Branding is a word that gets tossed about quite a bit. From marketing strategists and business owners to media sales reps, everyone agrees it’s important. But why? A brand may literally be the only difference between you and your competitor. It can serve to create disparity between 2 products when in fact there is no real difference at all except in the hearts and minds of your target audience.

Marketing purists define brand as a promise. But in truth a brand can only be effective if the promise is consistently delivered by every point of contact from employees to your phone number. That’s right your phone number is typically one of the top 3 contact points for a business and thus is an important part of the brand promise. Considering its importance, it is no surprise what a memorable and intuitive vanity phone number can do to reinforce and energize your brand.

Right off the bat, just having a vanity number communicates several things about your brand.
1.) Builds instant credibility since consumers trust companies that are easily accessible.
2.) Suggests a market leader status by implying your business is
• A large company
• An established company
3.) Creates the perception of prestige based on the amount of advertising done by large companies employing vanity numbers.

Building on this basic halo effect, one merely has to employ an intuitive vanity phone number that communicates the essence and/or a key benefit of the brand. This is where the rubber meets the road and can really energize your brand by synergizing your messaging.

Consider the following examples:
1-800-#1SMILES for a Dentist or Orthodontist communicates the end benefit.
1-800-LessTax for an Accountant suggests their clients pay less in taxes.
1-800-LiveWell for a health food store speaks to a key goal of their target audience

All communicate an important benefit or feature of you business that will be reinforced to the prospect and/or client who uses it. Just like frequency is critical to achieving critical mass with an advertising campaign, engaging your brand promise at every contact point is critical to building and maintaining one of your businesses most valuable assets – its brand.

Even with an effective, well-branded vanity phone number, in this highly competitive buyers market, it truly does pay to give folks a reason to call now. Creating a compelling offer though can be a little tricky so take some time to design one based on these tips.

Develop an Offer In-Line With Your Brand Promise
Remember the perception of your product or service IS your brand and resides in the mind of the consumer. Consequently all communications should be representative of the image you seek to project. With this in mind be careful of an offer loaded with heavy discounts or random freebies. Although these can be compelling offers they can also serve to commoditize your product and create a diminished view of your merchandise. Some positive examples of branding offers are:
• If your business is educational in nature offer a free seminar, booklet or newsletter that provides helpful tips and suggestions.
• Offer extended (non-business) hours or weekend days for home service businesses such as plumbers or electricians.
• Provide free estimates on service related businesses
• Consider a free sample appetizer or wine tastings for restaurants

Offer must convey VALUE to your target
With a solid brand promise and understanding of your target audience in hand, determine what constitutes a compelling value proposition to prospects. Value comes in many shapes and sizes and level of appeal can vary from person to person, so completing a little research can go a long way in assessing a valuable offer. Bottom line if your offer can serve to solve a problem for the consumer you are golden. Some examples to consider are:
• Free delivery
• Overnight delivery
• More or new product options
• Free installation
• Free webhosting for a year with the purchase of a web design package

Include rationale why you should act today
Today’s marketplace does not reward patience. If you have an intriguing offer that solves a problem and/or that adds value to your consumer, by all means close the deal today by adding a sense of urgency to your message. If not, your competitor might very well save you the trouble. Here are some examples to help light a fire, but carefully craft the message to be sure to not compromise your brand promise.
• Limited selection
• Limited time offer
• First come first served
• Limited edition

Is it just me or does it just seem our society’s penchant for immediate gratification has recently jumped to warp speed? I personally have always been the type that wanted instant gratification so much so, that I oftentimes would avoid buying anything on the internet, even if it was potentially nicer and/or less expensive, simply because I wanted to have the product in hand in an hour instead of 2 to 3 days. Well, nowadays, I might as well be a Buddhist priest in terms of enduring delayed gratification compared to the general consuming public. And the funny thing is it’s a real chicken and egg conundrum. Did consumers demand immediate gratification and businesses / media meet it? Or did new forms of media and delivery systems set the expectation level and we as consumers willingly went along? I believe both parties contributed to this rise in “NOWISM”, a term coined by Trendwatching.com and defined as “Consumers’ ingrained lust for instant gratification…where consumers jump on something the moment they actually can, fulfilling a need that is not necessarily new, but the new way to fulfill it is.”
Consider Haiti relief, as of last week, American’s have donated a record $1 billion and many of us didn’t even have to even lift a finger to donate. Mobile phone carriers and grocery stores made contributions on our behalf with simply a nod at the cash register or via your regular monthly bill. It personally took me 2 or 3 days before someone removed the need for any overt action on my part (like going online for 5 minutes to make a donation for goodness sakes!) and asked me if a $10 Haiti Relief Donation could be added to my grocery bill of which I graciously accepted. It “got ‘er done” faster than I could swipe my debit card!!

“The future will not be about big beating small, but fast beating slow.” Rupert Murdock

The point is that instant gratification is here and growing. Consequently, if you are in business or are thinking about opening a business, design ways you can communicate and deliver your product/service at light speed or faster. And one sure way to take advantage of this trend is to equip your business with an intuitive vanity / branding phone number. Instant gratification could translate into having an easy to remember phone number like 1-800-YUMPIZZA so that dinner doesn’t have to be delayed because Mom had to work late or 1-800-CARCARE to set up an appointment to have the car serviced while dropping off the kids at school. Just remember to make it simple, make it compelling and make it fast and they will come!