Monday, December 15, 2008

A Breakthrough in Viral Marketing: Phone words

By Buck Thompson

Most of us are familiar with reality television shows which have the audience voting for their favorite contestants in a bid to keep them in the show after each episode. To do this they may use a number such as 1300-TEMPO- followed by the performance number of the contestant. Now some of us may wonder, how do we "dial" TEMPO on the phone? Well, actually you are not "dialing" TEMPO. Instead you are dialing the number 83676. The word TEMPO is spelled out by the alphabetic characters written on each number key. In this context the word TEMPO is a phone word.

Though this strategy is quite niche in Australia, its full potential is yet to be uncovered. When used, results have been easily observable through a boost in profits. The right number positions itself in the minds of the customer, creating a long term impact. For example 1300 SPARK can be dialed if you are in a need for an electrician. The numbers associating the brand name are easy to remember. It also has the added benefit of imprinting the brand in the customers mind.

Phone words, if used well, cut down on competition. Nobody will try the yellow pages or the classified columns if they can remember a number and dial it at ease. A company can gain a larger customer base by being exclusive with their number.

A follow on effect of Phone words is that they enable customers to not only relay the name of your business to other potential customers but your phone number too. In this way the use of Phone words gives even more power to word-of-mouth advertising.

Phone words help a business to produce more effective advertising with higher response rates and as a result increase the revenue generated. Therefore clarity of the message and ease of recall become important issues to be considered when marketing via Phone words.

In Australia, where this concept is in vogue, big names such as AAMI, Hyatt Regency, Telstra, Subway etc have had great responses to phone word campaigns. Leasing the phone word is cheap when compared with other marketing strategies. Service providers like 1300 Easy Dial offer simple, easy to use phone word facilities. You can choose your phone word number from 1300, 1800 or 13 numbers. A 1800 number puts the total call cost on the business that leases the number whereas costs for 13 and 1300 are divided between the customers and the company. Simply communicate your preferences and they will find the best deal for you.

Obtaining your very own phone word is easy. The first step is to make sure that some other product or company is not already using that particular word. You will need to be granted ownership of that phone word in a certain area before you can begin using it. A phone word service provider will help you negotiate this. An added advantage of using a phone word is that you are allowed to retain your previous services and phone numbers along with the new phone word.

The results of Phone words speak for themselves. They are considered a breakthrough in marketing due to their simplicity, cost and effectiveness. It is definitely worth investigating what a good phone word can do to boost the profits of your business.

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