Fax broadcasting is an effective and economical way to get your marketing message out to hundreds of current and potential clients simultaneously. In addition to basic fax broadcast services, there are several advanced applications that can help your business increase fax blasting success.

By making the most of fax broadcasting resources and applications, you can maximize your marketing dollars and increase broadcast fax effectiveness. To capitalize on broadcast faxing services, consider the following:

1. Make a statement with your company's bulk faxing by using eye-catching, graphical designs.

2. Use advanced mail merge functionality to quickly and easily create comprehensive fax broadcasting business contact lists.

3. Make the most of your company's fax broadcasting marketing efforts with detailed statistical reporting capabilities.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Command attention to your broadcast fax with high-impact graphics

Don't waste your marketing dollars with basic (and boring) broadcast fax designs. Attract attention to documents by creating eye-catching, attractive and graphical cover sheets and documents. If you don't have in-house design capabilities, many fax blasting services offer professional, customized broadcast fax designs at a reasonable cost.

I recommend: Learn about how a graphical cover sheet can help your fax broadcast document stand out at Copia. Get tips on effective fax broadcast headlines and graphic design formats at Its the FAX.

Target your broadcast fax service with sophisticated mail merge programs

Send personalized broadcast faxes using mail merge to fax programs. Not only can advanced mail merge programs personalize broadcast fax cover sheets, but they can also customize body text. Mail merge programs enable your business to send broadcast faxes directly to targeted current or potential customers.

I recommend: Learn more about the benefits of utilizing mail merge applications with fax broadcasts at ITGeeks.com. Find out how mail merge to fax programs create personalized broadcast faxes at UnixUSA.

Analyze broadcast fax marketing success with detailed statistical reports

Making the most of fax broadcasting means getting the greatest value for your money. Make sure your business is reaching the most customers by utilizing statistical reporting programs. These applications offer detailed reports on your fax broadcast services, including the status of successful, unsuccessful, pending and in-progress faxes.

I recommend: Learn about the benefits of broadcast fax statistical reporting services at Automatic Mail Services. Create broadcast fax reports quickly and easily with the blast fax service at Equisys.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  There are typically two resolutions for sending a broadcast fax: standard mode and fine mode. To get the best results, send your broadcast fax in the fine mode resolution, which provides optimal clarity.
• •  Give businesses a way to communicate with you if they choose not to not receive future broadcast faxes from your company. Include a toll free fax number, toll free phone number or even an email address on your broadcast fax documents as a no-cost way for business professionals to contact you and opt out of your fax blasting promotions.

Why plunk down several hundred dollars for a fax machine and then pour more money into it for ongoing costs like fax ink and toner supplies? Not to mention the costs of securing a dedicated fax phone line and that pesky monthly bill from the phone company? If your small business is serious about keeping costs under control, consider Internet fax services. These simple services cost only a few bucks a month—some are even free—and allow you send and receive faxes via email or a website.

Internet fax services can be ideal for cost-conscious business owners or for business travel. With Internet fax services, you can send and receive faxes anywhere that you have Internet access.

Internet faxing:

1. Is an inexpensive way to say connected to your customers and your staff while away from the office.
2. Allows you to receive important documents even when there’s no fax machine around.
3. Enables clients to fax you while you are out of the country through a local number, delivered directly to your email.
4. Reduces your telephone bill when you have to send a large number of faxes to long-distance numbers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Fax for free

Most efax services offer low monthly rates, but a few offer free efax service in exchange for advertising. Others limit your faxing privileges to receiving faxes, but not sending them.

I recommend: FaxZero.com lets you send a maximum of three pages and two faxes per day in the U.S. and Canada. The only catch is that an ad is placed on the coversheet. Sign up for eFax Free and you’ll get a non-local eFax number to receive faxes in your email for no charge.

Free efax trials

If you only need to use efaxing once or twice, you can sign up for free trial efax services. Most efax services offer 30-day free passes. In addition to using them on a one-time basis, the 30-day free pass is also a good idea to use on a trial basis to see if you like the service.

I recommend: Unifax and CallWave are two of the efax services that offer a free 30-day trial. Compare other efax services at TopTenReviews.com or visit Business.com for more efax providers.

Toll-free efax

Internet fax services have a variety of options that include providing a toll-free number that enables your customers from around the country to fax you at no cost to them.

I recommend: Smart Fax allows you to choose a vanity toll-free number that enables you to create a professional business image and choose a number that is easy for your customers to remember.

Flat-rate efaxing

Some Internet faxing services charge a per-page fee after a certain amount of pages. If you plan to use Internet faxing as your sole fax number or if you plan to use broadcast faxes to multiple recipients, look for a service that charges a flat monthly rate.

I recommend: Packetel offers a low flat monthly rate with no restrictions on the number of incoming faxes received. Review the fax broadcasting sources at Business.com for help with this powerful marketing tool.

International Web-based faxing

If your business has a large customer base in another country, you may want to have a local fax number in that country. Most Internet fax services allow you to fax internationally for a smaller fee than traditional telephone rates.

I recommend: Efax lets you choose the country of origin where you would like your fax number set up. Venali offers toll-free numbers in more than 70 countries.

Add-on options for PC-based faxing

Internet fax providers are jumping on the bandwagon by offering all-inclusive communications packages that include voicemail, virtual PBX, faxing and call forwarding.

I recommend: Ring Central offers plans ranging from $9.99 to 79.99 with bundled communications services. Additional fax service providers can be found in the Business.com directory.

Multi-user small business plans

Some providers also specialize in multi-user plans that enable all of your employees to receive faxes on their own personal number in their email boxes.

I recommend: ClickFax.com allows you to add additional users and additional numbers to your account.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Try out an Internet fax service to make sure it works for you before you print the phone number on your letterhead and business cards.
• •  Many Internet fax services allow you to receive faxes at no charge and only charge you for outgoing faxes. Calculate your needs before you begin shopping for a service to minimize the cost.
• •  If you plan to use Internet fax services, make sure you have your signature scanned into your computer so that you can add it to documents that must be signed.

Fax broadcasting, often called fax blasting, is an effective way to get your marketing message out to hundreds of current and potential clients simultaneously. Although email is more widely used than faxes for general communication, a broadcast fax is a more productive and persuasive way to send marketing information. Most email solicitation is perceived as SPAM, which means it goes unread directly in a junk folder, while faxes are more likely to catch a recipient's attention.

Fax broadcasting is also economical because it requires no postage or printing costs. Before using bulk faxing for your business, consider the these fax broadcasting basics:

1. Consider fax broadcast software for effective do-it-yourself broadcast faxing.

2. Choose web-based fax broadcasting for convenient access to fax broadcast services anytime and anywhere.

3. Select a professional broadcast fax service to save time and gain access to value-added services.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Research the benefits of fax broadcasting business software

Blast fax service software is an economical choice for businesses who send frequent broadcast faxes and have the staffing capabilities for setting up, sending and tracking fax documents. Fax broadcast software typically enables businesses to send an unlimited number of faxes. However, be aware that to get the greatest functionality from your broadcast fax software program, your business may need to purchase add-ons for billing, mail merge and reporting mechanisms.

I recommend: Learn about the features of fax broadcast software and explore its functionality for increasing your business marketing efforts at BroadFax. Check out the benefits, features and capabilities of fax broadcast software, and download a free Total Fax 8.0 trial, at BestShareware.net.

Evaluate the advantages of an online broadcast fax service for your business

Web-based fax broadcasting is a user-friendly alternative for businesses who regularly use broadcast faxing to distribute information about sales or upcoming promotions. An online broadcast fax service requires only an Internet connection and can be accessed from any location, which is particularly helpful for business professionals who travel frequently. Web-based fax broadcasting services offer multiple data formats but usually charge per page, which can get expensive.

I recommend: Learn about the benefits, features and suggested uses of web-based fax blasting services at Protus. Compare web-based fax services and fax broadcasting software using the helpful article at CBS Interactive's affiliate site,TechRepublic.

Consider professional fax broadcast services to handle all of your broadcast faxing needs

Professional fax blasting companies provide comprehensive broadcast fax services for your business. A reputable fax broadcasting business will send your document, manage contacts, prepare reports and track marketing efforts. Fax broadcast services are ideal for companies who lack the in-house capabilities to manage broadcast fax details and send large numbers of faxes, especially since the price per fax is typically based on volume.

I recommend: Find out about the advantages of using a service to send broadcast faxes and get fax broadcasting basics at wiseGeek. Learn about the features and services available, including targeted mailing lists and detailed reporting, at Fax Advertising Service.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  To help track your broadcast fax advertising success, consider putting a key code on your fax correspondence. This will help you track what broadcast faxes generate the most response and what types of messages are most effective for your business.

Even though email broadcasting is very popular, many companies still prefer to send fax broadcasts to their customers. Fax broadcasts do not end up in a spam folder, making it more likely that its intended recipient will actually receive the fax. If you're just getting started in fax broadcasting, there are a number of terms that you should know to help you do the job right. For example, you may want to use a mail merge to personalize your content. You may need web-based fax broadcasting capabilities to accommodate off-site employees. Learn the basic terms before you start.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Fax blast

A fax blast is another word for a fax broadcast. It means to send the same fax to a number of recipients at the same time. It is a way that you can easily and cheaply send your advertising message to hundreds or thousands of people.

I recommend: Learn more about fax blasts from OurOnlineOffice.com.

Mail merge

A mail merge allows you to personalize your document. To do a mail merge, you will need to put special codes within your document that match up with fields in your list.

I recommend: Copia explains how to do a mail merge using their system.

Web-based or online fax broadcasting

A web-based or online fax broadcasting service allows your users to access the program from the Internet. This means that they can send a blast from anywhere, at anytime.

I recommend: Protus is an example of a web-based fax broadcasting service.

Targeted mailing list

You want to send your fax broadcast to a targeted mailing list. This means that the people that receive the message want to hear from you and are likely to buy from you.

I recommend: Learn more about a targeted mailing list from wiseGEEK.

Supported formats

Fax broadcasting programs take your document and convert it into a faxable file. The types of formats that their software allows you to use are called supported formats.

I recommend: See examples of supported formats that you can use with jBlast, about halfway down the page.

Fax server

A fax server is a piece of hardware that allows you to send and receive faxes through your computer. Some fax servers allow you to send several faxes at once because they integrate a number of different phone lines.

I recommend: Check out the Cisco Fax Server as an example of a fax server.