1. Missed Branding Opportunities
Whatever type of marketing campaign you are launching, a vanity number offers instant branding. Even if your prospects do not take immediate action, an easy to remember vanity number will stick in their minds until when they do need your product or service. This truth applies to PPC advertising, direct mail, email marketing, and display ads.
2. Increased Response Rates
It has been proven time and time again that toll free vanity numbers consistently provide significantly higher response rates. So, considering the small investment it takes to get a winning vanity number, why anyone would ever dream of running an ad campaign without one is a mystery. Otherwise, you are not just throwing away money but handing those prospects over to your competition.
3. Improved Closing Ratios
Vanity numbers not only help increase the response rates to your advertising, but more importantly, they also improve the actual closing ratios from your campaigns. That is where you really put profits back into your pocket. Ask yourself how much a closed deal is worth, not only now but also in terms of the value of a lifelong customer and the referrals you will receive. Easily in the tens of thousands. So with some shared use, vanity numbers are available for as little at $19 a month. That small amount can provide at least two or three times the closed deals from a campaign. It is really a no brainer.
4. Tracking & Testing
Toll free numbers offer the ability to track and test easily all types of metrics and variables involved in your marketing. Those tools mean the ability to identify easily what is working well and what you can improve on so you can hone your marketing into a well oiled money making machine.
5. Maximizing Marketing ROI
These compounding factors of increased advertising effectiveness through better brand recognition, higher response and closing ratios, and well-tested campaigns means being able to see the maximum return on investment from your marketing budget. What you do with the extra profit is entirely up to you, whether it is expanding your marketing efforts, handing out bonuses, donating it to charity, improving your products or services, or just treating yourself to a well-deserved vacation in the sun. Going to the market without a vanity number is the equivalent of handing over large slices of market share to your competitors. Win or lose - it is all up to you.
Image Credit: © Vladimir Mucibabic | Dreamstime.com
Direct marketing is one of the most effective ways to advertise to your target market. Why? Because it is more intimate and personal – customers will feel special because their individual needs are addressed. Now, direct marketing can come in different forms. But one of its best manifestations is mail and email campaigns because they enable marketers to reach a vast number of individuals with minimum time and effort spent (compared to face to face contact).
Testing remains the best way to find out what works for your company. However, general guidelines need to be followed. The best practices in the direct marketing field include:
Readable Emails– No marketing campaign can be effective if people don’t even know what you’re trying to say. In email marketing, a lot of companies integrate multimedia images and content – but these are not necessarily readable on some computers. Even if you include multimedia content, you should still make it a point to put HTML text content so the recipients will still understand what the email was all about.
Interesting Subject Line– If your company is associated with a certain brand or product, it is best to use that. Around 69 percent of recipients make the choice whether to open their mail or not at first glance. Maximize the success rate of your email campaign; it is critical to ensure that the sender name you use is trustworthy and recognizable.
Personalized Mail and Email– Direct marketing is all about establishing a personal connection. With the email management technologies available today, there is no reason why you cannot personalize emails (by adding the recipient’s name, etc). The process allows your campaign to become even more effective.
Image Credit: © Srooeintan | Dreamstime.com
The release of the new 855 toll free number prefix set for October 1st, 2010 offers an incredible opportunity to get ahead of your competitors, using special tactics to take them by surprise. So how do you conquer your corporate competitors with 855 numbers?
