The Secret To Using Skype as a Small Business Marketing Tool
Copyright 2006 Gobala Krishnan
Skype (http://www.Skype.com) is already changing the way we do
we do business, even as you're reading this. A little piece of
software that uses VoIP (Voice Over IP) and P2P (Peer-to-Peer)
technology, it created waves after waves of excitement,
anticipation and even frustration since it's launch.
If you've never heard of Skype, your competitors are probably
already ahead of you. The "Hype on Skype" as I call it, is
justified for one reason alone: it really IS the communications
tool of the future.
Skype is a breakthrough softphone application that allows you to
make phone calls from your PC direct to another Skype user, or
any regular fixed or mobile telephone. The cost is extremely
cheap, and the quality has seen massive leaps of continuous
improvement since it's launch in 2003. Everyone knows all that.
Here's what most people don't know: Skype can be used as
powerful and effective marketing tool for any small business. If
you want to reach an international market, get telephone
inquiries and leads from China, or even if you just want to use
it to communicate with your business buddies, you should explore
the hidden potential of Skype.
Using Skype as a marketing or telemarketing tool basically
revolves around these facts:
1) The Power of SkypeIn and Virtual Numbers
SkypeIn, a feature of Skype still in beta, allows you to create
virtual numbers in many different countries. If you maximize on
this fact, you can literally have "virtual offices" all around
the world, even if you're a home based business entrepreneur
with no staff, an embarrassing budget and limited time.
2) The Power of Third-Party Applications
There are many third party applications that enhance the basic
software. No, I'm not talking about the ones that allow you to
create cute icons or change the ring tone of your incoming Skype
calls. Those are nice, but I'm talking about the
business-related applications. If you know the correct ones to
use, you can literally build a "virtual call center" from your
desktop that has all the feature of a real call center: your own
personal secretary, day-and-time manager, call routing and call
waiting, conditional call forwarding, language translations and
much more.
3) The Integration Capabilities
If the "off-the-shelf" version just doesn't cut it for your
business needs, then you can customize and adapt Skype into your
own proprietary systems and software. You can choose to do this
in-house, or outsource it to experts all over the world. If you
know where and how to do this, you can create a powerful
telemarketing application that cost pennies a day compared to
the traditional solutions. It will be much more time-efficient,
too.
So I'll say it again: Skype is the communications tool of the
future. Learning how to use it effectively in a sales and
marketing context could be the deciding factor between "just
another year" and "termendous year" for your business.