More Impactful Advertising – Seven (or More) Letters at a Time

Dealer Marketing Magazine, November 2010

For those of us suffering from numeric overload, every new advertisement we see with yet another 10-digit phone number to remember is an opportunity for recall failure. It’s surprising how so many companies invest thousands (and even millions) of dollars in advertising their business with these impossible-to-remember numbers—especially when people are already oversaturated with trying to remember passwords and pin numbers. Combine the difficulty to recall these numeric strands with the fact that today’s attention span is shorter than ever (as folks simultaneously text, talk, and surf the web while viewing or hearing your ad) and we’re left with little chance that a future customer will remember that 10-digit phone number.

Phone numbers are often the hardest of all number combinations to remember. Why is that? Well, we don’t get to choose the phone numbers as we do with pin codes or passwords, so we can’t relate them to something personal or make them easy to remember. And, numeric phone numbers give no indication as to what type of business you’re calling. For most dealers, this creates a lose-lose situation. People have a very low chance of recalling your phone number if they have no reference point to instigate the recall and you risk losing their business to a competing dealership down the road, all because you’re not creating mindshare.

We’ve always known (at least since its invention) that the phone is an important tool to reach people and businesses. Each day, people are exposed to hundreds of advertisements, whether on TV or the radio, in newspapers or magazines, or on billboards—and most of those ads list a phone number to call. Chances are that very few people remember those ads and even fewer remember the phone numbers or contact info. Give consumers a phone number with a reference point, however, and you can turn that around.

This is where your marketing strategy comes in, seven letters (or more) at a time. Embracing vanity phone numbers may well be marketing’s greatest gift to the consumer (and the advertiser).

According to a general manager at a dealership in the Southeast, “Having a vanity number makes it easy for people to recall our dealership over another and extends a more corporate and professional perception.” The GM’s main goal is to retain customers and get them coming back to his dealership for service to build his business. His ad campaigns are doing just that. “The vanity number has a huge influence on customer retention when it comes to the service side of the automotive business.” He believes his success is due to his commitment to use the vanity number on all advertising and promotional materials, which builds mindshare and keeps customers coming back to the dealership.

Remember, a phone number does not have to be limited to seven digits (ten if you include area code). They can run as many as you want, (the call will connect after the seventh digit is dialed). For example, you could advertise 1-800-NEW-AUTO (exactly 10 digits) but you can also use 1-800-NEW-TRUCK (one extra letter) if that aligns better with your focus. The most important thing is to find a number that relates to your business and is something that people will remember, regardless of how many letters (numbers) it has.

So, when you’re looking for a memorable tool to use in your ads, your URL is a given, and usually has something to do with the name of your dealership, so why not treat your phone number the same? You’ll gain mindshare with your advertising, be a standout in the sea of daily ads, and that will lead to greater return on investment.

Laura Noonan has 16 years of experience in the vanity 800 numbers and telecommunications industry. She coaches automotive clients each year on using toll-free vanity 800 phone numbers as direct marketing tools to increase advertising response rates. Laura can be reached at lnoonan@800response.com or 1-800-NEW-SALE.