Tuesday, December 23, 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.

This strategy is well-used in Australia, but not to the fullest extent. It has been seen that profits have significantly increased through the use of this marketing tactic. The right number is lodged firmly in the mind of the customer for a long period of time. For instance, if you dial 1300 SPARK, you convey the need for an electrician. It's not hard to remember the numbers.

Phone words help to give businesses an edge by eliminating possible loss of customers to competitors. Because customers no longer need to remember a phone number there is no need for them to flip through a phone book containing competitor details.

Another advantage is that you do not end up spending a whole lot of money attracting new customers. Using Phone words helps to generate quality leads for better results. It also helps to give businesses a professional advantage. If one customer promotes the company to another, Phone words can help to ensure that they convey the both the company name and the correct phone number.

Phone words can also be used to boost the effectiveness of advertisements. When the marketing strategy involves the use of an interesting phone word customers are better able to recall the phone number when they need it.

This strategy is commonly used by big brands in Australia, with companies such as AAMI, Telstra, Subway and many others already reaping the benefits of Phone words. In short Phone words are cheap and effective. The simplest way to get on the Phone words wagon is to contact a suitable service provider (1300 Easy Dial is a good one). They provide a variety of phone number options including 1300 and 1800 numbers. 1300 numbers share the cost of the call between the customer and the business whilst 1800 numbers place the entire cost on the business. They also provide tools to help you choose a professional and effective phone word.

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.

Phone words are the latest marketing tool to hit the world! Businesses get an extra edge and profits are increased for the long term, with very little investment. In today's world, Phone words are a must-have tool for every upcoming business.

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