Knowing how to search for a vanity number and how they work is critical to your brand’s marketing success

1) Don’t search small inventory websites for number availability

While I’m obviously biased, RingCentral’s Vanity Number Search tool is amongst the best. Chances are good that if the number is available, it’s on RingCentral’s site and listed as part of their inventory. Too many first time vanity number customers find one or two single websites and conduct a search for number availability, thinking that all inventory is listed within a single site. Conduct a more exhaustive search and remember that toll free numbers can always be ported over to any phone service provider of your choice. Once you own the number, you own the number – not the telecom company. So search high and low for that number and do invest time into the process.

2) Don’t restrict your choice of number by industry description or company name

Chances are, especially for 1-800 numbers, that your mnemonic number of choice may not be available. 1-800-Got-Junk isn’t worth millions for no reason, but it may also mean that 1-800-ABCplumbers is not available. That shouldn’t deter you from getting a vanity number that’s going to be easy to remember at parties, on radio ads and on the web. Think of verbs such as “Go” or “Call” as additions to your brand or industry name in the vanity number. For example, 1-800-Go-Fedex is a simple but powerful example of adding an “action verb” to the addition of your brand. There are tons of other examples, so don’t settle for the first number you find!

3) Know the hierarchy of vanity number recognition with the public

As I’ve written before on this blog, even American Idol often repeated “These are 888 numbers folks, not 800 numbers.” That means that many people still perceive toll free numbers as being 800 numbers. The obvious ideal is 1-800 numbers, after that the second best choice is 888 numbers. IMHO 866 and 877 numbers are equally third choice. However, that being said, if 888 numbers worked well enough for American Idol… then the lesson is, it’s ok to have an 888 number and not an 800 toll free, but it may require an extra few seconds reminding folks of that in your ads. If I had to choose between getting a less desirable mnemonic in an 800 number format or getting a more desired name in 888 format – I would pick the 888 format every time.

Start exploring now and see what you can find. Just make sure you remember these three common mistakes while you make your search.

Brian Scudamore buys a toll free phone number and turns it into one of America’s fastest growing franchises.

Another post on my series of what vanity numbers could be worth.. A perfect 7 digits for a toll free vanity number, 1-800 Got-Junk was founded by Canadian Brian Scudamore in 1989 when he was still in college. While the company operated successfully for years, it wasn’t until they bought an unforgettable Find a toll free phone number that they saw tremendous growth. A year after the company changed it’s name from ‘Rubbish Boys’ to 1-800 Got-Junk, they were franchising to other cities. They are now amongst the fastest growing franchises in America, and have been mentioned on CNBC and the superbowl of product mentions – Oprah.

As more businesses, both online and brick-and-mortar, adopt toll free mnemonics as their brands, the availability of toll free vanity numbers will become increasingly scarce. Which means the resale value of toll free numbers may increase steadily over the next few years. * This is not the opinion of RingCentral or to be construed as investment advice – it is solely my independent prediction based on my years working in the telecom industry and ’spider sense.’

Call it gut feel. Or in my case, expanding gut feel.

While I’ve mentioned before that it’s getting scarcer and scarcer to find available toll free numbers to purchase cheaply, generally 1-866 and 1-888 numbers are recognized as toll free numbers as well by the general public. IMHO I would prefer 1-800, 1-888 (it’s only 1 digit to remember) then 1-877 (7 is considered lucky numbers in many cultures and religions) and finally 1-866.

BTW, that’s the order (coincidentally?) of the age that each of these toll free vanity numbers were FTC approved, so 888 has been around the longest – since the sixties in fact. Again, just my opinion – but if someone offers me 1-800-Printer for a few hundred bucks – I’m buying!

Toll Free Numbers Can Be Valued Similarly to Domain Names

In 1991, the FTC ordered that toll free numbers become ‘portable’; meaning owners of 1-800 numbers were no longer tethered to their telecom companies that owned the copper running into the buildings. It allowed for the rise of owning “Vanity Toll Free Numbers” such as 1-800-Flowers (a publicly traded company with over $919 million in sales last year) to those selling vanity numbers like 1800-Yellow-Pages (for a reported $10 million). And while most small business owners won’t gain such valuations, the mnemonic value of having a 1800-Business number can’t be denied. In California alone, insurance companies with inferior (IMHO) marketing content (no offense 1800-General, really) have built very successful marketing programs with easy-to-remember toll free numbers.

Currently there are 800, 866, 888, and 877 toll free numbers available, but one does consistently hear Ryan Seacrest on American Idol repeat the call-in vote numbers as “866, not 800 numbers.” I wonder what call statistics they saw in people who saw an 866 number on the screens and instead still dialed the 800 numbers? This is not to say that toll free numbers that are not 1800 are not valuable, but it is a realistic element to consider when deciding which numbers to purchase. Any discussion about valuing toll free numbers and not mentioning this reality of current consumer behavior would not be comprehensive or honest. BTW, the previous link is from a private citizen who posted a web-page that lists the season’s 866 numbers for dial-in voting – and it outranks AmericanIdol.com’s own website for anyone searching online. You’ve got to love the Internet.

And how competitive is the market for toll free numbers? Chances are, the toll free number of any variety (1800 or otherwise) + your business name, is not available. This hasn’t stopped a lot of other creative marketers from getting toll free numbers that are constructed as:

866+Product-Name (1866-Widget-2000)
800-Call-to-Action (1800-Cash4Gold)

There is a solution to not getting the 1800 number, however, in that studies show an increasing amount of consumers ‘Googling’ toll free numbers in order to find more information about the company or services before calling. This gives owners of non-1800 toll free numbers a chance to display low-cost ads through Adwords that redirect those visitors to your specific website – with the correct number displayed. Better yet, place that number right in the ad copy – a percentage of people will call without clicking the ad – saving you the click-fee. Sorry Google, I still love your technology and your wonderful, wonderful cafeteria. Please invite me back.

Photo by justinbaeder

Most people are familiar with vanity phone numbers; a number that spells out a certain phrase or even your company name. This is commonly called a “phoneword” and is the alphanumeric equivalent of a telephone number.

Vanity phone numbers are more advantageous than standard numbers because they are more memorable and also give you another area where you can expand your brand.

In the past 10-20 years, they have also become prevalent in pop culture from commercials to use in sitcoms. And, as we all know, if something techie is popular in a sitcom, then it has already become popular with the cool tech crowd.

Scrubs

One of the best uses of a vanity number in recent memory is on the show Scrubs. In it, Donald Faison’s character, Dr. Chris Turk, managed to get 916-CALL-TURK.

Turk: J.D., big news! Guess what my new cell phone number spells!

J.D.: Why’d you get a new cell phone number? Your old number spelled “kufunninapuh.”

Turk: Yeah, well this one’s 916-CALL-TURK. Yeah, so now all you gotta do is call Turk!

J.D.: How’m I supposed to remember that? I’m begging you, stick with “kufunninapuh”!

Turk: Come on, man, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me besides getting married.

J.D.: She’s not here.

Turk: It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me!

J.D.: But “CALL-TURK” is eight numbers.

Turk: I know, actually it’s just CALL-TUR, but I’m hoping people will dial the “K” anyway.

J.D.: I’ll always dial the “K” for you.

Instead of using the standard 555 number that television uses to keep real numbers from being abused by TV watchers, the producers of the show actually purchased the number. When called, a recording would thank fans for watching. If you were lucky and a cast member was nearby, they would pick up the phone and talk to you.

It was a great way to reach out to fans and help brand the show. However, the number is no longer in service. I suspect that when the show moved to ABC, NBC turned it off.

(Yes, it’s in German, but that kinda makes it funnier.)

Something interesting to note here that most people don’t realize is that a vanity number doesn’t have to be a toll free number. Obviously, if you want to reach customers outside of your area code, you should consider a toll free number, but if you aren’t worried about that limitation, then you have 3 more numbers to use with your catch phrase.

MY BOYS

TBS created a commercial using one of the characters from My Boys and a vanity number: 1-800-TBS-FUNNY.

>> Watch the commercial

Not only does it help advertise the show, but it also helps to create a clever marketing gag for the station.

Sadly, nobody picked up the phone when I tried calling it, but it was a real phone number. I am surprised that they do not have an auto attendant to deal with any calls. Maybe they should take note of what Scrubs was doing.

PhoneSpell

Ever been curious what your number might spell? The majority of our numbers aren’t going to spell anything that is memorable, but every once in awhile, something neat will come up. I went to PhoneSpell and put in my home number and cell phone with and without area code. Nothing really cool came up except for the cell phone without the area code. (And in the interest of not wanting to be plagued by phone calls, I won’t post that here. ) You can also put in your phoneword and it will give you the resulting number. (In case you didn’t want to try to do the “math” in your head while looking at a phone.)

Once you have the number in mind, head on over to RingCentral to get it set up. You can check and see if the toll free number is available first making things very flexible and giving you the chance to make changes if someone already has it. (Plus, it means that you don’t need to call the number to see if it is taken.)

Have a specific local number in mind? Let RingCentral help you with that too. Just call sales at 800-574-5290 and they can look into your vanity phone number and find out what’s available.

A vanity number can be a great resource for your company, website and sales team. Wouldn’t you like for people to be able to call you by just remembering a word or two?