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Sending Recorded Phone Messages: Phone Blasting (Broadcasting to VoiceMail)

By
Lee Simonson
on January 7, 2012 9:22 AM | | TrackBacks (0)
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Sending recorded phone messages to a list of contacts is fast and easy, and doesn't require any special equipment or software.  Our services here at Monarch Broadcast, enable you to log online, upload your phone list, and record your message over the phone.  When you launch your job (or we do it for you) your recorded message will be delivered to your list of phone numbers immediately.

Your recorded phone message will be played when your recipient picks up the phone live, or the system can sense if it's voicemail or answering machine and will leave the entire message to be heard later at your contact's convenience.  Either way you message gets through and is disseminated quickly, usually within minutes.  Better yet, there is no charge if our phone blast system detects a busy, no answer, or a line that is out of order.  In general, if you have a good list of current numbers, about 80-85% of the calls get through.

Here are few helpful hints to insure the success of your phone blast:

1)  You can use an Excel spreadsheet for your phone numbers.  Just make sure that the area codes are in the same column as the phone numbers.  So, you should have 10 digits in ONE column.

2)  Prepare your script and practice and read it out loud several times.  Most scripts are rewritten a few times to insure a smooth and understandable delivery.  You can record your own message on our system, or we can call you and have you just read your script over the phone.  Using a regular landline phone to record your message is recommended because it is usually more clear than a cell phone that may have a bad connection.

3)  Informational messages are completely legal.  It's when you start selling something or telemarketing where you could cross the line.  We require our clients to comply with strict regulations.  Don't get yourself in trouble.

Overall, sending recorded messages is probably the most effective, fastest and least expensive way to get important information out to your contacts.  Email is less expensive, but not everyone checks their email.  However, everyone gets their voicemail -- phones are everywhere and people are well connected.

If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you with your phone blast (broadcast) project, just give us a call at the number at the top of this webpage and we can walk you through step by step.  You'll be surprised at just how easy sending recorded messages as mass notifications can be.  We're here to help.

Community Colleges: Student Notification and Alert Messaging, Reminders for Students for Registration, Payment Deadlines, Event and Emergency Notices

By
Lee Simonson
on January 5, 2012 12:51 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
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Community colleges across the nation are turning to phone (voice) broadcasting to get reminder notifications and alerts to students for a number of applications including registration, payment deadlines, application processes, event announcements, and emergency notices.

We serve a number of community colleges and also offer text and email broadcast services as well.  However, in almost all cases, administrators and managers have chosen phone broadcasting recorded messages as the preferred method to reach students.

Since not all students have access to email or have smartphones, they all are reachable by phone, either at their home or cell phone.  Recorded messages can be answered live, or left on voicemail or answering machines -- our system can automatically detect if a live person answers the phone versus voicemail.

Phone broadcasting messages is a powerful, extrememly effective, and easy way to get information out quickly since there is virtually no ramp up time.  Within minutes, you can upload your phone list, record your message and have your notice sent to hundreds, even thousands, simultaneously.  Moreover, the process can be accomplished at a fraction of the cost of postage.

This technology isn't ideal for all communications -- however, for quick reminders and important notifications, it is ideal and is being adopted more and more by community colleges across the country as the go-to technology that can save time and money, while keeping students in the loop.  In fact, community colleges make up about 25% of our entire phone broadcasting customer base, so it's an important segment for us and enables us to have the experience and focus required to serve our clients well.

If you an administrator or manager at a community college registration, finance, admissions, athletics, or security office, we can assist you in designing a communications strategy that will fit your budget and deliver the kinds of results you're looking for.  They say "information is king" and at Monarch we'll prove it!  Call us today at 888-387-8636.

Mass Phone Notifications: Sending Recorded Messages to the Masses

By
Lee Simonson
on July 8, 2011 9:02 AM | | TrackBacks (0)
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Sending mass phone notifications to a list of contacts can be a simple and easy process.  Using a phone broadcasting (voice broadcasting) service bureau like us can not only save you a considerable amount of money because our notification system is already in place, but we also have the capacity to reach thousands of your contacts simultaneously.

Commercial or sales calls are illegal, unless you have a permission based opt-in list.  Otherwise, sending out "informational" messages is perfectly fine.  An example of an informational message would be to inform passengers that an airline flight as been delayed.  Or a school is closed because of bad weather.  Or, reminding people about appointments.

While there are other mass notification services available such as texting (we do that too!) it is widely accepted that verbal announcements sent over the phone is a cost effective way to deliver mass communication notifications to a large number of people at once.

How are we able to offer you the best mass notification service with the lowest costs?  There are several reasons:

1)  We can provide you full service and work with you on your recordings and launching your jobs, at no additional cose.  We're happy to help you every step of the way, or, if you want to handle those tasks yourself, you can log on to the website with your passcodes and  manage everything yourself.

2)  Unless you are political operation, you don't have to pay in advance.  We'll conveniently charge your credit card after your job goes out -- you'll get a full report on the number of message delivered -- and email you a receipt.  Fast and easy.

3)  The quality of your mass notifications by phone is critically important.  We can provide you the most advanced, the highest quality system including intuitive features such as differentiating between live answers and voicemail.  (You can leave messages on voicemail if the recipient doesn't answer which will give you the highest delivery rate for your recorded messages.)

4)  We can also enable you to send automated voice surveys, where your recipients can choose multiple choice answers by pressing their keypads.  For example, "Did you like what you had for breakfast today?  If yes, press #1.  If no, press #2.)  Those survey results can be accessed in real time.

All in all, mass calling with phone notifications can be the best way for you to get important information out quickly to hundreds, even thousands, of people who rely upon getting up to the minute news.  Give us call at 888-387-8636 and let us know what you are looking to do.  We have the experience and the knowhow to provide you with the best advice on how to achieve the results you want.  We look forward to serving you.

Automated Campaign Phone Surveys: Get Political Polling Results in Minutes by Robocall

By
Lee Simonson
on June 21, 2011 5:55 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
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For more information about automated campaign phone surveys, call 888-387-8636.

Automated campaign surveys by phone can be set up quickly and easily to give you immediate polling results.  The big advantage to having an automated survey is that there is no need to go to the expense of hiring an outside firm that employs live callers to compile results.  Now everything can be automated at a fraction of the cost just by using robocall technology.  Look at it as an "interactive robocall" where your contacts can participate and have an active voice with their invited feedback.

Automated surveys can be extremely effective because rather than you telling your constituents something, they are telling you!  There is nothing more powerful than voters knowing that you are soliciting and acting on their opinions.  Office holders or candidates who are in tune with what their voters are thinking will invariably be the most successful at the polls and accomplishing their objectives.

There are a number of features and advantages of using automated phone surveys for polling purposes.  Here are just some of the reasons why think we excel at offering the best surveys in the business:

1)  You can use your own local number for the Caller ID, thus boosting response rates because people can more easily identify with the local number than a long distance or toll free number.

2)  Your survey can be custom-made to give you the data you are looking for.  For example, you can have any number of multiple choise questions (we recommend 4 at the most) with any number of different responses people can choose from (again, we recommend 4 at the most.)  Here is an example, "Good morning, welcome to our brief survey to help determine what voters are thinking.  It will only take a minute.  What do you think is the biggest issue facing our community at the present time?  Press 1 for taxes.  Press 2 for jobs.  Press 3 for potholes."  Once your contact presses a number on their keypad, they are automatically given the next question.

3)  Your survey can also include "branching" that would give contacts the next question depending on how they answered the previous question.  For example, if they chose taxes as their primary concern, you could have the next set of questions focusing on that topic.  Every contact can get a different survey based ontheir preferences and responses.

4)  Your surveys can be delivered in a recorded human voice, or as text to speech.  We highly recommend a human voice.  You can record your survey right over the phone and we can help you every step of the way.

5)  You can target your specific audience -- it doesn't matter how you break up or separate your list.  You can do it by geography, political affiliation, age, sex -- you name it.  You can get direct answers from specific targeted groups and easily compare how different constituencies react and respond.

Want to learn more?  Call us today at 888-387-8636.

Broadcast Notification Service: Phone and Text

By
Lee Simonson
on June 9, 2011 1:44 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
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Broadcast notification service, otherwise known as mass notification, enables you to immediately send a large number of messages via phone and/or text to selected recipients.  There are a number of popular reasons and applications that people use a notification service for, but you should know the following:

1)  Everything is moving to "the cloud," especially notifications.  So the idea of getting special notification software to send messages is quickly becoming obsolete.  Now you can send messages, right from your online-connected computer, without the need for any hardware or software and from any location.  In fact, our system is already set up and is ready to use.  You can send out your first broadcast today.

2)  There are legal restrictions.  Sending broadcasts for the purposes of telemarketing is, for all intents and purposes, against the law.  However, sending broadcasts for "informational purposes" is legal -- for example, school or organization closings, weather emergencies, airline delays, doctor appointments -- anything that involves a notification that alerts the recipient about a topic they want or need to know something about.  (We advise you to seek an attorney's opinion if you are in a gray area.)  For sales promotions, you need to have your recipients opt-in to your list.  While most states allow political calls, there are some restrictions so it's best to check your state's particular laws.

3)  Setting up is quick and easy.  Just upload your phone list or text list online (we can help you if you want) and you'll be good to go.  Make sure your list is in the proper format.  And yes, you can store any number of lists online to use for any number of different messages.

4)  Lastly, you need to record your phone message, or input your text message.  You can record your phone message right over the phone (our system will call you) so be sure to have your script ready.  Practice, practice, practice and rewrite your message as many times as you must to insure that you are clear, concise and informative.

Broadcasting notifications is much easier, simple, and probably less expensive than you ever imagined.  A properly executed broadcast campaign can achieve a very high response because is the most "direct" way to your targeted audience.  Today, the vast majority of people are using cell and smartphones to send and receive notifications instantly.

Automated Phone Message Service: Ideal Way to Get Notifications Out Fast

By
Lee Simonson
on June 1, 2011 2:05 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
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An automated phone message service can enable you to reach hundreds and thousands of people instantly -- and that's exactly what we can do for you.

Automated phone messaging can be the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to get messages out.  While telemarketing applications (selling products or services) must abide by strict voice blast laws, "informational calls" are legal and can be used to voice blast alerts, notifications, emergencies, reminders and updates to your entire contact list.

Sending automated messages is so easy that once you have your phone list prepared and you record your message right over the phone, you have your message delivered within minutes.  Our system can deliver thousands of messages per minute, and can even redial automated calls that were unsuccessful the first time.

The process for automated calling with pre-recorded messages starts with building your phone list.  Just putting your phone list in an Excel spreadsheet works fine and your numbers need to include the area code in the same column, so for auto dialing U.S. and Canada numbers, you'll need 10 digits in the same column.

Then, you simply email your list to us, or upload in your password protected interface.  At that point, you are ready to do your voice recording.  You can do that right over the phone.  We can call you at a convenient time, or you can have our system call you.  Either way, you just follow the prompt instructions and you can listen to your message before it goes out to make sure it's just the way you like it.  If you make a mistake, don't worry.  You can trash your recording and start over again until you get it just right.

Once your recording and list are ready and uploaded, your job can start immediately and your hundreds, even thousands, of contacts will be notified nearly instantly with your message.  Give us a call today and let us show you how easy it is to send automated phone messages.
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