Expert Articles

As every business owner knows, the holidays are a huge time for sales. In fact, the holidays are universally recognized as the biggest time of the year for retailers and any company that sells a product or service to a mass market.

The holidays are also a time where effective advertising and promotion is vital, and it's absolutely critical for business owners to use the best possible methods to get the word out about their products and services. But before spending thousands on ads and marketing, it's a good idea to look at simpler technologies that can help a business convert more holiday sales.

One such technology is the internet fax, a tool that combines new and old technology to give businesses the ability to send and receive faxes through their Internet connections. These systems have a number of major benefits over paper fax machines, and some of these benefits become very clear around the holidays, when a company needs to use a fax system to contact customers and receive orders quickly and efficiently.

Fax advertising is easy and simple with an Internet fax service. A document can be easily laid out in a PDF format and faxed to a list of clients simultaneously from any computer with an Internet connection, a feat that would take much more time using a traditional fax machine simply because of the time older machines take to dial. Holiday sales can be announced, or coupons can be sent out in minutes flat. If your store keeps a record of business and customer fax numbers, it's as simple as loading and sending your fax, since Internet fax systems can be set up to message a group of numbers at the same time. Anyone who can use a computer can easily use the Internet based fax systems so there is no extra training required.

If you have a business that uses e-commerce tools, an Internet fax is especially helpful for reaching clients that don't have email addresses - you can send occasional newsletters, advertisements, coupons and other info to them by fax. Since many faxes can be received simultaneously via Internet fax systems without giving customers busy signals, e-commerce stores can greatly improve sales during the holidays simply by offering a fax number as an option. This will help to alleviate the worry that they're missing out on orders that aren't getting through. Any technology that allows a company to take more orders certainly becomes profitable during a large holiday rush.

Most customers and companies don't mind an occasional informative fax, and can appreciate coupons or sale notices that your company sends out. Of course, if you're averse to faxing product information, prices, or other common advertising materials to customers, you can still use an Internet fax service effectively. Use the service to send Christmas and New Year's greetings, reminding customers and business partners of your company's information in the process. If your company uses press releases, it's far easier to contact a number of radio, television and print news services using an Internet fax system.

Messages received via Internet fax can also be easily searched, since they're saved in common document types like PDF files. This means that if you're looking for key info on companies or individuals who have faxed you in the past, you can easily find this information instantly. Many companies use this feature of the fax systems to develop targeted, accurate advertising approaches, rather than adopting a scatter shot campaign that might alienate some customers.

Some businesses benefit more when using an Internet fax to promote products and services around the holidays. In particular, retail and online stores can use the technology in creative ways that make them hundreds of extra sales per year. Regardless of the nature of a business, if fax technology is used for any tasks at all during the holiday season, Internet fax services can handle the tasks more efficiently, more accurately, and even more effectively than obsolete paper fax machines.