1-800-HURT-911® is the preeminent vanity phone number to dominate personal injury advertising for lawyers. We know because we use it for our personal injury law firm.
- Exclusive by state or DMA (Network TV)
- Auto-renewing monthly contract, so you can’t lose your territory, but you’re never locked in
- All calls ring to the number you designate
- No set-up fees, termination fees, or deposits
- Very low monthly fee, because you do your own advertising
1-800-HURT-911® is more valuable than ever because of online advertising.
See how 1-800-HURT-911® proved to substantially increase ROI from Google Ads and increase the Google Quality Score. A $50,000 monthly Google Ad budget with1-800-HURT-911® in the ad title can produce additional annual legal fees of $4,000,000!
Read more about why vanity numbers for personal injury lawyers are more important today with online advertising: Are Vanity Phone Numbers Still Relevant? at LawyerAdvertisingBlog.com.
Why Personal Injury Advertising Gets More Competitive Every Year
- New channels of advertising media
- Rapidly increasing advertising budgets
- More money is available to finance lawyer advertising, and
- A finite and decreasing number of accidents and personal injury cases.
New Channels of Advertising Media
Today, there are an unlimited number of ways to reach people injured in an accident.
When lawyers first started advertising, lawyers advertised in newspapers and the Yellow Pages. Then came more yellow page books, radio, and a couple of TV channels on broadcast TV. Now, with cable TV, there are hundreds of TV channels.
In the early days of advertising on the Internet, there were a couple of ways of advertising. Today, there are hundreds of ways to advertise on the Internet and social media, by email, text messaging, and more.
Rapidly Increasing Budgets for Personal Injury Advertising
The more money spent on advertising for personal injury lawyers, the more successful they get. With an average of 17% of revenue spent on advertising, personal injury law firm advertising budgets grow quickly every year.
Some 1-800-HURT-911 lawyers have advertising budgets of 6 figures per month. My own personal injury law firm started by spending $2,500 per month and increased to $8,000 per month. Now, we continue to increase our advertising budget.
More Money Available to Finance Lawyer Advertising
Many of the largest personal injury and mass tort law firms became that large by financing their advertising. Since personal injury advertising has an ROI of 10-20 times the investment and even more for mass tort advertising, it pays to finance your advertising.
Most personal injury lawyers are unaware of the financing available or that the largest personal injury law firms got there by financing their advertising. These lawyers are falling behind and finding it increasingly difficult to get personal injury cases.
Companies began loaning money to lawyers based on the number of cases in inventory and/or the dollar amount of case expenses due to the law firm. Although the interest rates charged for these loans are typically much more than a bank, almost double, there are no monthly payments because repayment is made upon settlement of each case.
I spoke to one of these companies and was told they loan money for mass tort cases, usually with minimum credit lines of $5 Million to $10 Million. Smaller credit lines are available from other companies.
Traditional credit lines from $100,000 up to $1 Million are available from commercial banks but require monthly payments and usually renew annually.
Tip: For personal injury lawyers starting out with a smaller advertising budget, Google Ads is the best choice because you can compete with a small budget against the largest personal injury law firms, and you have much more control over the amount you spend and when. Advertising on TV requires a much larger budget and provides little control over your campaign.
Finite & Decreasing Number of Accidents and Personal Injury Cases
Advertising for personal injury lawyers is a zero-sum game. Just how many cases are personal injury lawyers advertising for?
According to BigMouthmarketing, 409,925 personal injury lawsuits are filed every year, but there are approximately 93,000 personal injury lawyers in the US (that number seems high to me).
This is the breakdown by type of accident/injury:
- 52% Motor Vehicle Accidents
- 15% Medical Malpractice
- 5% Product Liability
- 28% Other
Consider that car, truck, and motorcycle accidents will almost disappear by 2041 because of the expected arrival of level 5 autonomous driving. See Tesla and BMW.
There is currently an increase in car accidents because of distracted drivers. But motor vehicle accidents will decrease every year before they totally disappear. Smaller personal injury law firms, which don’t adapt, will be forced into other fields of law.
In our practice, which was a 100% car and motorcycle practice, we began focusing on premises cases that now comprise 50% of our caseload.
How to Compete Against Other Personal Injury Lawyers’ Advertising Budgets
Answer: Reduce client acquisition costs and increase conversion and ROI from your law firm website, Google ads, TV, Billboards, and other advertising by branding with a 1-800 vanity number.
When Parker Waichman got their vanity phone number 1-888-BIG-CASE, Jerry Parker said, “BIG-CASE increased our call volume 500%”. I asked Jerry if I could quote him on that, and he said, “Absolutely.”
Stand out from the crowd of lawyers with a brand. You can spend millions and years creating a brand, or you can get an instant brand for your law firm.
The best way is with a prestigious vanity phone number that creates a strong brand impression upon first exposure.
1-800-HURT-911® is the best brand vanity phone number advertising program for personal injury lawyer advertising!
How do I know? I built a lucrative personal injury practice and had to take on a partner.
This was an Email from my partner, Rob Plevy:
Rob: I will be working from the beach office tomorrow!
Phil: Enjoy it before we get too many more cases.
Rob: We already have too many cases. Millions of dollars in legal fees! May we always be too busy! I know we will be. You are the Master Rain Maker!! You can and do control the weather!
We became so busy that we had to partner with a law firm with over 60 employees. We soon became their largest source of cases!
Now, we don’t even work on the cases anymore. See how to grow a personal injury law firm without money or working on cases.
Then, after an audit by an accounting firm, FRANCKEL & PLEVY won the Law Firm 500 Award! Awarded to the 500 Fastest Growing Law Firms in the US, we were the 44th fastest growing law firm, thanks to 1-800-HURT-911!
See our website at NewYorkSeriousInjuryAttorneys.com
Continue reading below this section
Change Your Future!With 1-800-HURT-911®
Find out how Phil and Rob changed their lives and if your state is still available!
Call Phil Franckel, Esq. Now!
7 days / 8 am to 10 pm EST>> 516-621-9399 ext. 5
Why a Vanity Phone Number Is Essential to Dominate Personal Injury Lawyer Advertising
Because your law firm name isn’t a brand, it’s not good for advertising. A vanity phone number is impressive, and that’s what gets people to call when they don’t know you. It’s like wearing a gold Rolex and driving a Bently. You want to look successful!
A vanity phone number dramatically increases advertising results in three ways.
First — Attract attention. With traditional media, you have only seconds to attract viewers’ attention. TV commercials were either 10, 15, or 30 seconds. Now, shorter ads are available and 6-second ads on TV capture more attention per second than longer ads.
With billboards, you have 1-5 seconds to attract viewers’ attention, but with Google Ads, you have only one-third of a second to attract the viewer’s attention, and the average saccade length is only seven to nine letters.
1-800-HURT-911 transmits your message instantly and fits the saccade length.
Second — Impressive branding. Viewers are converted into callers because they see 1-800-HURT-911® as an important, impressive, and valuable established brand, even if they have never seen it before. This makes viewers respond to your advertising message, whether on the Internet, TV, or any other media.
Third — Memorable. With traditional media, it’s important that potential clients remember your phone number from TV, Billboards, and Radio (compare on Radio | compare on Billboards). It’s not so important that potential clients remember your phone number when they call you, but easy memorability improves brand recall. Brand recall is what’s important.
Competition Should Be Embraced, Not Feared!
Advertising for personal injury lawyers is the most competitive it has ever been and gets more competitive every year. However, competition increases business by raising awareness. You only need to fear competition if you’re not in it.
1-800-HURT-911 and a competitor’s billboard are seen in this photo which appeared in a news article. This is an example of why competition is good. No one company can ever get all the business, but the top two or three will get most of it. That’s why Coca-Cola and Pepsi need each other. Don’t get left out!
How to Embrace the Competition With Other Lawyers
If you advertise on TV, you need to advertise on the TV channels where most personal injury lawyers are advertising. This is because potential clients are looking for a lawyer on those channels. But you need to stand out from the crowd.
Advertising with Google Ads? You still need your ad to stand out!
If you’re selling ice cream at the beach, you want to be at a beach with 500,000 people and 100 ice cream vendors. You don’t want to be the only ice cream vendor on a secluded beach. That’s why car dealers and fast food retailers are always in the same area.
Just set up your ice cream stand next to all the other vendors with a taller and different color umbrella.

Does your advertising stand out from the crowd of lawyers?
Don’t have a big budget? You still need to advertise where all the other personal injury law firms are. They can’t get all the clients. They may get more than you, but you’ll get more clients advertising where they are advertising. Just advertise how you’re different.
On 47th St in NYC, thousands of jewelers are on one block, bringing millions of customers! The jewelers in the window get more business, but the ones in the back still get a lot of business. Do you want to be alone on the other side of town?
Advertise your law firm where all the other lawyers advertise. Just STAND OUT!
Branding Differentiates Your Personal Injury Law Firm From the Competition
It cannot be overemphasized that branding is the most important part of advertising for personal injury lawyers.
Branding increases results because it differentiates your personal injury law firm from competitors by identifying your quality and importance and enhances memorability.
Studies have shown that consumers make purchase decisions based on emotion and expect to pay more for a branded product or service because it provides more value.
Branding increases your law firm’s memorability and the likelihood that accident victims will call you when they need a personal injury lawyer.
Instant Branding for Instant Conversion
Because the public really doesn’t know who you are, 1-800-HURT-911® is the conversion factor that gets people to call whether they see it on TV or on your website.
Branding normally takes two years to accomplish. Personal injury lawyers advertising with 1-800-HURT-911 achieve instant brand recognition within 1-2 seconds. Because it’s so impressive, viewers think they have already seen it on TV. Of course, it will continue to build a stronger brand every year.
Someone passing a billboard has less than 3 seconds to view your ad. TV ads last only 10 seconds, 15 seconds, or 30 seconds. People looking at Google Ads will decide in less than 3 seconds which ad to click on. Website visitors will leave your website in as little as 10 seconds or less if they don’t think you can help them.
Because potential accident clients typically don’t spend days or weeks researching who to call, you must attract and convert accident victims immediately.
Branding Your Personal Injury Law Firm on the Internet
Local listings, PPC, and Directories
1-800-HURT-911® can be used in the title of your local listings, PPC ads, and directory ads! Google, Yahoo, and Bing do not allow numeric phone numbers in the ad title, but they allow vanity phone numbers because they are considered a brand.
Only 1-800-HURT-911®
- Attracts attention out of the clutter of other ads for lawyers
- Instantly tells the searcher you do personal injury, and
- Instant branding impresses searchers, convincing them to click on your ad.
Because searchers have only seconds to see your PPC ad among the other ads, your headline is crucial to getting accident victims to your website and increasing your CTR (Click Through Rate) over your competitors.
“Achieving a high click-through rate is essential to your PPC success because it directly affects both your Quality Score and how much you pay every time someone clicks your search ad.” WordStream
1-800-HURT-911® vs. Our Law Firm Name in Google Ads
With a $25,000 per month budget, using 1-800-HURT-911® in the title of Google Ads can yield additional legal fees of $166,400 per month!
A/B testing Google ads in New York using 1-800-HURT-911® in the title vs. Franckel & Plevy resulted in the following:
- 1-800-HURT-911® was responsible for a 166.66% increase in clicks/calls.
- 1-800-HURT-911® received a 69.84% share of clicks/calls vs. 30.16% for Franckel & Plevy.
- Overall conversion rate was 44.42%.
- Average cost per click was $150.60 for Franckel & Plevy vs. $114.30 for 1-800-HURT-911®. That’s a cost savings of 24.10% per click!
- The overall average cost per case for both Franckel & Plevy and 1-800-HURT-911® was $792.41.
(although potential clients see 1-800-HURT-911® in ads, all calls are actually routed through different tracking numbers).
Websites
Instant branding is also vital for lawyer websites. Potential clients need a personal injury lawyer immediately after an accident, and they will spend less than 10 seconds on your website to see if they came to the right place.
According to the Nielsen/Norman Group article, How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages? “To gain several minutes of user attention, you must clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.”
Interactive marketing says, “The largest percentage of your visitors are bailing (leaving) within 0-8 seconds.”
Thus, you have 0-10 seconds to attract a searcher with a compelling headline!
eyequant stated, “Simply put, users typically ‘screen and glean’ a website during the first moments of their visit in order to assess whether they have come to the right place.” “Meanwhile, if a website is deemed by the user to be unhelpful, the user is likely to leave within the first moments of their visit, and not wait around to see if their minds can be changed.”
In the article, What The Highest Converting Websites Do Differently, Kissmetrics said the #1 thing is “They Make Their Unique Value Proposition(s) Clear.” 1-800-HURT-911 Instantly makes it clear.
TIP: Make sure your vanity phone number is boldly advertised on your website, Google Ads, and landing pages. It should also be in your website page description meta tags so it shows in search results to attract website visitors.
Many personal injury lawyers here know who I am, but potential clients don’t. Seeing 1-800-HURT-911 in internet search results, internet advertising, and on our website is what gets them to call.
And that’s why I advertise 1-800-HURT-911 very large across the top of my personal injury website, which is seen at the top of every page.

We use our vanity phone number at the top of our law firm website, where it’s important to attract potential clients, and our law firm name is at the bottom of the website.
The screen capture below shows a lawyer’s website who understands the importance of advertising a vanity phone number across the top of his website and office building.

These personal injury attorneys properly advertise their vanity phone number as a brand on their building, larger than the law firm name and above it to attract clients. This image is also on the home page of their website, but it should be on every webpage.
Should You Brand Your Law Firm Name or Your Vanity Phone Number?
After Hundreds of Million$ spent on advertising to brand the name of Jacoby & Meyers, people know the name, but no one knows how to call them!

1-800-HURT-911 attracts potential clients because it’s an instant brand. Advertising FRANCKEL & PLEVY, LLP doesn’t make potential clients want to call us.
As soon as you see 1-800-HURT-911, you know there isn’t another vanity phone number that is either better or a stronger and more impressive brand for personal injury advertising.
Why 1-800-HURT-911 Is the Dominant Brand for Personal Injury Advertising
- Makes people feel empowered and comfortable in their choice.
- Creates a sense of urgency.
- Creates a sense of value and a good feeling.
- Says you are an expert.
- Says it’s a smart choice to choose you.
- 1-800-HURT-911® provides instant branding because HURT911® is a strong trademark, and 1-800 has the status of the trademark. Ask 10 people if they heard of 1-800-HURT-911, and they’ll say they’ve seen you on TV!
- Branding increases response on every type of media over the long-term and;
- Rare brands with instant branding create an immediately increased response rate with every media type, including online and offline. With Google Ads, our conversion rate is 48%. What is your conversion rate?
- 1-800-HURT-911 is easy to remember.
- The word HURT screens out unwanted callers – Crucial with large advertising campaigns! You won’t get calls from people being evicted. In an amazing coincidence, while writing this, I received one of those calls from someone who was cheated out of $500 and called 800 I-CAN-WIN. You need the right amount of screening. 1-800-LAWYERS and 1-800-ATTORNEY are too broad for personal injury lawyers; 1-800-CAR-WRECK and 1-800-CAR-CRASH are too narrow; 1-800-HURT-911 is just right!
- HURT is easy to spell, so you won’t get miss-dial errors. Other vanity numbers are difficult to spell (see how the printing company spelled Attorneys in the yellow banner below).
- Only 4 letters to convert to numbers and 3 vanity (911) digits, so it’s 43% less annoying to dial and can result in 43% fewer miss-dial errors.
- If another attorney advertises a vanity phone number with the word HURT, it’s good for you! We receive a lot of calls from people looking for other lawyers advertising 1-800-HURT-NOW and others.
- Hispanics prefer 1-800-HURT-911.
Hispanics Prefer 1-800-HURT-911 to Spanish Numbers
100% of Spanish-speaking callers surveyed said they preferred 1-800-HURT-911 over our Spanish vanity number equivalent, 888-Lesionado, because they wanted an American lawyer.
Spanish-speaking callers can easily spell HURT. They learned the word HURT and how to spell it as children, and they all know 911.
English Speaking People Have Trouble Spelling Other Words
I ordered a banner, and the proof spelled Attorneys with a “u” in NYMotorcycleAttourneys.com. They would have a problem calling 1-800-Attorneys!

A designer misspelled “Attorney” in the domain name of this advertising banner for personal injury, but the designer knew how to spell HURT!
1-800-HURT-911 Is Memorable
1-800-HURT-911 is easier to remember in both the short-term and long term. It’s vitally important for prospects to remember your phone number 30 seconds after seeing a TV ad, hearing a radio ad, or much later after seeing a Billboard or other advertising.
It’s also important that people remember months or even years later. On 04/26/13, I spoke with a medical illustrator in Atlanta, who I last spoke with on 12/07/99. I said, “Hi, this is Phil Franckel. I don’t know if you remember me.” He said, “Of course, HURT911”. He remembered after 13 years!
In an ABA article, 1-800-ADVOCACY Vanity Phone Numbers Make Your Advertising Less Forgettable by Laura Hodes, Dallas lawyer Robert A. Kraft who has a local number 214-999-9999, said:
“If you have a great ad but people can’t remember the number, it won’t do much good.” “I know I don’t have a pen handy when I watch TV. Once they call it, they don’t forget it.”
The article says, “Kraft believes his vanity number has been worth the expense because it keeps clients coming back, often years after their initial cases closed. Clients “see so many ads that it’s tempting for them to call another law firm when they have a new problem–especially if they’re having difficulty remembering your name and number,”.
“You want them to remember and call [you] before they see ads from another law firm, and having that number makes it easier.”
Laura Hodes said, “More obvious examples are phone numbers that spell out a message like 1-800-HURT-911, a toll-free number owned by New York lawyer Phil Franckel.”
Advertising for Personal Injury Lawyers Requires Large Territories
Territories are exclusive and extremely large, available by state or DMA. 1-800-HURT-911 territories are the only ones that exactly match the broadcast (network) TV market, also called a DMA.
If you advertise on popular TV shows, you must ensure everyone who sees your commercials can call you. Territories consisting of area codes or counties won’t do that.
You Own the 1-800-HURT-911 Brand for Your Territory
You’ll own the 1-800-HURT-911 brand with resale rights for your territory, so your advertising will be an investment in your brand, not ours. You can even make a single upfront payment for a substantial discount.
We Can’t Cancel Your Agreement or Take Your Territory Away!
Your agreement automatically renews as long as you make your payments, and only you can cancel!
A 1-800-HURT-911 law firm with a 7-figure budget lost its agreement for a competing vanity phone number after using it for 5 years when another attorney offered more money. Don’t let that happen to you!
If You’re Serious about Advertising for Personal Injury
With over 1,000 TV channels today, viewership for any particular channel is substantially down from what it used to be a few years ago. Adding to the problem are additional ways to watch TV programming (see From TV to Total Video).
Attorneys need increased branding, advertising, and marketing in many venues. With a wide variety of included advertising and marketing materials, including marketing materials for valuable niche cases, nothing else even comes close to the HURT911® brand.
If you’re serious about personal injury advertising, take advantage of all media types using HURT911® branding, advertising, and marketing materials:
- TV
- Radio
- Billboards
- Events
- Holiday Cards
- Google Ads
- Websites
- Smartphone app
- Our extremely successful, money-making niche advertising program
- Business cards & stationery
- Automatic greeting card system that sends 1-800-HURT-911 holiday cards and birthday cards in the US mail to your clients and telephone callers just like an email campaign
- and much more!
If you’re looking for a personal injury marketing program less costly than TV advertising, consider our niche marketing program for motorcycle accidents. An investment of $20,000-$40,000 annually for marketing materials and time to go to motorcycle events will make you profitable in just one year. See our marketing materials for valuable niche cases. You’ll earn $millions in legal fees. I know because I do it myself!
Another less expensive alternative for personal injury advertising is 888-444-HURT
Are There Other Vanity Phone Numbers for Personal Injury Lawyers?
Yes, but make sure:
- The number isn’t generic, like 1-800-LAWYERS which brings in clients for evictions, divorce, and bankruptcy.
- It’s not restrictive like 1-800-CAR-ACCIDENT or 1-800-CAR-CRASH because that’s all you’ll get!
- It’s not difficult to spell, like 1-800-ATTORNEYS.
- Your lease can’t be canceled! Our biggest client came to 1-800-HURT-911 after he lost the lease of his vanity phone number to another lawyer.
- Your territory includes your entire state or network TV market called a DMA (not just your cable TV market)!
- To compare what else you’re getting besides the vanity phone number with what you get from 1-800-HURT-911.
888-444-HURT is now available at only 15% of the cost of 1-800-HURT-911.
Can You Get Your Own Vanity Phone Number?
Yes, but you’ll probably have to buy it from someone who already has it. 100% of all 800 numbers are in use, 99.99% of 888 numbers, 99.99% of 877 numbers, and 99.99% of 866 numbers are also in use.
How Much Does it Cost to Buy a Vanity Phone Number?
For a 1-800 number, be prepared to spend 7 figures. I declined an offer of $3M for 1-800-HURT-911.
It was reported that Cellino & Barnes paid nearly $2M for two numeric vanity phone numbers, $1M for 1-800-888-8888, and nearly $1M for 1-800-800-0000. 1-800-HURT-911 is more valuable for the reasons listed on this page, and I have declined a $3M offer.
I know of other 800 vanity phone numbers for lawyers that sold for $1M each.
Read Attorney Phil Franckel’s interview in the Wisconsin Law Journal about getting 1-800-HURT-911 in 1992.
If your law firm is serious about dominating your personal injury advertising market and interested in the HURT911® advertising program, call Phil Franckel, Esq. 7 days/nights at 1-888-505-5464
Philip L. Franckel, Esq., is the author of this article.
Phil Franckel is the owner of 1-800-HURT-911® and over 1,100 domain names. He is a personal injury lawyer and a former Member of the Board of Directors of the NYS Trial Lawyers Association. He is an expert in branding, advertising, marketing, and SEO. He has been doing SEO since 1994. Phil Franckel has written and produced TV commercials for lawyers and other industries and has been a consultant to businesses, including several using vanity phone numbers. Phil writes a blog about lawyer advertising at LawyerAdvertisingBlog.com. He began his first business in 8th grade, owned businesses in various different industries, and worked freelance for a TV production company, ABC Wide World of Sports, and ABC Monday Night Baseball. In his spare time, Phil Franckel is the Commanding Officer of the Communications Bureau, NCPD Aux. Police Section.