The ABCs of Marketing CTAs
Have you been perusing the internet and keep seeing the term “Call to Action” or CTA strewn about? What is a call to action, you ask yourself. How to write a call to action, you wonder. From building your website flow to creating a marketing video that will make an impact on your business, you need to know what a call to action is and the best practices for how to write a winner.
What is a call to action?
A CTA is short for call to action and describes the instruction you place in your marketing assets that elicits an action. Yup, it’s that simple. Often the call to action text will use a verb such as, “Try today” or “Call now”, and so on. The key is making sure the instruction itself is clear and it leads your audience to where you want them to go.
Pro tip: Before you can create any winning call to action, you need to set your own goals of what action you want users to take in the first place.
We’ve broken down different call to action examples that are effective for your business no matter the platform.
Website call to action
A call to action button should be placed on your homepage linking your visitors directly to your product or service.
Capture your audience’s attention with a landing page call to action, such as: “Learn more,” “Claim your free trial,” “Limited time offer,” or “Join us.”
You will also want to include a call to action on your pricing page or individual products that lead customers to complete a purchase. These are direct. You can make statements like “Buy now” or “Try free for a month” in a prominent location on each page element to make the sale.
On each web page ask yourself what you want your audience to do there. Do you want them to continue browsing? Contact your team? Sign up for your newsletter? Then make sure you provide a very short bit of clickable content that includes a verb and brings them to the desired destination.
Email call to action
When creating a strong email, the shorter and more direct the better.
Your goal is to get readers to move out of their inbox and into your online world. Most likely you want your newsletter readership to head over to your website, maybe even a specific product page. Proven examples of call to action for emails include: “Subscribe,” “Sign up,” “See more,” and “Try now.”
Pro tip: Don’t confuse your visitors with too many clickable links. Multiple options will lead to no action. Focus on 1 (maximum 2!) links within an email call to action.
Video call to action
While the content inside of a video ad is not clickable, it’s still hugely important. We are confident you are making videos that your audience is loving and perhaps even sharing around the proverbial [internet] block. But then what? While likes on Facebook are a major boost to any business, website visits are an even more exciting way to measure your video marketing success.
In case we haven’t said it enough; simple, simple, simple. Your logo and website on your video’s end slide is a perfect option. If you’ve got a specific sale going on or new product collection, you can add that info below your site URL too. That’s it! Just enough for someone who’s digging your commercial to find you, make contact and move the flow forward.
Pro tip: Don’t fill up your final slide with too much info. Keep it clean with a logo and tagline or url to close out your stunning ad.
Here’s some fun examples of videos with a clear call to action:
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