Of those businesses that responded, 85% would recommend on hold messaging and believe it's a useful marketing tool that adds value to the business. They rated on hold marketing as effective as Internet, TV/Radio, Direct Mail, and Print marketing.
When your company phone rings, that caller becomes a prospect. The brief time spent on hold, can be an extremely powerful marketing tool. - See more at: http://ilaudio.com/message-on-hold/#.VIyNuHtq3kY

This brings up the ever-present question of appropriate branding for your business. At a funeral home, Green says, you don't want an upbeat pop song, for obvious reasons. Mark Malekpour, who works at Beatsuite, a music library which sells a variety of songs specifically for hold systems, says that companies too often want popular music. "For an insurance company, you don't want something from Queen or U2," he said. "When you're choosing music for an insurance company, it shouldn't feel happy or feel good or lighthearted, because insurance is something you have to have, and you want to think, 'These guys get what insurance is all about.' " (Beatsuite's bestselling hold song is called "Inspiring Innovation," which is tagged as: "Success, achievement, and trustworthy.")
Royalty free on hold music from Beatsuite.com is a collection of understated, easy listening background music themes ideal for telephone on hold music systems where users may need to be held on-hold without being annoyed by repetitive or well known music. The best on hold music for business tends to be relaxing background, lounge or Jazz type styles.