Public relations is one of the largest users of broadcast fax. Public relation agencies use broadcast fax to send press releases to hundreds of journalists at once. Public relations firms are not the only industry that can benefit from broadcast fax. Real estate, as an example, is still a fax-heavy industry. Agents fax listings to multiple clients or other agents. Regional managers for large real-estate firms can fax reports to multiple property managers.

Broadcast fax has always been popular for targeted advertising and promotions:

• The travel industry sends special offers, last-minute promotions and travel alerts to thousands of travel agents.
• Restaurant can send lunch menus and weekly specials to local offices that have signed up to receive faxes.
• Businesses of all sizes can offer special deals or promotions to existing clients.

Fax advertising, however, has come under legal scrutiny leading to strict Federal and State anti-spam laws. According to Title 47 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, “It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine”.

[Source: http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_47.shtml]

The law was amended with the passing of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005. Under the new legislations, unsolicited faxes can be sent to businesses with which the client has an “established business relationship” or EBR.

An EBR is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as “a prior or existing relationship formed by a voluntary two-way communication between a person or entity and a business or residential subscriber with or without an exchange of consideration [payment], on the basis of an inquiry, application, purchase or transaction by the business or residential subscriber regarding products or services offered by such person or entity, which relationship has not been previously terminated by either party”.

The FCC also establishes several ground rules for obtaining fax numbers from companies and individuals with whom you have an EBR.

You should always make sure the method is in compliance with State and Federal regulations before sending faxes. If you are unsure you should ask your trusted legal professional.

The Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 also states that all unsolicited fax advertisements must include clear instructions for opting out of all future broadcast faxes from the sender. The opt-out process must be free of charge and must be listed on the first page of the fax. To request to be opted out, all a consumer has to do is provide his fax number to the company directly. Openfax offers a toll-free fax removal service to help with this requirement as an additional service.

[Source: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes.html]

By being a responsible marketer and following State and Federal laws and regulations you will not only keep your broadcast fax campaign legal, but earn more business from your established business relationships.

Fax itself has begun to change shape.  People are sending and receiving faxes by email in addition to their normal fax machines.  Fax has become another attachment in an email message to open, which was sent by a trusted source, their electronic fax service provider.  Unlike an email message a fax has to be opened either as a file attachment when received by email or it still has to be picked up off of the fax machine to be read.  There’s still some connection people have to paper that won’t go away for a while.

Email vs. Fax

You may have already tried an email campaign with Openfax Airmail or Openfax EBS.  Though the Openfax Airmail and Openfax EBS services do an excellent job of helping you design, deliver and track email campaigns; we’re still a little partial to fax.  Unlike email, fax is more difficult to automatically sort, block and filter.  For those recipients in your database that have given you permission to fax them; it’s a great way to get through every time.  Email is a complicated beast in nature.  To be frank, peoples’ inboxes are littered with less scrupulous emails, and there are more than just delivery concerns.  Trying to get email campaigns to look great on the many email clients that are available also proves to be challenging for some and unless you have a tight relationship with the recipient, your email may quickly be discarded as SPAM.  There is a right way to communicate with customers by email and it is a journey to become very successful in your email messaging.

Fax is just as quick as email

One of the benefits of email marketing is that it’s instant, on-demand and can quickly promote your message.  With Openfax, fax delivery is just as quick.  With Openfax even your largest fax campaign can be delivered in relatively no time at all; and from what our repeat customers tell us with better results and ROI.  Why not give it a try?

Isn’t Fax more expensive?

What is more expensive; spending money and getting a return or spending money with no return?  Fax delivers your message in a method that in some way or fashion is guaranteed to be seen, as it is tangible.  Unlike email when SPAM filters, inbox rules, and simple disregard for messages plagues your ROI, fax becomes the clear alternative until you have an established email relationship with customers.  Most Email Service Provider (ESPs) charge for email services with a monthly recurring service fee based on the number of emails you attempt to send.  With Openfax Fax Broadcast there is no monthly fee and you only pay for successfully delivered pages.

Give it a try

Sign-up online or contact an Openfax Expert today at 1-866-OPENFAX (673.6329) and see what Openfax Fax Broadcast can do for your business or organization.