Do you have a call to action on your website and in your marketing materials?
Go ahead take a look. In your marketing materials do you tell them what to do next? Do you have a call to action on your printed materials and website? It may sound a no-brainer but you’d be surprised how many companies don’t have a strong call to action on their marketing materials (online, and in print). By using a “call to action” you are directly drawing your potential customers in to utilize your product or service. I know those shiny, brightly colored buttons on a website draw my attention!
Let’s consider that your potential customer has picked up a piece of your marketing collateral, perhaps it’s that fantastic brochure you just had designed. They begin to read it and as they flip through the brochure they realize hey might be able to use your services, but they get to the end and they don’t know what to do, because you presented them with no call to action.
You didn’t tell them to call you. You didn’t tell them to visit your website. They contemplate, they ponder and then they toss away your brochure without even contacting you.
Does this sound absurd? It does at first glance, but take a close look at your marketing materials; your website and your print collateral. Do you have any calls to action? Many companies do not and it isn’t even something they have even thought about consciensly.
The best way that I’ve found to create an effective call to action is imagine the questions the consumer has when viewing your marketing information.
Let’s just take a look at a few that come to mind immediately.
How do I contact them? Are they available via telephone, internet, fax, or email? Why should I buy from them? What do they offer me? Will they save me money? Will they make my life easier? Are they better than their competition? Is there any immediacy? Are they running any promotions if I contact them before a deadline date? Will I receive a discount if I act now? Does your marketing material answer all of those questions?
Your call to action must include every way possible that they can contact you and buy from you. Include your telephone number, your address, your website address and of course your email. Share with them how your product will solve a problem they may be encountering. Solution-position your product so it touches the spot of pain your consumer is feeling and flesh out those benefits, now tell them how to get those benefits.
You should also use active current language. Words such as:
- Call
- Buy
- Register
- Subscribe
- Donate
All of these encourage users to take action.
To create a sense of urgency you can use words like this alongside phrases such as:
- Offer expires September 30th
- For a short time only
- Order now and receive a free gift
Our call to action button says “Contact us today for your FREE marketing consultation”
Here are some other examples:
If you do these simple things you can create a strong call to action that will in fact increase the potential customers that contact you just from reading your marketing material. This will give you an edge over your competition and will most likely immediately increase your sales.
