As with anything done well, your business success will generate people who want to feed off or piggyback on your success. This situation is especially true for web domain names and business phone numbers.
On one hand, you certainly can’t blame competitors for maximizing their own marketing ROI with this smart strategy. But it can be extremely frustrating and may mean losing potential deals and clients despite all of your hard work and dedication to growing your organization. Fortunately, you have the ability to stop the situation before it even begins!
First, you must understand how competitors can feed off your business phone number. Just as with having similar Internet domain names, other businesses can feed off your advertising, reputation, and marketing budget by acquiring similar business phone numbers to yours. For numeric numbers, this situation could mean obtaining similar numbers that could be incorrectly dialed. In terms of vanity numbers, competitors may try getting their hands on the same vanity numbers with different prefixes since dialing the wrong prefix is a common mistake by customers trying to call you, especially if you do not have the 800 number version. Worse, if you have a well known company name, but you do not have the matching vanity number that spells out your name, competitors might acquire it and be able to take large amounts of prospects and even current customers who were actually attempting to call your business phone number.
To protect yourself, begin by making sure you have a unified brand, including an easily recognizable vanity number. Then just as with reserving a domain name for your website, try to reserve as many variations of your business phone number as you can. Start with the 800, 888, 877, 866 and 855 prefixes and then move on to any other obvious combinations.
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855 vanity numbers offer a unique opportunity for new ventures to get off to an incredible start. The October 1st release of the 855 number prefix comes at a great time for new business start ups and established corporations spinning off new divisions. In the past, most new businesses have been at a distinct disadvantage when they launch due to the barriers faced to acquire quality vanity numbers. Premium vanity numbers have mostly been taken by bigger competitors and to acquire the best toll free numbers for their industry would be a strain on most new businesses' budgets. However, the launch of 855 vanity numbers changes all that for those who are wise enough to grab the opportunity.
800 Response and Infosurv recently commissioned a study that looked at the habits of 1,000 consumers when they were presented with an advertisement that contained a toll free number and a web address. They found that consumers were 45% more likely to remember the vanity toll free number of a company rather than its website. In one instance, a fictional ad for an auto dealer called Bayside Auto Sales presented a vanity toll free number of 800-new-auto and a website of baysideautosales.com. Respondents were 52% more likely to remember the vanity number over the website, even though the website reflected the exact company name of the auto dealer.
