Reach Every Generation with a Toll Free Number

Toll free numbers are simply one of the few cross-generational marketing tools that are still widely used today – not to mention a customer advantage you can offer at a minimal cost to your business. You have an opportunity to boost your brand image while attracting a diverse customer base that knows what it means to make a phone call at no cost.

Small businesses can also use toll free numbers internally to truly learn their customers, how to attract them, and really reach their customers to provide them with a personalized service that in turn will result in guaranteed business growth.

First, let’s start with learning who your customers are, and which generation they belong in/to. Your customers fall into one of six living generations in which toll free calling from any device is possible. These generations  are:

o   Mature/Silent (1927-1945)

o   Baby Boomer (1946-1964)

o   Generation X (1965-1980)*

o   Y/Millenial (1981-2000)*

o   Z/Boomlets (after 2001)*

Each generation is a distinct group of people with varying interests, attributes, and purchasing habits and behaviors, but toll free calling is perhaps the only marketing technique to attract this diverse customer base in its entirety.

Market Segmenting

As a small business,  market segmenting is an effective method for attracting customers and generating sales. When you offer your products and services to a specific group or several groups of people based on a number of demographics, sales are likely to increase.

The market segmenting process usually involves a business brainstorm to break out your market into homogeneous groups based on age, behaviors, lifestyle, geographic location, culture, needs, desires, and wants. Then you can directly target your  market with a toll free number, and there are a number of methods for doing so.

1 – Understand your Buyer Behaviors

One way to dive into market segmenting and fine tune your sales approaches is to  understand buyer behaviors. Remember, there’s a big difference between a sales process and sales methodology.

Today the world of sales is about the customer journey. How does your small business offer a unique and personalized service to your target audience? How does your audience respond to your business? What type of emotion do they experience when they see your brand? These are all questions that you must ask and understand in order to truly appeal to your  target audience and win over customers with a strong and robust brand.

Let’s keep this nice and simple. There are many ways you can learn about who your customers are and how to attract them. Remember, the buying process has three stages:

1.        Awareness– Involves learning about your business, establishing trust, and gaining support.

2.        Consideration– This relates to your business’s products / service, and support, which aids in the customer’s consideration to work with or purchase from you..

3.        Decision– Ultimately the customer’s decision to purchase or work with your business.

Next, businesses who really want to develop an effective sales and marketing strategy will use at least some big data as the main resource and tool in their methodologies. You can use data to study customer and caller demographics. This will help you to understand who is calling, where the calls are coming from, and why they are calling. While this might seem pretty basic, knowing and actually applying this information can help you to  fine tune sales and marketing tactics to make a positive impact on lead conversions, sales, and business growth over the long term.

2 – Targeted Toll Free Numbers

You can reach a broader audience in a variety of ways through a targeted marketing approach, using a well-displayed toll free number in a large typeface and a bold color through:

o   Print Media: brochures, flyers, signs, billboards, and more

o   Internet Media Campaign: email, Internet Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads, SEO, social media, and more

o   Audiovisual Media: broadcasting, TV, news agencies, etc.

o   Live Media: product demonstrations, seminars, webinars, one-on-one communications, and word-of-mouth

Toll free calling is one of the most effective tools for generating sales. If your small business is just getting off the ground, or it is time to improve your long-term marketing campaign, toll free calling options for these diverse customer groups can increase your selling opportunities.

A vanity number, one that displays actual words as a number relevant to your business, is more memorable and easily recalled by your customers in varying generations. When you offer a phone number like 1-800-FLOWERS or 844-PIZZA-TODAY, you make it easy for prospects to find you, remember the number, and dial the number over and over.

Whether your customers are dialing on a seasoned land line, surfing the Internet and calling through VoIP, or scanning your products on a smartphone, your custom toll free number is visible, relevant, and easy for any  generation.

You can reach a diverse customer base by offering a cost-effective custom toll free number, and really making that toll free number a crucial component to your value proposition.

For more information on how your small business can reap the benefits of toll free numbers or how you can use the included enhanced toll free services and solutions to reach into caller data, contact the expert team at Custom Toll Free today by calling 1-800-CUSTOMIZE.

*Subject to some debate by various groups.

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Words of Consumer Behavior © T. L. Furrer – Fotolia