4 Reasons to Consider a New Phone Number for 2017

Will 2017 be the year that marketing regains some much-needed balance between traditional and new media channels? There's a good chance that could be the case. The rapid advance of social networks over the last decade has slowed to a crawl for most business owners. Facebook is fully established and now costs a lot to reach people with every post, while the likes of Twitter and Pinterest have faded from the early obsession to serve more niche audiences. Video and visual-based platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are undeniably booming, but there's a certain social media fatigue setting in when companies consider taking on even more digital marketing with no immediate return on investment. That creates some space to step back and review what marketing channels are most important for the year ahead. If you haven't thought about the value of your phone number as a marketing tool recently, now is the perfect time to reconsider. 4 Reasons to Get a New Phone Number for 2017

• Your phone number should never be an afterthought. Unfortunately, if you've accepted the random digits supplied by your service provider, that's exactly what it has become in terms of your marketing plan. The good news is it's easy to change! Even after decades of marketing success for custom phone numbers, there are always unforgettable numbers available for forward-thinking business owners. Here are four reasons you should consider getting your business a better number for the New Year:1. Reconnect with your customers: We consistently see that most customers prefer to call -- or at least they want to know there's a way to call when they need you. A memorable number helps them to remember how to get in touch when the moment's right, as well as encouraging new customers to use their phone as a direct connection to find out more about your products and services.
• 2. Enhance your brand: It's not always easy to build a brand, especially for smaller businesses. Marketing budgets are limited and that impacts how broadly you can share your value proposition. The right custom number augments any brand every time it's seen. A toll-free 800 number confers size and status, for example, whereas the right local vanity number tells customers where you are and what you do.

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• 3. Provide a clear and memorable call to action: Custom numbers provide an incentive to act, sometimes both explicitly and implicitly. Direct call-to-action numbers clearly tell a customer what your number will help them to do: 1-800-SWITCH-NOW or 1-877-TRY-FREE, for example. But even numbers that use your company name or slogan contain an implicit direction to call. Seeing a number triggers the impulse to pick up the phone, while the branded part of your new number says that you're the one to call. It's a subtle suggestion, but that's the beauty of a well-branded number!
• 4. A way to avoid excluding customers: Believe it or not, there's still a sizeable section of consumers who don't want to do everything online and much prefer to call companies they want to buy from. If you focus all your efforts online, it's easy to leave these people behind. That's simply not an option for most businesses. Placing a custom phone number at the heart of your marketing plans for 2017 allows you to reach out to those more traditional consumers without taking anything away from your online strategy. In fact, studies show that a memorable number increases online conversions as well... a win-win solution, if ever there was one!

Start your 2017 marketing strategy out on the right track by considering how a new phone number could improve your business.If you need help honing a strategy for the year ahead, the RingBoost team is here to help!