If your business has been looking to get the word out about its products and services, you may have heard about how virtual phone numbers can be an excellent tool. The truth is that virtual phone numbers — once understood — are only limited to your creativity and business model. In this article, we’ll cover what virtual phone numbers are and how you can use them to advertise effectively.

How Do Virtual Phone Numbers Work?

Thanks to VoIP and cloud computing advancements in the 21st century, phone calls can now be completed using the power of the Internet. This means that virtual communication is now a “real” type of communication.

When a virtual phone number is dialed, that call is instantly routed to another phone number anywhere in the world. Vice versa, when a virtual phone number is coupled with an add-on function called “outbound calling,” calls can be made to specific markets anywhere in the world with a virtual phone number appearing on the recipient’s caller ID with the virtual phone number that matches the country code, area code, and region code that your prospective customers are familiar with.

Virtual Phone Numbers from United World Telecom

Virtual phone numbers can be purchased from a service provider, like United World Telecom, which can couple the power of virtual phone numbers with other add-ons that can help you market your company more effectively (see below).

Effectively Marketing Your Business with Virtual Phone Numbers

Now that you understand how virtual phone numbers work and how to obtain them, let’s look at a number of ways to market your business:

Virtual Locations: One method of marketing your company with virtual phone numbers is by establishing “virtual locations,” which can approximate what was once only available via setting up a physical presence in the market of your choice. Virtual locations, also referred to as “virtual offices,” can be as simple as having a web presence tailored to a specific market (i.e. language) and a few methods of communication, or they can be fully-integrated entities that involve live chat and, most importantly, virtual phone numbers that enable customers and businesses to get in contact with your business immediately.

Social Media: Virtual phone numbers that are advertised on social media platforms, like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, are great ways of exponentiating the reach of your company, especially if your company has a solid audience — or in the event your content goes viral. For instance, using a toll free number (available as a virtual phone number) can not only obfuscate where your company is located, but it also ensures that customers aren’t charged for the call. By matching the social media platform that best fits your company’s image and is used by the right target market, you can market effectively in these sectors.

Email Campaigns: If you’re familiar with MailChimp and a number of email-marketing tools, you know how effective they are for getting in touch with customers. However, you may want to offer incentives, like limited-time-only campaigns, that are only accessible by dialing a virtual phone number. Toll free numbers are useful in this example, but you may want to use local access numbers (available via virtual phone numbers) to have a “local” presence. Local virtual numbers are an excellent option because a local presence gives customers an instant connection, in contrast to them being turned off knowing your company exists elsewhere. Establishing a local presence — known as “localization” — can be a powerful tool for internet marketing and should be adhered to when you want to specifically target a market — or boost your business’ perceived presence by using an in-demand number (ex. NYC-based numbers vs. Spokane, WA-based numbers) to give professional credibility.

Add-Ons: Remember that part of your marketing efforts should be to enable customers to reach you via inbound marketing efforts. To accommodate this with virtual phone numbers, it helps to use virtual phone number add-ons like call recording (which can help capture important marketing information and verify your sales team’s efforts), simultaneous ringing (which ensures that inbound calls are never missed), and time-of-day routing (which can give your company 24/7 access).