A custom closed-for-the-holiday auto-attendant greeting for Easter, freshly recorded each year? Yes, for sure. Countless times.

Dozens of IVR prompts detailing business closures for the Easter holiday, in any of over 80 languages? Yup, I’ve recorded, edited, and formatted thousands of Easter prompts over the years.

Every business should make their operating hours readily accessible, especially around major holidays. I’ve been helping our customers do just that by providing the exact messaging they require, in the voice of their choice (you know, that one voice that just speaks their brand), formatted specifically for their application, well ahead of the event it announces.

Christmas is the most requested time of the year for a change from your usual on-hold music to something that celebrates the season. But there are other holidays to consider as well. We have a lot of patriotic music that’s just right for your June production in advance of the 4th of July holiday. I’ve often hoped a client would ask us to produce a fresh on-hold mix for Halloween, that they’d start on October 1st and run through the stroke of midnight on Halloween, but that hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this year? If you’re interested, I’m ready to mix it.

Now let’s get down to brass tacks. I’ve made hundreds of Messages-On-Hold productions that contain messages about the upcoming Easter holiday. Usually, these are recorded and produced in January or Early February so they can be played for about 5-6 six weeks in advance of the holiday. I’ve just never been asked to use Easter-themed music. I wouldn’t even know what music would make sense for a holiday like Easter that’s celebrated in so many wonderful and diverse ways all over the globe.

I do have some ideas about what I’d use for a Halloween on-hold production though if anyone’s interested.

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

On-hold Dan

The post Easter and On-hold Music appeared first on Marketing Messages.

What Is a Coached Voice Recording Session?

A coached voice recording session is precisely what it sounds like: A recording session during which the client is present alongside the voiceover talent and the audio engineer and can give live feedback and instruction as to how their script should be performed.

Recording the script in this way virtually guarantees that there will be no errors in the final audio. Mistakes in the scripting can be caught in real-time. The desired speed, tone, and energy can be fine-tuned until it is exactly what the client wants to hear. Suddenly, all the surprise and guesswork has been taken out of the audio recording experience.

This is especially ideal for IVR prompts since the voice user interface IVR prompts are often composed of sentence fractures that will be connected via automated, pre-recorded audio. The prompts themselves make very little sense unless you know how they are going to fit together and what existing audio tracks are going to be used to join them together. And without knowing what the script means, the voice talent and production staff can only make educated guesses about how the script should be performed.

Everybody Wins

A coached session is the very definition of an ‘everybody wins’ scenario. Obviously, the client gets their audio precisely as they always imagined it, with every kink and quirk ironed out during the session. When the final audio is received, the client knows precisely what they will get, making the installation and implementation process much simpler.

But from the behind-the-scenes perspectives, the people working on the audio win too. Voiceover talents and production staff appreciate coached sessions just as, if not more, than the clients. Having the client there to give notes and instruction means that everyone involved in the project can have a totally clear vision of the objective that they are chasing, and then work together to bring that vision into being. This is exponentially preferable to endless rounds of emails and phone calls trying to encapsulate tastes and preferences or having to redo the same audio multiple times to make corrections and changes.

Our Recent Success

Just this past month, Marketing Messages had the opportunity to do one of our most in-depth coaching sessions ever. The massive project involved hundreds upon hundreds of IVR prompts, with different sessions for both English and Spanish voiceover talents.

Because of the ease and convenience of modern technology, we could set up a session that involved a VUI designer in Seattle, a company representative in Texas, a voice talent in Connecticut, and an audio engineer in Maine. I mean, we’re talking about a group of people who are about as separate as people can get!

And yet, the sessions were a smashing success, and the massive project was able to go on without a hitch. Mistakes and errors in the script were caught on the fly. The VUI designer and the client’s brand representative were able to explain where in the call flow each prompt of the IVR script was, enabling a better and more cohesive vocal performance. Everyone could get on the same page and drive towards the same shared goal.

Set Up Your Own Coached Voice Recording Session Today

Coached sessions are the ideal way for any conversational script designer to get the exact sound they want from our voice talents. So, contact us today about setting up your own coaching session, so you can get your audio, just the way you want it.

The post Coached Voice Recording Session for the Ideal IVR Experience appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Name That Cable! Epic Pandemic Move-Out Party Leaves A Mess Of Wires

Why was a asked to “name that cable”? When we recently moved our office, there were a lot of miscellaneous cables kicking around. When you have been producing professionally recorded audio for over 30 years you accumulate a lot of extra wires, cables, and whatnots. Since I’ve helped move the equipment through three different offices and set up countless digital audio workstations for audio editing, and since I’ve built and equipped multiple recording booths, as well as being a life-long fan of audio gear, electronics, and microphones, I have thorough knowledge regarding each terminal type.

However, I’ve been told that not everyone knows one cable from another. Someone decided I should write up descriptions for each. So I asked him to send me some images such that I could detail what each cable is, what it’s used for, and whether or not it was worth keeping.

Where Oh Where Do All These Wires Go?

Being a self-admitted audio geek, I err on the side of caution and personally keep several backup cables for any type I might require. For some of you more space-constrained individuals, allow this blog post to educate you about that funny bundle of wires hiding in the corner of your closet, maybe in a shopping bag, a shoebox, or another container.

I happen to have an old mini pretzels jar full of phone wires just 8 feet from my desk.

Wires? Cables? Cords?

Back to the topic at hand. Name that cable, another cable, and more cables!

Here our model shows us a coaxial cable end. This was good for routing the signal from the wall jack to the back of the cable box when I was a kid. (That means it’s really old!)

In this image, a keen observer will recognize this is an HDMI cable, very useful for connecting high-definition multimedia interfacially. OK, so the other end is somewhat obscured, but it appears to be also HDMI Mini, so likely it can connect a laptop or smartphone to a large display.

Another find! This mono male-to-male RCA cable is great for transmitting an unbalanced signal from one analog component to another. TS, tip-sleeve is another way to describe it.

This little gem comes in really handy when you have two shorter cables but need one longer one. It can connect RCA cables. This one’s shy and hides in the corner so we call it ‘Sneak’, but you can call it an RCA female coupler if you’re seeking one for yourself.

Older PCs and monitors all used these to connect, it’s a male-to-male, SVGA video cable.

Don’t see this special cable too often, when I have it’s for power-hungry hard drives. This is a USB Micro B (aka USB-B Micro Superspeed) cable which connected one of our external hard drives to a PC.

One of the most recognizable, formerly rare, and now exceedingly common in everyone’s household, I present to you the USB Micro. I often have one plugged in handy to charge my headphones, my cordless mouse, or the bike lights.

Finally, to round out the post, one of the first USB cable types I ever saw, if not the first, USB type B, great for connecting a printer to any PC.

I suppose it’s worth mentioning the other end of the USB cables for all of them is USB type A, which plugs into the port on the PC end of things.

If you have a cable you’re wondering about, chances are if you send me a photo I’ll be able to let you know what type it is and several good uses for it. If you’d like to hear more about setting up an editing workstation for producing auto attendant prompts, IVR prompts, professional voice narration or simply to listen to over 80 different language samples from our website you can email me about that too. I’ve been producing audio for Marketing Messages since 1998 so I know a thing or two about cables and more.

Ciao for now my cable-loving amigos.

Dan

What’s This, We’re Not Done Playing, “Name That Cable, Dan!”?

That’s right friends, it’s time for the bonus round. Answers can be submitted to me via email using the link above.

1. Which cable type is most likely used when producing an onhold message for playback on a USB Digital Announcer?
2. Which cable type was most prominently featured in our Holiday YouTube video?
3. Which cable type is the newest?
4. Which cable type would you recommend for reviewing an auto attendant prompt prior to loading?

The post And Now It’s Time to Play, “Name That Cable, Dan!” appeared first on Marketing Messages.

One Voice Conference was a welcome change of pace for us voice actors who are usually isolated in our padded rooms. It was a vibrant gathering spot for fellow voice talents, coaches, demo producers, agents and casting directors. It was particularly special for me because I brought my 18 year old who also does voiceovers with me.

There was a LATAM component to this conference, which was beneficial to me because I’m bilingual. I spread my time between the English and Spanish sessions offered. Highlights of the conference were meeting Bill Farmer (voice of Disney’s Goofy) who gave a session with Mario Filio (Spanish voice of Goofy.)

I decided to try some new things at One Voice and stretch as an actor. I went to a dubbing class. Dubbing is an area of voiceover that I’ve never dabbled in and I found it fascinating. I attended a session with a panel of casting directors and agents, some of whom I work with daily by way of auditions, but whom I’d never seen or heard before. There were several take-aways from that session, including the importance of slating or not slating, how many takes they expect, and how they want their MP3s labeled.

One Voice Conference USA 2021 was the first conference I’ve attended since the pandemic. I was impressed with the preventive protocols, including a mask policy, at the elegant Hyatt Regency DFW Hotel. The conference floor was peppered with hand sanitizer stations, and socially distanced tables were in all of the breakout rooms. Organizers took every safety precaution, and I felt safe going into each session.

The event was organized by J. Michael Collins as well as Gravy for the Brain founders, Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson. Kudos to them for forging ahead with the conference amidst all the obstacles that I would imagine Covid-19 hurled onto their path.

I applaud the production crew for making this first-of-its-kind hybrid conference a nearly seamless event. This monumental task consisted of hybrid sessions, where some panelists were in person on stage, while others were virtual, on a big screen above them. There were a lot of mics to pot up and down and many on screen participants. There were people walking around with mics during the Q&A portions of the sessions, so that those watching the session on-line could hear the questions. It was well thought out for both in-person and on-line attendees. The technical team deserves many props for their efforts.

I’m glad I attended. I’m looking forward to attending future conferences. Hopefully, the state of the world will have improved for the next one so the conference can become even better!

The post One Voice Conference USA 2021 Report by 2X Nominee Bilingual Voice Talent – Amy appeared first on Marketing Messages.

While most of the Voice Artists we work with record independently in their own home studios, there are some occasions when a voice needs to come into the Marketing Messages office and use our official recording studio.

Marketing Messages has and will continue to take the necessary steps to make sure that our office and recording studio is a sterile environment with no chance of infection for either the Voice Artist or the recording engineer. The Marketing Messages staff has worked almost entirely remotely for the duration of the pandemic, with only one member of the staff routinely visiting the office at a time.

Masks are required to even enter the building, and the office itself holds numerous cleaning supplies. In addition, at our insistence, the building’s cleaning teams thoroughly wash and disinfect our office the day before any Voice Artist is scheduled to come in.

We have developed a process that is quick, easy, and safe for both the Voice Artist and the engineer performing the in-studio recording.

We require both the audio engineer and the Voice Artist to wear a mask. The only exception is when the Voice Artist is in the booth, actually recording.

Once the recording session has begun, we follow the following steps, keeping our engineer separate from the Voice Artist throughout the process:

1. Voice Artist enters the studio, enters the booth,and closes the booth door. Hand sanitizer is available.
2. Engineer enters the studio.
3. Artist voices script as per norm. When finished, instead of exiting booth to sit down next to engineer, The Voice Artist remains in booth with headphones on.
4. Engineer plays back the file through the Voice Artist’s headphones. Both parties can communicate to each other and listen to recordings via an intercom-type audio system with booth door closed.
5. After Voice Artist and engineer agree that the recordings are good, engineer leaves the studio and returns to his/her office.
6. Voice Artist leaves the booth, stopping at the kitchen table to sign off on the session. Soap, water, paper towels, and hand sanitizer are available. Voice Artist exits the building.

Through these careful steps, we have been able to keep our employees and contributors safe while also fulfilling the audio needs of our customers.

Even with this existing recording studio safety process, Marketing Messages is ready to listen to any of our Voice Artists who have additional questions and suggestions about their needs.

Want to discuss a script for your next voice recording project? Let’s schedule a time to talk!

The post Voice Artist Recording Safety Process During COVID-19 appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Nothing is more annoying than extraneous noise in voiceover recordings. Is it a squeak? A buzz? A rattle? An echo? A general boingy-ness? Is the sound muffled? Harsh? Staticky? Does the sound come and go? Is it constant? What frequency range is most affected?

When I hear some unwanted noise in any voice recording, these are the questions I start to ask.

We want to provide custom voice recordings that sound great. We don’t want our auto attendant prompts to have a shrill whistle in the background. Voice talents go to great lengths to avoid unwanted noise, and yet noises happen. So what can one do to track down those annoyances and get to the business of recording good, professional voice prompts?

First, analyze the situation. Is this a new noise or has it been around for a while, making itself comfy and cozy like it intends to stay for the season? Odds are this is a new obstacle or else the solution has always eluded you. If it’s new, ask yourself whether you have any new gear. New neighbors? New hobbies? New pets? New appliances? Did the season just change?

Let’s look at these noises in voiceover one by one.

New gear? If you recently added something new to your professional recording setup and a new noise has appeared, the most likely culprit is the new gear OR the cables. So very many times I’ve been troubleshooting and found that no matter what I changed I could not eliminate some crackle, only to finally try a different cable and then give myself the dope-slap on the forehead. It was the cable! Minutes of testing new gear vs. old gear, uninstalling and re-installing the drivers while all along it was something as simple as a tired, worn cable. This brings to mind signal flow, but that’s a topic for another post. To test whether the cable or the equipment is to blame, swap them out for alternates.

New neighbors? Maybe there’s a low-frequency concern that’s intermittent. Did a bass guitar player move onto your block? Does your new neighbor have a passion for tuning hotrods? It could also be an HVAC or air conditioning unit that’s been switched on or swapped out. I should point out, that my favorite way to find the noise in voiceover is to track around the room with the microphone. Approach whatever you think may be the culprit and if you’re on the right course you’ll hear it get louder and louder. While you investigate, consider the noise may be coming from outside the room.

Maybe the voice script itself is the problem. If so, consider going digital. The shuffling of paper within range of a sensitive microphone is a sound that simply cannot be filtered out. It must not happen on the mic. This means that you should either a) not touch the script while voicing or b) use a digital screen such as a tablet. Tablets allow the voice talent to scroll through the copy without making any noise in voicover. This is a great way to resolve that particular concern.

Could a new hobby be at fault? If your new passion is rock-tumbling, that’s a long, low noise chugging away for days on end. Just let your mind relax and consider the various possibilities that are particular to your situation.

Try recording a voice demo at different times of your typical workday. Is the noise present in every audio sample? If not, then you can create a timeline as to when the noise typically occurs and use that to guide your recording schedule, or else to help you track down potential causes.

Seasonal change can wreak havoc with professionally recorded audio because of several factors. Different equipment is used during different seasons for climate control. Some are noisier than others. Do you have central air, window AC units, or ceiling fans to combat the heat? Radiators with forced hot water from a furnace? Once you learn the culprit, turning it off during sessions tends to resolve those pesky nuisances.

Listening closely can reveal wonders, I suggest you give it a try and let me know what you find.

Know any more tricks? Please leave them in a comment below.

If you’re ever stumped, feel free to email me a sample and I’ll see if I can hear the cause of your noise.

The post Tracking Down Noise in Your Voiceover Recordings appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Great quality audio is the starting point, even for video. Are you thinking about adding video to your company’s messaging? We think you might be onto something! 75% of people prefer to watch a product video rather than read about it in text.

With video, in a matter of seconds, you can present your product in action, and your customers can see its features and benefits. Your audience comes away with a more complete picture of your offerings, in a shorter amount of time. For most people, video is easier to digest than text. Finally, you can’t upload an article to YouTube, the second largest search engine on the planet! But you can upload videos.

Combining visual and audio elements gives any multi-media presentation more impact, adds more emotion, and holds the attention of your audience. If your company is in the market for the audio component of a professionally-produced video or video series, Marketing Messages can help!

Whether your video projects are…

Company Overviews
Web videos that tell your stories quickly and with impact

Product Demonstrations
A memorable way to explain product features

Medical/Science Procedures
Medical instructional videos, clinical procedure guides, and medical practice overviews

Technical Assistance/Assembly and Repair
Guide customers through technical processes like assembly, maintenance, and repair

HR/Legal/Compliance Policies
Communicate policies and procedures while holding your audience’s attention

E-Learning Videos
Our voice artists can provide a sustained level of audience focus, particularly in self-paced training outside the classroom environment

Multi-Language for Existing Videos
Already have English narration? We’re your single point of support for localizing your videos globally, including translation, recording, and editing.

…our voice talents provide professionally recorded audio narration, adapting their narrative style to achieve your objectives.

Why should you require perfect audio in the recording and editing process?

You already know how important good visuals are. That’s why you’ll make the effort and spend money on achieving the best visuals for your video project. But did you know that the audio portion is just as important as the video? Several studies have shown that no matter how good the video quality if the audio quality is just medium to marginal, viewers are more likely to react negatively to the video content as a whole.

Furthermore, a recent study at the University of Southern California and the Australian National University shows that audio quality affects whether or not listeners believe what they hear and trust the information they’re hearing. A notable quote from the scientists:

“When the video was difficult to hear, viewers thought the talk was worse, the speaker less intelligent and less likeable and the research less important.”

Also, taking previously pristine audio of a geneticist and a physicist, and reducing the quality, had real consequences when it came to audience trust:

“As soon as we reduced the audio quality, all of a sudden, the scientists [geneticist & physicist] and their research lost credibility.”

You need your customers to trust you. So why not put your best foot forward to use great quality audio? Marketing Messages can provide that important audio narration component to your video project. It starts with professional voice recordings from our roster of voice talents. With pinpoint accuracy, we can sync the video narration to your existing video. And for global deployment, we can be your single point of support for international language translation and recording.

Ready to learn more about our video and multi-media voice narration services? Let us help you reinforce your message with the highest quality audio. View (and hear) projects that we’ve completed for other companies.

Want to contact us right away to talk about your specific audio and video needs? Call us or enter your information so we can schedule a meeting.

The post For Video Projects, Great Quality Audio Is Just as Important appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Why is this even necessary? These systems require formats, volume levels and file extensions which vary greatly, and often our customers don’t know how to quantify those variables. At Marketing Messages we have over 20 years of industry experience in determining how to format your new voice recordings for your company’s specific phone system. We can provide WAV files, VOX files, and mp3, just to name a few of the more common audio formats . To be clear and simple, we can provide almost any type of audio file.

Do we do all of our work in your preferred format? Not at all! We do nearly all our recording and editing with 44,100 Hz, 16-bit, mono PCM WAV files. Once the audio is edited to perfection, we format for your system specs using the aforementioned tools. We also archive all of your audio in this higher quality WAV format. Should you upgrade your system to one with different requirements, we can re-format your files using these specified codecs. Switching from an old NMS 32 kbps VOX format to a CCITT (G.711) wav? We can do that.

So how do we determine which file format is right for your phone system? We start by simply asking the question, “What format do you need ?” If you already know the specs, great! If not, we have ways of ascertaining the necessary details. For instance, my favorite method—obtaining an audio sample file from your current Auto Attendant which you think sounds pleasant and also seems to be recorded at an optimal volume level. We then analyze your file to determine what format it is, how loud or soft it is in decibels, and any other variables which may be pertinent, such as silence at the head or tail of the file. Also worth noting, you could ask your telco provider for the required file specifications. Should the answer be WAV, please elaborate. Ask for the sampling rate, bit rate and any additional information. For example 11,025 kHz, 8-bit, mono PCM wav.

Sometimes you run into the problem of not being able to copy an Auto Attendant prompt from your system. Should that be the case, we’ll likely ask you the make and model of your system. Using that information, we’ll investigate further within our knowledge base or with the vendor directly. Once we have your format nailed down, we’ll add it to your customer profile within our database. From then on we can always deliver exactly what you require.

Want to discuss the audio format for your phone system? Just contact us!

The post What Audio Format Do You Need for Your Phone System? appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Marketing Messages is a leading provider of Telecom and multi-media applications. With a voice roster of over 180 talents, spanning over 80 languages, we specialize in delivering large, multi-language jobs. Professional Voice Prompts are our bread-and-butter, our creme de la creme, and our flagship product in a large line of offerings.

How has Marketing Messages garnered its reputation? Strong customer service, rapid turnaround, and accurate scripting and translation are important aspects. Our audio production practices are important as well. This article addresses audio recordings and the technical side of our work. In business since 1984, we’ll share what we’ve learned about high quality audio, and how our attention to detail sets us apart.

Quality Audio In, Quality Audio Out
High quality audio starts with voice recording. So let’s start with the talented individuals that record for Marketing Messages—our voice talents. Each with years of experience in Auto Attendant, IVR, Messages-On-Hold, narration, and other areas of voice recording, our voice talents are committed to their craft. They record in quiet, sound-treated spaces—studios often built right in their homes. But before they press “record,” they absorb the context of the script, knowing—based on feedback and experience—what each specific client expects. Finally, they deliver CD quality recordings to our Production team. All this attention to detail means the production process begins with professional performances and quality audio.

Perfect Audio Is the Goal
Once our customer’s chosen voice talent has recorded his or her audio for Marketing Messages, our in-house editors get to work.

1. Verifying
First, our Production team verifies that the audio meets our baseline technical requirements and that it’s free of background noise and other unwanted sounds. Another set of ears listens to every paragraph, phrase, and word, to make sure it exactly aligns with our customer’s script. At the same time, we listen for correct pronunciation, especially when it comes to company names and brands. If we find problems, we go back to the voice talent for corrections, or “pickups.”

2. Processing
We utilize a number of high end software processing tools including de-clicking, de-essing (reducing or eliminating excessive sibilant consonant sounds), leveling, and compressing—all tweaked to our specifications—to make sure each word is audible, clear, and comfortable to listen to.

3. Editing
Our editors are pros at tweaking audio to sound just right. They quickly prune through every word of every sentence, making sure all breaths are removed, in and out points are perfect, pacing is natural, and any distracting noises are removed. Instead of having to delete chunks of audio, they’re able to highlight to specific frequencies and remove just the offending portions of audio while leaving the good stuff intact. For example, the mouth often produces natural “clicking” sounds that most people are so used to, they don’t even notice. But in our production process, all those noises have to go. Our editors can remove these clicks even when they fall directly within spoken portions, all without any loss in sound quality.

4. Encoding
As all of our incoming audio is recorded in CD quality sound, we can provide our customers with finished, digital audio in almost any format, sample rate, and bit depth, including A-law and mu-law WAV and VOX files for telephone systems, right up to full frequency, CD quality WAV files suitable for audio narration.

5. Delivering
Finished audio files are delivered electronically, either via email or FTP (customer’s choice). A script is always included with the finished audio so that the customer can read along while listening; verifying the work that they paid for.

6. Annotating
So that a customer’s audio recordings are consistent over time, and the caller’s interface sounds smooth and professional, we capture any special requirements in a system that our whole company (customer service, production, and sales) can access. These special requirements might include silence time before and/or after the prompt starts, music break lengths, peak decibel levels, style and pace guidelines, etc.

7. Archiving
From time to time, a customer may have reason to request that a particular file—or even an entire job—be re-sent. For that reason (and many others), Marketing Messages archives all of our customers’ productions. When our customers find themselves in a pinch, they can call on us to quickly re-send voice recordings.

Archiving also allows us to re-encode audio from previous work. Let’s say a customer has a new phone system that requires a different, higher quality file format. Because we originally recorded and archived high quality audio, we can re-encode the voice prompts to the customer’s new specification.

We’re Meticulous about Our Work
We hope this inside look into our production processes gives you added confidence as to the “full-service” aspect of our offerings. From hands-on customer service to meticulous audio production, our high standards and attention to detail are what set us apart.

If you’re interested in speaking to our sales team about an up-coming project and want to see if Marketing Messages can provide the right fit, please contact us. We’d be happy to set up a time to discuss your voice recording needs.

The post Professional Voice Prompts – The Marketing Messages Difference appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Traditionally, Messages On Hold (MOH) has been delivered to the organization playing the messages as a static audio file, and manually loaded on to standalone digital announcers or into the internal memory of the organization’s phone systems. The static nature of this approach has limited the ability of organizations to quickly and easily change or tailor messages in response to market opportunities and demands.

More recently, onhold messages technology has evolved to become more flexible and responsive. Our new Voice Central MOH service is built upon the iLink Internet Streaming platform, which provides improved speed, ease-of-use, and flexibility by supporting the distribution and management of MOH files via the Internet. It is comprised of the iLink digital on hold player and is supported by a server-based software system that facilitates the real time mixing and flexible scheduling of individual messages at the paragraph level. The intent of this post is to explain how it works, and the steps for setting up the iLink platform.

With VoiceCentral, your Messages On Hold are delivered in dynamic fashion, directly over the internet. Schedule important messaging around promotions, out-of-office reminders, weekday vs. weekend hours, holiday hours, etc. Program your messaging based on time of day, day of the week, month, holidays, and other timely events unique to your business. If you can write the copy, we can voice it and schedule it. You can learn more about VoiceCentral and Why The Cloud Enables On Hold Messaging to Shine. The benefits are clear. VoiceCentral allows you to deliver targeted, time sensitive, messages to your customers while they’re holding on the line.

How It Works – The Tech

To see if VoiceCentral is right for you, our sales team will talk to you about your onhold messaging needs and ask about your current phone system. On the hardware end, you’ll confirm that your phone system has an MOH (Music On Hold) port. If that port accepts an RCA audio cable, you’re in good shape. Then you’ll confirm that you have an available Ethernet port. That’s all you need to start using VoiceCentral with a special piece of hardware called iLink. (More on this below, under “iLink Setup.”)

Once it’s determined that VoiceCentral is a go, you provide a “script” with wording for each message/paragraph. Or if you’d like, Marketing Messages can draft a script for you via our script writing service. Together, we’ll work on it until you’re pleased. You select your favorite voice from our roster of talented voice professionals, and choose appropriate music for the mood you want to set. Behind the scenes, we’ll get to work, producing your message recordings and the play schedule. We’ll also ship out your iLink unit. It’s about the size of a small paperback book, and can be wall-mounted in your networking closet. As mentioned above, it connects to your phone system’s MOH port and to your router or network switch so that it can receive updates from Marketing Messages.

iLink Setup
iLink needs an internet connection to do its thing. Periodically, it connects to the cloud to check for new updates from Marketing Messages. It then downloads any new messages, music and schedules. This means that as soon as you need a change in your messaging, we’ll get it done and have it playing for your customers while they’re on hold.

Setting up the iLink involves just three simple steps:

1. Internet Connection

Connect one end of the supplied Ethernet cable to the iLink’s “LAN” port.

Connect the other end of the cable to an available Ethernet port on your router or switch.

2. Audio Connection

Connect the supplied RCA cable to the “Channel A Out” jack.

Connect the other end of the cable to your phone system’s MOH/Music/etc. input.

3. Power Connection

Attach the supplied power cable to the iLink unit and plug it into an electrical outlet.

Slide Power switch to the “On” position.

No further setup should be necessary. Within 10 minutes, iLink connects to the internet via your network to receive updates from Marketing Messages.

For businesses with sophisticated networks that require Firewall and port modifications, additional steps may be required. iLink displays its IP mode, IP address, Subnet address, Gateway, and MAC address on its LCD display. Just cycle through the settings by pressing the Menu button and you can find out what you need to know in order to do what you need to do.

Talk to Marketing Messages about VoiceCentral Today!

VoiceCentral is a full service solution for delivering timely messages to your customers. With its seamless update process, it’s the ultimate in flexibility! If you’re ready for specifics about how VoiceCentral can work for your business, contact us so that we can schedule a time to talk.

The post How iLink Delivers Messages-On-Hold to Your Phone System appeared first on Marketing Messages.