5 Common Misconceptions About Toll-Free Vanity Phone Numbers

By Paul Faust, President of RingBoost

If you’ve ever thought about taking your legal marketing and advertising to the next level, it’s likely you’ve considered using a toll-free phone number or maybe even a toll-free vanity phone number.

Custom phone numbers, known as vanity numbers, are one of the most popular ways to bring in more calls and win new legal clients, but they’re also subject to some common misconceptions.

Let’s take a look at some of those misunderstandings and why they shouldn’t distract from your decision to get a more brandable or memorable phone number.

“All Toll-Free Numbers Are Created Equal”

Some firms think the number they’re given by the phone company is no different than a custom vanity phone number. Callers will reach them either way as long as they can find the digits online or remember them from an ad, right? Wrong!

Think about some of the situations in which people will see your phone number:

  • Driving in the car and seeing a billboard for three seconds.
  • Listening to the radio and hearing a set of 7-10 digits before the ad ends.
  • Trying to recall a company name and phone number they saw on TV last night but forgot to write it down.

Personal injury lawyer advertising billboard 1-800-HURT-911

When you consider situations like billboards, radio, and TV, making your phone number memorable is essential. A carefully selected toll-free number is the way to achieve this. The best vanity phone number for personal injury lawyers is 1-800-HURT-911®.

All of these scenarios (and many more) are common and could determine whether or not potential legal clients call your business. A random set of digits is almost impossible to recall when your audience has limited time or ability to dial. A memorable number, whether vanity or easy-dial, mitigates that risk and limits wasted advertising dollars on great campaigns that fail to convert.

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Attorney Rob Plevy

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

Call Phil 7 days/nights

or send an email

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“It Takes a Nationwide Firm to Use a Toll-Free Vanity Phone Number”

Through the toll-free shared-use system, law firms can harness the power of a super-memorable toll-free vanity number at an affordable rate.

You choose from a large bank of high-profile vanity phone numbers that providers like RingBoost maintain. Then you pick the specific regions you’d like to have exclusive rights to, and, based on the location of a caller at the time of the call, inquiries will be routed to your office for your selected areas.

You get the brand-boosting benefits of a great toll-free vanity number at a fraction of the cost. This is also especially helpful for law firms that have multiple locations and want to be connected through a unifying number but don’t want to pay for the areas where you have no coverage.

“800 Vanity Numbers Are Only for Big Brands”

Although it’s true that many national and international brands use multiple 800 vanity numbers in both offline and online advertising to connect with customers, it’s wrong to assume that smaller organizations and law firms can’t access them.

There are still some excellent “true 800” vanity phone numbers available, and newer toll-free prefixes like 888 or 833 have opened up even more options. Moreover, the shared use system mentioned earlier means that even premium vanity toll-free numbers might still be available to license in your area.

The bottom line is nowadays, 800 vanity numbers are accessible for everyone, from individual attorneys to international brands.

“Toll-Free Vanity Numbers Aren’t Relevant to Online Marketing”

When a potential client finds a lawyer online and sees a vanity phone number associated with the lawyer, whether in pay-per-click advertising or on the lawyer’s website, the vanity phone number serves as a brand that attracts consumers to your online ads, making it much more likely that the online visitor will want to contact the lawyer whether by calling or using a chat service.

It’s tempting to believe that everyone can now be reached online via any channel you prefer to use, but the reality is still extremely complex. Some digital channels are better suited to legal sector advertising than others, and many clients still prefer to call, even when they find your law firm online.

According to Pew Research, 51% of U.S. adults still choose to call rather than send an email or text message. The widespread ownership of mobile phones means that calls can be placed at any time, anywhere, which increases call volume.

That’s why phone calls convert to revenue at 10-15x the rate of web leads and can lead to 300% more revenue.

Vanity toll-free numbers help to bridge the gap between multiple platforms and advertising channels, online and off. They continue to add a unique branding element and enticing call to action, even in digital advertising.

But does that mean you can’t track calls? No. Just link your vanity phone number to tracking numbers in online advertising and even on your website.

So why use a vanity phone number in Google Ads and your website if you use tracking numbers? Because the vanity phone number is your brand which gets people to notice you and want to call you.

Far from being the end of 800 numbers, the digital era has made them even more valuable as a mixed media marketing and branding asset.

“Getting a Toll-Free Vanity Number is a Major Investment of Time and Money”

Put simply, a toll-free number or vanity number works in the same way as your existing local number, and no changes are required to your current system.

Even if you choose to roll out a brand-new telecom technology, the whole process of integrating a toll-free vanity number can be completed quickly and easily by the vanity phone number provider.

Getting the word out about your new vanity number and incorporating it into your marketing materials takes longer, of course, but your returns will be all the greater the more effort you put in.

Whatever myths you’ve heard about toll-free vanity numbers for law firms, the reality is that they are more relevant than ever in both offline and online advertising and marketing materials for attorneys.

A toll-free vanity number provides the instant brand identity in Google Ads that make more people click on your ad instead of competing law firms.

As a fast and cost-effective way to find new clients and build your legal brand, there are few marketing tools that offer such a high return on investment for such minimal initial outlay or risk.

Read the facts about vanity phone numbers for personal injury lawyer advertising.

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Marketing vs. Advertising for Lawyers: What’s the Difference?

There are different definitions of advertising and marketing. For lawyers, it makes a big difference. Obviously, both advertising and marketing share the same goal — to get more clients for your law firm.

Advertising is really a subset of marketing, or maybe it’s the other way around! I look at advertising and marketing as two different methods of getting the message out.

The important distinction for lawyers when considering advertising, marketing, or both is time and expense. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but since lawyers have little time, the difference is important.

Advertising vs. Marketing — Advantages and Disadvantages

Advertising Pros and Cons

Advantages:

  1. Advertising is easy and requires very little time, which lawyers usually don’t have. All you have to do is hire an advertising agency.
  2. Advertising typically yields immediate results.
  3. Advertising typically yields more results.

Disadvantage: Advertising is more expensive.

Predominant Types of Advertising Media: TV, radio, billboards, Google Ads and other online PPC, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, online “Yellow Pages,” traditional print Yellow Pages, and your law firm website.

How to begin advertising: Hire an advertising agency and decide on a budget for your TV, radio, or Google Ads campaign.

Tip: To make a TV or radio advertising campaign more effective, lawyers should use billboards.

Tip: If you start with Google Ads, use an agency that just does Google Ads.

Tip: Plan ahead before you start advertising and decide how to answer calls and do case intake.

TV commercials

Billboards like this one make TV and radio commercials work better because billboards substantially increase branding.
billboard car accident HURT911

Magazine advertising works well when targeting niche groups. We advertise a niche
website, NYMotorcycleAttorneys.com, in a motorcycle magazine.Magazine advertising personal injury lawyer

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Attorney Rob Plevy

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

Call Phil 7 days/nights

or send an email

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Marketing Pros and Cons

Advantage: A marketing campaign can cost very little money and costs a lot less than advertising.

Disadvantages:

  1. Marketing requires the lawyer to spend much more time.
  2. Marketing typically takes longer to yield results.
  3. Marketing typically yields fewer results.

Predominant Types of Marketing Media: Attorney business cards, holiday & birthday cards, events & giveaways, email campaigns, and social media.

Examples: A marketing campaign can consist of as little as giving out business cards to much more. I started my law practice by just giving out business cards with 1-800-HURT-911. For a few years, my partner and I set up a tent at motorcycle events where we met with people and gave out T-shirts and many other giveaways. It involved a lot of our time but only cost a few thousand dollars per year. In exchange for a T-shirt, we captured the name, address, and date of birth to send greeting cards in the US mail using an automatic system. We also advertise in a motorcycle magazine. We stopped doing events because of the time involved, and we now just use Google Ads.

How to begin marketing: If you want to do events, it’s best to be there, but you can hire someone to help you or to do the event without you.

Birthday and greeting cards are very effective. You can have someone in your office easily send birthday and holiday cards using an automatic campaign like an email campaign.

If you license 1-800-HURT-911 for your law office, you can use 1-800-HURT-911 greeting cards. But even if you don’t license 1-800-HURT-911, you can use your own card design. If you want to use your own card design using an automatic campaign, just contact Phil Franckel.

1-800-HURT-911® tent with lawyer advertising at a motorcycle event where we give out T-shirts and other giveaways
HURT911 Tent Canopy

Several motorcyclists at the event are holding our yellow bags with giveaways

Two Types of Advertising for Lawyers

There are two types of advertising and a hybrid of both. Branding, Direct Response Advertising, and a mix of the two create a hybrid.

Branding

Q. How is branding achieved by lawyers?
A. Branding is accomplished by frequent and continuous advertising and/or marketing to brand your law firm’s name in the minds of potential clients. Everything you do should always promote your brand.

Q. What does branding do for lawyers?
A. Branding makes it more likely that a potential client will want to call you instead of your competitor. Once branding begins to take effect, a lawyer will have an “unfair” advantage over attorneys without a brand.

Q. What is the most effective method of branding a lawyer?
A. Billboards are the most effective method to promote your brand.

Q. What is the disadvantage of branding?
A. None. Branding can cost more money but doesn’t have to.

Know What Branding Will Do for Your Law Firm

Branding typically doesn’t make your phone ring. It doesn’t immediately generate business but generates business in the long run by improving results from advertising media. It typically takes two years to see results from branding.

To demonstrate, consider a personal injury lawyer advertising on billboards. Billboards will create recognition of the lawyer and bring “top of mind” to potential clients.

Not many people will call the lawyer because they remember seeing the lawyer’s billboard. But people who are injured will be more likely to call when seeing the lawyer’s TV commercial if they have previously seen the lawyer on billboards.

Can You Brand a Law Firm Name?

Most attorneys and larger law firms don’t have a name that is brandable. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is not brandable, so they brand the name “Skadden.”

Donald Drumpf created an empire when he rebranded his name as TRUMP. A good choice since it’s short, memorable, impactful, and implies power. TRUMP was branded like a trump card which ranks above other cards and is a valuable resource that one can use to gain an advantage.

The more brandable a name is, the less money it will take to brand the name and the less time it will take.

A more brandable name is both easier to trademark and is a more powerful trademark. The 1-800-LAWYERS® trademark includes 1-800 because LAWYERS is a generic word and cannot be trademarked. HURT911® is a much more powerful trademark because it does not include 1-800 because HURT911 is not a generic word.

Direct Response Advertising

Q. What is Direct Response Advertising?
Direct Response Advertising is an advertisement using a call to action to elicit a direct response to the advertising message. An example is a late-night TV commercial asking people to call a numeric phone number within the next 5 minutes to order something.

Q. What is the disadvantage of Direct Response Advertising?
Direct Response Advertising is short-lived. There is no benefit after the first 5 minutes of seeing a TV or radio commercial which doesn’t have any branding.

Direct Response/Brand Advertising Hybrid

Q. What is Branded Direct Response Advertising?
This type of advertising combines branding with direct response advertising. It is this type of advertising that most lawyers use.

This is usually a TV or radio commercial asking clients to call the lawyer’s phone number or sometimes go to the lawyer’s website but includes some branding of the lawyer or law firm.

With lawyers, the branding usually consists of an attempt to:

  • Brand the law firm name like Jacoby & Meyers;
  • Brand the firm as “The Hammer” or a similar slogan; or
  • Brand a 1-800 vanity phone number.

1-800-HURT-911® TV commercials are a combination of branding and direct response advertising.

Q. What does Direct Response Advertising with branding do for lawyers?
Hybrid advertising provides an immediate benefit with calls received within 15 minutes after airing the TV or radio commercial but provides the added benefit of branding so viewers may recognize it and will be more likely to call when they see it again.

Some lawyers advertise on TV for a few months, stop for a few months, and continue this cycle. This is a bad idea because you prevent branding from building up and lose any branding benefits from the previous cycle.

Differences by Types of Media

Advertising

Advertising involves media such as TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, online “Yellow Pages,” & your law firm’s website.

Most advertising campaigns use a combination of media to reach the widest audience possible. For instance, billboards are often combined with a TV advertising campaign. This is much more effective than advertising on only one form of media because branding is increased by the use of multiple types of media.

Billboards are a true branding media and are not effective when used alone for direct response advertising without a vanity phone number. However, billboards will provide a good ROI by substantially increasing increase the effectiveness of direct response media. Billboards will brand whatever you put on them.

Large law firms usually spend their advertising budget on all of these types of advertising media.

Marketing

Marketing involves the use of  Attorney business cards, holiday & birthday cards, events & giveaways, and social media.

Again, marketing should involve a combination of all of these types of marketing media.

Read Some of Our Other Informative Articles

Find out more about 1-800-HURT-911®

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.

Phil Franckel began a mail order business in 8th grade, bought and sold coin-operated amusement games in 10th grade, and a used car business in 12th grade through college. After law school, he worked in the wholesale diamond business and part-time for a TV production company. Later, while a lawyer at a large personal injury law firm, he worked part-time for ABC Wide World of Sports and ABC Monday Night Baseball.

Phil Franckel then started a personal injury law practice and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the NYS Trial Lawyers Association.

In his spare time, Phil Franckel became an Aux. Police Cadet in 12th grade and is the Commanding Officer of the Communications Bureau, NCPD Aux. Police Section.

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Free Advertising for Your Law Firm

Get Free Advertising and Leads for Your Law Firm in Google My Business

Google is just about the only Yellow Pages everyone uses. Unlike the old printed Yellow Pages, Google allows free placement for your listing. Google has called its service Google My Business, Google Business Listings, and now Google Business Profile.

Google Business Profile is for every lawyer, whether or not you have a website. Google does not require your law firm to have a website to be listed on Google Business Profile.

Google Business Profile is just like the old Yellow Pages because it is a business directory for local businesses, including attorneys. Whether your law firm has a website or not, you must have a physical address. Google will verify that you have a physical address.

Since over 90% of the traffic my websites get come from Google, Google Business Profile listings are crucial. With more and more people talking to their cell phones to find a lawyer, you must have a Google My Business listing. When you ask an android phone, “find a personal injury lawyer near me,” it will show you the Google business listings.

How to Get a Free Google My Business Listing

If you haven’t done it yet, the first thing you should do is claim your existing Google My Business listing or create a new one. Even if you haven’t set up a free listing, Google may have already found your business and listed it with missing or incorrect information.

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Attorney Rob Plevy

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

Call Phil 7 days/nights

or send an email

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If no listing exists for your business, then you should create a listing at Google My Business immediately. See the instructions to add or claim your business listing at Google My Business Help.

You can easily create your Google Business listing for free. If you’re wondering how your listing is going to stand out from hundreds of other lawyer listings, that’s the next issue to tackle after creating your listing.

How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing, so It Stands out from Other Lawyers

Just like an attorney’s website needs search engine optimization to be found in the Google search listings, your Google Business Profile listing also needs to be optimized.

It’s not hard to optimize your Google Business listing, but it will take time. This article will show you how to optimize your listing. Setting everything up, uploading, and maintaining your listing also will take time.

If you don’t want to or don’t have the time to optimize your Google Business listing yourself, there are companies that will do it for you. Just call your attorney advertising agency, website company, or SEO company.

Whether you want to optimize your Google Business Profile listing yourself or have someone else do it, take a look at the following tips, which you should know about.

Tip 1: Designing the Title for Your Google My Business Listing

The title of your business listing is crucial because it’s really the only thing searchers see, so it’s what needs to stand out from all the other listings of competing lawyers.

It is against Google’s guidelines to use keywords in the business title, so you can’t use “Your State Accident Lawyer.” If you use keywords in your title, Google will eventually disable or take down your business listing, and you can lose any reviews that have been posted.

Instead of using keywords in the business title, you need to use your business name, trade name, or brand. Lawyers using a brand or vanity phone number in the title have an interesting advantage.

Using a vanity phone number such as 1-800-HURT-911® in your Google My Business listing title stands out, attracts attention, and makes people want to click on your listing.

Read about why a vanity phone number substantially improves the conversion rate and ROI of online advertising.

Vanity phone numbers are allowed in your business listing because they can be a business name, trade name, or brand. 1-800-HURT-911® is a brand.

personal injury lawyer advertising with free Google My Business local listing

Personal injury lawyer’s Google My Business local listing

You can also use a vanity phone number together with your law firm name. If you don’t have a vanity phone number, using a brand such as “Sting Like a Bee – Jane Lawyer” will stand out from the crowd of lawyer listings.

If you use a vanity phone number or brand, be sure to tell the company setting up your Google My Business listing to use it in your business title.

Tip 2: Submit Posts on Your Google My Business Listing

You can publish posts with photos on your Google business listing. Unfortunately, they only last for seven days, so you have to keep reposting. Again, your website design company can routinely post articles for you.

You can also publish events that will last until the end of your event and can last longer than seven days. In the image below, the photo in the Google business listing shows a cause marketing billboard for motorcycle accidents hanging in Costco stores for the month of May, which is Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month. The Google post will show for the entire month since it is an event.

Google My Business post showing lawyer's advertising event with photo

Google My Business post advertising lawyer’s event

Tip 3: Ask for Reviews on Your Google My Business Listing

Ask your clients to leave reviews of your law firm on your Google My Business listing. Reviews will substantially increase results, even if you have negative reviews!

When people look online for anything, they always look for reviews. If potential clients see some negative reviews, it makes all of your reviews look more credible. Just be sure to politely reply to negative reviews. In fact, you should also apply to positive reviews.

The best and easiest way to get reviews from your clients is to use review software. Again, just ask your lawyer advertising agency, website company, or SEO company about review software.

Read Some of Our Other Informative Articles

Find out more about 1-800-HURT-911®

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.

Phil Franckel began a mail order business in 8th grade, bought and sold coin-operated amusement games in 10th grade, and a used car business in 12th grade through college. After law school, he worked in the wholesale diamond business and part-time for a TV production company. Later, while a lawyer at a large personal injury law firm, he worked part-time for ABC Wide World of Sports and ABC Monday Night Baseball.

Phil Franckel then started a personal injury law practice and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the NYS Trial Lawyers Association.

In his spare time, Phil Franckel became an Aux. Police Cadet in 12th grade and is the Commanding Officer of the Communications Bureau, NCPD Aux. Police Section.

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