No Proposals On First Dates: Getting the Right Call To Action on Content Marketing
What is a CTA (Call To Action)?
A call to action is an instruction placed somewhere in your content to induce your audience to perform a specific act (click a link, follow your page, share the post etc.).
Why have a CTA?
With any marketing you're doing, you should include a call to action. Without one, you are much less likely to progress a customer closer to a purchasing decision. For instance, conversion rates dramatically increase when you tell your viewer what they may be interested in doing next.
Wordstream found that emails with a single call-to-action increased clicks by 371% and sales by 1,617% compared to emails without one.
Know your audience and where they are in the buying cycle.
Gauge your customers' buying patterns. How many times do they need to see your content to take an action? Where are they in the funnel?
If you're a B2B software company, your customers will have a long consideration process and weigh you up against competitors.
If you're a B2C company selling a toaster, your customer will make their purchasing decision in one shopping session.
What is the purpose of your content?
You need to keep the purpose of your marketing in mind. When creating content, your goal should be to build your audience - not direct selling.
What type of CTA will help us build an audience?
In Rick Cesari's Video Persuasion, he outlines the different types of Calls to Action that you can have at the end of your video. The most convincing ones save people money or cost you nothing at all. A free offer will overcome any buyer hesitation, objections, or concerns.
The leads you generate from a free offer will be interested, but they may not be ready to buy immediately. According to Cesari, offering them genuinely valuable information for free builds trust and triggers their "reciprocity" instinct. The psychology here comes from Dr Robert Cialdini's "Principle of Reciprocity" from his 6 Principles of Persuasion. Their instinct is to want to return the favour.
Ask your viewer to follow you on the platform they're viewing the video on (low friction action) and inform them about your other content that they can anticipate.
Content Marketing CTAs that incentivise follows:
Content to look forward to "join us next week when we'll be being discussing (topic related to this one)."
Moving people to a mailing list with free extras "For our complimentary pdf guide to the 5 best interview questions, sign up to our mailing list."
Prompt engagement. Get your followers to respond to a question or ask them what they want to see next. The more involved they feel, the more likely they are to follow.
Next week, we'll be writing about how to set up internal video marketing teams. Make sure to subscribe below for updates!
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