Voicing

Choosing the Right Voice for Your Brand

We’re told from a young age that “first impressions are everything”; they’re the ever-lasting picture a new person paints of you from the moment you meet. While we tend to take this with a pinch of salt when socialising with others, the idiom rings all the more true when there are physical barriers in place, such as communicating over the phone.

When it comes to the first impression of your business, the stakes are much higher, as this often determines whether or not a new customer will jump on board with you and what you have to offer. While meeting customers in real life gives you ample opportunity to charm with your smile and warm personality, interacting over the phone is an entirely different story, and it’s the initial aural handshake that truly counts.

This is why choosing the right voice talent for your audio production is so important to your branding and customer reach. If a new customer is calling your company for the first time, it’s imperative they’re greeted with a warm and welcoming audio greeting that perfectly reflects your brand.

If your business is in a delicate industry, such as respite care or a funeral home, your voice talent ought to be soothing, comforting, and informative, rather than energetic and bubbly. On the other side of the coin, a younger voice with bright tones and a vivacious energy will be better suited to a childcare centre or café.

Each of our voice talents offers varying degrees of tone, warmth and personality types, to mirror your company’s image. There’s Candice, whose glowing, cheerful smile can actually be heard down the phone line; Magnus offers a host of character voices; Grayton has an authoritative, deep tone that commands attention; and Annie’s mature voice connects with callers while being helpful and comforting.

The right voice talent for your audio production shouldn’t be so out of line with your brand that it distracts the callers: what your callers should be focusing on is the content of the messages, rather than the voice. If you currently have a welcome message recorded in-house by your nervous receptionist or ambivalent IT guy, then the impression you’re offering isn’t all that strong or professional.

Take a listen below and see what you think. Here’s an average run of the mill in-house welcome example:

 

And here’s something we rustled up with one of our professional voice artists, Adrian:

 

So what do you think? How are you greeting each and every customer and prospect over the phone?

The right voice talent for your brand will not only receive every customer with professionalism, they’ll also get your customers excited about your promotions, keep them informed with vital information, or even calm them down if they’re stressed out.

Think about your company and brand as a person. What are their values? What do they talk about? What do they sound like? Now head over to our massive voice talent library and find the right voice to bring your messages and business to life!

– Cassie

What’s In A Name?

People love hearing their own name. It’s one of the earliest nouns we’re conscious of and hearing it actually activates certain parts of our brain. How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1936, almost 80 years ago, and even then Dale Carnegie could identify how much of an impact using someone’s name could have.

At Messages On Hold we like using names. It relaxes people. From a customer service point of view, it’s a simple and effective way of building rapport with our clients.

Of course, saying a person’s name when we’re directly communicating with them is the ideal use of a name, but we wanted to find a better way of taking advantage of the name game.

Enter Shane Warne.Shane

We sponsored Shane for a few years and loved having him on board as a member of the Messages On Hold team.

Our Managing Director Kym Illman knew having Shane associated with Messages On Hold was a fantastic opportunity to strengthen the quirky nature of our brand but he also identified a way to make our clients names sound even sweeter – by having Shane say them!

When we welcome a new client or employee to the Messages On Hold family, they get a phone call from Shane. It’s a friendly call, just to let them know they’re appreciated and we’re excited to work with them!

Unfortunately, due to Shane’s busy schedule we couldn’t have him dropping everything to make a quick phone call whenever we needed him, so Kym came up with a clever plan.

To boost our odds, we collated a list of the 500 most common first names in our database and the 300 most common surnames. Then we asked Shane to record the message we’d like to send all our clients, plus the list of names we’d come up with.  Now when we welcome a new client or employee, there’s a good chance we can send them a personalised, friendly message from Shane Warne including their two favourite words!

Not only is this a fantastic way of making our much-appreciated clients and staff members feel welcome, it’s also a great marketing tool. I know when I got my phone call when I started at Messages On Hold, I told everyone that my new employer had called me and managed to get Shane Warne to say hello to me, personally! The idea is that the more you blow your clients away with interesting touches like that, the more likely they are to share the experience with their associates. Using names in a unique manner is one way we can keep building great relationships and ensure our brand continues to be aligned with quirky, fun and personal marketing messages.

– Sophie

Phone Phoneys

I recently made one of the biggest investments of my life: a high-end laptop worth over $2000. It took a significant bite out of my savings, but to this day, I don’t regret the decision one bit. It boots up in seconds, runs the latest software, has a stunning display, showcases beautiful design and is solidly built. It packs a premium price tag, but that’s okay, because it’s a premium product.

The company behind this piece of kit is famous for displaying this trend across their entire product line – leading-edge quality and stunning design. But I’m still a bit disappointed in them. Why? Because of their on hold production.

This company’s products are extremely popular, so there’s normally a build-up of callers on their phone lines, leading to pretty hefty wait times on hold. When I called their store in Perth, Western Australia, I was immediately greeted by a fuzzy, robotic voice with an American accent. “That’s okay,” I thought, as some generic, tinny music began to play. “I’ll get to the high-quality voice production promoting their innovative products next”.

Does your brand sound robotic on the phone?

Does your brand sound robotic on the phone?

The same voice killed my hope: “You are… ninth… in the queue”. It was a really unpleasant surprise that breaks the consistent branding that makes them unmistakeably who they are. Sure, outside of their on hold, they’re industry leaders and pioneers, but in terms of phone service, they’re stuck in the Dark Age. And that’s bad customer service.

It’s very disappointing when a company of this size, innovators that take pride being in pole position in the field of consumer electronics, neglect the quality of their phone service so dramatically. It’s even more shocking since there’s so much they could be promoting. Their latest phones and tablets, a groundbreaking new wireless storage device, or even the world’s thinnest desktop computer. Apparently, instead of generating more enquiries, reinforcing branding and cultivating potential add-on sales, this organisation wants a robot to point out to callers how much longer they’ll have to wait.

In other words, by taking the cheap option on hold, the company is missing out on opportunities every time someone is placed in the queue.

– Magnus

Choosing The Right Voice Talent

I’m a news radio geek. I listen to one particular news radio station religiously. Every morning I listen to the 7.45am bulletin. I’m irritated if I miss the 5pm bulletin. It’s my thing. It was drilled into me at uni and now I can’t un-drill it. On the bright side, if I’m going to be addicted to anything, I’m glad it’s something as intellectually stimulating and painless as news radio, but I digress.

Over the years, I’ve come to enjoy a particular affection for different news readers. I enjoy the dulcet tones of some of the male readers and the intellectual and pleasant reads of the females. On the whole, I tend to either like the sound of the readers’ voices or they’re so non-offensive that I barely even notice them. A voice on radio should never be the focus – the focus should be on what that voice is saying.

We could listen to this guy for hours.

We could listen to this guy for hours.

An irritating voice is an infuriating distraction. I don’t want to have to try and ignore how much I hate the way someone is reading something, I want to listen to what they’re saying!

It’s the same with your Messages On Hold production. Our diverse pool of voice over artists has been selected to offer you voices that are going to suit specific productions. We want callers to be able to listen to our productions and really hear what’s being said, rather than be distracted by the way our voice talent sounds or the way he or she says specific words.

Our studio team members are well-trained in picking which voice talent should read for a given client. For example, our voice over artist Grayton is the ideal choice for commanding and dramatic reads, whereas Fiona would be more suited to a young, happy-go-lucky type production.

In the copywriting department, we take the time to work out how tricky words like brands, surnames or places are meant to be said so they sound the way they should On Hold. We may not know how Bobinawarrah or Eromanga are pronounced, but we have clients in those areas.  You can bet their callers would be distracted if they heard their town or suburb name read incorrectly.

Whether you’re thinking about becoming a Messages On Hold customer, or you’re already one, it’s always a good idea to head over to our gallery of voices. Have a listen to the voices available to find who would best suit your production.  And when you’re working with us in scripting, let us know how you’d like specific words pronounced. Don’t distract callers from your production’s content – enhance it by selecting the right voice talent!

– Sophie