Marketing Outsource Case Study
Introduction
With nearly 40,000 hours of experience under their belt, you'd think Marketing Outsource would be quite happy with where they're at. And they are.
But that doesn't stop them continually looking for ways to improve not only their offering but also how the world perceives them.
Often, decisions are made before a potential lead even gets in touch with a company. They've seen the website and they didn't like the colour. They've seen an ever so slightly dodgy 4 star Google review. Sometimes it's just a feeling.
When everything is seemingly in place, what else can be done to win that lead over?
The problem.
Marketing companies/agencies are ten a penny. There's a lot of noise and it can be hard to stand out in the crowd. Especially when everyone is saying the same thing, just using different words.
Making incremental improvements, such as differentiating your company with small but powerful changes, can help potential clients remember you. And importantly - remember you over other, less creative businesses.
Marketing Outsource realised there was a space in their business that could be filled with something unique. That space is an often overlooked, but valuable piece of branding real estate. It has the power to filter leads in and out, even when you're on holiday or asleep or eating or... you get the picture.
The solution.
The humble voicemail greeting.
A 20ish second piece of audio that can make or break a callers perception of your company. Bored when you recorded yours? The caller will be too.
But if done just right you can win them over with your personality. You can give them a nice little surprise that immediately kills their annoyance of being put through to your answer phone.
During our discovery call, the client and I started talking about what sort of thing they like. A lot of nerd culture was discussed, but mainly films... and their trailers.
We ended up chatting over how cool it would be to have a film trailer for a voicemail. The benefits of this are numerous.
It gives the caller an idea of what you're like
It will DEFINITELY stand out against the competition
It will jolt the caller out of their train of thought and make you memorable
Telephone messaging is an underappreciated chance to drive more conversations and more conversions.
Implementation.
My part here was pretty easy. I gave the client some info about ideal lengths of voicemail greetings (20 seconds is ideal, 30 seconds max.) and left them to run riot with scripting.
No less than ten scripts came over to me to cast my over. All in the style of film trailers, promos, intros, that sort of thing. There was action, romcom, martial arts, western, noir... but we settled on two to try out.
Off I went and recorded a horror movie inspired voicemail and a sci-fi inspired voicemail, adding music and SFX to push the boundaries of what people are used to hearing on the phone.
This was sent over as a reference for the SFX the client liked. I had some great theremin sounds in my library, so I didn't have to look too far.
Results - an out of this world voicemail. Literally.
The piece
The quote.
I was looking for a way to stand apart from other businesses in my space. With a love of Sci-fi and film, Martin was able to craft me a unique voicemail message that both encapsulated my interests whilst also providing an opportunity to stand out in a crowded niche.
Challenges faced.
Something to consider is the quality of audio coming down the phone line. It gets compressed down a lot, so sometimes you don't get to hear every minute detail. But with a bit of fancy EQ work, it was all fine and dandy in the end.
LessonsĀ learned.
Don't be afraid to be brave. Do you want to be remembered for doing something out of the ordinary? Or would you rather be the victim of complete indifference? I know which I'd choose.