5 Common Audio Marketing Mistakes

Audio marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of marketing in business today. From voice-overs to on-hold messaging, the emotional pull of high-quality audio can help your business grow. But be careful - because many businesses are just discovering audio marketing - there are many common mistakes. Here are the 5 most common:

1 - Using the wrong audio for your target market

Audio needs to be targeted at your chosen market. For example, voice-overs can be used in a range of ways to inform your customers or clients about the services you provide. From on-hold messaging to web narration, voice-overs are one of the most effective ways to use audio in your marketing. But make sure you choose the right voice! An urban, contemporary, ‘fresh’ voice works great for brands appealing to a younger audience, but is unlikely to work so well for a corporate brand. Similarly, a professional sounding, rich voice is unlikely to be appropriate for a brand targeted at teenagers. The same considerations must be given to music and audio logos.

2 - Using audio in the wrong places

Like all things in life, there is a right and a wrong place for audio marketing. Be careful when using audio in an unexpected place - like the moment you click on a web page. Having audio blare out at one of your web page visitors without them realizing it is likely to startle and possibly annoy them - undermining whatever message you were trying to convey.

3 - Bad audio quality

There is nothing that reflects worse on your brand than bad audio quality. It smacks of unprofessionalism and will undermine the potentially strong message that you’re trying to send out. Very often, bad audio quality is a result of botched in-house productions in an attempt to save money. Whilst there is nothing wrong with producing your own audio, unless you have professional equipment, a trained voice-over artist or top-class editing skills, it is unlikely that you’ll produce a great piece of audio. Outsourcing your audio professionally needn’t cost the earth and will save money in the long-run by lending your brand that extra slick edge.

4 - Missing key marketing opportunities

A lot of businesses don’t realize the sheer array of audio marketing opportunities that are out there. Why not try using on-hold messaging to promote your latest products, discounts or offers? Why not use your company’s call greeting to reflect your desired brand? Or what about using professional audio for awards events, AGMs or conferences? There are endless possibilities when it comes to audio marketing - make sure you’re not missing out! 

5 - Make your audio marketing consistent

When using audio marketing - try to avoid a spray-gun approach of lots of different messages and themes. If you use music, try to use the same piece throughout all your audio marketing to develop brand recognition. Similarly, use one simple strap-line that you can repeat as part of your on-hold messaging, call greetings, web narrations etc and avoid using lots of different voice-over artists without considering the consequences for the consistency of your brand.

The above are just the most common mistakes - for more information on how to use audio correctly, or how to purchase Voice Takeaway audio - visit http://www.voicetakeaway.com

5 Ways Your Business Can Rock YouTube's New Offline Feature

This November, YouTube are set to roll out a new feature, which enables users to download video clips so that they can be watched offline. The free feature won’t require an internet connection and is similar to Spotify’s Offline Mode except focusing on video content, rather than music. YouTube says the new feature is a great tool for businesses, so here at Voice Takeaway we’ve compiled this 5-step guide for making the most out of this new development.

1 - Target Commuters

Chances are, at some stage of the working day, your target customer will be sat without WiFi on the tube, irritated by a slow connection on the bus, or trapped in similar offline peril! YouTube’s newest feature is perfect for those on the move who cannot rely on a constant internet connection. Make sure your content is well targeted at these kinds of commuters. Don’t make your videos too long, think about their tastes and lifestyles and create content around them.

2 - Make Content Short And Sweet
Most users of this new feature will be going about their daily routines and probably won’t be wanting the longer content more likely to be watched at leisure in the evenings when they’ll be able to access online videos. Therefore, keeping your content short and sweet is a great way to be as engaging and user-friendly as possible!

3 - Use Great Audio
This new feature is perfect for smartphones and tablets, but with that comes a reduced screen size and possibly picture quality too. Make sure your audio, therefore, is of the highest quality to give your brand that extra edge. Think about using narration, music, an audio logo or even sound effects to differentiate yourself!

4 - Make Your Best Content Available
Whilst there is no limit to the amount of content you can make accessible via the new feature, it is paramount that you make your channel’s best content available. Offline videos are likely to be shared in person with a potential client, colleague or acquaintance and so make sure that you’re publishing your best content.

5 - Make Offline-Only Content
In the modern business environment, making any customer or web user feel unique is becoming harder. Creating offline-only content is a great way to connect directly with potential clients and is perfect for creating a personal feel and making them feel special, as if they’re getting something unique.

Those are just a few basic tips - we hope you found them helpful! For more information about how we can help your business’ marketing, visit: http://www.voicetakeaway.com

'Sounding Out' The Competition

By Julia Russell

When you’re setting up a business, no matter how small, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is the brand image.  The look and branding is so important when you’re trying to get across the essence of your company and encouraging potential customers to engage with you.  We had very personal reasons for choosing the name Tiggy, and running with our hedgehog logo, so that part was easy.  We wanted to integrate the origins of the American brownie with our UK company and our very British little hedgehog with her stars and stripes bow and apron did the job nicely.  Our choice of brown packaging and stationery fitted in well with our image too and our brand began to take shape.  After being carried forward by our concept there was a moment  just after the launch, when we had a intense surge of crushing doubt – a British hedgehog selling American brownies, what were we thinking of, would anyone else ‘get’ it.  Luckily they did!

Our concept was all well and good but we didn’t want it to be too ‘Countryfile’ and ‘farmhouse kitchen’ - we are, after all, in a technology led, media charged world.  Social media rules and if you want to get ahead you need to get a handle on cyber interaction very early in the game.  It has to be said, ‘Tiggy’ is a technology tart – she thoroughly enjoys the social banter, the latest techie toy or an innovative site with a new idea and a fresh and different image. 

When we first visited the Voice Takeaway site it ticked all the boxes.  The site immediately draws you in with its menu led theme and diner style graphics.  More importantly Voice Takeaway deliver a professional and polished product which offers a company something very important.  An audio greeting whether it’s an audio logo for a website or presentation or a call greeting for your phone line can set you apart from your competitors.  We feel our custom answerphone  message gives us an edge and creates a fabulous first impression of our company.  If we’re busy baking and we can’t get to the phone we can feel confident our audio clip will present our customers with an impressive personalised greeting that audibly demonstrates their custom is important to us and offers clear information about how to order, where to find our web site and how to leave a message.  It’s the next best thing to being able to answer the call ourselves and personifies the upbeat, friendly image we want to portray to our customers where customer service is key and satisfaction is paramount.

Julia Russell is the owner of 'Tiggy's Brownie Co'. For more information visit http://tiggysbrownieco.co.uk

The Power of Nothing

By Rob Bee

As a musician and a professional sound engineer sound is something that is very important to me. It is not only a medium of information exchange and communication, it can also be a thing of beauty, balance and comfort. I love the sound of an E major being struck on an electric guitar through a cranked-up valve amp. I love the sound of a robin in full song in the middle of the night because it’s found a street light and it thinks dawn is about to break. I love the glugging sound made when you pour that first glass of wine out of the bottle. I love the silly noises my parents always seem to make between picking up the phone and saying, ‘Hello.’ But there is another sound that I think is very special. It’s the sound of silence.

Very often when I get home from a busy day at work in the recording studio I’ll just sit on the sofa: no TV, no radio, no hi-fi, no wife. I will sit and enjoy the quiet. It’s about more than just resting my ears, I enjoy the stillness of the empty house and the moments of calm.

Take a walk in the countryside and you will hear a great variety of sounds – whether you’re hearing the crashing of waves on the beach, the wind rustling through the leaves in the woods or the babbling brooks in the valleys there are myriad sounds to be heard that calm the soul. But at other times we hear the sound of silence. It’s the sound the snow makes as you stand by yourself and listen to it fall; the world holding its breath as it awaits its transformation. It’s a powerful thing. It compels you to listen to it as it screams at you about its depth and richness. I find it sometimes at Morecambe Bay when conditions are perfect. It is a silence so complete that the occasional cry of a curlew or oystercatcher doesn’t puncture it; it enforces it and makes it stronger. It demands respect; and you obey lest you break the magic. It’s not that something’s missing – like a TV on mute – it’s that something is very definitely there and choosing to be noiseless.

A famous musician once said (I don't mind if you want to attribute this to Claude Debussy, Miles Davis or any of the other contenders – it wasn't me), “Music is the space between the notes. It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you don’t play.” Gaps and silence can be powerful things, and especially true in advertising. There is a tendency to cram as much copy into a 30” ad as possible in order to impress information upon the listener and 'get your money's worth' out of the time you're paying for, but here as much as anywhere else less if often more. Whereas it sounds like it should be a good idea to use all the available space to tell those who are listening as much about your company as possible it's often counter productive as the speed the read needs to be to fit to time prevents any space or pauses in the ad, and these should be there to provide punctuation and make the information easier to take in (I am assuming here that people know the purpose of punctuation in writing – I think I'm assuming a lot given the quality of a lot of copy I read, but that’s another topic) and sometimes can even make your ad unintelligible . By far the better idea is to write a script that is short enough so the voiceover can comfortably read it and give it the space it needs to breathe. This way your message will be clear to the listeners and - given the way radio advertising particularly seems to be heading - it will stand out from the other ads played around it. Cut down on the copy and you will give people more information.

Do you want people to come into your showroom? Then don't put your phone number in the ad. Want people to check out your website? Then why inform people that you’re based around the corner from the multi-story car park? Are you having a laminate flooring sale? Then don't tell people the prices of your ceiling lights. Find the one thing you want to promote and only give that information. Use the space wisely.

And here's one last thought. Surely it's more valuable to make personal contact with your potential customers than for them simply to hear about you on the radio or TV? So cut the copy and only give them half the info they need. That way they'll have to ring or visit to find out more and you’ll have that contact which is more valuable to you than any amount of airtime.

Rob Bee is a sound engineer, musician and owner of 'Bee Productive', who offer audio production, live sound and consultancy. For more information visit http://beeproductive.co.uk

The Subtle Power of Audio In Our Lives

By Susan Leigh

Many of us live in a world of constant noise. We are bombarded with the sounds of traffic, the background noises of co-workers; from their voices, equipment, general babble as they go about their business. Then there is the world of enforced sounds; when we make a phone call to a large company, use public transport, do a supermarket shop.

Often we are able to neutralise these sounds. We go into a trance state and blank them out or we integrate them into our general consciousness and hardly notice them after a while. Look at how workers in noisy factories are able to adapt and even hold conversations across the deafening noise of industrial equipment, or those people who are unable to sleep in the quiet of the countryside because they have become accustomed to the soothing, relentless sound of city traffic.

But sounds, noise can convey information in perhaps unconsidered ways. Our senses hold a database of accumulated experiences relating to all our senses including sound. These memories can be good or bad, evocative of people, times, associations from our past. These sounds evoke a subtle power in our lives.

How many of us have become affectionately nostalgic over tunes from our youth when unexpectedly heard on the radio, as we reminisce over people, places, things that we did back then? Conversely, the tone in a complete stranger's voice can make us tense, angry, defensive, even fearful, as their words, tone, demeanour trigger us back into a long forgotten, unpleasant time in our lives.

Other sounds often cause a more universal reaction; the grating of chalk on a board makes many people cringe. A child laughing, someone giggling uncontrollably, a champagne cork popping, the sound of the sea, bird song, church bells often make people smile, feel secure, calms them down - unless those sounds have a past experience of hurt, disappointment, upset associated with them.

So, when we're looking to use voiceovers and audio support in a generalised setting we need to be aware of the subtle power it can convey. Some people may be sensitive to or unappreciative of sounds that other people relish and enjoy. It's important to be clear as to the targeted audience; their age, demographic, reasons for listening. Will the use of music, a localised accent, firmness of tone be perceived as reassuring or deemed to be patronising?

The engine noise of a fabulous motor car could be highly motivational in some environments, whereas in others it would be of little interest. Used well, audio can provide valuable information, introduce calm and soothing tones into difficult or tense situations, motivate and enthuse staff, clients or customers. Used well, it can be a positive tool for good.


Susan Leigh is a Counsellor and Hypnotherapist who works with stressed individuals to promote confidence and self belief, with couples experiencing relationship difficulties to improve communications and understanding and with business clients to support the health and motivation levels of individuals and teams.

For more articles, information or to make contact please visit http://www.lifestyletherapy.net

Using Royalty Free Music Correctly

This guest blog is by Bjorn Lynne, a composer, producer and owner of Lynne Publishing. See bottom for more information about Bjorn.

With today’s easy access to amazingly powerful hardware and software, everybody can be a media producer. Whether you are producing videos for friends and family, TV programmes for local television, Podcast episodes for your special interest group, or simply have a public venue (bar, cafe, gym, spa, hotel, etc.) that you wish to fill with background music, it’s important to learn a few basics about legal use of music.

Many years ago, the only people who really needed to know the ins and outs of music licensing were the people who worked for professional production studios and broadcasters. But today, everybody can be a broadcaster and a media distributor. Services like internet sites, YouTube, Podcasting and more have put the world at everybody’s fingertips, and from your bedroom you can transmit your ideas, your words, your video and film, your voice and your productions, to every corner of the world. With this opportunity comes the need for music. Music helps bring your production to life and to get your message across.

You can’t just “take” music from anywhere and use it in these projects. Remember that even if you’ve legally bought a CD in a record store, or purchased a music download legally from iTunes or Amazon, really you have only purchased a license for personal use of that music. And if you’re producing a video that you want to upload to YouTube or a web site, or using music in a Podcast that can be downloaded by others, or even playing background music in your store, then you are no longer using that music for only personal use. You are then distributing that music, or you are performing the music in a public place -- and you are not allowed to do that unless you have specifically obtained a license to so.

This is where “royalty free music” or “stock music” libraries come in. From these services you can quite easily and relatively cheaply buy music that actually includes a license to distribute the music within certain parameters, and/or to play the music in public, without paying royalties. That’s where the term “royalty free” comes from. This term does not mean “non copyright music” and it does not mean that the music is free of copyright. It simply means that you will license that music for a one-time sum, instead of paying royalties based on exactly how much you are using it.

The term royalty-free music can also be a little unclear because in some cases the music can be licensed for a one-time fee for certain types of uses, but other types of uses may still be subject to paying royalties via the Performing Rights collection societies, such as PRS.

There are essentially three different uses of music that each need to be licensed, as and when needed.

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•        Sync Rights: This means the right to combine the music with film, or other multimedia. Most typically it means that you use the music as background music in a film or TV commercial. But it can also mean that you add the music to a video game, an App, a YouTube video, etc. To legally do this with music, you need to obtain the Sync Rights or a Synchronisation License.

•             Mechanical Rights: This means the right to produce physical items that contain the music. For example, a video DVD, an audio-CD, a memory stick, or any other physical objects that carry the music. This also applies when the music is used within a film. So, for example, if you use music as background in a film scene, and that film is duplicated onto 1,000 DVD’s, then you need the Sync License (to put the music onto the film in the first place), and you need the Mechanical License (to manufacture physical items that contain the film that contain that music).

•            Performing Rights: This means the right to play the music in public. “In public” basically means any place where other people besides yourself and your family and immediate friends can hear it. Typically this will mean in a shopping mall, a hotel lobby or similar, but it can also mean to play the music, for example, in a dentist’s waiting room, or as telephone on-hold music. Whether you’re just playing the music itself, or you’re playing a film or game that contains the music, you need the Performing License to that music.

Now. A lot of music these days that you can find in stock music libraries, or royalty-free music libraries, tend to be royalty-free for Sync Rights and Mechanical Rights, but are not really royalty-free for Performing Rights. So typically, when you buy a music track from a stock music library / production music library, you will make a simple, up-front, inexpensive payment that includes the Sync Rights and the Mechanical Rights for the music track, but your payment does not include the Performing Rights.

This may not be a problem, because let’s face it, a lot of media producers aren’t going to play the music in a public venue anyway. You may be producing a video for broadcasting on local television, but in that case the broadcaster will already have a blanket Performing license, so you don’t need to obtain one. A lot of potential users of stock music simply don’t need the Performing rights.

If you DO need the performing rights, or you suspect that you may need them, be sure to read the small-print in the license that the stock music library offers.

Some royalty-free music libraries, such as the popular one at Shockwave-Sound.com, offer music in two different categories: PRO music and Non-PRO music. In this case “PRO” does not mean “professional” as you may first think; it means Performing Rights Organisation. Music that is “PRO” is composed by people who are members of a Performing Rights Organisation, and when you license that music, the license purchase does not include the Performing Rights. You’ll have to get the Performing Rights from the PRO in your country (in the case of the UK, the PRS – www.prsformusic.com). But the music categorised as Non-PRO is composed by composers who are not members of any performing rights organisation, and for these tracks your one-time license purchase from Shockwave-Sound does include the Performing Rights as well as the Sync- and Mechanical rights.

It may be unfair to expect every bedroom film-, app- and media producer to understand all of this, and a lot of people haven’t got a clue. As I mentioned earlier, going back 20 years or so, the only people who really needed to know about all of this was people working in professional film studios. But today, every PC and every Mac is ten times more powerful than even the most professional gear 20 years ago, and now everybody wants to be a producer and a broadcaster. And that’s when it becomes necessary to know about this stuff.

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About the author: Bjorn Lynne has a background as a composer and producer of music for film, video games and installations. He is originally from Norway but he has lived and worked for 10 years in the UK. He has a page at IMDB, runs a small music publishing label called Lynne Publishing, and is an eager recreational tennis player in his spare time.

How can audio can help you sell your home?

This guest blog is by Judith Todd, a professional home stager and owner of homestyle4u.com


The way we look for a new home has changed greatly in recent years. Traditionally, we would visit all the local estate agents in the area where we were looking to buy and would collect a selection of brochures of suitable properties. The advent of the internet and sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla has changed all that.

Most sellers will do their searching online and may only contact the agent to arrange a viewing. So how has this affected the process of selling from the perspective of the seller? The first point is that the importance of the photographs has increased. If the photos are poor, prospective purchasers are less likely to book a viewing. This means that your property needs to be presented to its best potential in order that your agent has the opportunity to take photos that will show the property to its best advantage.

This is where the services of a professional home stager can really prove a wise investment as they can advise on how to present the property so that it will appeal to prospective buyers. Agents are increasingly aware of the importance of the photographs and some will employ a professional photographer.

The next step up is the use of video tours. This is becoming more common with agents routinely posting footage on YouTube. Video presents the opportunity to show the property in full not simply a few photographs.

If you are going to have a video tour of your property then it makes sense to have professional audio to accompany it. The right voice over takes the experience to the next level. Presentation is about aspiration, you want the prospective purchasers to imagine themselves living in the property and professional audio enables you not only to highlight the best features of the property but also to portray a lifestyle that will appeal to buyers.

With the audio tour you can take the buyer on their own private tour of the property. It might not be required for more modestly priced properties but for those at the higher end of the market we would say that it is an important part of the marketing process.

Buyers will be expecting quality and that extends to the marketing materials. Buyers can be helped to fall in love with your home before they have even set foot through the door.

For advice on home staging visit homestyle4u.com. Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithHomestyle