For those who don’t know the lingo, a phone word (or vanity number) is the alpha numeric equivalent to a phone number. For instance, 1300 CREDIT = 1300 273348. For more than 30 years, phonewords have been a phenomena in the United States. Three years ago they entered the Australian market and have shot to popularity in advertising because of their memorability and demonstrated results when it comes to customer recall. If you have a phoneword – or are contemplating getting one to boost your marketing efforts – here are 5 handy tips regarding how to use it effectively to maximise its impact – and your advertising spend. 1) Use your Phone word throughout all your marketing activities ? on promotions, throughout advertising, even on your business stationery and building signage. 2) Phone words are particularly strong in radio. If your business suits radio advertising, use it and ensure your Phone word features prominently in the broadcast. 3) Create fun little direct mail pieces for customers and prospects that connect back to your Phone word. For instance, send your prospects a packet of ?lifesavers? with your name and Phone word as a solution to their problem. 4) Ever get a jingle stuck in your head? Create your own fun jingle featuring your Phone word and include it as ?on hold? music when customers and prospects ring. 5) If you advertise in the Yellow Pages, make sure you feature your Phone word largely in your listing. Once a customer remembers your name, they don?t need to look you up any more, and that?s bad news for your competitors. There are so many ways you can use your phone word and each time you use it, it grows stronger and stronger. A phone word is a valuable marketing asset and you should actively use it in your promotional activities to make the most of it. Gavin Scholes is CEO of Australia’s largest provider of phone words and smart numbers, 1300 Australia. Talk to 1300 Australia for access to expert advice and the broadest range of high quality phonewords in Australia.

Advertising Ideas for office cleaning business Even if you have built an ultra efficient state-of-the-art home office, polished your image with the finest of Armani suits, equipped yourself with the newest cell phone, PDA and laptop, and drafted the most exemplary of business plans, you are not going to go anywhere in the business world without some entities to do business with. “how to secure cleaning contracts” Establishing your clientele can be the most time consuming and intellectually challenging part of the office cleaning business or any other business. There are many issues and approaches to consider, and like many other challenges in life, there is no one single way to go about it. Everyone will have their own methods for acquiring business that will work well for them, but most businesspeople will agree that taking a multi-tiered or multi-pronged approach is the best way to go about it. That is, dont put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, when approaching the cleaning business advertising issue. To be successful, you will need to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that as they say. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Although it can be costly in some forms, advertising is perhaps the most common form of marketing and self-promotion. Television ads and full-page spreads in mainstream publications will most likely be out of your reach (unless Donald Trump is funding your consultancy), but there are plenty of other more affordable options out there. Like we have mentioned before, it is all about getting more bang for your buck, so it will be in your best interest to maximize on your advertising dollar. Advertising in local magazines or the local newspaper can be cost effective when addressing certain demographics. Purchasing a short prime time spot on the radio is another method, but costs several orders of magnitude more than print to get across its message. When done properly, radio can be an awesome advertising vehicle, I also call this “The next step in advertising”. Perhaps the most significant bang for your buck outlet for your advertising dollar is the web. Web sites are very affordable (even free if you know what you are doing). A web site is an excellent method of advertising because you can attract many entities on a global scale (a little search engine optimization can garner 1000s of page views a day) and you can reach the widest audience possible (potentially, anyone with an internet connection). Be sure to print up a healthy portion of business card and in addition to land-line telephone, mobile phone and fax numbers make sure the URL (uniform resource locator) for your web site is displayed prominently on the front of the card. Even if you have built an ultra efficient state-of-the-art home office, polished your image with the finest of Armani suits, equipped yourself with the newest cell phone, PDA and laptop, and drafted the most exemplary of business plans, you are not going to go anywhere in the business world without some entities to do business with. “how to secure cleaning contracts” Establishing your clientele can be the most time consuming and intellectually challenging part of the office cleaning business or any other business. There are many issues and approaches to consider, and like many other challenges in life, there is no one single way to go about it. Everyone will have their own methods for acquiring business that will work well for them, but most businesspeople will agree that taking a multi-tiered or multi-pronged approach is the best way to go about it. That is, dont put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, when approaching the cleaning business advertising issue. To be successful, you will need to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that as they say. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Although it can be costly in some forms, advertising is perhaps the most common form of marketing and self-promotion. Television ads and full-page spreads in mainstream publications will most likely be out of your reach (unless Donald Trump is funding your consultancy), but there are plenty of other more affordable options out there. Like we have mentioned before, it is all about getting more bang for your buck, so it will be in your best interest to maximize on your advertising dollar. Advertising in local magazines or the local newspaper can be cost effective when addressing certain demographics. Purchasing a short prime time spot on the radio is another method, but costs several orders of magnitude more than print to get across its message. When done properly, radio can be an awesome advertising vehicle, I also call this “The next step in advertising”. Perhaps the most significant bang for your buck outlet for your advertising dollar is the web. Web sites are very affordable (even free if you know what you are doing). A web site is an excellent method of advertising because you can attract many entities on a global scale (a little search engine optimization can garner 1000s of page views a day) and you can reach the widest audience possible (potentially, anyone with an internet connection). Be sure to print up a healthy portion of business card and in addition to land-line telephone, mobile phone and fax numbers make sure the URL (uniform resource locator) for your web site is displayed prominently on the front of the card. ABOUT THE AUTHOR khali S. – http://www.office-cleaning-business.com Learn How To Start & promote Your own office cleaning business, Free mini-course “How To start Cleaning Business”