Radio advertising accounts for just under 10 percent of all advertising dollars. It’s effective, universal, and mobile. That’s why many Custom Toll Free clients do direct response marketing over the air waves.

The folks at Radio Lounge USA are in the business of producing direct response ads for their clients. They advise companies to make the call to action clear and give listeners a URL or phone number that’s memorable.

“If you are driving users to a toll free number, make sure you are not advertising some random ten digits that are difficult to remember. Use vanity phone numbers,” is their advice.

Here are a few general tips for using radio advertising with your custom toll free number:

Know your audience. Pick stations and time slots that best match your audience demographics.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. Once you’ve chosen a particular time slot or show, stick with it. That guarantees enough repetition of your ad and your toll-free number with a particular audience (morning drive time, gardeners, talk show fans) that your information will be remembered.

Try “roadblocking.” The term “roadblocking” means running your ads on several stations during the same weeks. Businesstown.com explains why roadblocking can be highly effective.

You’ll also find some great advice for successful radio advertising here.

With all the many companies out there, consumers are wise to evaluate what will help them get fast, seamless and reasonable phone packages. Here are some reasons to access Custom Toll Free:

Real-time, real cool
Companies or individuals have access to real-time call reports. You are never in the dark when you have an 800 number through us. We will let you see just how many minutes you’ve used to the minute.

Harness bulk-rate plans
Every company has different needs when it comes to phone services. Some clients need to get bulk-rate plans. This can be done easily with help from one of our agents who can offer pricing for special services.

Branded advertising
Sometimes it’s all about name recognition. By using a toll free vanity number you can set your company apart from the rest. Being consistent means tying in all your creative elements from your logo and business cards to your vanity number and signage.

Simplicity: looking for a number is 1-2-3
First, all you have to do to get a toll free number is do a simple search. At Custom Toll Free, this is a very easy process. Simply use the search bar at our “Available Toll Free Number Search” page and find the ideal toll free number for your business.

select the “industry” to view what numbers are accessible; for instance Computers/Internet, Sports or Travel.

Finally, you can filter the choices by prefix such as 800 or 866 only. You can also use the slider to indicate your projected price scale.

Contact Custom Toll Free today for more advice about getting your personalized phone number.

Whenever you think of the toll-free number market, you think flowers, contact lenses, or safe autos. But today, many parents are using personal toll free numbers to keep tabs on their kids. Parents worried about their college-bound youngsters are resting better at night with toll-free numbers.

We all know it’s hard to get little Suzy or Johnny to call home everyday, but if the call is free you might have a better chance of hearing that phone ring. While normal cell phone plans were once the popular route, they can be highly expensive.

In fact, research shows that 90 percent of people in the United States are dialing toll-free numbers. Additionally, response rates increase an average of 14 percent when advertisements contain toll-free numbers.

Who are the regular people using toll-free numbers today?

•    Parents and grandparents
•    College students
•    Parents of teens and tweens
•    Military families
•    Frequent travelers
•    Those in a long-distance relationship

Custom Toll Free can design a minute plan that is just right for your special toll free needs. You just might bond with your kids, friends and other loved-ones better. Well, maybe or maybe not, but you WILL save money!

One of the most effective ways to track your ROI on marketing campaigns is to assign a unique toll-free number to each particular offer. Then it’s easy to track how many calls each campaign generates, how many sales are closed, and even what type of business is generated.

1. You can use unique toll-free numbers to run a split test, comparing the effectiveness of two different campaigns.
2. You can use one number to track the effectiveness of a particular campaign over time. Find out if your campaign is losing its punch, or see if it generates increasing amounts of business as your message penetrates the market.
3. In web advertising (and some other media) you can modify a direct marketing offer almost immediately, then track responses to the toll-free number to analyze the results of that change.

Custom Toll Free can help you acquire blocks of toll-free numbers to handle all types of tracking for direct marketing campaigns.

Toll-free numbers are popular for business of all sizes. Large companies and government agencies use them for sales and customer service. But, increasingly, small- and mid-size businesses are finding toll free service to be a valuable tool for marketing, advertising, and direct response research. According to experts, a toll free phone number can level the playing field and help smaller businesses compete. Because a toll free number is often portable, it’s ideal for a small business that may relocate as it grows.
Industries most like to employ toll-free numbers include telecommunications, internet service providers, beauty, banking, insurance, and travel. You’ll also see research organizations list toll free numbers to improve response to their surveys.

The current economic downturn is shaking up many business sectors. To Custom Toll Free CEO Christopher Rugh, that turbulence means opportunity. For that reason, he’s brought on board a recognized expert in acquisitions and roll-ups to be the company’s new president.

Michael L. Evans was involved in creating the national IT consulting firm Cotelligent, Inc., through a roll-up of four regional IT companies. After successfully completing an initial public offering, the company acquired an additional 13 companies to make Cotelligent one of the larger IT consulting groups in the U.S., with more than 3,000 employees. Evans subsequently co-founded Certified Security Solutions, Inc., a national security and compliance consulting firm that has made the list of “100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Washington” for the past four years.

Evans shares Rugh’s optimism about the future for Custom Toll Free in the vanity toll free numbers vertical.”In this period of time when everything is depressed, there are opportunities for a company to look strategically at growth and decide to become more aggressive,” Evans said. “The idea is that when the economy regains momentum, you are out ahead of the game.”