Dial 1-900-MIX-A-LOT, and kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back
If you’ve been to a wedding reception in the last 20 years, chances are you’ve heard this memorable refrain blasted over the DJ speakers. One reason this particular line stands out among a song full of earworms is the noble rear-end aficionado MC leveraged a popular troupe of his time: the pay-per-call 900 number. Back in the day, hulkamaniacs could call 1-900-454-HULK to talk to the WWF champ, 1-900-HOT-HINTS got you spicy video game tips, and 1-900-234-JOSE put you on the horn with baseball slugger Jose Canseco to talk steroids and inside information on his other legal transgression (no, really).
Though the pay-per-call model is all but extinct, the practice of using catchy vanity numbers isn’t. Like the product jingle, this tried-and-true method plants a brand in the consumer’s head. And when in need, the recall can be amazing. All the more, it’s probably easier than you think to procure your own vanity number.
In this article, we cover:
- A multipronged approach to branding your business
- Making your brand easy to remember
- What you get with a YouMail vanity number
Branding is psychological on many levels. In building a brand, you are developing recall, trust, and feel.
- It’s me again — It takes five to seven impressions for someone to remember a brand. You need to get your brand in front of your audience often and with style. Fail, and your business is doomed to mediocrity among a void of dozens of other forgettable brands.
- Stand out, don’t blend in — Color improves brand recognition by up to 80 percent. It’s not good enough to just be present with a logo you paid someone on Fiver for. If you’re serious, your art direction and design should be created with intent and by leveraging experience.
- Zingo! — Seventy-two percent of the best brand names are made-up words or acronyms.Brands spend a great deal of time and energy attempting to acquire and own mind space around certain keywords or phrases. Depending on your market, there is likely a lot of competition out there already for search engine result pages. But what if you were to coin a new phrase? “Zippers,” “windbreakers,” and “jet skis” are all made-up words. A (frickin’) laser is just a catchy-as-heck acronym (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). Find ways to blaze your own trail.
- Check out my blog — Brands that blog generate 67 percent more leads than those that don’t (wink-wink). You better be in the conversation, not completely absent from it.
Like the catchy hook to a song or the theme to your favorite show, the stickier your branding, the more likely it is to catch on. There are many avenues to great branding, so leave no stone unturned.
Catch on and Expand Your Market
Say you’ve started a modest dog walking business. While you may not start with an iconic logo or mind-blowing business model, one thing you can do is ensure you are easy to reach. For a nominal fee, you can set up your own vanity phone number — imagine owning (310) WALK-DOG in your neighborhood. You’re going to catch on far easier than you would using a set of random digits.
Think of it like acquiring a domain name. Underneath every URL is an IP address that is just a collection of numbers and decimals points. Of course you’d rather have a catchy URL like, say, www.youmail.com than http://104.17.240.105 (before you try it, security features usually preclude IP addresses as access points to websites, but you get our point). There’s really no reason to treat your phone number any different.
If you want to expand your presence to a nearby market, there is no better way than by creating your vanity number in another area code. Imagine how you’d feel hiring a plumber whose phone number includes an area code from the next county over. You’d probably rather deal with a service that you’re sure serves your area based on its phone number. Perhaps there are several adjacent markets with their own area codes in your neck of the woods. The Los Angeles area alone includes approximately 19 different area codes within a stretch of 150 miles of coastline and surrounding area.
Easily Set Up Your State-of-the-Art Business Phone
With YouMail, you not only get exactly the phone number you want with calling and texting, but also state-of-the-art business phone features. Your free phone number from YouMail can be a local number in your area code or another area code of your choosing. You could pick up more than one extra phone number to show a local presence in multiple areas. And yes, you can even choose a local vanity number, a catchy number people won’t forget, like (310) DOG-WALK or (202) 777-RENT. There’s no better way to go phone-viral than a vanity number that doesn’t need to be written down.
A free phone number from YouMail includes many great features. Set calls to go straight to a dedicated voicemail box, excellent for subverting marketing calls you don’t want to deal with. Or have calls forwarded to your cell phone, so your device rings just as if it was your primary line.
The way you use it is up to you. Make it a personal or business line. The great thing is that you can have a line dedicated to managing your calls on the go. You also get a virtual receptionist that includes an auto-attendant that routes inbound calls, delivers business greetings, sends automatic SMS replies, transcribes voicemail, and much more.
So if you like growing big businesses and you cannot lie
and other entrepreneurs can’t deny,
visit W-W-W dot YouMail.com and kick them nasty thoughts.
Get a vanity number.
