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.

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.

“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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