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The Hottest Real Estate Vanity Numbers?
February 22nd, 2012

News is spreading of a new, even hotter real estate market rebound with areas like Miami even breaking the records achieved during the bubble years. However, there are three hotter things to invest in today that could deliver an even better ROI...

Internet Domain Names

Web domain names are hot properties. Top ranking and domains can fetch millions of dollars as with the transfer of RealEstate.com from Lending Tree last year for over $8 million. Just think, at one time that was probably scooped up for $10! Some entrepreneurs are going as far as pre-building websites and flipping them today, however as you can see, simply flipping great Internet domains can return far more than flipping houses for most people.

Custom Social Media URLs

Perhaps even hotter real estate today is social media URLs. With the future only bringing a more wired world connected by mobile devices and propelled by social media marketing, it will soon be a case of those with the best custom Facebook URLs, etc., leading the pack. This channel has been drastically overlooked by 99% of businesses while forward thinking entrepreneurs lock into mega bucks for later. What do you think Facebook.com/(YourIndustry) will be worth in two years from now?

Vanity Numbers

Just like the above, toll free vanity numbers have also often demanded millions of dollars. Thankfully for small businesses there are many available for as little as $19 a month on shared usage plans today, but savvy professionals could find the profits from controlling the best vanity numbers far outweigh what their entire organization pulled in, in profits in the last couple of years. How many millions did you put in your pocket last year? What great toll free numbers can you get your hands on?

vanity numbers, web domain names
Vanity and Branding |

Best Look Up Tools To Use In Searching For Numbers
February 21st, 2012

There are a number of types of look up tools that can come in handy when searching for winning toll free numbers for your business. Let's take a look at how to use them.

Numspell Tool

One of Custom Toll Free's best look up tools is the Numspell tool. This tool enables those who already have business phone numbers to find out what they spell out in words or phrases to see if they are really viable to use as vanity. This is widely recognized as the most powerful of look up tools on the web of its kind and fun to play around with.

By Keyword

Those who have specific keywords or phrases they would like to find a toll free number to match will now discover easy to use look up tools on the web. These look up tools can deliver numerous options and suggestions based on entering a word or phrase. This will immediately alert businesses to the availability of numbers as well as options for making them theirs.

Reverse Look Up Tools

This may not be the first strategy that comes to mind for companies and entrepreneurs looking for new phone numbers for themselves but reverse look up tools can give the edge needed to lock into truly great numbers. This will enable businesses to look up active numbers they like and find out which prefixes are available for reservation as well as discovering where the competition has dropped the ball and left the door open to move in on their already successful digits.

Savvy entrepreneurs also won't be stopped just because an attractive number appears as being in use when using these various look up tools. Negotiation, monitoring and back order services can all enable determined professionals and business owners to get the winning vanity numbers they need.

Look Up Tools, toll free numbers
Toll Free Benefits |

Why Vanity Toll Free Numbers Are Better Than Regular Numbers
February 20th, 2012

A vanity toll-free phone number, also known as a "phone word," is a toll-free phone number that makes a word rather than just a sequence of numbers. If you're a florist, it might be 1-800 FLOWERS. For a dance studio, it might be 1-800-DANCING.


Why are vanity numbers better than regular numbers? It's all about two things: ease of recall and name recognition. The fact is, our brains are much better at recognizing words than numbers. We're all able to memorize numbers, of course, but it takes some effort to do it and mistakes are pretty easy to make. But remembering a word, especially a word that's associated with your business, is easy and natural. And that makes vanity toll-free numbers much easier to remember.


When you advertise, you want potential customers to be able to contact you right away. You want those phones to ring! Studies have shown that vanity toll-free phone numbers increase response rates to direct-response advertising from 30% to as much as 60%! In today's highly-competitive information market, you don't have very much time to get your message across, and the easier you make it for customers to respond to your advertising the more responses you're going to receive.


But it goes beyond the response of those who see your ads. Let's say you get a response and gain a satisfied customer. Congratulations! But that's not the end of the process. Your happy customer will surely have friends, family members, co-workers, and others who may be interested in the same goods or services. Naturally your customer will tell his or her friends about you. But there's a big difference between this: "I can't recommend them enough. Let me give you their phone number. It's – oh, wait – I had it written down right here – well, you can look them up online." And this: "Their phone number's easy to remember. It's 1-800-DESIGNS."


It's all about making it as easy as possible for your customers to find you.

toll free numbers, vanity numbers
Toll Free Benefits, Vanity and Branding |

The Increase in Mobile Usage: What It Means For Your Vanity Numbers
February 17th, 2012

According to the BBC News and Cisco, the number of mobile devices in use is expected to surpass that of humans this year. What does that mean for your vanity number and where does that leave those businesses who don't have one?

According to the latest Cisco data, the tablet market exploded last year to 34 million units. Of course this brings more concerns about keeping up with the amount of data usage, especially with a surge in streaming video but you can bet marketers are equally frenzied in their efforts to keep up with the social and search strategies being rolled out by their competitors.

With more and more competition it is obvious that branding and credibility are becoming more important and can make all the difference. A key part of this is, of course, having a vanity number which can help to instantly level the playing field between large corporations and the little guys online. Needless to say those who don't have vanity numbers are going to find it very hard to compete.

Despite automation and many businesses attempting to build turnkey web presences, which are designed to eliminate the need for any human interaction during the retailing process, the fact is that people will always want to pick up the phone at some point. In addition, the easier it becomes to contact a live person, the better the odds that your organization will win the business.

Vanity numbers make this easy and with new flexible workforce options. There is no reason why even the brand new, one man shop can't offer great customer service around the clock without killing profit margins or having to layout huge amounts of capital to build their own call centers.

More mobiles than humans - it's a great thing for entrepreneurs. It means it is even easier to market to a larger portion of the population and reach them at the right time, in the right place. Just make sure your brand does your organization justice so that every opportunity can be capitalized on and that your vanity number is handled in a way that makes your company stand out as someone who people love doing business with.

branding, vanity numbers
Vanity and Branding |

Benefits of Vanity Toll-Free Numbers to Companies
February 16th, 2012

What can a vanity toll-free phone number do for your company that a regular toll-free digital number can't? Despite the name, it's really not about vanity – the marketing value is huge!


When a customer sees your advertising, you want him or her to contact you. That's the only way advertising is really effective. A vanity toll-free number is much easier to remember than a sequence of random digits. You only have a few seconds at best to catch your customer's attention. The easier you make it for him or her to receive your message and act on it, the more likely it is that this will happen.


Not only do you want him or her to contact you, but after you deliver your terrific product or service, you want him or her to tell his or her friends, and to remember you and call again. The easier it is to remember your phone number, the easier it will be to pass it on or to have it available when a customer needs what you have to offer in the future. Sure, any customer can pick up your card – and they can lose it, too. But if your phone number is easy to remember, he or she will be able to make that connection anyway.
 

A vanity toll-free number can increase the response rate to your advertising by as much as sixty percent. Even better is to match your vanity number to your website. If your company can be called at 1-800-WIDGETS and found online at www.1800widgets.com, each of those contact methods will reinforce the other and make it that much easier to remember.


A vanity toll-free number can also go a long way towards establishing your product's brand. Ideally, you want your business' name, your Internet domain names, and your phone number all to match and all to say something about your business that you want your customers to hear.


Vanity toll-free numbers are not really "vanity" at all. They can benefit your business big time, increasing name recognition, increasing customer response, and putting you in a position to generate more sales.

response rates, toll free numbers, vanity numbers
Vanity and Branding |

Three Creative Marketing Strategies for Getting the Edge on the Competition
February 15th, 2012

Today creativity and innovation in your marketing strategies is more important than ever. Even those businesses which think they are doing okay right now are in for a rude awakening as the economy improves and more competitors jump into the mix. Check out the following three ideas to fuel your creativity for maximum advertising effectiveness in the months ahead.

It's All About Shipping on Time!

How many women didn't get their Valentines' Day gifts on time this week? More importantly how many men waited until the 13th to order? How many millions of times does this happen each year at birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions? Are customers likely to go back, even to the most reputable retailers if they failed to deliver on time? Probably not. How can you carve a niche and work in guaranteed on time, or fast last minute shipping to your marketing strategies and operations to cash in big on the busiest shopping days of the year? Of course don't even attempt this unless you have a toll free number.

Inexpensive Events and City Money for Breaking Records

Panama City Beach, FL hit the news this week for its planned bikini parade which is hoping to beat the Guinness Book of World Records title held by Australia. How much viral and free press potential does an event with over 358 women in bikinis have? Best of all it is being funded from an $8 million budget allowance for promoting Spring Break. Stop thinking so small and focus on marketing strategies which can really take off on their own. Though know that you had better have instant credibility, including a professional business phone number if you want to benefit from public funds.

Turning Every Home into a Billboard

Imagine your vanity number in giant digits on homes in every neighborhood of your local area. One California marketing agency has been turning homes into huge billboards in exchange for helping the homeowners stay out of foreclosure. How can you tweak your marketing strategies to help the community and crush the competition by being the most dominant brand?

marketing strategies
Uncategorized |

Fundamentals of Branding
February 14th, 2012

Why is branding so important, and what does it take to create a winning brand?

The reason most fail miserably at branding is one of two main reasons: they do not really understand how large the impact of their brand image is on their growth and future success or they do not devote the time to work on it. Branding isn't just about creating a catchy slogan because you think it sounds cool. How you present your business, product or service plays into every part of your operations. This includes the vendors and partners who work with you, the discounts they will offer to the investors you will attract, and even the talent that you can pick up and how much they will demand to work for you. This is all in addition to the premium you can put on your products, longevity of your enterprise and how easy growth comes.

Some think they can just rush out and start shipping and work on their branding later. For a few this may work but for most it is a costly and devastating mistake which dooms new businesses to failure before they even get off the ground. Recognizing that your brand is the foundation, platform and springboard can make all of your other recruiting, marketing and expansion efforts easier.

Smart entrepreneurs start planning their branding well before they launch and make sure that their business names, Internet domain names and toll free vanity numbers all match their desired brand image. Though before going wild on tools and design, you must decide how you want to be seen and what you are trying to say, with not just your words and visuals but the channels you are using too.

The easiest way to kick off a winning brand is to start by working backwards and defining who it is that you want to attract. What appeals to them, what do they like and how do they choose products or services?

branding, vanity numbers
Vanity and Branding |

How To Do Website Advertising
February 13th, 2012

The Internet is a vast sea in which you – and your website advertising – can easily get lost. Putting advertising up online? That could hardly be easier. Having it be effective, find leads, find customers, and generate sales? That's much harder.


To begin with, you need to find out where your customers are, and that means you need to know who they are. Are they men? Women? Young? Older? Businesses? Individuals?

Professionals? What other interests do people have who are likely to be interested in your products? And most importantly, where do they hang out on the Internet?


What do your customers read or watch? What social networks do they use, and what corners of that network do they frequent? All of this will tell you where to target your website advertising so that it is seen by the right people.


When designing your website advertising plan, consider what you want the person who sees it to do. Remember that the Internet is interactive. It's not like a television commercial. You're not just raising brand recognition here. You want a response. The most obvious response is to buy your product, of course, but that depends on the product; not every purchase is an impulse buy. But if not, then you want your website advertising to provoke an ongoing conversation. Give your customer a way to contact you for more information and to provide you with a way to get back to them: an email address at the minimum.


Although you want to provide a way to start a conversation, it's also important to bear in mind that the Internet doesn't favor a hard-sell approach. Website advertising that is obviously advertising tends to be ignored. But if you can start a conversation with the right people, even if it's not on your product per se, then you're halfway there.


These are the rules that are most commonly ignored when it comes to website advertising: target it precisely, make it interactive, and don't be overbearing. The rest is more straightforward and involves search engine optimization and follow-up. The Internet is a new world of marketing and it has rules of its own.

Website Advertising
Uncategorized |

The $25 Billion Settlement, the IRS, and Your Vanity Number
February 10th, 2012

This week saw a landmark $25 billion settlement between the country’s five major banks and 49 states. Some are saying this is letting predatory lenders off the hook far too easily while others are equating this to blackmail by the government who actually encouraged this behavior. Either way the point is that first it was stocks, then mortgage brokers and now major banks. What's next?

Now it has to be said that this isn’t a site dedicated to professional tax advice and by all means you should always be doing businesses the right way and be paying your fair share of taxes but there could come a time that you find your industry an IRS target, no matter how honest and transparent you are. This is when your vanity number all of a sudden becomes more than just a priceless business tool but your best friend in the world.

This could be especially true if Obama stays in office and becomes fueled by new confidence and goes after the ‘rich’ even harder. It isn’t hard to find out just about anything about anybody in five minutes online today, so unless you are sheltering your assets you could be targeted. It is best to keep this in mind rather than publish them to anyone with a Smartphone.

However, if you already have the travel bug and enjoy globe trotting as much as possible anyway, the good news is  by using your toll free vanity number no one will notice the difference if you are in Cancun one week and Bangkok the next and your business never has to slow down.

IRS, vanity number
Uncategorized |

Effective Ways of Marketing Your Product
February 9th, 2012

So you have the next big wave product, and you want to market it effectively. What should you do? Deciding where and how to advertise is a tempting approach, but it's also jumping the gun. That decision should follow from other marketing decisions on which it logically depends.


First, determine your target market exactly in terms of gender, age, location, occupations, whether it is individuals or businesses, families, single people, teenagers, etc. You'll want to target all of your marketing efforts to that market.


Secondly, have a marketing plan that starts modestly and builds up from there. If you have a retail product, your first step isn't to approach a huge retailer such as Wal-Mart. Big retailers are interested in established, proven products, not newcomers. Your marketing plan should include:

 

Sales Goals. These should be measurable, realistic, and specific. They should be based on the product and the target market, and be expressed in terms of so many sales in the first month and so many in the first six months.

 

Steps to Reach Your Sales Goals. Do you want to market directly over the Internet? Should your marketing be tailored to small, independent retailers? Will you be approaching small businesses directly as customers, relying on eBay, contacting people in person?

 

Timelines and Milestones. Having decided where you want to go and what steps to take to get there, establish a set of marketing milestones leading to a long-range goal.

 

If you are selling a retail product, you will eventually want to be established enough that you can present your products to larger retailers. Your timeline should have one step or stage following the last in order to reach this goal.


All of this planning isn't as fun as jumping right into a really cool ad to go out on the Internet, in print, or on the radio, but it's the way to make sure that your marketing efforts go in the right direction, the right way, at the right time, and reach the right people.

marketing
Uncategorized |
 
 
What is a Shared Number?
What is a Shared Number?
 
 
Why Vanities Work Why Vanities Work
 

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