What Is Fax Broadcasting and How It Can Help Your Business?
Have you ever needed to send a fax to many recipients at the same time? Doing it manually can take ages, especially if you are still using a fax machine. Fax broadcasting or "fax blasting" technology lets you do it in a single step.
Although there are some fax machines that are capable of sending multiple faxes, there's always a limit in the amount of recipients you can reach. That's why companies in need of reaching out multiple contacts usually hire third part services for the job which charge a small amount per page sent. But nowadays there's a simpler alternative: online fax technology.
No matter what tool you use for the job, the ability to send a single fax to different number is a powerful tool for productivity and business efficiency. In this article you'll learn more about it!
How Fax Broadcasting Works
Fax broadcasting is possible thanks to powerful fax servers. These are machines that have been setup to process the transmission of faxes, converting digital signals into analog ones. This allows them, for example, to convert a PDF file to fax almost instantly so it can be received by a traditional fax machine as a printed document.
The conversion to an analog signal is a the key step in the process, because fax machines, although they work with digital components, still rely on analog transmissions over a phone line. Once the conversion is complete the server is able to send the signal to different numbers at the same time.
An example of a fax server
Big companies usually have their own fax servers and IT team in charge of communications. For them, it makes sense given that it helps them keep 100% control of the flow of documents. But this solution is expensive, most small and medium-sized businesses won't have the resources for it. For them the best alternative is to use an online fax service.
For a small monthly fee, fax services put at your disposition their fax servers, letting you send and receive a certain amount of faxes per month. Most of these services let you broadcast a fax either through email, or though a special page in their dashboard.
How Can Fax Broadcasting Help Your Business?
If your business needs you to communicate via fax with different clients, providers or other types of contacts, broadcasting can help you save time and improve your workflow. It depends on the type of business you are running.
Let's take a look at some examples:
- For marketing purposes. For many years this technology has been used as part of marketing campaigns. In some cases it has been abused, leading to what is known as "junk fax" or "fax spam".
- For people in the public relations industry, fax broadcasting is the preferred tool to send time-sensitive information and stories to hundreds of media contacts and journalists.
- If you need to send an updated product list or a new sheet with prices to your sales force. Fax ensures the document has arrived through a confirmation message.
As you can see it is a powerful tool for productivity, reducing to just a few minutes what used to take hours.
Two Ways of Broadcasting Faxes
1. Using Your Email
If you just want to send a fax to a maximum of 20 numbers, you can do it through email. You just have to follow the steps on our tutorial, and add all the recipient's number on the TO field separated by a comma.
Remember that the number must be typed in, followed by "@" and the domain of your provider. If, for example, you are using RingCentral Fax, each number would look like this: faxnumber@rcfax.net. The domain varies depending on the service you've subscribed to.
You can send any number of pages, provided they are included in your plan. If you go beyond your page limit, you'll need to pay a small overage fee per page. But it's a good idea to choose a plan with enough free pages per month.
2. Using Your Service's Dashboard
Every online fax service has a member's area from where you can access a variety of advanced features, including fax broadcasting. You need to head over there if you plan to send a fax to more recipients. In average, this function lets you reach between 200-250 numbers in just one click.
eFax, for example, lets you do this through their eFax Messenger™ client app. You can access it online, or download it and pull the numbers directly from your contact list, without having to type them manually. Some services even let you create dynamic headers that change depending on the recipient.
Final Words
If you want to send documents to multiple recipients at once with 100% security, there's nothing better than fax broadcasting. With current technology, you don't need to buy advanced equipment or hire the services of an IT specialist.
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