses engage their customers andprospects, we have also seen an increase in the number of smallbusiness marketing channels companies need to manage. Fifty years ago,the letter may have been the most common and most cost-effective formof direct communication with customers, whereas today the Web site isthe default source for general company information. Now more than ever,businesses need to ensure they are using the same voice brand acrossall channels.The first step is to determine the small business marketingmessage you wish to convey. To effectively do so, a company needs toexamine not only its current brand, but the brands of its customers andprospective customers.When examining these brands, review a number of attributes: areyour company and your customers extremely professional or casual,highly educated or plainspoken, in a "white-collar" or "blue-collar"industry? Once you've identified some of these attributes, you canbetter identify the small business marketing message that will achievesuccess.Inventory all of your voice communications touch points with anunderstanding of the brand your company will create. A touch pointconsists of any channel through which a customer could interact withyour company, such as your receptionist, interactive voice response(IVR) system, tech support line, advertising response line, voicemailand online voice assets. Consider what you want your customer toexperience and accomplish at each of these touch points. With a plan inplace, you can design or redesign your small business marketingmessaging and call flows to create a positive customer interaction.For example, the medical field frequently uses call forwardingand redirecting services so patients can speak with someone 24/7. Ifhandled correctly, the system may ask if it's an emergency, give youthe option to immediately speak with a healthcare expert or provideinformation about where to receive immediate care. During businesshours, a person would provide this information, but during non-businesshours, physicians still need a professional solution that provides thenecessary information.Choose a PersonaHow you speak with your customers is just as important as whatyou say. Oftentimes, automated phone systems sound mechanical, distantand even unprofessional. Think of your voice persona the same way youthink of your staff when they are speaking to your customers.Is your company represented by a man or woman, someone young orold? Do they have an accent? What is their attitude? A consistentpersona, that reflects your company's personality and culture, willhelp establish the voice brand your customers will associate with yourbusiness.Regardless of the persona your company takes, consider hiringprofessional voice talent to record the messages your customers willencounter. There are many companies that work exclusively with smallbusinesses to create a voice brand; consider using one to help you.Bring Your Small Business Marketing Message TogetherExecuting your vision for a voice brand will take planning andconsideration of available tools. Most small business phone or PBXsystems include basic IVR functionality that lets you customize voiceprompts. Take advantage of this capability to ensure your smallbusiness marketing message is used throughout all automated responsesyour customer can have with your phone system.For example, a Virtual Receptionist application is a great toolto effectively convey your voice brand. Virtual Receptionist offerseasy and powerful management of inbound calling for your business anduses text-to-voice functionality that allows companies to create acustomized script to answer and direct calls. With an intuitiveinterface, small businesses can create and update their phone menus onthe fly to change how callers interact with the system during and afterbusiness hours.Your small business marketing strategies send a message everytime your phone rings; your Web site is hit and your employees speak.It is important that all these messages point to a consistent smallbusiness marketing message that embodies your organization. Taking thetime to create the brand, using it across all channels and leveragingreadily available voice solutions will ensure your small business isn'tcreating an experience your customer would rather forget. Article Tags: Small Business Marketing, Company's Voice Brand, Business Marketing Message, Small Business, Business Marketing, Voice Brand, Touch Points, Small Businesses, Company's Voice, Marketing Message