Strongest Call to Action Types for Your Videos

As a small business owner, you don’t only want your followers to see you online, you want them to actively engage with the content you are posting or ads you are promoting. In order to motivate audiences to engage, everything you put out there must have a strong call to action. 

It may seem obvious to urge customers to engage with you, but the truth is, many small business owners don’t realize the importance of a solid, enticing call to action. That’s why we’re going to break down the importance of CTAs, why you should incorporate them in every social media ad, post, or video.

Remember, our online video maker is designed with call to actions in mind. Every video’s outro was created with room for you to place the perfect call to action when you edit your video outro. All that’s left for you to do is to learn which CTAs you should be using and when. 

Let’s get started! 

What is a Call to Action 

A call to action, or a CTA, is a marketing tool designed to encourage a specific response from whoever is exposed to your messages and content. A CTA is a short piece of content that invites your audience to act on it. The purpose of a CTA is to inform your audience what to do next, i.e., buy a product, share thoughts and comments, read more, etc. Not only do CTAs help you guide your customers, but they make your marketing campaigns more practical while sparking engagement. Now that you know what they are, you need to include them in every piece of content you publish. 

CTAs are designed as a part of a marketing strategy to get your audience to react by taking action. These statements are generally used to match your video’s goals and let potential customers know what they should do next if they’re interested in what you’re offering or selling. Studies have shown that adding a CTA button increased conversion rates by 83%. Though they may seem daunting at first, the truth is, CTAs are fun. They’re a way for you to flirt with your audience, telling them what they’re in for if they continue this journey with you. 

Along with encouraging customers to order, purchase, or download, CTAs drive audiences to interact with your content by taking actions such as tagging, sharing, and commenting. This type of call to action is essential when you aren’t looking to convert but still want to ensure your audiences stay active and engaged. 

Creating Strong CTAs 

A call to action’s strength will likely be the component that determines the success of the content itself in serving its intended goal. You may see a simple non-demanding request like “choose your favorite” or “tag below” or a much more demanding request like “buy now” or “sign up.” 

Non-demanding CTAs are more suitable for engagement while demanding requests are used for conversion. Keep these in mind when writing your CTA. What is the goal of your video? Do you want to encourage them to purchase a product or service? Become a part of your business’s community? Initiate an opportunity? 

No matter what CTA appears, it will tell the user what action to take to continue interacting and on a journey with your business. Leaving a CTA out of your marketing plan can mean losing potential customers. To put it simply, CTAs are crucial when it comes to marketing and engagement.  

Why Every Video Needs a Call to Action

Most marketers agree that videos are one of the most essential and practical tools for businesses. Video marketing is on the rise, and there are no signs of that changing, and it plans to increase again within the next 12 months. Get creative, keep it simple, know your audience, and tell your story. But what’s a video without some action?! 

One of the most important steps to include in any video is a CTA. According to a KISSmetrics study, adding a CTA within a video generates 380% more clicks than a CTA on a sidebar of the same page. The wonderful thing about CTAs is that they can be placed at any point in your customer’s journey. While you can choose to add CTAs throughout your whole video, the one that will bring them to action will appear at the end. This is the one time throughout your video that you should make a CTA a requirement. CTAs at the end of your video help your buyer take the final leap and act. Let us explain why.

The viewer has watched your video to completion, and at this point, they’ve been primed with anticipation and expectation. Remember when we told you to tell your story? Well, by the end of your video, your audience has been taken on a journey, told that story, and are now expecting a climax. They’ve made it to your outro, and it’s time to act. Think of your outro as the peak of your video, and your CTA is the climax of your story. Your viewers have been waiting for an answer, and now it’s here. You delivered; now, all they need to do is act. 

Four Call to Action types that deliver results 

Now that you know the who, when, where, and why. All that’s left is the what. Knowing what CTA is best aligned with your video’s goal is no less important than adding one, to begin with. When deciding what call of action you should use in your video, you need to ask yourself some questions. Do you want your audience to purchase something? How about engaging your viewers and starting a conversation? Do you want to instill a sense of urgency?

Your answers will depend on what the goal of your video is. It’s essential to keep in mind that not all CTAs work with all content. You have to pick the one that best fits the video content you’ve created, the audience you’re trying to reach, and the action you want the consumer to take. While there are many different CTA types, there are four that simply work when it comes to video marketing. 

The Direct CTA

The Direct CTA is one of the best (and most important) video CTAs. Here, you come out and tell your audience exactly what to do. Action verbs and CTAs go together like coffee and cream. They’re not called “call to action” for nothing! Here are a few examples: 

• Order Your X
• Buy Now
• Join Now
• Sign Up Today
• Get Started 
• Subscribe Today 

One of the most important factors when it comes to CTAs is instilling a sense of urgency. There are two reasons for this. The first: urgent situations drive us to act, either to prolong positive feelings or reduce negative ones. The second reason is that urgency brings up our ongoing fear of missing out (FOMO). We don’t want to miss out on rewarding situations, especially when we think others are enjoying them.

A sense of urgency should be kept in mind when writing all CTAs but is especially effective when it comes to a Direct CTA. Urgency will inspire audiences to take action, and take you up on your offer, no matter what the offer is. 

Remember all of the times you clicked on something because you were scared of missing out on an opportunity or an offer? We’ve all been there! 

The Small Wins CTA

A structured giveaway is an easy way to generate response and interaction. Who doesn’t want something that’s already free? A touch of generosity goes a long way in marketing. Add an incentive to your CTA by starting a competition that helps drive awareness of your business. Here are a few examples: 

• Enter to Win 
• Get Your Free X
• Take Advantage of X
• Claim Your Free X

The Conversational CTA 

Invite your audiences to “join the conversation” by adding an engaging CTA. Not all videos need to convert a hard sell; in fact, engagement is key when it comes to impactful marketing in 2021. Customer engagement is about inspiring your viewers to interact with your business and take part in the experiences you’re creating for them. Whether you’re asking them to voice their opinion on their favorite product or encouraging them to share your video with a loved one, an engaging CTA can leave an impact. By doing that, you’ll grow your business’s community and build customer loyalty, and in turn, ensure your brand’s future profits. Here are a few examples: 

• Comment Below
• Comment Your Favorite X
• Tag Someone Who X
• Share This With Someone Who 
• Vote for Your Favorite

The FOMO CTA

If your product is subscription-based, offer your audience a free trial. If it’s a physical product, offer discounts, discount codes, and free samples. An important thing to remember when it comes to “FOMO” is to instill that sense of urgency we mentioned earlier. Make your viewers feel like it’s now or never, that this discount is worth it, and if they don’t use it today, it’ll be lost forever. FOMO is a real thing; use that to your advantage when writing your CTAs. Here are a few examples: 

• Save today
• Sign up today for 20% off 
• See our coupon 
• Shop low prices
• Sale ends at midnight 
• Try now for free
• Use discount code 

Final words

Now that you know the ins and outs of CTAs and understand their importance in video marketing, all that’s left for us is to urge you to use them! You’ve become familiar with four of the strongest CTA types, now get creative. Remember that your video’s outro was built to feature a CTA; why not utilize it? Your customers are setting out on a journey with you; make that journey one worth acting on.