Brand fragmentation isn’t an entirely new disease, but with the proliferation of social media and other Internet-based marketing opportunities, it has become an epidemic.

So what is brand fragmentation? It’s what happens when your company’s brand becomes linked with different images, phrases, ideas, and other things in media that have nothing to do with your company, your products, or each other. The brand becomes diluted. It’s difficult for someone casually encountering it to be sure exactly what products or services are offered and available.

The reason brand fragmentation has become epidemic is because the Internet, and particularly social media, have lowered the barriers to publication and hence to advertising. Does someone on your team have a marketing idea? With a few hours of work and a few clicks of a mouse, it’s up and running: a new website, a blog, a Facebook or Google+ page, even a series of tweets. It’s quick and easy (much quicker and easier than in the old days, anyway) and cheap—or even free.

The result in far too many cases is a proliferation of uncoordinated marketing and advertising ideas that link your products and services to nothing that makes much sense or is easy to remember and keep straight. The energy is high, but it’s unfocused. There’s a lot of creativity being presented, but it presents potential customers with confusion instead of opportunity.

There are few advantages to publication barriers, but one that does exist is a level of discipline imposed by the difficulty and expense of old-media publication. With that natural discipline removed, it becomes necessary for your marketing team to self-impose a replacement for it. The preventative for brand fragmentation is a focused marketing campaign.

Much of the secret to the marketing and branding focus is communication among the various people who are engaged in your marketing efforts. In particular, it’s imperative that social media managers see themselves as part of a larger marketing effort. Also useful is to make certain that everyone engaged in marketing be familiar with Internet-based concepts such as search engine optimization, or commonly referred to SEO today.

It’s also important to be willing and able to kill an idea that doesn’t help to promote the brand in any coherent fashion. That can be more difficult than it might sound. Creative efforts are loved by their creators and no one wants to see his or her ideas shot down. But not every idea is a good one.

A shared use toll free number can serve as a benefit to both your business and your budget for a number of reasons. For those who are new to the concept of a shared use toll free number, here’s a quick breakdown for you: A shared use toll free number is a method of advanced call processing. Calls going to a shared use 800 toll free number are distributed by geography - allowing different companies in different areas to use the same premium vanity toll free number at a fraction of the cost.

Here are three reasons why a shared use toll free number gets it done:

Serve Only the Areas You’re In.

Whether your company is serving only a city or particular region, you can concentrate your business and services only to the area(s) in which you operate. Receiving calls from areas outside the scope of your services can run up your phone bill and waste your call centers’ valuable time.

Vanity 800 Number Availability. 

Custom toll free has the largest database of shared vanity toll free numbers - If a number is in use in some other part of the country than you're in - no problem - You can use it yours, and take advantage of the great vanity number for your business.

Affiliate Marketing.

Become a member of Custom Toll Free’s affiliate program: offer toll free numbers to your clients and let Custom Toll Free--the national leading provider of toll free services-- do the rest. Receive a commission for every referral, and with multiple options you can integrate toll free numbers and services as much or as little as you choose with API, whitelabel sites, widgets and simple ads/links to refer other affiliates. 

If you’re looking to bolster up your customer communication in a cost-effective fashion, a shared-use toll free number is a premium option—coming to you at a fraction of the price. 

What are the hottest add-ons for marketing services to use for improving the value of their offerings and increasing revenues?

Today it’s really all about serving new startups and small businesses. They are growing, expanding, eager to market themselves and the easiest to win over as new clients. So what do they want and need in addition to your core services?

What will really help you stand out, improve the performance of your services and product line, enable you to raise rates or at least add new revenues from traffic whether they take advantage of your main line or not?

There are three core needs of every new startup, small business, and even large corporations launching new marketing campaigns and repositioning themselves…

Content

Pretty design is ‘nice’ but when it comes to attracting the most traffic, real conversions, and maximizing marketing ROI, marketing services know that it is really all about content. So why not start offering copywriting services? Bundle them with your own offering to increase and ensure the advertising effectiveness of direct mail, email campaigns, outdoor and PPC advertising and social. This is easily outsourced to freelance writers through platforms like oDesk and can make a world of difference in getting shared and generating referrals.

Hosting

Hosting has become one of the most popular add-ons and affiliate products today. Host Gator and GoDaddy are among the most well-known, though newer services like Copy Blogger’s Synthesis managed hosting for WordPress are popping up daily. Offering hosting can make a lot of sense as a bundled service if your marketing services include setting up new websites and blogs. However, the issue most marketing services don’t anticipate is that hosting as a stand-alone product lacks attractiveness. Most entrepreneurs really don’t get it or care; it’s like different brands of laundry detergent.

Toll Free Numbers

Then there are toll free numbers. Toll free numbers have quickly become recognized as one of the most powerful business tools available today. All businesses need them from pre-startups to existing companies. Most will want at least several of them if not large batches for testing.

Startups are surging. In Florida alone the Department of State’s Division of Corporations reports 104,490 new domestic for profit corporations registered last year; the most in four years (with the exception of blip in 2011. In 2012 the Sunshine State also saw 169,450 LLCs filed, a 300% increase over 2003 and the most shown to date on public record via the state’s website. They all need toll free numbers.

Bundle them to increase the perceived value of your marketing services and provide proof of great results or promote them via sticky widgets to increase on page time of web visitors and increase total conversion rates.

Local Businesses are sticking it to Yelp...literally. Yelp stickers are going up on shop doors and windows, and here's why you might be 'yelping' for a sticker, too.

A mass array of “lifestyle” apps, Yelp, and others are changing how customers choose who to take their business to.The volume of new businesses is increasing and getting ahead by utilizing these methods. Now businesses can measure the returns they receive by simply reaching out. Alongside printing their Twitter handles with toll free vanity numbers and other contact information, it is now common for businesses to request customers to leave a review on Yelp or check-in through FourSquare. The volume of new businesses are increasing and getting ahead by utilizing these methods.

Businesses that are leading the pack in their industry are those that are taking these lifestyle apps seriously, and taking time to understand and fine-tune their online profiles. Say It’s about one or two in the morning and your stomach is running on empty. If you happen to be equipped with a fully-charged smartphone, then you can enable your location services and Yelp over to find what’s open around you. Simply filter the locales with the “open now” button and copy the directions over to Google Maps—or Apple Maps if you’re feeling kind of adventurous though no one recommends doing so. Not even Apple.

Digital marketing has since undergone a few radical changes. For instance, a Boston Consulting Group Study noted that advertisers who use Yelp see an average of a $23,000 increase in business whereas small, local businesses gain an average of $8,000 in sales coming from the little app that could.

For the mom and pop shops out there, vanity marketing is taking off with new tools for survival. And we’re not just talking about restaurants; apps like Yelp even help to find hospitals, though we’re not sure who stops to check reviews before dialing 911. Now these apps allow businesses to measure their own analytics.

A recent article from Wired.com notes: “Advertising analytics have grown more important as social networks proliferate and as social marketing gains prestige inside large companies. The sums of money targeted at social advertising are growing fast, there are more choices than ever over how to spend that money, and advertisers’ goals are increasingly sophisticated, moving beyond mere counts of likes and followers and into measures of how customers recall, interact with, and buy from brands as a result of the ads."

In the end, whether applying these measures increases your conversions or wind up becoming a trend that takes you nowhere is entirely up to how your business operates. Take for instance the opening scenario: It’s the customer’s empty stomach and the restaurant’s willingness to stay open at 1 AM that makes the sale in the end.

For whatever brand or business you have, keep your options open. Having a toll free vanity number for your business is still the best way to measure your call response and customer interest, especially with Custom Toll Free. You’ll never need a tricky smartphone app or a social media account to operate either. Keep in mind that many want a direct connection over the phone before making any business transaction; it’s best to keep your lines open. When new social and vanity marketing features come to the forefront, don’t look to them as ways to replace what you already have—especially if it works. Always treat your communication avenues as “complimentary” and never place unnecessary barriers between you and your customers.