Are your business phone and toll free numbers memorable in two seconds or less? If they aren’t, then you are throwing away a huge portion of your marketing budget.

Whether it is your toll free number on a billboard, direct mail piece, TV ad, or your website, if your number cannot be remembered in two seconds or less, your message is often rendered ineffective. Two seconds is even actually very generous for most types of advertising and prospects. How many times have you seen a TV commercial or heard a radio ad for a product or service you really wanted or needed, yet the number was too complex to remember in time? What good did the ad do, really? You can make all the excuses you want about getting your business name out there or that customers will be sitting by the radio or TV with a pen in hand next time, etc. However, this is not going to put profits back in the bank and certainly isn’t the way to maximize your marketing ROI. If you are going to market, then do it right. If you do not put the effort and wisdom you have into making the most of your marketing, then you shouldn’t be surprised when you start losing market share.

You can hold focus groups to test how memorable your number is, though it is pretty much common sense. Short and straight to the point is the best. Trying to squeeze in extra numbers or words that result in odd spelling probably are not going to be as effective as something similar that can be said in one word. There are no excuses for not having a winning vanity number any more. The days of having to wait on the phone for hours with a phone company trying to figure out a great and available toll free number are long gone. The leading toll free service providers now provide tools that allow you to search and return vanity numbers in an instant.