Winning the Numbers Game
Ironically, the most important words in your radio commercial are not words. They’re numbers. Your phone number to be exact. More than brand promises and catchy slogans, if a listener can remember one thing verbatim from your radio commercial it had better be the phone number you’re using to generate a lead or and order.
That’s why phone numbers in radio commercials need to be “radio friendly” - memorable and easy to recall. A good toll-free number coupled with time-tested media properties and a well constructed spot work together to make direct response radio campaigns successful.
Not sure about how to secure “good” radio friendly phone numbers? There are companies with services that can help you. A company called CustomTollFree.com helps customers acquire vanity 800 numbers for the purposes of brand marketing and direct response advertising. They offer customization of numbers, like groups of thousands or groups of hundreds in sequence. Repeating numbers and others designed with all aspects of direct response media in mind.
Another company called Call Source works with clients to acquire their desired custom toll free numbers. They are responsible for implementing and measuring the call volume and providing reports detailing on each number’s overall performance. They monitor results on a daily or weekly basis and offer additional services including additional toll free minutes, custom greetings and recordings to enhance and help clients achieve their campaign goals.
Many marketers don’t put nearly enough thought, energy and focus into what good phone numbers are and why they are needed. Good phone numbers are memorable and can make the phone ring. Bad numbers are difficult (or impossible) to recall and probably won’t achieve the desired results.
If your goal is to make the phone ring, get a memorable phone number. Executing a campaign without one is like trying to play a game of baseball without a bat. You might somehow still win the game, but it will be by luck and not sound execution of the fundamentals.
Danny Ocean, Vice President/Director of Operations
October 28th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Thanks for writing this.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
You will also need an IVR company to answer the phone calls. With radio, you get a burst of simultaneous phone calls when the commercial runs and you need to have enough capacity to make that work for you.