How innovation is transforming IVR into a marketing tool

Do you ever wish you could build something great so that the people and the media are thoroughly excited in the similar manner as when i-phone launches its new version? This can only happen when you pitch your product differently every time you project it!

Effective Marketing is crucial for all enterprises and induces sales. But, marketing calls for innovation too! “Innovation” is the only way by which you can fulfill your dreams and because of your innovative ideas, your company looks different.

Restricting to just a couple of marketing techniques will restrict your reach. According to an Jeff Bulas,  marketing is “10% of what you say and 90% of how you say it.” Therefore, it’s time to mix innovation in marketing techniques.

The day you called up that toll-free number and heard a professional voice saying “Welcome to The Company”, that’s an IVR. This article is my attempt to tell you how you can market your business with your own virtual IVR.

#1. PERSONAL BRANDING

[Tweet “Businesses are approaching Brand #Marketing as a part of “#Personal #Branding””]

According to the “global brand guy”, Rick Steinbrenner, brand marketing and new product development have changed. Therefore, though businesses are still engaged in brand marketing but they are approaching it as a part of “Personal Branding”.

These days, virtual IVRs are used as a tool for personal branding to help companies promote the nature of businesses.

Here’s what you can do with it: On your website, that contact number you share? Make it an IVR number. Provide a welcome message for your callers which delivers your brand message. The tone, and voice modulation should speak for your brand.

When a caller calls, here’s what will happen: They will experience your brand voice and that will be followed by a customer friendly option to connect to their desired department.

A restaurant named Bakasur (a posh restaurant in Bangalore, India), for example have customized their IVR giving it a voice of a monster as per the theme of the restaurant. So, everytime you call them, you hear a monster talking! This enabled the company to engage the customers with the theme of their business and made easier for the customers to recognize with the brand name and the type of business.

“Creativity lies in the hands of the artist”. So what do you think? Can a voice be the part of this creativity and  help differentiate your customer responses?

#2. GENERATE FEEDBACK FROM YOUR BETA CUSTOMERS

Customers are a source of income to the organization and acknowledging their feedback can be helpful in constructing your marketing strategies. Success of an organization is dependant on the “beta period”, therefore, it is important for you to grab those responses of your beta customers, every time you launch a new product.

You have those email IDs or contact numbers of your customers? Just do this: After they make a purchase, generate an auto calling on those numbers to register their feedback!

You can conduct a survey in which you can customize the IVR asking yes-or-no or the questions can be open-ended and the customers can pitch in their opinion.

The benefit of an IVR survey is, the results are immediately accessible after the completion of the survey and help the companies to resolve issues or make required changes based on their feedbacks.

 [Tweet “Grab those responses of your beta #customers”]

#3. IVR IN SMS MARKETING

SMS marketing is one way to reach out to your prospective customers. It is considered to be a direct marketing tool. Though SMS marketing has helped companies to reach a large mass but with the help of an IVR system, it has benefitted those customers, who don’t want to be a part of this marketing campaign.

For example, you get “Text ALERTS to 2X688 to receive CNN’s text messages”. But suppose a customer, who had previously opted for such a service, wants to discontinue the alerts. Now the question is where will he go to stop these alerts ?. Therefore, now-a-days you also get SMS alerts along with a number which says, “Dial 92xx TO Unsubscribe”. This unsubscription number is an IVR number. IVR system with SMS marketing give marketers the tools to create call-to-action SMS messages that help in providing immediate response. This helps customers to unsubscribe easily and also helps organizations to weed out the wrong audience. For your customer, they will be more receptive to your messages. Who doesn’t like to know that the advertisement they are receiving is their own choice!

[Tweet “Leave a lasting impression and continue to #engage customers #businesssuccess”]

Your business is different along with your services thus why not present an unique projection in front of the audience? A successful businessman is the one who reaches out to the audience, leaves a lasting impression and continues to engage customers. This fundamental of success can only be achieved with innovation in marketing strategies. Get an IVR for your business today.