Use campaigns for a message that can wait its turn
Campaigns are recordings that rotate through eligible opportunities. Think promotions, brand spots, jingles, or a seasonal offer. Their job is to appear during the right part of the day without needing one exact timestamp.
In Zonecast, eligibility can depend on the zone, location or zone tags, dates, weekdays, and time windows. A café promotion can target café zones at lunchtime. A weekend message can stay out of weekday programming.
Set the break pattern separately
The campaign recording describes the message and its audience. A rotation calendar defines when breaks are available: after a chosen song count, at a minute interval, or not at all during an Off window.
Keeping those concerns separate means you can update a campaign without rebuilding the whole day’s cadence. Account calendars provide the defaults. A particular zone can override a portion of the week while inheriting the remaining windows.
Use announcements when the clock matters
A closing reminder belongs to a specific local time. Announcements have their own schedules and recording histories, separate from campaigns. You can choose their zones, eligible dates, weekdays, and scheduled time.
Zonecast checks published announcement schedules for overlapping durations. Its programming contract includes priority and maximum lateness so a connected player has explicit instructions about timing and conflicts. These settings are part of the management layer; playback behavior must be implemented by the player.
Make speech easy to hear
Music ducking means lowering the music beneath a spoken announcement and restoring it afterward. It is different from making every part of the mix louder. Zonecast provides separate music, campaign, and announcement gain settings plus a ducking level.
Start by checking the recording itself. Keep the wording short enough for the moment and listen on the actual store speakers. A message that is clear at a desk may need a different recording level or mix in a busy shop.
Keep the audience small enough to be relevant
Use tags that reflect stable operational facts, such as whether a location has a café. Avoid making every store hear an offer it cannot fulfill. Review date ranges and time windows when a promotion ends.
The dashboard lets you review a zone’s selected music schedule, calendars, gains, eligible campaigns, and timed announcements together. That shared view helps catch a message aimed at the wrong audience before the programming is delivered.
Keep a clear recording history
When the wording or audio changes, attach a new recording version. Immutable versions make it possible to refer to the specific file used in a programming snapshot or report.
Zonecast validates uploaded audio in a background worker and stores it privately. Device pairing, sync, and reporting are implemented; native playback engines remain in development. Review the player integration and use recordings you have permission to distribute and play.